Wendy Padilla

Valley Fever Wendy Padilla

The use of hallucinogens in pursuit of a spiritual revelation is not a unique practice. From Peyote to LSD, people of different cultures have experimented with drug-induced visions in hopes of a glimpse beyond the known world. But what of those non-volunteers who have been subjected to hallucinations through no choice of their own? Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever, or San Joaquin Valley Fever) is a fungal disease found in the soil of the southwest and carried on the desert wind. As a girl growing up in Arizona, Wendy Padilla, was exposed to Valley Fever. Her hallucinations had a reoccurring theme - Bears. As an adult these supposed hallucinations were interpreted by a Native American shaman as visions, influencing Wendy's life and her writing. VALLEY FEVER, Wendy Padilla's first novel, explores the spiritual journey of several fictional characters in the year 1885 and 1990. Their lives are intertwined and their destiny revealed through a whirlwind of time travel.