LAS CRUCES – Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz meets Harry Potter meets the Chronicles of Narnia in an upcoming novel by Las Cruces artist and author George Mendoza.
Mendoza’s art, whether written or painted, is particularly noteworthy in the community because he uses it as an outlet for his disability. At the age of 15, he was diagnosed with degenerative eye disease that legally blinded him. The “kaleidoscope” colors that he sees flow into his pictures.
Despite – or rather because of – the diagnosis, he led a life full of motivational talking, painting and writing. He even competed in the 1980 and 1984 Paralympic Games for the men’s 1,500-meter and 800-meter races.
Now, on September 18th, his first novel will be available to the public – “The Journey of the Ghost Man”.
“Obviously you don’t see (the outside world) so you have to find things in your world, and I’ve made a very wonderful, creative life,” said Mendoza.
He stated that the novel is the first in an extensive series that he has been writing since the 1990s. In New Mexico he created a new literary world, in which his character Michael discovered gateways to other worlds. These “other worlds” are places Mendoza has personally visited all of his life, such as Holland, New York City and Mexico.
The synopsis of the novel describes it as “an exploration of the struggles, limits and triumphs of the human mind”.
The sequel “Vision of the Spirit Man” has been edited, but has no release date yet. According to Mendoza, he hopes to publish at least one trilogy, but he has many other Spirit Man books in the first draft.
Mendoza received a special surprise in early August – his book was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize 2022 in fiction. His agent, Frank Weimann, nominated him and the entry was approved on Aug. 7, Mendoza said. The winners and finalists will be announced in April 2022.
“‘I’m going up high with this Pulitzer Prize nomination,” said Mendoza. “It’s great just to be nominated.”
Mendoza has some irons in the fire, but the COVID-19 pandemic gave him time to concentrate fully on his art and writing.
The nomination drew a lot of attention to the novel and coincides with the production of a film based on his picture book “Colors of the Wind”. This book is about Mendoza’s life story – going blind, but that doesn’t stop his ambition.
“I’m a long-distance runner by nature, and as an artist and writer you have to deal with a lot of rejections. But you have to ignore them, ”he said. “I’ve kind of pushed Michael (the“ Spirit Man ”character) through hell in all of the books, but he barely comes out on top all the time. He’s a survivor and he’s very persistent and you have to be. “
Leah Romero is the trend reporter for Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached on Twitter at 575-418-3442, [email protected] or @rromero_leah.
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