Bisson wrote in American Rebels (2003) that the title Abbey was considering was "Down the Road." The reason that manuscript was never published was because not long after Abbey finished his book, On the Road by Jack Kerouac appeared, and the two books bore so many resemblances that Abbey feared he would be accused of plagiarism if his novel were published. The term "black sun" was used often in Abbey's work. He used it first in his second book, Fire on the Mountain to describe a sketch Billy makes after they discover someone has shot Billy's favorite horse, Rascal. He also uses it twice in his non-fiction book, The Journey Home and once in Abbey's Road. Plot summary The book is divided into three parts: In the forest; In the sun; and In the evening. The novel is about a rugged fire lookout, Will Gatlin, who falls in love with an American girl half his age and then becomes wrongly blamed when she mysteriously disappears in the nearby Grand Canyon National Park. Characters Will Gatlin – A 37-year-old ranger who mans a fire watch tower in the forest. Sandy MacKenzie – A brash 19-year-old woman who is falling in love with the forest. Art Ballentine – A college professor and friend of Will's. Elsie Ballentine – Art's wife Gloria Hollenbeck – A friend of Sandy's who Will thinks of as the "rodeo queen." Wendell – Will's boss, to whom he reports every morning from the fire watch tower Lawrence J. Turner the Third – Sandy's fiance and a 23-year-old Air Force cadet Rosalie – A woman Will would see on a semi-regular basis for sex who lived 90 miles away with her three children Reception The book was not well received by critics and the public. The first-run paperback edition by Avon sold only 100,000 copies, where the first run of paperback editions for Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang both sold more than a half million copies. According to James M. Cahalan's biography of Abbey, Edward Abbey: A Life, The New Yorker called Black Sun "an embarrassingly bad novel." Abbey himself, however, considered it one of the best books he had ever written. References Novels by Edward Abbey 1971 American novels