BY CORIE LYNN
Daniel Saenz graduated from Fort Hays State University in 2019 with his Bachelor’s degree in political science.
As a student at FHSU, Saenz worked as a writer for Tiger Media Network. Since his graduation, he has pursued his master’s degree at Georgetown University.
He also wrote a novel.
“It’s called Desolation, and it’s a horror novel based on my vision of what the end of the world would be like,” Saenz said.
He explained that he began planning his book in July as the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to peak.
“The job market was bad. Everything was bad,” Saenz said. “All these stories about people committing suicide, people being left behind, bodies being thrown into skating rinks. I felt like the word was ending at that point.”
Though Saenz has experience with writing, this is the first fiction writing Saenz has done since he was in grade school. His love of horror, such as the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and a story he heard about a cult helped him, though, in developing his first novel.
“I’ve always wanted to write a novel, I just didn’t know what I wanted to make it about,” he said.
As Saenz has moved through the novel-writing process, he has most enjoyed putting his pen to paper, finding ideas come more easily than he expected.
His main goal, though, in writing Desolation was to capture today’s climate, which he described as having a feeling of dread.
“I want this to capture the times, you know, because I wanted this book to portray the general feeling of despair that we have during COVID,” Saenz said.
Desolation will be released in August, but the pre-sale will run through May.
Those who buy his book through pre-sale will receive a copy signed by Saenz, acknowledgements and access to excerpts from the novel prior to its release.