Extending this tradition now is Darren DeFrain, author of last year's The Salt Palace. The Salt Palace provides DeFrain's readers with the physical and spiritual journey of Brian, the novel's distraught and defocused protagonist. Taking time off from his bank after the death of a co-worker, Brian assumes a forced leave of absence from the lush embrace of his girlfriend, Rhoda, and sets forward to Utah and memories of a childhood spent there in the arms of the Mormon faith. To help offset gas expenses and to keep him awake on the long drive, Brian answers a travel ad at the local university, from a potential passenger by the name of Randy. The foul-mouthed and equally foul-tempered Randy is, like Brian, an expatriate of the Mormon community, but you wouldn't guess it by the look of him. On top of all this, guiding DeFrain's readers as they experience Brian and Randy's journey are the footnotes of an unseen commentator who is a font of knowledge when it comes to history, the Mormon Church, and, like all good voiceovers, the Utah Jazz basketball team.
Overall, The Salt Palace is another excellent example of travel fiction, blending the travails of the road itself with the accompanying and difficult maneuvers of the soul in the process. DeFrain's prose is accommodating but passionate, and his text works to provide a complete and stirring picture of his protagonist's vices, temptations, and triumphs. It is easy to see why DeFrain is the Writing Program Director at Wichita State University, and why The Salt Palace has been lauded as one of the Best Books of 2005 by both the Kansas City Star and Foreword Magazine.