After a twenty-year career in tech, I spent two years working for a (legal) California cannabis company. I’d drive to the factory every day from Los Angeles, cross the Cajon pass into the Mojave Desert, and pass by multiple cannabis grow, extraction, and manufacturing facilities that were interspersed between private, County, and State prisons.
Francesco Paola – 14 February 2025
The Back Flap
There are only two reasons to take a left on Rancho: cannabis and immigration.
October 2019. Adelanto, a desolate outpost in the Mojave Desert. Andrew Eastman, a tech entrepreneur with a bank account running on fumes, rides into town to help an old friend. The ask: turn around a fledgling legal weed operation in the California High Desert, where a dead “desert walker” is just another day in Adelanto, according to the local sheriff. Where coyotes “help” migrants escape from the ICE detention center nearby as protests ignite around it. Where no one cares about illegal marijuana because the pie’s big enough for everyone.
Andrew, the outsider, asks too many questions—the viability of the legal market, cannabis’s social impact, inoperative surveillance cameras in the factory, and the dominance of the illegal trade. An illegal trade run by unscrupulous actors.
On a hunt for contraband that’s based on a stolen formulation, Andrew journeys from Adelanto to West Hollywood to the underbelly of Los Angeles, until he lands at the intersection of cannabis and immigration. Bodies pile up around him. And when tragedy strikes, Andrew’s left with one last decision, one that will forever change him.
About the book
What is the book about?
Left on Rancho follows Andrew Eastman, a veteran tech entrepreneur with an empty bank account, as he rides into Adelanto, an isolated town in the Mojave Desert. He’s there at the request of an old friend, Charlie, whom he’s not heard from in over a decade. The ask? Turn around his fledgling, legal, cannabis gummy operation.
When Andrew arrives, he is met by a Sheriff’s homicide detective investigating the murder of an escaped migrant from the immigration detention center down the road. A routine investigation, the detective says; just another day in Adelanto.
Andrew, having worked in disciplined, tech companies, can’t believe the mess the company is in, and the mess that the industry is in. No one makes money, there’s illegal weed everywhere, and it’s a commodity product, how can anyone survive? He starts to ask uncomfortable questions, questions about the legal market’s viability, cannabis’ social impact, mysteriously inoperative surveillance cameras in the factory, and the dominance of the illegal weed trade. An illegal trade run by unscrupulous actors.
On his journey Andrew meets Renée who owns the local taco truck, and falls in love. He gets beat up by goons, who mistake him for his friend Charlie. He’s almost gets driven off the road by a beat-up red Buick. He wakes up in a stranger’s home, not remembering what transpired the night before. And on the hunt for contraband merchandise that’s based on a stolen formulation, he travels from Adelanto to West Hollywood to the underbelly of Los Angeles, until he lands at the deadly intersection of cannabis and immigration, while bodies continue to pile up around him.
When did you start writing the book?
August 2021.
How long did it take you to write it?
I completed the first draft in March of 2022—seven months. It took me another twelve months to iterate multiple drafts and submit it to the publisher.
Where did you get the idea from?
After a twenty-year career in tech, I spent two years working for a (legal) California cannabis company. I’d drive to the factory every day from Los Angeles, cross the Cajon pass into the Mojave Desert, and pass by multiple cannabis grow, extraction, and manufacturing facilities that were interspersed between private, County, and State prisons. Add to the setting the fact that the cannabis industry economics don’t make any sense: 70% of the California weed market is illegal; the effective tax rate for legal cannabis companies is near 50%; there’s no funding for law enforcement, except to punish legal entities that try to comply with the complex labyrinth of regulations; it’s easy to corrupt people in the cannabis ecosystem; and it’s illegal at the Federal level.
There had to be a story in there somewhere.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
Getting the various pieces of the story to merge into the right ending. I spent most of my time working through various scenarios until the story made sense.
What came easily?
Describing the various locales and the associated landscapes—the desert, Los Angeles—and providing the right depth of insights into the cannabis industry, legal and illegal, without losing the reader.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
The story and all the characters are entirely fictitious. I took some traits from myself, and people I worked with, and infused them into the various characters, but there is no one for one match.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
The terse prose of Ernest Hemingway, the descriptive language of Joan Didion, and the stories of Raymond Chandler and Dorothy B. Hughes, with their ability to propel the noir narrative and at the same time fill the reader with angst, suspense, and anticipation. I could go on forever. . .
Do you have a target reader?
Fans of noirs and mystery thrillers who have a penchant for learning how obscure and marginal industries like cannabis and private prisons work from the inside, and who enjoy works like Tim O’Brien’s America Fantastica, Tod Goldberg’s The Low Desert, and Denis Johnson’s Already Dead, stories full of crime, conspiracy, nefarious characters, and greed.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
One of the greatest aspects of writing is that without discipline, one does not get very far. I spend at least two hours every morning, five days a week, sequestered in my writing area formulating plot, alternative scenarios, characters, and writing at least 800 words per session. Those words may all disappear the next day, but those 800 words must be written.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I don’t outline per se, but I do sketch out the high-level plot, I spend a lot of time in developing the character backstories, and I map out locales and scenes that I’d like to include and that have a purpose in propelling the narrative. And what I envision as the end at the beginning of writing the novel almost always never materializes. . .
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I perform read-throughs of the prior day’s work, and edit the section lightly. The important aspect of this review is that it grounds the day’s session and provides continuation of thought. I don’t edit the novel until I’ve performed one full uninterrupted read-through of the first draft, after having let it sit in a drawer for at least four weeks after I’ve finished.
Did you hire a professional editor?
I worked with a professional editor that was provided to me by my publisher.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
No.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
No. I am a realist. A first-time, middle-aged author with no publishing track record has an infinitesimal chance of being acknowledged by an agent in a highly competitive industry.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
My wife Jackie Townsend is a published author, and she had success working with SparkPress. So it was an easy decision for me. And I felt that the story had to be told, and that it had to be accessible by a wider audience than just my family and friends. Plus, not having written a novel before, having a professional Indie publisher would not only help from that perspective, but that it would be a great way to learn about the business.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
My publisher developed the wonderful cover.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I have partnered with BookSparks to perform the marketing and PR for the novel. They’re a great and experienced team.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
I believe that we all have at least one story in us that needs to be told. You’ll never know, however, until you put pen to paper. And once you start writing, it’s hard to stop.
About You
Where did you grow up?
I was born in Italy, and grew up in Italy, Thailand, and Australia before moving to the US to attend University.
Where do you live now?
I live in New York City.
What would you like readers to know about you?
My father worked for a pharma company when we moved to Thailand in 1971, and what was supposed to be a 2-year contract ended up being 49 years for my parents. During that time I bounced between Bangkok and Melbourne until I made the move to the US, where I went to college, and I’ve been here ever since.
I have been in tech my entire career, except for the 2 years I spent in cannabis, and I am currently working for an AI startup—writing (for me) doesn’t pay the bills J.
I love to travel—Italy, Europe, Asia. I was recently in Madrid, and I’ve spent over twenty years in Asia working in interesting places like Korea, Japan, Singapore, and India.
I cook, I am teaching myself to play guitar, and over the past four years I have become a Yoga aficionado.
What are you working on now?
I completed the first draft of a second novel in early November, and before I return to it, I’ve been writing short stories and short-film scripts to stay busy. Writing short stories helps develop the writing craft, and I use them to experiment with various styles, themes, and character development.
End of Interview:
For more from Francesco Paola visit his website and follow him on Instagram.
Get your copy of Left on Rancho from Amazon US.