| • About the Author/Artist • Alternative History Timeline • echapbook.com • Double Fiction Issue Part I: Alta California • I Meet Mark Twain • I Meet John Sargent • A Humorist, Not a Politician • The Venice of the West • The Fair Marina • A Candide Character • A Swan Among Geese • So Much? • Gibralter the Egg Mule • An American Vandal Abroad • Daisy and Oscar • A Chance Encounter • Goya’s Studio • Holy Relics Part II: Sakrametska in Rossland • Boundary Values • The Unholy Family • Boom Town • New Dog, Old Tricks • Commission of a Lifetime • Bushwhacked • Minor Moon of a Minor Planet • Wetbellies |
| by Patrick Fanning |
About Patrick Fanning
Patrick Fanning is a writer and painter living in Sonoma County in northern California. He always thought that the real history of the region was a little boring: native peoples, Mexican missionaries, ranchos, American Gold Rush, etc. While painting the landscape around the Russian River, Fanning thought it would be more interesting if the Mexican settlers and the Russian fur traders had stayed longer, found the gold, and set up two competing empires on either side of the Russian River. The illustrated Venice of the West is the result.
The cover watercolor of the Venice of the West is by Patrick Fanning, as are the following sketches:
- Mark Twain playing cards (in “I Meet Mark Twain”)
- The mayor (alcalde) of Petalumo (in “A Swan Among Geese”)
- Copy of a the head of a peasant by Velasquez (in “A Chance Encounter”)