John Wayne's Execution

Where is John Wayne’s favorite brothel? Why does Nancy Reagan offer to sleep with him at the 1968 Republican Convention in Miami? How does Wayne discover he has radiated semen? Why does he get drunk with Senator Joseph McCarthy at The Beverly Hills Hotel? Who’s holding a gun to Wayne’s head? All answers will be uncovered in Patrick Baker’s first novel, JOHN WAYNE’S EXECUTION.

In this darkly funny story set in Sherwood, Arizona, a sequence of kaleidoscopic events unfolds as the town elects their first female sheriff, and China launches the first woman to the moon. During this time, KANE, a history teacher, is fired for kissing his husband in the parking lot. Infuriated, Kane sues the school district and uses his settlement to open a theater in Sherwood that ignites a cultural awakening across the community. As the theater succeeds, GABRIEL, the 18-year-old projectionist, has a run-in with CHARLEY ROANHORSE, an elder who was the first Navajo fired from a John Wayne movie. Charley’s daughter, INEZ, a political activist, is scheduled to speak at the theater. Gabriel’s encounter with Charley and the lecture by Inez induces him to have crazed John Wayne dreams that reveal the ultimate exposé of cracks in the Duke’s machismo armor with cameos by JIMMY STEWART, KIRK DOUGLAS, WALT DISNEY, CLARK GABLE, director JOHN FORD, SENATOR JOSEPH MCCARTHY, and NANCY & RONALD REAGAN.