•The most popular LGBTQ+ narratives center the East Coast, the West Coast, or the deep South, according to Lambda Literary. When I Was Red Clay is an LGBTQ+ story set amid the unique cultural complexities of the rural West. •The author is a well–connected conservation photographer whose photographs and writing have been featured in regional and national outlets such as The Advocate, Sierra Club Magazine, High Country News, Arizona Highways, the Gulch, First American Art Magazine, and the Salt Lake Tribune. •Addresses trauma, mental health, and family like Tara Westover's Educated and relationship with wilderness and self–discovery like Cheryl Strayed's Wild. •Regional appeal in the Southwest.