In Blind Eye, author Martha Burns crafts a gripping and thought-provoking exploration of moral complicity, rural isolation, and the often-unspoken rules that govern small communities. Inspired by real events and shaped by her own experiences living in rural Southeastern New Mexico, she brings to life a world where the line between helping and turning a blind eye is razor-thin. At the heart of the novel is Leeland Pruitt, a boy forced to survive in a harsh and unforgiving landscape—both physically and emotionally—after being abandoned by the very people who should have protected him.
With Blind Eye recognized as a finalist for the Western Writers of America Spur Award for Contemporary Fiction, Burns continues to push the boundaries of what defines Western literature. Rather than relying on traditional tropes of cowboys and frontier justice, she instead delves into the psychological and social complexities of modern rural life, asking readers to consider their own role in systems of silence and complicity.
In this in-depth Q&A, Burns discusses the inspirations behind Blind Eye, the evolving nature of Western fiction, the power of landscape as a living, breathing force in storytelling, and how she approaches writing characters faced with impossible moral choices. She also offers insights into her writing process and a glimpse at her next literary endeavors.
Blind Eye delves into themes of moral complicity and rural isolation. What inspired you to tell this story?
While I grew up in Albuquerque, NM it was not a rural area and it was only after many years away that my husband and I returned to live in rural Cottonwood Canyon in La Luz, New Mexico. I mention this because it was like moving to a foreign country. Small towns are one thing but a rural area with homes maybe miles apart is another and so I experienced for the first time living in a "rural community” where “neighboring” meant something different than anything I had experienced before. In La Luz neighbors "looked out for each other" and at the same time “folks took care of their own.” It seemed like a contradiction and one I later decided to explore in fiction.
Blind Eye was inspired by actual events and when we moved to La Luz the case of 14-year-old Cody Posey, who had murdered his family, was in the air and it seemed as if people felt some sort of communal responsibility for what he had done. There was a sense that the community had let the boy down. The community knew that the boy, my Leeland Pruitt, was isolated out on the Bounty Ranch. I came to believe that moral complicity was more than standing back and doing nothing. It implied that the community participated in the murders. Because we, the community, did nothing, the boy had to save himself and this was the inspiration for my story.
Blind Eye explores human nature in extreme circumstances. What was the inspiration for the story?
Maybe my inspiration also came from my graduate studies where I read quite of bit of Faulkner and studied his fictional small towns and father-son relationships. I put my character, Leeland Pruitt, in extreme circumstances in isolated settings much like Faulkner did in Absalom, Absalom! Further inspiration was observing ranch life which is a fading culture. And then finally I gained inspiration from the landscape of rural Southeastern New Mexico that can be both gorgeous and harsh. Against this backdrop I explored what this could do to a boy who did not want to “be a cowboy.”
Another inspiration was the feature columns of Linda Posey who wrote for Livestock Weekly. She was the grandmother of Cody Posey. Excerpts (which I gained the rights to) appear as chapter headings. It was Linda Posey who wrote ironically, “Ranch kids do seem to grow up with a healthy respect for everything alive and our environment. They have seen human nature at its worst… and at its best…” Reading hundreds of her columns no doubt helped me explore human nature in this rural ranch setting.
The book is categorized as Contemporary Western Fiction. How do you see the Western genre evolving, and where does your work fit within that evolution?
This is a fascinating question and something I have thought a lot about. Blind Eye was a finalist for the Western Writers of American Spur award for Contemporary Fiction putting this book in the company of the fiction of Larry McMurtry, Craig Johnson, and Tony Hillerman. As I was writing Blind Eye, I was consciously aware that I was writing Western Literature. Maybe that is not the same was writing a Western. But yes, I see that the Western genre is evolving but with some opposition. I guess that is to be expected. In fact, my character, Leeland Pruitt, admits at one point that he did not want to be a cowboy.
But defining what constitutes Western Literature or a Western is difficult. Does a Western need to be about ranch life, about guns, about cowboys? Does a Western merely need to take place in the American West? To be in the Western genre does the work need to be about the West—does the West need to be a theme?
I’ve seen these criteria for a Western:
Set in a small town in the West; Themes of the Old West; Characters that embody Western archetypes
I simply aspired to writing a book where the imagery represented the reality and spirit of the American West. I am absolutely certain of one thing; Blind Eye could not have been set any place other than rural Southeastern New Mexico—deep in the American West.
The isolation of rural settings plays a key role in Blind Eye. How did your own experiences with small-town life influence the atmosphere you created?
Thank you for posing this question in this manner - specifically speaking of atmosphere. I think that in fiction atmosphere goes hand-in-hand with setting. In my writing I aspire to giving my reader an experience. I want them to get lost in my stories as if experiencing them. For me fiction begins in place/setting but I think that the writer must get more than the facts and particulars about the place/setting down on the page. They must create an atmosphere and it takes all the tools the writer has in her toolbox. So, yes isolation played a key role in creating that atmosphere and because I was living very near the places I wrote about I called on my own experience of isolation. Isolation was new to me, so I think I was more aware of it. I can only hope I was able to give this experience to my readers whether they recognized the isolation or had never experienced it.
Your characters face difficult moral choices throughout the novel. How do you approach writing morally complex characters without passing judgment on their decisions?
Yes - each and every one of the many characters in Blind Eye face difficult moral choices - Linda Pruitt made the choice to murder her husband and herself; Deona made the choice to abuse her stepson in countless ways; Corrine made the choice to leave her son behind; Salado made the choice to harbor a suspected killer… the list goes on and on. Luke, of course, made conscious and unconscious moral choices. I had to write especially Luke and all the others with some compassion or maybe with some distance.
I believe that every character is morally complex if viewed from a specific distance. If that distance is too large the character can become a cliche’ and if viewed too close up they can become unnaturally inconsistent or acting without intent. For me the challenge is getting the right distance and again it means using my toolbox of description, dialogue, action, and the impressions of others. A narrator, I believe, makes judgments with every word they write but if they give their reader enough and if they make the character layered enough then readers can often make their own judgments.
In Blind Eye I had another tool available… I let the We character pass judgements on the other characters. In the We character I think that the reader might see themselves. I certainly saw myself in the We.
The landscape itself seems to become a character in the book. Can you talk about how you developed the setting to heighten the story's tension?
Yes- I do think that the landscape is animated and can become character. For me any novel or story I write begins in setting and more broadly in landscape. My stories must take place “someplace.”
Annie Proulx said, “Landscape is geography, archeology, astrophysics, agronomy, agriculture, the violent character of atmosphere, climate, black squirrels and white oats, folded rock, bulldozers…landscape is rural, urban, semirural, small town, village; it is outports and bedroom communities; it is a remote ranch.”
I knew that the Bounty Canyon ranch had to have an atmosphere that put Leeland in danger. I hope I accomplished that.
Blind Eye touches on themes of community secrets and collective responsibility. What drew you to explore these particular aspects of small-town life?
Yes, you are right about community secrets. I had not thought about it that way. Again, I think that this speaks to the dichotomy of neighboring versus taking care of your own. Taking care of your own has elements of secrecy and neighboring has elements of responsibility. Kirkus Reviews said that “this story is less a murder mystery than an unflinching look at a culture and community.” That culture surely includes the two characteristics you mention.
What do you hope readers take away from your book?
This is a hard one to answer. At my book launch I had a woman come up to the desk where I was signing and she asked me, “What am I supposed to do with this book?” I was stunned and unable to answer for a minute. I think that question is impossible to answer but my hope would be that a reader would keep this story in their hearts and think back on it. I would hope that it would be a story they would want to discuss with others. I think that would be a wonderful take away.
What are you currently working on?
I completed and published another novel in 2024- Across the Narrows. It is a sweeping family saga set in Brooklyn, NY in the 1930s centered around a tragedy that leaves little room for forgiveness. It is the story of Ruby del Palacio who gradually realizes that her sole role in her household is to conceive, deliver, and nurse babies. She is a woman trapped by societal expectations in a time of limited women’s rights and rampant injustices. I am now at work on my third novel set in Halawa Valley on Oahu in the summer of 1985 when a young dance instructor goes missing. Once again, this novel is all about atmosphere and setting. Writing about Hawaii, where my husband and I lived for many years, takes me back and makes me feel the tradewinds yet again.
For more information on Martha Burns please visit https://www.marthaburnswriter.com/
