How a Topeka-area native dreamed up her novel 'On Swift Horses,' which will become a film

Shannon Pufahl dedicated her first novel to her strong-willed, risk-taking grandmother, the late Dorthy Figgs.

Pufahl, a native of Berryton in southeast Shawnee County, recalled on Friday how, beginning in the 1990s, she often accompanied Figgs and other members of their family on gambling trips to Las Vegas.

"I was probably in Las Vegas 20 times before I was old enough to gamble," she said.

Figgs' experiences living in the western United States during her younger years with her husband, George Lee Figgs, inspired Pufahl's first novel, a historical work of fiction called "On Swift Horses," which was published in 2019.

That book is about to become a movie — and two of the producers are Academy Award winners.

Book by Shawnee Heights High School graduate is becoming a film

Pufahl, a 1997 graduate of Shawnee Heights High School, said it felt "surreal" to realize that her debut novel is becoming a film.

She spoke this past week in a telephone interview with The Capital-Journal from Monterey, California, where she lives with her wife, Shay O'Brien, and their dog.

Pufahl, who teaches creative writing at Stanford University and has a doctorate from the University of California, Davis, said she knows a lot of people who have written books, but none of those has ever become a movie.

"Making a movie is such a huge endeavor," Pufahl said. "It requires so many people and so much money."

But it is her understanding that principal photography is complete for the film based on her book, Pufahl said.

Pufahl said she had little to do with filming except for meeting before the movie was made with people involved, then visiting a set for it that portrayed a 1950s casino in Las Vegas, where part of Pufahl's novel takes place.

"The level of detail was amazing — down to ashtrays they had made with the vintage casino logos to the rented vintage slot machines," she said. "Plus all the extras in period clothes and hairstyles. If you put that level of detail in a novel no one would want to read it! But it's essential for portraying a believable and immersive world in film."

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Who's involved with the film?

Ley Line Entertainment and FirstGen Content are creating the film. Its producers include Peter Spears and Mollye Asher, who were among producers of "Nomadland," which won the 2020 Academy Award for Best Picture.

The movie's director is Daniel Minihan, who created and directed Netflix's limited series "Halston," and has directed episodes of HBO series that include "Game of Thrones," "Deadwood" and "Six Feet Under."

Pufahl said that while she knew early on in the process that some "serious people" would be at the helm, she had no idea so many "cool young people" would act in the film.

Its stars include the following:

• Jacob Elordi, 25, who has starred in Netflix's "The Kissing Both" teen film franchise and the HBO series "Euphoria."

• Daisy Edgar-Jones, 24, who has starred in the Hulu and BBC Three series "Normal People."

• Will Poulter, 30, who was among stars in the films "We're the Millers" and "Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader."

• And Diego Calva, 30, who was among the stars in the film "Babylon" and the Netflix series "Narcos: Mexico."

What is 'On Swift Horses' about?

A historical fiction novel with LGBTQ+ themes, "On Swift Horses" takes place in 1956 and 1957.

The novel is "a story of love and luck, of two people trying to find their place in a country that is coming apart even as it promises them everything," says Pufahl's personal website.

"A lonely newlywed and her wayward brother-in-law follow divergent and dangerous paths through the postwar American West," that description says.

"Muriel is newly married and restless, transplanted from her rural Kansas hometown to life in a dusty bungalow in San Diego," as the limits of her new life seem to be closing in, it says.

"She misses her freethinking mother, dead before Muriel's 19th birthday, and her sly, itinerant brother-in-law, Julius, who made the world feel bigger than she had imagined," the description adds. "And so she begins slipping off to the Del Mar racetrack to bet and eavesdrop, learning the language of horses and risk."

Meanwhile, the description says: "Julius is testing his fate in Las Vegas, working at a local casino where tourists watch atomic tests from the roof, and falling in love with Henry, a young card cheat. When Henry is eventually discovered and run out of town, Julius takes off to search for him in the plazas and dives of Tijuana, trading one city of dangerous illusions for another."

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Topeka is part of the 'On Swift Horses' story

Pufahl said she spent five years researching and writing "On Swift Horses," which included learning about 1950s Topeka.

One of her main characters, Muriel, grew up in Marshall County.

Two others — brothers Julius and George Lee, who is best known as "Lee" and was given that name by Pufahl in honor of her grandfather, George Lee Figgs — grew up primarily in Topeka.

At one point in the novel, Julius recalls an experience he and Lee had working together on Burnett's Mound.

Going to see an atomic bomb

Pufahl said she drew inspiration from stories about how Dorthy and George Lee Figgs moved after the Korean War from northeast Kansas to southern California.

While living there, Dorthy Figgs developed a passion for gambling in Las Vegas — something she continued to do after the Figgses moved in about 1972 to Topeka, where they had a Subaru dealership, Pufahl said.

While Dorthy Figgs didn't start to go regularly to Las Vegas until the 1960s, Pufahl set her novel in the 1950s and spent considerable time studying what that city was like at that time.

She said one archive photo she found showed well-dressed people standing atop the roof of a casino on the Las Vegas Strip to watch an atomic bomb explode in the distance in the Nevada desert.

"I had no idea that they used to do that, but it seemed such a funny, weird thing to be entertained by," Pufahl said.

Vegas visitors in her novel consume "Atomic Cocktails" while watching the far-off blasts and ignoring the "strange, scraped feeling behind their eyes."

The novel's cover art features a photo of an atomic bomb explosion, topped by a pink rose.

Pufahl wasn't involved with creating that illustration but said she considers it to be "amazing."

Critics praised the book, called it 'cinematic'

"On Swift Horses" was picked as an "Editors' Choice" by the New York Times Book Review, which described it as "Odyssean" and used the phrase "Love, Sex and Atom Bombs" in the headline of its review.

"Pufahl’s voice is strikingly solid, timeworn but not nostalgic, as she unravels a cinematic story that avoids genre clichés or sentimentality," that review said.

Pufahl's novel received praise from various other publications.

Those included the Los Angeles Times, which said, "She writes with a grace and force that’s rare even among seasoned writers."

'There's a chance' author will revisit 'On Swift Horses' characters

Pufahl is now working on her second novel, which she said is set in the 1970s in San Francisco.

Meanwhile, she said, her main characters from "On Swift Horses" remain close to her heart.

Pufahl might write another novel about those characters if the movie does well and people show an interest, she said.

"There's definitely a chance," she said. "You never know."

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Shawnee County native's novel, 'On Swift Horses,' being made into film