People of Darkness (1980)

Citizens Band, or CB, radio is a short-distance radio system that does not require a license and can be used by individuals or businesses for various communication purposes. CB radio in the U.S. was first introduced for personal use in the 1940s, and became especially popular in the 1970s when equipment costs dropped significantly. The system was widely used among small businesses and truckers. Although new technology in recent years brought about a decline in CB usage, truck drivers trill utilize it to share communication regarding service stations, fuel prices, road conditions, or speed traps.

In the U.S., a professional accountant must pass an exam and be officially accredited by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Accountants provide financial consultation and services to individuals, businesses, and corporations, and the certification is meant to ensure the accounting industry's regulations and standards are executed consistently and equably at each level of service.

The 31st state to join the Union, California was originally settled by hundreds of small, seminomadic indigenous groups before becoming the part of the Spanish Empire known as Alta, or upper, California. After the war of independence between Mexico and Spain, in 1821 California became a part of Mexico and then a part of the United States of America after the Mexican-American War in 1848. Although the name "California" derives from a 17th-century Spanish romance about an island of gold, in 1848, with the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, California became known as "the golden state" as thousands of people migrated to California by land, over well-established trails, and by boat, thus marking the beginning of the California Gold Rush.

There are a number of iconic landscapes and architectural sites in the state including Yosemite National Park, the Golden Gate Bridge, Disneyland, Redwood National Park, Lake Tahoe, Death Valley, and Hollywood to name but only a few. The state is best known for its connections to the film industry, the wine making business, and its agriculture, which was wrested from the western deserts via huge irrigation projects and the back-breaking labor of often undocumented immigrant farm workers.

A colloquial reference to a Bowie knife, a fixed blade, as opposed to a switch blade, knife named after the infamous knifefighter Jim Bowie, who was killed at the Battle of the Alamo in Texas in 1836.

Also known as an arroyo seco, gulch, or gully, a wash is a dry stream or river bed that does not hold water most of the time, but that is subject to seasonal flooding. Washes vary greatly in depth, width and length, and can be found all over the world in semiarid and desert areas. They are common throughout New Mexico and Southwestern parts of the U.S., where prolonged droughts keep them dry and heavy rains make them prone to flash flooding.

There is a long standing tradition of sheep and cattle herding among the Navajo and Hopi, as well as other Native peoples in the New Mexico and Arizona area. In warm weather, livestock is often taken to graze some distance from villages, to areas usually higher in elevation that offer abundant forage vegetation. Summer herding camps are temporary base settlements that can consist of tents or simply blankets laid on the ground next to a fire ring, although if the camp is used consistently by the same family, more permanent structures can also be also constructed. Water and food supplies are kept in the camp, so that herders can take the sheep out to graze during the day and come back by evening to spend the night at the camp. Sheep or cattle owners are often accompanied by their families, so that young boys can learn herding skills. Women and girls usually stay at the camp to cook and engage in craft making such as weaving. These seasonal herding camps are often located in remote areas, and are reached by wagon or a pickup truck that can traverse a rough terrain where no established roads are present.

A sheath or protective case that holds a weapon such as a gun, dagger, or sword.

A backup resource that functions to support ongoing operations when reserves, extra power, or additional help is needed.

A naturally-occurring or man-made reservoir that collects surface water. Catch basins vary in size and shape, depending on the terrain and how they are positioned within it.

The Navajo reservation, which spreads across northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona, and southern Utah, is comprised of seven major judicial districts, and many smaller chapters within each district. In Hillerman's 1984 novel SACRED CLOWNS, Greasy Water Trading Post, a fictional location, is the site of the theft of a number of antique items. Although there is no such district, chapter, or trading post in Navajo Nation territory, some names come close, such as Sweet Water and Greasewood Springs, so it can be assumed that real places provided the inspiration for the invention of this imaginary one.