Junebug, Oklahoma 74666--Where Hell Comes Sweeping down the Plains

One question I've been asked is, "Where is Junebug, Oklahoma?"

Simply, Junebug, Oklahoma, is in the southwest corner of Oklahoma on the border of Jackson and Harmon counties.

Junebug, Oklahoma's zip code is 74666.




You understand the symbolism.

Another question I've been asked is, "How did you come up with the name 'Junebug'?"

Over 20 years ago, the State of Oklahoma had a series of public service announcements about littering.

The PSAs featured a stereotypical Okie complete with beer gut, four-day stubble, cut-off country style shirt, ball cap, and soiled-ripped jeans. He drove a pickup.
And his name was Bubba.

Bubba lived in the town of Junebug, Oklahoma.

When I went to the library to search the map for the location of Junebug, I found there was no such city. (This is pre-Google days.)

So, I took the name and created my own small SW-Oklahoma town and county complete with its own unique and horrifying history.

You can read about the founding and horrific history of Junebug, Oklahoma, HERE.

I published some Junebug stories--all of them horror and macabre.

One day I received an email from an elderly woman who claimed she had lived near Junebug, Oklahoma, and wondered if it still existed or if was one of the hundreds of Oklahoma ghost towns.

Once again, I went to the library (pre-Google, remember) and did a more thorough search for Junebug.

No such town has ever existed in the State of Oklahoma, Indian Territory, or Oklahoma Territory.

This lady, though, insisted she have lived not far from Junebug, Oklahoma, and even knew people who had lived there back in the 1910s and 1920s.

No amount of persuasion on my part could convince her that I had gotten the idea from a TV PSA about littering and that I had created the town and the country from my fevered imagination.

Perhaps creating a realistic town and setting that people think they remember is actually what a writer should be doing.

I took the lady's persistence that Junebug, Oklahoma, was a real town from her childhood memory as a huge compliment!

So, when NEVЯLAND jumped into my consciousness, the setting for this horrific post-apocalyptic middle grade-young adult novel could only be one place--JUNEBUG, OKLAHOMA.

Junebug, Oklahoma, is my Yoknapatawpha County.

See you in NEVЯLAND,

Larry Mike

PS: According to the USPS Zip Code website, the prefix 74- is actually an eastern Oklahoma zip. I had chosen 73666 as the original Zip Code but that's the Zip Code for Sweetwater, Oklahoma. There is no OK town with 74666, and so, I'll just take the criticism about placing a 74- prefix Zip Code in a 73- SW-OK setting.