Though the book was published in 2018, Dinéyazhi' first began to write "An Infected Sunset" in 2016 in response to the Pulse Nightclub shooting, police brutality against black men, the Standing Rock and Dakota Pipeline protests, the inauguration of President Donald Trump, and the abrupt resurgence of white supremacy. Essentially, "An Infected Sunset" was written to serve as a motivational call to the Indigenous communities that strive for survivance and unity in the midst of the heightened corruption in the United States. According to Dinéyazhi', it "is a reflection on queer sex, survival/death politics, indigenous identity, settler and heteronormative romanticism, environmental injustice, and the importance of honoring community."