Novels
Synopsis:
Every solstice, Jupi—just as his father did before him, and his before him—must make a nearly impossible pilgrimage to light an oil lamp at the base of a remote cliff. There he must wait for Kipik, an ancient being who has bound Jupi’s family to a mammoth task: share a story every visit that appeases the fickle Kipik, or suffer unthinkable consequences.
For decades, Jupi has made the trek, growing grey and exhausted carrying this burden. Nearing the end of his life, Jupi knows he must name a successor, someone from his bloodline who can carry this weight and pass it on to future generations. But Jupi’s life has not been easy. His three children, one deceased, one incarcerated, one addicted, are not suitable successors. So Jupi must connect with a granddaughter he barely knows, whose language he barely speaks, and convince her to carry the weight of their family, perhaps their whole community, for the rest of her life.
This moving collection explores shifting definitions of what it means to be accountable to others, how family and community are defined, and how the spirits and demons of the past (both personal and legendary) are very much alive today.
Additional Information
136 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | b&w illustrations | Paperback
Synopsis:
When Tom, an art house aficionado, returns to his hometown to attend the Brolleywood film studies conference, he discovers that his ex-girlfriend Esme has recently married their former prof, Cinny. Contact with the couple, gossip with his friend Nasim, and flirtation with a Hollywood bit player known as Lady Lex draw Tom into a noirish plot that may have Chabrol-ish consequences for his rival, and permanently distance him from his fiancée, a skilled harpsichordist named Ciana. As he navigates shifting islands of personal memory, Tom begins to wonder if life is not just a retcon (or the most contrived form of retroactive continuity). The price of admission includes an amateur opera matinee, a pub discourse on Godard-McBride Breathless Paradox, a giallo nightmare, and a hypnagogic hallucination inspired by a Tarkovsky retrospective, all threatened by the skintight spectre of the next superhero franchise.
Educator & Series Information
This is the second book in the Tulpa series.
Additional Information
400 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
When Gellhorn, a notable poet, begins a university residency in a “dynamic metropolis” and stays at the illustrious Máximo College, he finds himself scandalized, and for little known reason. Scrutiny by his new academic neighbours is the least of his worries, as he learns of the existence of Aaron Schnell, his physical pseudo-twin, and an actor and film “double.”
The Chair shares fragments from the oeuvre of Thomas Claque, a recently deceased author who contrived the tale of the pseudo-twins. The Chair’s scholarship leads him to the real Máximo College, where he revives those characters and scenarios, before travelling to a smaller prairie town where he reimagines one of Claque’s risqué getaways. There he meets a young woman doing her creative thesis on the double in literature.
Petra, a police clerk in an entirely different prairie city, receives a photograph of a missing person and recognizes a passenger from her weekday commute. Non-routine surveillance draws her deeper into his world until a global pandemic abruptly stalls her progress. Her romantic prospect soon leads to a greater mystery punctuated by the words, TULPA MEA CULPA, although its uncanny truth will be ultimately less provocative than serial coverage in the Prairie Pulse. Tulpa Mea Culpa is a literary tour-de-force and solidifies Morse as one of Canada’s most exciting writers today, and proves why he is a two-time Governor General Award nominee.
Educator & Series Information
This is the first book in the Tulpa series.
Additional Information
600 pages | 9.00" x 6.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
A Native American first contact story and gripping thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse
"Thrilling and personal... an important addition to the landscape of science fiction."—Pierce Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Rising
"Hole in the Sky is mind-bending… indigenous knowledge collides with science fiction in a thrilling page-turner."—Sterlin Harjo, filmmaker and writer of Reservation Dogs
On the Great Plains of Oklahoma, in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, a strange atmospheric disturbance is noticed by Jim Hardgray, a down-on-his-luck single father trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter, Tawny. At NASA’s headquarters in Houston, Texas, astrophysicist Dr. Mikayla Johnson observes an interaction with the Voyager 1 spacecraft on the far side of the solar system, and she concludes that something enormous and unidentified is heading directly for Earth. And in an undisclosed bunker somewhere in the United States, an American threat forecaster known only as the Man Downstairs intercepts a cryptic communication and sends a message directly to the president and highest-ranking military brass: “First contact imminent.”
Daniel H. Wilson’s Hole in the Sky is a riveting thriller in the most creative tradition of extraterrestrial fiction. Drawing on Wilson’s unique background as both a threat forecaster for the United States Air Force and a Cherokee Nation citizen, this propulsive novel asks probing questions about nonhuman intelligence, the Western mindset, and humans’ understanding of reality.
Reviews
“Incredible... Hole in the Sky is not only a thrilling, brilliant page-turner, its pages also turned me into the kind of reader I always want to be—deeply involved and curious about the world and the story unfolding before me, as if by magic—the kind of reader who can’t stop reading, who dreads the book coming to an end even while I can’t stop making my way toward it, who goes back and starts all over to figure out how it was done. Here we have a highly original premise about alien contact—no small feat unto itself—which also manages to seamlessly fold in Indigenous lives and knowledge. Every character here is alive, and there are so many stunning sentences I had to stop underlining. The story is killer. I love it. Run don’t walk to read this book.”—Tommy Orange, New York Times bestselling author of There There and Wandering Stars
“Hands down one of the best books I’ve read in a couple of years. Daniel H. Wilson has crafted a technotradish ride into the future in the most harrowing and engaging ways imaginable. Tightly tuned, sharply researched, and warm in all the best ways, you’ll want to clear your schedule because this is a sit-down-and-read-the-whole-thing-right-now kind of book. Bravo, Mr. Wilson!”—Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., bestselling co-editor of the Never Whistle At Night series
“This book doesn’t whisper. It roars from the edges of space, memory, and grief. Hole in the Sky is Indigenous sci-fi at its rawest: part cosmic threat, part broken father-daughter elegy, part fever dream of classified government failures. The humanity here is bruised, sharp-tongued, and holding on. And the fear? It’s in the blood. This one gets under your skin and stays there.”—Shane Hawk, bestselling co-editor of the Never Whistle at Night series
Additional Information
288 pages | 6.35" x 9.54" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
An epic quest fantasy debut that is the Tlingit indigenous response to The Lord of the Rings
When Elān trapped a salmon-stealing raven in his cupboard, he never expected it would hold the key to saving his people from the shapeshifting Koosh invaders plaguing their shores. In exchange for its freedom, the raven offers a secret that can save Elān’s home: the Koosh have lost one of their most powerful weapons, and only the raven knows where it is.
Elān is tasked with captaining a canoe crewed by an unlikely team including a human bear-cousin, a massive wolf, and the endlessly vulgar raven. To retrieve the weapon, they will face stormy seas, cannibal giants and a changing world. But Elān is a storyteller, not a warrior.
As their world continues to fall to the Koosh, and alliances are challenged and broken, Elān must choose his role in his own epic story.
Reviews
“Goodness, it’s so exciting when epic fantasy tropes are done well, when they feel fresh and unexpected. I am always so thankful for writers who can breathe new life into the genre elements we love the most, and Russell has done exactly that here.” —Reactor
“Storytelling at its purest, harkening back to times spent around a fire to listen to a master of their craft weave an engrossing tale… A thoroughly enjoyable, unique, and long overdue voice in modern fantasy.” —Karin Lowachee, author of The Crowns of Ishia trilogy
Additional Information
400 pages | 5.56" x 8.68" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
A haunting, unforgettable novel of obsession, pride, and forgiveness, exploring the friendship and rivalry between two gifted boys in harrowing circumstances, from the acclaimed writer of The Removed.
Milton Muleborn has envied Matthew Echota, a talented Cherokee artist, ever since they were locked up together in a dangerous juvenile detention center in the late 1980s. Until Matthew escaped, that is.
A novel within a novel, we read here Milton’s dark, sometimes comic, and possibly unreliable account of the story of their childhood even as, years later, he remains jealous of Matthew’s extraordinary abilities and unlikely success. Milton reveals secrets about their friendship, their families, and their nightmarish, surreal, experience of imprisonment. In revisiting the past, he explores the echoing traumas of incarceration and pride.
Filled with Brandon Hobson’s swirling yet visceral writing, and punctuated with original artwork, The Devil Is a Southpaw is an ambitious, elegant, and propulsive novel in the spirit of Vladimir Nabokov and Gabriel García Márquez.
Reviews
"Hobson has never been more brilliant, more transcendent, more in touch with the beating human spirit, than he is in The Devil is a Southpaw. No other writer is so continuously reinventing the novel, weaving together Cherokee myth, rock and roll, the supernatural, and his own first published paintings. Perhaps his best novel yet, which is really saying something." — Deb Olin Unferth, author of Barn 8
“Brandon Hobson is a great contemporary American fiction writer—wily, funny, sly, sad, and vast. The Devil Is a Southpaw is a welcome addition to his very significant stack. It’s got a little Cervantes in it, a little Pink Floyd, and a lot of American tragedy. I bet you’ll love it, as I did.” — Rick Moody, author of Hotels of North America
"Hobson holds the reader’s attention with appealing surrealistic asides, such as the boys’ encounter with a doppelgänger of painter Salvador Dalí, who rhapsodizes over the band Duran Duran. There’s plenty of fun to be had with this cerebral novel." — Publishers Weekly
Additional Information
352 pages | 5.50" x 8.25" | 27 b/w illustrations | Hardcover
Synopsis:
An ambitious, world-envisioning work of Indigenous futurism.
Since 2015—through a proliferation of forms including sculpture, regalia, film, photography, poetry, painting, and installation—acclaimed multimedia artist Cannupa Hanska Luger has been weaving together strands of a new myth. Collectively referred to as Future Ancestral Technologies, this sprawling series of interrelated works seeks to reimagine Indigenous life and culture in a postcolonial world where space exploration has reduced and reconfigured the earth’s population.
Part graphic novel, part art book, SURVIVA: A Future Ancestral Field Guide offers readers a view beneath, beyond, and between the lines of Luger's ever-expanding artistic universe. In this ecstatically hybrid work, Luger transforms a 1970s military survival guide through poetic redaction, speculative fiction, and iterative line drawing—deftly surfacing and disrupting the colonial subconscious that haunts this vexed source text. An epic and timely meditation on planetary life in the midst of transformation, SURVIVA boldly presents an earth-based, demilitarized futuredream that foregrounds Indigenous knowledge as critical to humanity’s survival
SURVIVA is the first title from Aora Books, a publishing imprint dedicated to exploring transformational thought and culture that transcends borders, disciplines, and traditions. Rooted in an ethos of polyvocality and planetary consciousness, Aora publishes works that forge bold connections across time, place, ideas, and beings often seen as separate.
Reviews
"SURVIVA offers Indigenous wisdom for a shared future built on ancestral knowledge in radical relation. This is a survival guide like none other." —Candice Hopkins, curator of the Forge Project
"SURVIVA boldly reimagines our conceptions of time and history, challenging our collective narratives and pushing us to rethink the art of survival through a lens of transformation."—Hank Willis Thomas, artist and cofounder of For Freedoms
"Cannupa Hanska Luger has created a wondrous book of survivance, a story to carry in pocket and study at every opportunity. At once a dystopia (earth is near destroyed) and a postcolonial fantasy (the colonizers abandon the planet for good), SURVIVA is a work of artistic brilliance that draws our attention to the simultaneity of ruins and futures. Rich with dreampower and evocation, these pages illustrate the mysteries of space-time, the dissolution of boundaries, and the relational universe described by Indigenous quantum mechanics. Read carefully, SURVIVA has the power to bend time itself, lifting us from past and present into futures innumerable."—Philip J. Deloria, Leverett Saltonstall Professor of History at Harvard University and author of Playing Indian
Additional Information
162 pages | 5.44" x 8.31" | original line drawings & ecopoetic fragments - reminiscent of 1970s diy photocopy culture | Paperback
Synopsis:
When a young girl goes missing, the ghosts of the past collide with her family’s secrets in a mesmerizing Native American Southern Gothic
When six-year-old Laurel Taylor vanishes without a trace, her family is left shattered, struggling to navigate the darkness of grief and unanswered questions. As their search turns to despair, Laurel’s older sister, Nadine, begins experiencing nightmares that blur the line between dream and reality, and she becomes convinced that Laurel’s disappearance could be connected to other family tragedies. Guided by her elders, Nadine sets out to uncover whether laying the ghosts to rest is the key to finding her sister and healing her fractured family.
Carson Faust captivates in this chilling literary debut that confronts the specter of colonization and the generational scars it leaves on Native American families. Steeped in Indigenous folklore and drawing from the author’s own family history, If the Dead Belong Here examines what it means to be haunted—both by the supernatural and by terrors of our own making. Faust crafts a powerful, kaleidoscopic tale about the complicated legacies of violence that shape our present, the importance of honoring our past, and the resilience of a family—and a people—determined to heal from old wounds.
Reviews
“If the Dead Belong Here is a thunderclap of a novel—fierce, lyrical, and unrelentingly intimate. Carson Faust writes across time, bloodline, and grief with mythic authority and needlepoint precision. This is a story about hauntings both literal and inherited, a child gone missing, and the women who carry everything that came before. Faust doesn’t just bend form—he breaks it open. Because what needs to be carried here won’t fit inside a neat arc or a clean ending. This book doesn’t offer closure—it offers witness: to generational grief, to girls who vanish and those who are left to search, to the slow violence of silence, to the ways history seeps into the body and stays. What it asks in return is that you stay too.”—Morgan Talty, national bestselling author of Night of the Living Rez
“Carson Faust’s powerful debut novel swept me away with its glorious prose, compelling characters, and compassionate heart. Faust’s story charts a course of horror and loss, with moments so terrifying I had to turn on an extra light to keep reading. Yet the structural refrain that underpins this wonder of a book always returns to love. I gladly surrendered to the ferocious brilliance of this multi-generational tale, admiring the courage of young Nadine who is a ‘student to the dead.’ What lingers is the thought that perhaps we all are . . .”—Mona Susan Power, author of A Council of Dolls
“If the Dead Belong Here reminds us to listen to the songs of the night and hold our loved ones close. Intergenerational grief and loss run through the story’s DNA, but this is also a novel about intergenerational wisdom, strength, and endurance. It’ll captivate you, scare you, and—if you let it—might offer more than a little healing. In this shimmering, heart-filled debut, Carson Faust establishes himself as a rare and special voice.”—Kelli Jo Ford, author of Crooked Hallelujah
"If The Dead Belong Here offers a riveting mystery and beautifully complex characters who linger long after reading. Expect a steady-handed untangling of intergenerational trauma. Expect prose that is both haunted and thrumming with life. With this hypnotic, humid, love-wrought saga, Carson Faust debuts as a literary force."—Monica Brashears, author of House of Cotton
“A terrifying, heartfelt debut about communal responsibility, about what we owe to each other and our dead loved ones. The Crowe sisters leap off the page with their wisdom and candor, and the novel’s formal experiments radiate with brilliance. Faust teaches us that there are hauntings that can save us, if we’re brave enough to listen.”—Alejandro Heredia, author of Loca
Additional Information
400 pages | 6.33" x 9.33" | 1 family tree | Hardcover
Synopsis:
A young man is haunted by a mythological specter bent on stealing everything he loves in this unsettling horror from the author of Indian Burial Ground and Sisters of the Lost Nation.
For fear of summoning evil spirits, Native superstition says you should never, ever whistle at night.
Henry Hotard was on the verge of fame, gaining a following and traction with his eerie ghost-hunting videos. Then his dreams came to a screeching halt. Now, he's learning to navigate a new life in a wheelchair, back on the reservation where he grew up, relying on his grandparents’ care while he recovers.
And he’s being haunted.
His girlfriend, Jade, insists he just needs time to adjust to his new reality as a quadriplegic, that it’s his traumatized mind playing tricks on him, but Henry knows better. As the specter haunting him creeps closer each night, Henry battles to find a way to endure, to rid himself of the horror stalking him. Worried that this dread might plague him forever, he realizes the only way to exile his phantom is by confronting his troubled past and going back to the events that led to his injury.
It all started when he whistled at night....
Additional Information
368 pages | 6.26" x 9.27" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
One young woman’s relentless quest to become the first Cherokee astronaut will irrevocably alter the fates of the people she loves most in this tour de force of a debut about ambition, belonging, and family.
My mother took my sister and me, and she drove through the night to a place she felt a claim to, a place on earth she thought we might be safe. I stopped asking questions. I picked little glass pieces from my sister’s hair. I watched the moon.
Steph Harper is on the run. When she was five, her mother fled an abusive husband—with Steph and her younger sister in tow—to Cherokee Nation, where she hoped they might finally belong. In response, Steph sets her sights as far away from Oklahoma as she can get, vowing that she will let nothing get in the way of pursuing the rigorous physical and academic training she knows she will need to be accepted by NASA, and ultimately, to go to the moon.
Spanning three decades and several continents, To the Moon and Back encompasses Steph’s turbulent journey, along with the multifaceted and intertwined lives of the three women closest to her: her sister Kayla, an artist who goes on to become an Indigenous social media influencer, and whose determination to appear good takes her life to unexpected places; Steph’s college girlfriend Della Owens, who strives to reclaim her identity as an adult after being removed from her Cherokee family through a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act; and Hannah, Steph and Kayla’s mother, who has held up her family’s tribal history as a beacon of inspiration to her children, all the while keeping her own past a secret.
In Steph’s certainty that only her ambition can save her, she will stretch her bonds with each of these women to the point of breaking, at once betraying their love and generosity, and forcing them to reconsider their own deepest desires in her shadow. Told through an intricately woven tapestry of narrative, To the Moon and Back is an astounding and expansive novel of mothers and daughters, love and sacrifice, alienation and heartbreak, terror and wonder. At its core, it is the story of the extraordinary lengths to which one woman will go to find space for herself.
Reviews
“A story of decisions; right, wrong and everything in between, To the Moon and Back explores love and ambition and all its complicated messiness. With characters so perfectly rendered that you’ll want to hug them or give them a shake, Eliana Rampage explores what it means to belong in this immersive and exciting debut.” — Amanda Peters, author of The Berry Pickers (winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence)
“A soaring masterpiece that mixes the terror, care, betrayal, and death-defying love of family with deliciously abject lesbian drama and the beautifully self-destructive doggedness of possessing a singular dream. Every character in this novel will stay with you forever. I love this book.” —Casey Plett, award-winning author of A Dream of a Woma—
“A John Irving-esque tragicomic saga… This author is as ambitious as her protagonist: There are three novels worth of material here, all good. The moon or bust!” —Kirkus Review (starred review)
Additional Information
448 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Thrust into the foster care system from an early age, Apple moves from house to house on Prince Edward Island without finding a home until she's a teenager and taken in by a couple who never managed to have children themselves. When she falls pregnant, her foster parents are keen to raise the baby with Apple still in the house—to live as a family.
That opportunity is torn from Apple by members of the Catholic Church along with social workers and government officials. Their vicious practices take the babies of unwed mothers and give them to wealthy families in exchange for large "donations" to the church. Apple's beloved baby ends up with a rich couple in the U.S., and is lost to her.
The Baby Train traces her life in the aftermath of that loss, raising subsequent children, creating deep bonds of friendship with other women struggling against society's rigid norms, and carrying underneath it all an unending love for her firstborn child.
We also follow her baby's path, and watch his affluent, neglected childhood and then adulthood unfold. He never knows that his birth mother still yearns for him, still lights him birthday candles every year.
The shameful legacy of forced and coerced adoption in Eastern Canada is brought to life in this sweeping novel.
Educator Information
PEI's birth alert practice allowed hospitals or social workers to flag expectant parents whom they felt might put their newborns at risk. Generally, this practice targeted Indigenous and unwed women.
Additional Information
224 pages | 5.75" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Ukraine, 1944
As the world around her is ripped apart by war and infiltrated by Nazi soldiers, Savka Ivanets works as a medic for the Ukrainian resistance, stitching wounds by day, stealing supplies by night, and dodging firefights between the SS and Soviet partisans. When her husband, Marko, a reluctant member of the Waffen-SS, forces her to deliver a coded message to an underground bunker, she’s terrified. But when her mission doesn’t go as planned, and her son, Taras, is kidnapped by the KGB, Savka fears she’ll never see him again.
Salt Spring Island, 1972
For Jeanie Esterhazy, the world, with its whispers and curious eyes, is too much to bear. Ever since the horrific accident that left her badly scarred, Jeanie, unable to remember anything about that awful day, has pulled away from society, utterly isolated.
Then a mysterious stranger appears at her house, and Jeanie suddenly begins having flashbacks about the night of her wedding—flashbacks that hold answers to the questions she’s had for years; flashbacks that make her realize the world around her is not as it seems.
Weaving together Savka and Jeanie's stories with artful precision, The Last Secret is at once luminous and transporting, a brilliant and impossible-to-forget story of love, hope, and the breathtaking resilience of women.
Reviews
"An extraordinarily powerful novel cinematically weaving one gripping layer into the next. From the frozen hellscape of Eastern Europe during WW2 to the lush green of Salt Spring Island in Canada, The Last Secret delivers a thrilling story of survival and love that held me spellbound throughout. Brava, Ms. Caron! An easy five stars." —Genevieve Graham, #1 bestselling author of The Forgotten Home Child
"How delicious to discover sleepy Salt Spring Island, BC, caught up in the icy tendrils of a Cold War thriller. Sweeping from hardship to heartache, The Last Secret is a timely reminder of the improbable bonds forged, broken and recast on World War II’s Eastern Front. Here, revenge is served tundra-cold, but with a dash of sea salt and fire." —Shelley Wood
Additional Information
416 pages | 6.09" x 8.91" | Paperback
Synopsis:
From the #1 bestselling and award-winning author of Indians on Vacation, a witty and wry novel set in a small Ontario town where all is seemingly ordinary except for one thing—aliens have landed on the moon
In Thomas King’s new novel, the citizens of a small Ontario town face life-changing decisions. Bria’s grandmother asks her to take her great-grandmother’s rosary to Edmonton and return it in person to the pope. When she flings it into the lake, the rosary somehow hits the pope on the cheek, thousands of kilometres away. It is the same rosary. How is this possible? Thea is furious at her son for putting her in an old-age home. She should have had a daughter. A daughter would never have forced her from her home. Darlene is mixed up with the no-good petty thief Billy. When she ends up in the hospital, she finds Thea’s fanny pack on the floor. Darlene needs the $265 tucked inside, but she also wants a reward for returning the fanny pack. Herb has bought the drive-in movie theatre on the edge of town and has turned it into his home. He watches movies on the big screen while treating the parking lot as his personal driving range. Should he travel west to see his family on the reserve? Nico has a Subaru whose battery keeps failing, but there are no replacements in North America. Gary and Brenda from the dealership are having an affair. Richard wants to set up a dating profile but has no cell phone.
Just the stuff of ordinary life except for one thing: Aliens have landed on the moon. They are watching Earth and earthlings. What is their plan? With the arrival of the aliens, ordinary life is upended in ways that are both hilarious and revealing. While some people fear the aliens’ three-part mandate to save the planet (which might have been written by a grade 9 student in the US), others think the arrival of the aliens is a golden opportunity for a deep discount weekend at Costco that could possibly rival Amazon’s Black Friday.
Additional Information
272 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
Amaruq: The Wolf was one of the first full-length novels ever written in Inuktitut. Out of print for over twenty years, this groundbreaking novel has been re-transcribed, translated, and meticulously edited to produce a commercially available bilingual version for the first time.
Written by Inuit Elder Uvinik Qamaniq, this sweeping novel oscillates between time and place. Alternating between a modern Arctic community, where a teen lives with his family and navigates the challenges of family life, to the world of Inuit stories woven by the teen's grandfather, who tells the boy of the epic coming-of-age journey of Amaruq, a young shaman, this book highlights the power of stories to teach and inform everyday experiences. With a cover illustrated by renowned Inuit artist Germaine Arnattaujuq
Educator Information
Bilingual: English and Inuktitut.
Additional Information
208 pages | 7.00" x 9.00" | 11 b&w line drawings | Paperback
Synopsis:
By the celebrated author of Canada Reads Finalist Indian Horse, a stunning new novel that has all the timeless qualities of a classic, as it tells the universal story of a father/son struggle in a fresh, utterly memorable way, set in dramatic landscape of the BC Interior. For male and female readers equally, for readers of Cormac McCarthy, Thomas King, Russell Banks, and general literary.
Franklin Starlight is called to visit his father, Eldon. He's sixteen years old and has had the most fleeting of relationships with the man. The rare moments they've shared haunt and trouble Frank, but he answers the call, a son's duty to a father. He finds Eldon decimated after years of drinking, dying of liver failure in a small town flophouse. Eldon asks his son to take him into the mountains, so he may be buried in the traditional Ojibway manner.
What ensues is a journey through the rugged and beautiful backcountry, and a journey into the past, as the two men push forward to Eldon's end. From a poverty-stricken childhood, to the Korean War, and later the derelict houses of mill towns, Eldon relates both the desolate moments of his life and a time of redemption and love and in doing so offers Frank a history he has never known, the father he has never had, and a connection to himself he never expected.
A novel about love, friendship, courage, and the idea that the land has within it powers of healing, Medicine Walk reveals the ultimate goodness of its characters and offers a deeply moving and redemptive conclusion.
Wagamese's writing soars and his insight and compassion are matched by his gift of communicating these to the reader.
Reviews
“In Medicine Walk, Wagamese manages the nuances of betrayal and redemption with uncommon artistry. It is a breathtaking novel of sorrow, hope and polished steel.” – Thomas King
“A deeply felt and profoundly moving novel, written in the kind of sure, clear prose that brings to mind the work of the great North American masters; Steinbeck among them. But Wagamese's voice and vision are also completely his own, as is the important and powerful story he has to tell.” – Jane Urquhart
“Medicine Walk recounts the mythic journey of an estranged father and son who are searching for reconciliation and love. Richard Wagamese’s novel renders the Canadian wilderness with staggering insight and beauty. The same can be said for his understanding of the fragility, wildness and resilience of the human heart. Magnificent.” – Lisa Moore
“Medicine Walk is a masterpiece, a work of art that explores human interconnectedness with a level of artistry so superb that the personal becomes eternal.” – National Post
“A moving story…. Wagamese balances the novel’s spiritual and political subtexts with sly humour, sharp, believable dialogue and superb storytelling skills. Medicine Walk is a major accomplishment from an author who has become one of Canada’s best novelists.” – Toronto Star
“This is very much a novel about the role of stories in our lives, those we tell ourselves about ourselves and those we agree to live by…. Wagamese understands that the stories we don’t tell are as important as the ones we do….But Medicine Walk is also testament to the redemptive power of love and compassion.” – Globe and Mail
“One of the finest novels of the year…. Medicine Walk is not only a graceful book, it is a novel of grace, of coming to terms with hidden truths, of coming to know the secrets behind forbidding appearances, of finding the humanity within strangers.” – Vancouver Sun
“An essential read…. Superbly written.” – Now Magazine (NNNN)
Educator & Series Information
This edition of Medicine Walk is part of the Kanata Classics series, which celebrates timeless books that reflect the rich and diverse range of voices in Canadian literature.
Grades 10-12 BC English First Peoples resource for units on Childhood, Place-Conscious Learning, and Family.
Additional Information
256 pages | 5.50" x 8.25" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Times have been tough for twelve-year-old Junior, his mom, and especially for his younger brother Dino. When his dad makes a surprise visit late one night, Junior is desperate to make him part of their family again. The only problem is Dad drowned eight years ago.
And bringing back the dead always comes at a cost…
Reviews
"Jones’s neat little horror novella balances an energetic narrative with larger explorations of the inescapable burdens of family ties...Wonderfully refreshing and not to be missed."—Publishers Weekly
"Mapping the Interior is thus a masterful critique of time, place, and memory in (post/de)colonial contexts that surfaces questions urgent for Native literature, horror fiction, and American history."—World Literature Today
Additional Information
112 pages | 5.25" x 8.25" | Paperback
Synopsis:
For readers of N.K. Jemisin and Rebecca Roanhorse, a fast-paced, anti-colonial action-adventure fantasy that explores twisted power dynamics and the effects of settler colonialism
After the murder of T’Rayles’s adopted son, the infamous warrior and daughter of the Indigenous Ibinnas returns to the colonized city of Seventhblade, ready to tear the streets asunder in search of her son’s killer. T’Rayles must lean into the dangerous power of her inherited sword and ally herself with questionable forces, including the Broken Fangs, an alliance her mother founded, now fallen into greed and corruption, and the immortal Elraiche, a powerful and manipulative deity exiled from a faraway land. Navigating the power shifts in a colonized city on the edge and contending with a deadly new power emerging from within, T’Rayles must risk everything to find the answers, and the justice, she so desperately desires.
Loaded with complex characters and intricately staged action, and set in a fragmented, fascinating world of dangerous magics and cryptic gods, Seventhblade is a masterful new fantasy adventure from a bright, emerging Indigenous voice.
Reviews
“Tonia [Laird] is a powerhouse.” — Katherena Vermette, award-winning author of The Break and The Strangers
“Tonia Laird tells a gripping story of grief, magic, and revenge while exploring the impact of generational trauma on a colonized people. At times brutal, nuanced, and compassionate, Laird writes with confidence and gives us a fantastic hero in T’Rayles.” — Trick Weekes, author of The Palace Job
“At its core, Seventhblade is a story of a mother’s love, her need for justice, and the discovery of her roots. Drawing on her Indigenous heritage, Tonia Laird weaves the tale of T’Rayles, a half-soul with a mysterious past, set in a world where gods roam freely. Deftly written with intricate worldbuilding and vivid characters, Seventhblade is fantasy at its finest ... and I need a sequel!” — Allison Pang, writer of the Abby Sinclair urban fantasy series
Additional Information
376 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
The award-winning, bestselling author of The Back of the Turtle and The Inconvenient Indian masters the comic mystery novel in this series opener, starring ex-cop Thumps DreadfulWater.
Thumps DreadfulWater is a Cherokee ex-cop trying to make a living as a photographer in the small town of Chinook, somewhere in the northwestern United States. But he doesn’t count on snapping shots of a dead body languishing in a newly completed luxury condo resort built by the local Indian band. It’s a mystery that Thumps can’t help getting involved in, especially when he realizes the number one suspect is Stick Merchant, anti-condo protester and wayward son of Claire Merchant, head of the tribal council and DreadfulWater’s sometimes lover. Smart and savvy, blessed with a killer dry wit and a penchant for self-deprecating humour, DreadfulWater just can’t manage to shed his California cop skin. Before long, he is deeply entangled in the mystery and has his work cut out for him.
Reviews
"The characters are really clever. . . . The dialogue is crisp and just begs to head to the screen." — The Globe and Mail
Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the DreadfulWater Mystery Series.
Books in this series include:
- Dreadful Water
- The Red Power Murders
- Cold Skies
- A Matter of Malice
- The Obsidian Murders
- Deep House
- Double Eagle
- Black Ice
A novel that will appeal to mystery fans as well as Thomas King’s loyal audience, DreadfulWater is a catchy, clever read.
Additional Information
464 pages | 4.19" x 7.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
When a Native teenager vanishes from her small town—a place with dark ties to an elite historical society—archaeologist Syd Walker is called to investigate...from bestselling author Vanessa Lillie.
In the hours before dawn at a local summer camp, Bureau of Indian Affairs archaeologist Syd Walker receives an alarming call: newly discovered skeletal remains have been stolen. Not only have bones gone missing, but a Native teen girl has disappeared near the camp, and law enforcement dismisses her family's fears.
As Syd investigates both crimes, she's drawn into a world of privileged campers and their wealthy parents—most of them members of the Founders Society, an exclusive club whose members trace their lineage to the first colonists and claim ancestral rights to the land, despite fierce objections from the local tribal community. And it's not the first time something—or someone—has gone missing from the camp.
The deeper Syd digs, the more she realizes these aren't isolated incidents. A pattern of disappearances stretches back generations, all leading to the Founders Society's doorstep. But exposing the truth means confronting not just the town's most powerful families, but also a legacy of violence that refuses to stay buried.
From the national bestselling author of Blood Sisters (a Washington Post Best Mystery of the Year and Target Book Club pick) comes a new Syd Walker novel that proves the sins of the past are destined to repeat until the truth is finally unearthed.
Additional Information
368 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
For fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic and Ramona Emerson’s Shutter: a gripping retelling of Persephone and Demeter in the Mexicali borderlands
At the edge of the Salton Sea, in the blistering borderlands, something is out hunting. . .
Malamar Veracruz has never left the dust-choked town of El Valle. Here, Mal has done her best to build a good life: She’s raised two children, worked hard, and tried to forget the painful, unexplained disappearance of her sister, Elena. When another local girl goes missing, Mal plunges into a fresh yet familiar nightmare. As a desperate Mal hunts for answers, her search becomes increasingly tangled with inscrutable visions of a horse-headed woman, a local legend who Mal feels compelled to follow. Mal’s perspective is joined by the voices of her two daughters, all three of whom must work to uncover the truth about the missing girls in their community before it's too late.
Combining elements of Latina and Indigenous culture, family drama, mystery, horror, and magical realism in a spellbinding mix, Salt Bones lays bare the realities of environmental catastrophe, family secrets, and the unrelenting bond between mothers and daughters.
Reviews
“Salt Bones is an intense, lyrical journey of twisted family ties, long kept secrets, and haunted women— in short, it’s a wonder.”—Erika T. Wurth, author of White Horse
“Visceral and compelling, Jennifer Givhan’s Salt Bones beautifully explores the dark complexities of mother-daughter relationships. Satisfyingly saturated with mystery and mythology, Salt Bones is a book that stays with you. Readers will be haunted long after the final page.”—Erin E. Adams, author of Jackal
“In a world of Mexicali myth and post-industrial ruin, a mother-daughter bond drives an engaging thriller about missing and murdered women. Jennifer Givhan's Salt Bones is the perfect blend of political horror and other-worldly nightmares.”—Deborah Jackson Taffa, author of Whiskey Tender
“A beautifully woven tale of three strong women and the family ties that support, and those that strangle. Rooted in myth, this emotionally powerful magical realist mystery has an atmosphere so thick and richly drawn you’d swear you can taste the grit of dust on your tongue. Masterful."—Ann Dávila Cardinal, author of We Need No Wings and The Storyteller’s Death
“A poetic mystery deftly carved from the sinews of our flawed humanity. Salt Bones’ Mal may mean ‘bad,’ but she is as good as a protagonist gets. Magical and messy, fierce but flawed, tough yet tender, you’ll find yourself rooting for her from the first page to the last, and you will not forget her story.”—Rudy Ruiz, author of The Border Between U
“As haunting as it is gorgeous, Salt Bones is a mystery about monsters who lurk among us—and something even fiercer: motherlove. With threads of horror, folklore, and mythology, Jennifer Givhan weaves together an obsession-worthy story so gripping and intoxicating it’s impossible to shake.”—Megan Co
Additional Information
384 pages | 6.00" x 9.25" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
From the co-editor of the bestselling anthology Never Whistle at Night, a semi-autobiographical novel that follows a group of teenage gang members as they trek across Chicago to a momentous meeting, inspired by the cult classic The Warriors
“Cool and real as hell.” —Tommy Orange, bestselling author of There There
An ordinary day in August 1979 dawns hot and humid in Chicago. Teenager Teddy is living with his dad after being kicked out of his mom’s house due to his gang activity. But Teddy has thrived in the Simon City Royals, and today, he'll be helping to lead a posse of the group's younger members south across the city to Roosevelt High School to attend a gathering of gangs forming “the Nation”—a bold new attempt at joining forces across racial lines. This holds particular importance for Teddy, as his branch’s only Indigenous member.
But when the meeting breaks up in gunshots and police sirens, Teddy must guide the Royals back across hostile territory, along secret routes and back alleys, and stop by stop on the thundering tracks of the El. In the face of violence from rival gangs and a secret Judas in the Royals’ ranks, Teddy is armed only with a potent combination of book smarts and street smarts, and by the guiding spirit of Coyote, who has granted him the power to glimpse a future only he may survive to see.
Immersed in the sights, sounds, and smells of the author’s beloved city, The El will transport you to that singular sun- and blood-soaked day in Chicago. It is a love letter to another time, to a city, and to a group of friends trying to find their place and make their way in a world that doesn’t want them.
Reviews
“[Van Alst] is so off-handedly smart, and cool and real as hell. He writes the city beautifully, the way it chokes and breathes out the lives of its people, in too many ways to track, on one of its trains say, crowded and loud. Van Alst writes exactly like himself, a true original, writing about Native people in Chicago, about Native people involved with gangs, and with relationships to the city. He writes about the internal lives of what we have to call criminals, but that term itself is a misunderstanding in a stolen country, where laws made to benefit its thieves only make sense justice-wise in the same way that America called itself the land of the free even while it was led by leaders who owned slaves. Everything he writes is beautifully wrought, mean and bright, and surprisingly tender.”—Tommy Orange, bestselling author of There There
"Chicago is built on stolen land, but its writers remain free to build their own cities of words, to reclaim their collective past and assert their individual present. In The El, [however your long-ass name will be used in this sort of copy!] constructs a new edifice for Chicago’s collective textual city. No obscure gang-banger graffiti tag symbolically claiming territory the powerful think they own, his contemporary indigenous, working-class, and poetic voice develops a whole new neighborhood. Read The El, and you will understand the El, and Chicago, from a vital new perspective."—Bill Savage, editor of Chicago by Day and Night
Additional Information
192 pages | 5.18" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
A Muscogee pop star and a cowboy who couldn’t be more different come together to strike a deal in this new romantic comedy by Danica Nava, USA Today bestselling author of The Truth According to Ember.
Pop singer Avery Fox has become a national joke after posing scantily clad on the cover of Rolling Stone in a feather warbonnet. What was meant to be a statement of her success as a Native American singer has turned her into a social pariah and dubbed her a fake. With threats coming from every direction and her career at a standstill, she escapes to her estranged grandmother Lottie’s ranch in Oklahoma. Living on the rez is new to Avery—not only does she have to work in the blazing summer heat to earn her keep, but the man who runs Lottie’s horse ranch despises her and wants her gone.
Red Fox Ranch has been home to Lucas Iron Eyes since he was sixteen years old. He has lived by three rules to keep himself out of trouble: 1) preserve the culture, 2) respect the horses, and 3) stick to himself. When he is tasked with picking up Lottie’s granddaughter at the bus station, the last person he expected to see is the Avery Fox. Lucas can’t stand what she represents, but when he’s forced to work with her on the ranch, he can’t get her out of his sight—or his head. He reminds himself to keep to his rules, especially after he finds out the ranch is under threat of being shut down.
It’s clear Avery doesn’t belong here, but they form a tentative truce and make a deal: Avery will help raise funds to save the ranch, and in exchange, Lucas will show her what it really means to be an Indian. It’s purely transactional, absolutely no horsing around…but where’s the fun in that?
Reviews
"Artfully crafted and bursting with tension, Avery and Lucas’ story hits every beat with intention and ease. Nava delivers a sharp, funny, and deliciously slow-burning romance about two people learning to carve out their own space in the world. Love is a War Song is the book of the summer!”—Lyla Sage, New York Times bestselling author of Swift and Saddled
“A swoony love story that deftly explores identity, redemption, and the complexities of cancel culture. Danica Nava's sophomore novel is as thought provoking as it is funny and heart melting. It's a must read for all romance book lovers.”—Hannah Grace, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Daydream
"I devoured this within hours. I absolutely loved every page and how Avery overcame her struggles. My kingdom for Lucas. He was the most swoony MMC. The ending was so emotional and I was holding back tears. Sweet and sexy in the perfect package."—Nisha J Tuli, international bestselling author of Trial of the Sun Queen and Not Safe for Work
"Hilarious, sexy, and oh so addictive, Love is a War Song delivers the country-pop star mashup romance readers have been desperately waiting for! Danica Nava’s razor sharp wit and gift for storytelling never fail to make me laugh and swoon. Thanks to Danica Nava, I’m officially in my cowboy romance reading era, and I never want to leave! Between the dreamy western backdrop and pitch perfect enemies to lovers banter, Love is a War Song is a must read for fans of genre staples like Lyla Sage and Rebekah Weatherspoon."—Ellie Palmer, author of Four Weekends and a Funeral
“Danica Nava’s Love is A War Song is an at times hilarious yet moving story of redemption, love, and the importance of family and community. Fish out of water is one of my favorite tropes to read, and Nava executed it perfectly. I can’t wait to read what she writes next!”—Kristina Forest, USA Today bestselling author of The Love Lyric
Additional Information
336 pages | 5.18" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
In 2004, settler scholar Emanuelle Dufour became aware of a “silence” with regard to residential schools and ongoing colonialism, systemic racism, inadequate curricular material in schools, and sought to find answers by meeting with community members, Elders, spokespeople, students, professionals, families, and many others.
Dufour is an artist at heart, and the product of her findings became a “carnet de rencontres,” a notebook of coming-togethers, in which her fifty+ interlocutors are rendered “speaking,” quite literally, on and within the pages, while advocating for the importance of Indigenous cultural security within the education system. Their presence is undeniable, and their voices carry the narrative.
Originally published as C'est le Québec qui est né dans mon pays!, this translation creates a bridge, from one colonial language to another, that will enable conversations across and beyond spaces and languages. It aims to shed light on colonial mainstream narratives in Canada and, more precisely, in Québec, by considering the politics of linguistic hegemony and the double exiguity that Indigenous peoples often find themselves in, calling for a better understanding of how the province’s specific colonial history has had a profound and continued impact on its 11 Indigenous Nations. This book’s unusual (academically-speaking) form as a “carnet”, or diary, becomes an anthology of statements of witnessing, which, coupled with the illustrative narrative, bears its decolonizing mission. Quebec Was Born in My Country! ultimately is about foregrounding common and collective experiences, with the crucial goal of furthering education.
Educator & Series Information
This graphic novel that explores colonial history in Québec is part of the Indigenous Imaginings series.
Translated by Sarah Henzi.
Additional Information
216 pages | 9.00" x 12.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Felix walks alone through a decaying world until he is challenged to remember his past and build his future — an anti-colonial western exploring trauma, memory, and healing.
Felix Babimoosay is his most recent name, and it seems better than any other name he’s been offered. He journeys ever forward across a sharp landscape of flat plains, stung by insects, wind, and thirst. Unable to remember his past, he doggedly walks alone through the decaying world until he is pursued by a threatening man claiming a bounty on Felix’s head. Felix’s irritation spurs a slow memory of the days he left behind, until he stumbles into a corrupted town and a city of talking crows that push him to move beyond his lost memories.
Sparse and dreamy, Griffin Bjerke-Clarke’s debut novel explores memory, identity, trauma, and healing through a timeless journey. Métis storytelling methods and elements of horror infuse He Who Would Walk the Earth, an anti-colonial western that powerfully evokes a mood reminiscent of twentieth-century classics like Waiting for Godot. This book unsettles as much as it stokes, dystopian in Felix’s apathy yet optimistic in the way he addresses challenges along his listless way. In the end, Felix must learn from his earnest mistakes as he begins to understand that agency requires collaborating with those around him.
Reviews
“He Who Would Walk the Earth is an anti-imperialist adventure that explores the strange and beautiful gifts of becoming who we are-and how we exist-in our individual and collective power. Bjerke-Clarke deftly blends western and fantasy genres in this innovative debut novel where relationality shapes reality.” - Tiffany Morris
“A walker journeys through a dystopian and mythically violent fairytale, where time and space are elastic and other-than-humans are central, to learn the lesson shared with him that ‘it doesn’t have to be this way.’ Partly a condemnation of the terrible costs of war and capitalism, Griffin Bjerke-Clarke reminds us, despite it all, we need to have hope.” - Deanna Redder
Additional Information
160 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
A darkly humorous thriller about the ghosts that haunt the temples of excess we call casinos, and the people caught in their high-stakes, low-odds web
For decades, a dark force has terrorized the Languille Lake reservation. Spoken of only in whispers as “the sandman,” he lurks in the Hidden Atlantis Lake Resort and Casino, the reservation’s main attraction and source of revenue, leeching its patrons’ dreams and preventing the ghosts that linger there from moving on. Fleeing a breakup, Marion Lafournier, a midtwenties Ojibwe, seeks solace in the slot machine’s siren song. Here he falls afoul of the sandman, an encounter he barely escapes through the timely intervention of his cousins Alana and Cherie, who both work at the casino and are intimately aware of the sandman’s power. Meanwhile, Glenn Nielan, recently out of the closet and an aspiring documentarian, hopes to capture the faces of the Ojibwe land while experiencing the casino’s thrills. But he will learn that all who choose to play the sandman’s games are in danger of falling into his grasp.
Marion and Alana are members of the Bullhead clan, a family with ties to a sacred past and a fierce determination to ensure their future. Alana, with her sevenfire sight, is the only person to fully understand the danger the sandman poses. Aware of Marion’s occasional ability to navigate the spirit world, she enlists his aid in defeating this wraith. But the power and reach of the sandman go far beyond Alana’s worst fears. Soon she and Marion find themselves in a battle for their lives and for the souls of the reservation’s residents, both the living and the dead.
Reviews
"Ojibwe writer Dennis E. Staples' blend of suspense, comedy and thrills is perfect for fans of Reservation Dogs and Stephen Graham Jones." — Lizz Schumer, People
"The sense of timelessness and multiple points of view add to the novel's chaotic suspense, giving readers the impression they're trapped in an episode of Twin Peaks. This is a quick and unique read sure to appeal to thriller fans who also enjoy gothic horror." —Booklist
"Taking readers on a journey through the lavish Hidden Atlantis Casino, where no clocks hang on the walls, to the timeless realm of mysterious and death-dealing spirits, Dennis E. Staples delivers an otherworldly story that's haunting, darkly humorous, and chock full of fascinating Native lore." —Nick Medina, author of Indian Burial Ground
Additional Information
272 pages | 5.80" x 8.52" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
Cash Blackbear, a young Ojibwe woman and occasional sleuth, is back on the case after a man is found dead on a rural Minnesota farm in the next installment of the acclaimed Native crime series.
Minnesota, 1970s: It’s spring in the Red River Valley and Cash Blackbear is doing fieldwork for a local farmer—until she finds him dead on the kitchen floor of the property’s rented farmhouse. The tenant, a Native field laborer, and his wife are nowhere to be found, but Cash discovers their young daughter, Shawnee, cowering under a bed. The girl, a possible witness to the killing, is too terrified to speak.
In the wake of the murder, Cash can’t deny her intuitive abilities: she is suspicious of the farmer’s grieving widow, who offers to take in Shawnee temporarily. While Cash is scouring White Earth Reservation for Shawnee’s missing mother—whom Cash wants to find before the girl is put in the foster system—another body turns up. Concerned by the escalating threat, Cash races against the clock to figure out the truth of what happened in the farmhouse.
Broken Fields is a compelling, atmospheric read woven with details of American Indian life in northern Minnesota, abusive farm labor practices and women’s liberation.
Reviews
“A tragic, unforgiving crime novel that emphasizes the perils of the foster care system for Indigenous children.”—Library Journal, Starred Review
“Peyton Place meets Fargo in this clipped tale of misdoings in the Red River Valley . . . Rendon explor[es] the ways the deck is stacked against Cash because she’s a woman, an Ojibwe, and a maverick with limited respect for white men’s rules.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Rendon excels at balancing plot and character, taking time to probe Cash’s psychology while orchestrating a deliciously complicated mystery for her to solve. Readers will be rapt.”—Publishers Weekly
“Outstanding . . . Rendon delivers lots of suspense; a resourceful, rural community-smart heroine in Cash; and wrenching insights into the overt and covert racism endured by Indigenous people.”—Booklist
Series Information
This is the fourth book in the Cash Blackbear Mystery series from author Marcie Rendon.
Additional Information
272 pages | 5.83" x 8.60" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
Join or die! New York Times best-selling author Stephen Graham Jones and artist Davide Gianfelice are back in action for the next chapter of their heart-pounding historical sci-fi slasher Earthdivers!
A team of time-traveling Indigenous survivors had one goal: save the world from an American apocalypse by sending one of their own on a suicide trip to kill Christopher Columbus and course-correct world history.
Mission accomplished? Maybe not. Blood is still soaking into the sands of San Salvador as Tad’s friends suffer the consequences of his actions—and their own slippery moral rationalizations—620 years in the future. Faced with a choice to watch the world crumble or double down on their cause, the path is clear for Seminole two-spirit Emily: it's personal now, and there’s no better time and place to take another stab at America than Philadelphia, 1776.
But where violence just failed them, she has a new plan: pass as a man, infiltrate the Founding Fathers, and use only wit and words to carve out a better future in the Declaration of Independence. No need to cut throats this time…right?
The next chapter of the critically acclaimed sci-fi epic is here in Earthdivers Vol. 3.
Series Information
This is the third book in the Earthdivers series, preceded by Earthdivers, Vol. 1: Kill Columbus and Earthdivers, Vol. 2: Ice Age.
Additional Information
208 pages | 6.69" x 10.25" | Paperback
Synopsis:
In 1912 a strange confession is given, over several nights, to a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunted the fields of the Blackfeet reservation, looking for justice.
A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran Pastor is discovered within a wall and what it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to two hundred and seventeen Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed confessions by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shared the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits, this is a bloody history of the American West that has remained untold until now.
Reviews
“Stephen Graham Jones has lit a slow-burning candle that grows into a forest fire, illuminating the life of a Pikuni vampire and everyone he has touched, the pain of being a victim and perpetrator of violent history, and how memory serves to keep us who we are despite it all. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is beautiful, terrifying, sad, funny, and grotesque — everything I want in a novel.”—Jessica Johns
“A master at blending horror, suspense, and culturally rich stories that are as thought-provoking as they are spine-tingling. Jones’s singular voice and exploration of identity, of trauma and survival, make every page pulse with kinetic urgency.”—David A. Robertson
“For me and vampires, there is Stoker, there is Rice, and now there is Jones. It's harrowing, agonizing, nuanced, and downright philosophical. Very likely Jones's masterpiece.”—Daniel Kraus, New York Times bestselling author of Whalefall
Additional Information
448 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Part coming-of-age novel, part searing examination of a community finding itself, Small Ceremonies is a tantalizing and heartbreaking debut.
“I fear for our friendship, for the day it will end, wondering when that day will be . . .”
Tomahawk Shields (a.k.a. Tommy) and Clinton Whiteway are on the cusp of adulthood, imagining a future rife with possibility and greatness. The two friends play for their high school’s poor-performing hockey team, the Tigers, who learn at the start of the new season that the league wants them out. Their annual goal is now more important than ever: to win their first game in years and break the curse.
As we follow these two Indigenous boys over the course of a year, we are given a panoptic view of Tommy and Clinton’s Winnipeg, where a university student with grand ambitions chooses to bottle her anger when confronted with numerous micro- (and not so micro-) aggressions; an ex-convict must choose between protecting or exploiting his younger brother as he’s dragged deeper into the city’s criminal underbelly; a lonely rink attendant is haunted by the memory of a past lover and contemplates rekindling this old flame; and an aspiring journalist does everything she can to uncover why the league is threatening to remove the Tigers. These are a sampling of the chorus of voices that depicts a community filled with individuals searching for purpose, leading them all to one fateful and tragic night.
Ferociously piercing the heart of an Indigenous city, Kyle Edwards's sparkling debut is a heartbreaking yet humour-flecked portrayal of navigating identity and place, trauma and recovery, and growing up in a land that doesn't love you.
Reviews
“The geographical and familial landscape of the ironically named Whiteway clan yields a subtle and fascinating portrait of growing up Native in Manitoba. The understatement underscores the intensity and contradictions of outgrowing your home and self. This is a truly fine novel.”—Percival Everett, author of James
“Small Ceremonies dropped my jaw with the glittering precision of its detail, and the life-affirming humanity of its characters. Kyle Edwards knows this world of frozen hockey rinks and fishing shacks just as intimately as he knows the warm and broken hearts of this Winnipeg community that he writes about. I haven’t been this excited about a debut in years.”—Michael Christie, author of Greenwood
"Small Ceremonies flattens the grass for us all. A power play of wit, grit, and generational spirit, phenom Kyle Edwards has you rooting for the Tigers when few will. With its scars, scores, and hard-won triumphs, this polyphony of neechies carries us through overtime into glory. A dignified, accomplished, and suave figure-eight of a novel."—Cody Caetano, author of Half-Bads in White Regalia
"In this compelling, multi-voiced first novel, Kyle Edwards carries us north to the landscape of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and into the geography of youth itself. This book—bracing, kaleidoscopic—made me relive those gritty, tender, fragile years before you are fully grown, when you still believe you can do both—stay rooted and fly free."—Danzy Senna, author of Caucasia and Colored Television
"Such a chorus of compelling voices here! I would find myself growing attached to one character only to find the next equally engaging. Edwards is, at once, bracingly honest about and deeply tender towards everyone in this novel. A stunning debut."—Aimee Bender, author of The Butterfly Lampshade
Additional Information
368 pages | 5.50" x 8.25" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
From the award-winning, bestselling author of All the Quiet Places, comes Brian Thomas Isaac's highly anticipated, haunting and tender return to the Okanagan Indian Reserve and a teenager's struggle to become a man in a world of racism and hardship.
Summer, 1968. For the first time since his big brother, Eddie, disappeared two years earlier—either a runaway or dead by his own hand—sixteen-year-old Lewis Toma has shaken off some of his grief. His mother, Grace, and her friend Isabel have gone south to the United States to pick fruit to earn the cash Grace needs to put a bathroom and running water into the three-room shack they share on the reserve, leaving Lewis to spend the summer with his cousins, his Uncle Ned and his Aunt Jean in the new house they’ve built on their farm along the Salmon River. Their warm family life is almost enough to counter the pressures he feels as a boy trying to become a man in a place where responsible adult men like his uncle are largely absent, broken by residential school and racism. Everywhere he looks, women are left to carry the load, sometimes with kindness, but often with the bitterness, anger and ferocity of his own mother, who kicked Lewis’s lowlife father, Jimmy, to the curb long ago.
Lewis has vowed never to be like his father—but an encounter with a predatory older woman tests him and he suffers the consequences. Worse, his dad is back in town and scheming on how to use the Indian Act to steal the land Lewis and his mom have been living on. And then, at summer's end, more shocking revelations shake the family, unleashing a deadly force of anger and frustration.
With so many traps laid around him, how will Lewis find a path to a different future?
Reviews
"A compelling novel, honest and compassionate, haunted by the past. Towards the end of the book, I tried to slow down, not wanting the story to end, but it wasn’t possible."—Mary Lawson, bestselling author of A Town Called Solace
"Brian Thomas Isaac reinforces his place as one of Canada’s most engaging novelists with the tender troubling coming-of-age story of Lewis, a 16-year-old growing up on the Okanagan Reserve. He’s a boy who sees and feels everything with intensity—the joy of swimming in a river, the cruelty of a racist neighbour, the complexity of his mother’s love, the sensations of his first deep kiss, the injustices of the Indian Act, which keeps turning his family’s life upside down. I couldn’t put Bones of a Giant down, wondering to the end if Lewis is just too sweet and vulnerable for the mean world around him."—Carol Off, award-winning author of At a Loss for Words
"Bones of a Giant has good bones. Isaac is a masterful storyteller with an observant eye for nature and a deep compassion for his characters. I loved this book."—Thomas Wharton, bestselling author of The Book of Rain
"A clear-eyed love story to both a people and a place. Brian Thomas Isaac is a vital voice."—David Bergen, award-winning author of Here the Dark
Additional Information
320 pages | 6.25" x 9.00" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
In this tightly paced sequel to Redemption, Eva “Lightning Dance” Duran joins the Taos Pueblo tribal police department to uncover a member of her community’s murder…and the conspiracy behind it.
It’s been over a year since the case that almost broke her, but when Eva “Lightning Dance” Duran is called back to duty, she doesn’t hesitate to answer. A bank robbery has left an officer down and a suspect on the run. Law enforcement is in hot pursuit, and residents are on the lookout—but before anyone can catch the criminal, tragedy strikes.
A member of the Taos Pueblo tribe has been shot and killed. The culprit? An untraceable 3D printed gun. With the support of fellow tribal cops, Eva breaks the news to the victim’s family and swears to find justice.
More violence follows, feeding the rising racial tensions between the Taos Pueblo people and the Hispanic community. New evidence forces Eva to consider the possibility that the bank robbery and 3D guns are related, but until she figures out how, there’s no telling how deep this crime ring goes…or how far its evasive ringleader will go to protect it.
Reviews
“Ledford’s sequel to Redemption excels…For fans of books by both Tony and Anne Hillerman, along with others that embody the spirit and landscape of the Southwest.” —Library Journal
“Atmospheric, poignant, and set in the Taos Pueblo, Ledford’s tribal police officer Eva ‘Lightning Dance’ Duran doesn’t flinch in this dark, twisting tale that’s riveting from the first page. A fantastic second book in this new series from a master of crime fiction.” —Jamie Freveletti, award-winning and internationally bestselling author of the Emma Caldridge series
Series Information
This book is part of the Eva "Lightning Dance" Duran series.
Additional Information
352 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
From award-winning author Deborah J Ledford comes a thrilling new series featuring a Native American sheriff’s deputy who risks it all to find a friend who’s gone missing.
After four women disappear from the Taos Pueblo reservation, Deputy Eva “Lightning Dance” Duran dives into the case. For her, it’s personal. Among the missing is her best friend, Paloma, a heroin addict who left behind an eighteen-year-old son.
Eva senses a lack of interest from the department as she embarks on the investigation. But their reluctance only fuels her fire. Eva teams up with tribal police officer and longtime friend Cruz “Wolf Song” Romero to tackle a mystery that could both ruin her reputation and threaten her standing in the tribe.
And when the missing women start turning up dead, Eva uncovers clues that take her deeper into the reservation’s protected secrets. As Eva races to find Paloma before it’s too late, she will face several tests of loyalty—to her friend, her culture, and her tribe.
Reviews
“Deborah J. Ledford has artfully woven the voices of multiple characters connected to the Taos Pueblo to create a pattern of stories that illuminate the challenges as well as the enduring power of Native American women. The rhythm of daily life is evident in Ledford’s lovely, intimate prose. I eagerly await the new adventures of Eva Duran, who will, no doubt, unearth more mysteries in the buried layers of New Mexico.” —Naomi Hirahara, the Mary Higgins Clark Award–winning author of Clark and Division
“Redemption is a page-turner! I loved reading about sheriff’s deputy Eva Duran and her battle against dark forces on the reservation. Sharp characters, a great setting, and a plot that keeps you guessing. A riveting thriller that hits hard and keeps you hooked.” —David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Anthony and Thriller Award–winning author of Winter Counts
“A riveting tale of murder and intrigue on a Native American reservation from an immensely talented voice in crime fiction. Deborah J. Ledford has created a page-turner featuring an unforgettable hero in Eva ‘Lightning Dance’ Duran.” —Isabella Maldonado, Wall Street Journal bestselling author
Series Information
This book is part of the Eva "Lightning Dance" Duran series.
Additional Information
366 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
A Kiowa woman faces new threats to her tribe and identity while struggling to keep her Silicon Valley business afloat. She must search deep within herself to find answers—and a murderer—in Mary Higgins Clark Award finalist D. M. Rowell’s thrilling sequel, perfect for fans of Winter Counts.
While back on tribal land, Mud Sawpole uncovers an illegal fracking operation underway that threatens the Kiowas’ ancestral homeland. But there’s an even greater threat: a local businessman involved in artifact thefts is murdered, and a respected tribe elder faces accusation of the crime. After being roped in by her cousin, Denny, they begin to investigate the death while also pursuing evidence to permanently stop frackers from destroying Kiowa land, water, and livelihoods.
When answers evade her, Mud heeds her grandfather's and great-aunt’s words of wisdom and embraces Kiowa tribal customs to find the answers that she seeks. But her ceremonial sweat leads to a vision with answers wrapped in more questions.
Mud and Denny race against the clock to uncover the real killer and must face the knowledge that there may be a traitor—and a murderer—in their midst. It’s already too late for one victim—and Mud may be next.
Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Mud Sawpole Mystery series.
Additional Information
320 pages | 5.72" x 8.52" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
There There meets The Night Watchman in this gripping literary debut about power and corruption, family, and facing the ghosts of the past.
Mitch Caddo, a young law school graduate and aspiring political fixer, is an outsider in the homeland of his Anishinaabe ancestors. But alongside his childhood friend, Tribal President Mack Beck, he runs the government of the Passage Rouge Nation, and with it, the tribe’s Golden Eagle Casino and Hotel. On the eve of Mack’s reelection, their tenuous grip on power is threatened by a nationally known activist and politician, Gloria Hawkins, and her young aide, Layla Beck, none other than Mack’s estranged sister and Mitch’s former love. In their struggle for control over Passage Rouge, the campaigns resort to bare-knuckle political gamesmanship, testing the limits of how far they will go—and what they will sacrifice—to win it all.
But when an accident claims the life of Mitch’s mentor, a power broker in the reservation’s political scene, the election slides into chaos and pits Mitch against the only family he has. As relationships strain to their breaking points and a peaceful protest threatens to become an all-consuming riot, Mitch and Layla must work together to stop the reservation’s descent into violence.
Thrilling and timely, Big Chief is an unforgettable story about the search for belonging—to an ancestral and spiritual home, to a family, and to a sovereign people at a moment of great historical importance.
Reviews
“A compelling and strong Native American novel about politics and power and how far some people will go to hold on to what they have.”—Brandon Hobson, author of National Book Award finalist Where the Dead Sit Talking
"Deliciously ruthless and absolutely huge, Big Chief unleashes the Shakespearean realities of Passage Rouge with seismic ambition and brilliance. Prepare to relish every dice roll, partisan jab, and monkey wrench thrown in this all-out showdown from maestro Jon Hickey—a colossal novel of and for our time." —Cody Caetano, author of Half-Bads in White Regalia
"Jon Hickey throws the reader in the backseat of a tricked out F350 and takes them for a wild ride across the Rez following a J. Crew NDN, a Chief who's in over his head, and their crew. This is a must read as Hickey brings us into the chaos and catastrophes that the colonial imposed electoral system creates in Indigenous communities but also shows the reader how community, a sense of belonging, and family is what really matters in the end. This is a book that you won't put down until the last ballot is counted."—Conor Kerr, author of Prairie Edge
“Taut, timely, and brimming with suspense, Big Chief questions our notions of power and morality, holding a mirror to our crooked, calculating world. This is a monumental debut."—Kirstin Chen, New York Times bestselling author of Counterfeit
“Big Chief features all the twisty chessmanship—the familial feuds, the financial games, the political maneuvering—of Succession and sets it against the backdrop of Indian country. Jon Hickey has written one hell of an addictive and important debut novel.”—Benjamin Percy, author of The Ninth Metal and Red Moon
Additional Information
320 pages | 5.50" x 8.25" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
We clothed the royals. We fed the worker. We guided the traveler. We abetted the soldier. We are not afraid to love. So begins Carl Gawboy's groundbreaking graphic history of the Fur Trade Era. From 1650 to 1850, the Ojibwe Nation was the epicenter of the first global trading network. Trade goods from Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America flowed into the Great Lakes region, floating along Ojibwe waterways in birchbark canoes paddled by mixed-race Voyageurs. Gawboy offers a fresh perspective on the fur trade era, placing Ojibwe technology, kinship systems, cultural paradigms, and women at the heart of this remarkable era, where they have always belonged.
Additional Information
202 pages | 8.25" x 11.00" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
From the author of White Horse (“Twisty and electric.” —The New York Times Book Review) comes a terrifying and resonant novel about a woman who uses her unique gift to learn the truth about her sister’s death.
Olivia Becente was never supposed to have the gift. The ability to commune with the dead was the specialty of her sister, Naiche. But when Naiche dies unexpectedly and under strange circumstances, somehow Olivia suddenly can’t stop seeing and hearing from spirits.
A few years later, she’s the most in-demand paranormal investigator in Denver. She’s good at her job, but the loss of Naiche haunts her. That’s when she hears from the Brown Palace, a landmark Denver hotel. The owner can’t explain it, but every few years, a girl is found dead in room 904, no matter what room she checked into the night before. As Olivia tries to understand these disturbing deaths, the past and the present collide as Olivia’s investigation forces her to confront a mysterious and possibly dangerous cult, a vindictive journalist, betrayal by her friends, and shocking revelations about her sister’s secret life.
The Haunting of Room 904 is a paranormal thriller that is as edgy as it is heartfelt and simmers with intensity and longing. Erika T. Wurth lives up to her reputation as “a gritty new punkish outsider voice in American horror.”
Reviews
“The Haunting of Room 904 deftly mixes humor, scares, and the weight of personal and generational grief. The book is a heady, haunting, righteous, and spiritual exploration of our political mess through the lens of paranormal exploration and, sometimes even scarier, interpersonal relationships. You’ll want to follow Erika and her Olivia into any dark, creaky room.” —Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts
“The Haunting Of Room 904 is an electric terrifying journey into the world beyond the veil. Erika T. Wurth has created a mind bending tale of loss and love and the devastating cost of grief. You don't want to miss this!” —S. A. Cosby, author of All the Sinners Bleed and Razorblade Tears
Additional Information
320 pages | 6.12" x 9.25" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
Louise Erdrich, the bestselling and award-winning author of The Sentence and The Night Watchman, dazzles in this vibrant and heartfelt tale of abandonment and sexual obsession, jealousy and unstinting love that explores with empathy, humor, and power the eternal mystery of the human condition.
On a spring morning in 1932, young Karl and Mary Adare arrive by boxcar in Argus, North Dakota. After being orphaned in a most peculiar way, Mary seeks refuge in the butcher shop of their aunt and her husband, while Karl gets back on the train. So begins an exhilarating forty-year saga brimming with colorful, unforgettable characters: ordinary Mary, who will cause a miracle; seductive Karl, who lacks his sister's gift for survival; Sita, their lovely but disturbed cousin; and the half-Native American Celestine James, who will become Mary’s best friend. Theirs is a story grounded in the tenacity of relationships, the extraordinary magic of natural events, and the unending mystery of the human condition.
Reviews
“A novel rich in movement, beauty, event. Her prose spins and sparkles, and dances right on the heart when it needs to.” — Los Angeles Times
“Written with extraordinary power, compassion, and insight into the human heart....Erdrich has vaulted into the front ranks of American literature.” — Newsday
“A remarkable and luminous novel.” — Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
“The dialogue is brilliant from start to finish. And Mary, Karl, Selestine, Sita, and Dot are all original and powerful characters who, like their relatives in Love Medicine, left me exhilarated, somewhat drained, and very grateful to this immensely gifted novelist." — Chicago Sun-Times
“A book of power and precision.” — New York Times Book Review
Additional Information
368 pages | 5.31" x 8.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
This thrilling romantasy about king’s Blade, Keera, and her epic quest to avenge her lover, save her people, and bring down a tyrant king is the final installment of Melissa Blair’s highly acclaimed series. The Halfling Saga showcases BIPOC and queer representation, love, passion, betrayal, magic, and great battles of the sword and the soul.
“Your land is not the one you take; it is the one you die for.”
Keera has tried to keep her final promise to Brenna, the partner she was forced to kill to save a kingdom—but that promise has led to the most difficult struggles of her life. She’s been at war with her worst self while battling King Damien for the freedom of the Halflings, and she’s lost too many along the way. But when she finally breaks the last seal, unleashing the Fae magic that’s been hidden away for hundreds of years, the conflict seems to be turning in the Halflings’ favor.
Meanwhile, Keera’s discovery of a staggering secret about her lover and the kidnapping of one of her closest allies threatens to tip her back into darkness, but she has no time to rest. Opening the kingdom’s magical seals has transformed Keera in ways even the wisest Fae elders could not have anticipated, and the return of an evil thought long vanquished throws their rescue plans into chaos. And with the kingdom’s Halfling population suddenly posing a risk to the crown, the land is plunged into violence as the king begins a new blood purge. Keera and her allies must gather an army to meet Damien’s forces in a final confrontation of epic—and tragic—proportions.
The stunning conclusion of BookTok sensation Melissa Blair’s epically romantic series will leave readers breathless as Keera fights for her land, her people, and the promise of a better world.
Reviews
"[F]illed with high-stakes action, choices, and consequences... Romantasy fans should add this series to their reading list." —Library Journal
Educator & Series Information
Young adult/new adult fantasy series recommended for ages 18+.
This is the final book in The Halfing Saga.
Additional Information
432 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
A pocket-sized comic by Indigenous Voices winner Cole Pauls.
Llege zedle s_on nes_it'in (Tahltan for we see stars only at night ) is a surrealistic landscape of Tahltan shapes, culture and motifs. Originally created for the Nanaimo Art Gallery's group show "Gutters are Elastic" between July 15 to September 23, 2023, Pauls decided to expand the work into a full-length book.
Playing with the connection between land, regalia, performance and heritage, Pauls follows in the footsteps of Tiger Tateishi, Hironori Kikuchi and Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas with his dreamlike narrative.
Educator Information
This work was created in the tradition of "silent" (wordless) comics and uses symbols, shapes, and motifs for the narrative.
Additional Information
80 pages | 4.25" x 6.25" | 80 b&w illustrations | Paperback
Synopsis:
Residential school life through the eyes of a child.
Enos Montour's Brown Tom's Schooldays, self-published in 1985, tells the story of a young boy's life at residential school. Drawn from Montour's first-hand experiences at Mount Elgin Indian Residential School between 1910 and 1915, the book is an ironic play on "the school novel," namely 1857's Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes.
An accomplished literary text and uncommon chronicle of federal Indian schooling in the early twentieth century, Brown Tom's Schooldays positions Brown Tom and his schoolmates as citizens of three worlds: the reserve, the "white man's world," and the school in between. It follows Tom leaving his family home, making friends, witnessing ill health and death, and enduring constant hunger.
Born at Six Nations of the Grand River in 1899, Montour earned degrees in Arts and Divinity at McGill University and served as a United Church minister for more than thirty years, honing his writing in newspapers and magazines and publishing two books of family history. Brown Tom's Schooldays reflects Montour's intelligence and skill as well as his love of history, parody, and literature.
This critical edition includes a foreword by the book's original editor, Elizabeth Graham, and an afterword by Montour's granddaughters, Mary Anderson and Margaret McKenzie. In her introduction, historian Mary Jane Logan McCallum documents Montour's life and work, details Brown Tom's Schooldays's publication history, and offers further insight into the operations of Mount Elgin. Entertaining and emotionally riveting, Montour's book opens a unique window into a key period in Canada's residential school history.
Reviews
"A fantastic read. People need more books like this, which are directly related to the TRC but are also a testament to the strength and creativity of Indigenous literature." — Crystal Fraser, University of Alberta
"Brown Tom's Schooldays is a literary artifact from the residential school era. In this fictionalized coming of age account, Enos Montour captures the youthful hopes, dreams, and disappointments of his real life upbringing at Mount Elgin, one of Canada's earliest and longest running residential schools. Unique in style, tone, and perspective, Schooldays is an important read for anyone interested in understanding the residential school system and for all of us who call the lower Great Lakes home." — Thomas Peace, Huron at Western University
Educator Information
This book is part of the First Voices, First Texts series.
Table of Contents
Foreword: On A Personal Note, The Making of Brown Tom’s Schooldays, 1982–1984 by Elizabeth Graham
Introduction: Enos Montour, Brown Tom, and “Ontario Indian” Literature by Mary Jane Logan McCallum
Brown Tom’s Schooldays by Enos Montour
Chapter 1: Salad Days
Chapter 2: Brown Tom Arrives
Chapter 3: Brown Tom's Three Worlds
Chapter 4: The Milling Herd
Chapter 5: Loaf 'n' Lard
Chapter 6: Brown Tom Makes a Deal
Chapter 7: Too Big for Santa Claus
Chapter 8: Brown Tom's Happy Days
Chapter 9: Trial By Fire
Chapter 10: Brown Tom "Has It Bad"
Chapter 11: Brown Tom Gets Religion
Chapter 12: The Roar of Mighty Waters
Chapter 13: Happy Hunting Ground for Noah
Chapter 14: War Clouds Over Mt. Elgin
Chapter 15: Brown Tom "Arrives"
Afterword by Mary Anderson and Margaret McKenzie
Appendix 1: Glossary of Idioms and References in Brown Tom’s Schooldays
Appendix 2: Bibliography of Works by Enos Montour
Endnotes
Bibliography
Additional Information
216 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | 20 b&w illustrations, 3 maps | Paperback
Synopsis:
To find a missing young woman, the new tribal marshal must also find herself.
At rock bottom following her daughter’s death, ex–Chicago detective Carrie Starr has nowhere to go but back to her roots. Starr’s father never talked much about the reservation where he was raised, but the tribe needs a new marshal as much as Starr needs a place to call home.
In the past decade, too many young women have disappeared from the rez. Some have ended up dead, others just…gone. Now local college student Chenoa Cloud is missing, and Starr falls into an investigation that leaves her drowning in memories of her daughter—the girl she failed to save.
Starr feels lost in this place she thought would welcome her. And when she catches a glimpse of a figure from her father’s stories, with the body of a woman and the antlers of a deer, Starr can’t shake the feeling that the fearsome spirit is watching her, following her.
What she doesn’t know is whether Deer Woman is here to guide her or to seek vengeance for the lost daughters that Starr can never bring home.
Reviews
"Mask of the Deer Woman shines an important spotlight on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women crisis while folding a compelling mystery into a heartfelt journey of grief, identity, and reconnection." —Vanessa Lillie, USA Today bestselling author of Blood Sisters
“A beautifully written tale about the Indigenous girls who disappear twice, once in life and once in the news. Clever, elegant and utterly compelling, Mask of the Deer Woman is a brilliant exploration of identity and the struggle of being separated from one’s culture. Hypnotic and beguiling, I was hooked from the first sentence.”—Christina McDonald, USA Today bestselling author of These Still Black Waters
"A thriller that dreams are made of—thoroughly engrossing, riveting, an absolute pleasure. The work of a rare, singular talent."—Chris Mooney, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Walk in My Combat Boots
“Spotlighting the real life crisis of Native women and girls who are abducted and murdered at an astonishing rate, Laurie L. Dove presents a vital story of danger, corruption, and a fraying thread of hope in Indian Country. Full of mystery, suspense, and an enthralling dose of Native mythology, Mask of the Deer Woman is both a propulsive thriller and a much-needed call to action."—Nick Medina, author of Indian Burial Ground
“Laurie Dove masterfully tells a suspenseful story with a complex protagonist who straddles the worlds between the living and the dead and her dual heritages. A compelling read.”—Iris Yamashita, author of City Under One Roof
“Mask of the Deer Woman is a creepy, atmospheric page-turner and a thoughtful exploration of identity and belonging. Dove's detailed descriptions plunge the reader into the world of an Oklahoma reservation and its troubled inhabitants. Above all, this immersive debut is an ode to women's resilience and the powerful bonds between mothers and daughters."—K.T. Nguyen, author of You Know What You Did
Additional Information
336 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
There is one every generation, a seer who keeps the stories.
Luz “Little Light” Lopez, a tea leaf reader and laundress, is left to fend for herself after her older brother, Diego, a snake charmer and factory worker, is run out of town by a violent white mob. As Luz navigates 1930s Denver, she begins to have visions that transport her to her Indigenous homeland in the nearby Lost Territory. Luz recollects her ancestors’ origins, how her family flourished, and how they were threatened. She bears witness to the sinister forces that have devastated her people and their homelands for generations. In the end, it is up to Luz to save her family stories from disappearing into oblivion.
Written in Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s singular voice, the wildly entertaining and complex lives of the Lopez family fill the pages of this multigenerational western saga. Woman of Light is a transfixing novel about survival, family secrets, and love—filled with an unforgettable cast of characters, all of whom are just as special, memorable, and complicated as our beloved heroine, Luz.
Additional Information
352 pages | 5.17" x 7.96" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Ela Tahoe, a runaway turned deputy sheriff, is forced to contend with a Confederate invasion of her New Mexican town three months after the conclusion of the Civil War. Ela will need to confront her heritage and past with the Apache in order to get their aid to combat this Confederate threat, leading her to look at the world from the Native American perspective once again. Conceived as a tightly paced, gut wrenching western thriller, Ela fights tooth and nail to save the lives of her townspeople and most importantly, her son.
The American Western Frontier is arguably one of the most widely misrepresented histories, rife with inaccuracies and stereotypes. Black Mi'kmaq and Anishinaabe author Tristan Jones powerfully and critically reimagines and reclaims a historical retelling of the Frontier with a focus on the historically missing Indigenous narrative. Illustrated by master sequential artist Alexander Bumbulut, The Forgotten Frontier should be on everyone's reading list.
Additional Information
140 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
In the follow-up to the National Book Award–longlisted Shutter, Navajo forensic photographer Rita Todacheene grapples with a fanatical serial killer—and the ghosts he leaves behind.
A dual-voice cat-and-mouse thriller, told from the points of view of a killer who has created his own deadly religion and the only person who can stop him, an embattled young detective who sees the ghosts of his Native victims.
In Gallup, New Mexico, where violent crime is five times the national average, a serial killer is operating unchecked, his targets indigent Native people whose murders are easily disguised as death by exposure on the frigid winter streets. He slips unnoticed through town, hidden in plain sight by his unassuming nature, while the voices in his head guide him toward a terrifying vision of glory. As the Gallup detectives struggle to put the pieces together, they consider calling in a controversial specialist to help.
Rita Todacheene, Albuquerque PD forensic photographer, is at a crisis point in her career. Her colleagues are watching her with suspicion after the recent revelation that she can see the ghosts of murder victims. Her unmanageable caseload is further complicated by the fact that half the department has blacklisted her for ratting out a corrupt fellow cop. And back home in Tohatchi on the Navajo reservation, Rita’s grandma is getting older. Maybe it’s time for her to leave policework behind entirely—if only the ghosts will let her . . .
Reviews
“Exposure is intense, gripping, moving, and so gorgeously written. I often stopped to reread certain passages purely for the elegance of her language, descriptions of scalded beauty. A stunner!”—Mona Susan Power, author of A Council of Dolls
“From the very first page, Exposure is equally—if not more—electrifying than the first, allowing both fans and newcomers to jump right in . . . Emerson, a Diné writer and filmmaker who hails from Rita’s own hometown of Tohatchi in the Navajo Nation, masterfully commands these tightly wound plot strands, varying the tension and pacing with comforting moments with Rita’s beloved elderly neighbor, Mrs. Santillanes . . . Rita Todacheene is a gritty, believable character with a heart that is equal parts steel and soul. Readers will immediately be clamoring for more.”—BookPage, Starred Review
Educator & Series Information
This is the second book in the A Rita Todacheene Novel series, following Shutter.
Additional Information
288 pages | 6.26" x 9.32" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
In stunning full color and accessible text, a graphic adaptation of the American Book Award winning history of the United States as told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples—perfect for readers of all ages
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s influential New York Times bestseller exposed the brutality of this nation’s founding and its legacy of settler-colonialism and genocide. Through evocative full color artwork, renowned cartoonist Paul Peart-Smith brings this watershed book to life, centering the perspective of the peoples displaced by Europeans and their white descendants to trace Indigenous perseverance over four centuries against policies intended to obliterate them.
Recognized for his adaptation of W.E.B. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk and his extensive expertise in the comics industry, Peart-Smith collaborates with experienced graphic novel editor Paul Buhle to provide an accessible introduction to a complex history that will attract new generations of readers of all ages. This striking graphic adaptation will rekindle crucial conversations about the centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regime that has largely been omitted from history.
Reviews
“Adapting a work of history as dense and as vital as Dunbar-Ortiz’s An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (2014) to comics form is no easy feat, but Peart-Smith is up for the task . . . A thoughtful, radically hopeful work that is sure to resonate with readers of all ages.” - Booklist
Educator Information
The publisher does not provide a recommended age range, but notes in the description that this graphic interpretation "will attract new generations of readers of all ages".
Table of Contents
Additional Information
120 pages | 8.22" x 10.28" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
In this stunning novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author Louise Erdrich tells a story of love, natural forces, spiritual yearnings, and the tragic impact of uncontrollable circumstances on ordinary people’s lives.
History is a flood. The mighty red . . .
In Argus, North Dakota, a collection of people revolve around a fraught wedding.
Gary Geist, a terrified young man set to inherit two farms, is desperate to marry Kismet Poe, an impulsive, lapsed Goth who can't read her future but seems to resolve his.
Hugo, a gentle red-haired, home-schooled giant, is also in love with Kismet. He’s determined to steal her and is eager to be a home wrecker.
Kismet's mother, Crystal, hauls sugar beets for Gary's family, and on her nightly runs, tunes into the darkness of late-night radio, sees visions of guardian angels, and worries for the future, her daughter’s and her own.
Human time, deep time, Red River time, the half-life of herbicides and pesticides, and the elegance of time represented in fracking core samples from unimaginable depths, is set against the speed of climate change, the depletion of natural resources, and the sudden economic meltdown of 2008-2009. How much does a dress cost? A used car? A package of cinnamon rolls? Can you see the shape of your soul in the everchanging clouds? Your personal salvation in the giant expanse of sky? These are the questions the people of the Red River Valley of the North wrestle with every day.
The Mighty Red is a novel of tender humor, disturbance, and hallucinatory mourning. It is about on-the-job pains and immeasurable satisfactions, a turbulent landscape, and eating the native weeds growing in your backyard. It is about ordinary people who dream, grow up, fall in love, struggle, endure tragedy, carry bitter secrets; men and women both complicated and contradictory, flawed and decent, lonely and hopeful. It is about a starkly beautiful prairie community whose members must cope with devastating consequences as powerful forces upend them. As with every book this great modern master writes, The Mighty Red is about our tattered bond with the earth, and about love in all of its absurdity and splendor.
A new novel by Louise Erdrich is a major literary event; gorgeous and heartrending, The Mighty Red is a triumph.
Reviews
"A love triangle is at the heart of this novel, set against the backdrop of a beet farm in North Dakota during the economic meltdown of 2008-2009. It's as much about the financial crash and environmental destruction as it is about the people most impacted by and vulnerable to these devastations." — New York Times
"While the novel touches on tragedy, it also includes scenes of sheer comedic delight. No one describes a book-group meeting better than Erdrich. Pulitzer Price and National Book Award winner Erdrich (The Sentence) yet again displays her storytelling skills." — Library Journal (starred review)
"[A] finely woven tale of anguish and desire, crimes and healing. With irresistible characters, dramatic predicaments, crisp wit, gorgeously rendered settings, striking ecological facts, and a cosmic dimension, Erdrich’s latest tale of the plains reverberates with arresting revelations." — Booklist
Educator Information
The Mighty Red is a standalone novel, but it's also a sequel to Louise's 1986 novel The Beet Queen. It takes place in Argus, North Dakota, the same fictional town where many of her other novels are set.
Additional Information
384 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Thumps DreadfulWater has a lot on his plate. With Duke out of commission following his wife’s tragic death, Thumps is appointed temporary deputy sheriff, a role that makes him doubly eager for Duke’s swift recovery.
First, a myopic private investigator dies while in custody. The autopsy concludes that he died of natural causes; then an assault rifle is found in the trunk of the dead man’s rental car, and the mystery woman he was investigating disappears. Meanwhile, Thumps contends with a couple of horse-thieving octogenarians and a large, slobbery dog acquired in the line of duty.
As the rest of Chinook comes together to cheer on golf novice Wutty Youngbeaver, who is competing in the US Open qualifying tournament up at Shadow Ranch, Claire and Ivory decamp to Alberta, leaving Thumps to contemplate the simplicity of a life lived alone. If he can’t manage something as simple as a dog or a couple of cats, how can he be responsible for another human being? Two human beings?
The plot thickens when ninja assassin Cisco Cruz returns to Chinook, and Thumps finds himself knee-deep in a complicated web of deceit spun by a nefarious collective known as Black Ice. His job? To sort through the lies. It’s like a game of Jenga, where the blocks need to be removed carefully, one by one, or the whole structure will topple.
Series Information
This book is from the DreadfulWater Mystery series, a mystery/detective series from Thomas King.
Books in this series include:
- Dreadful Water
- The Red Power Murders
- Cold Skies
- A Matter of Malice
- The Obsidian Murders
- Deep House
- Double Eagle
- Black Ice
Additional Information
384 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
There are worse places to live than the rez. Still, family distractions make it almost impossible for Ray Smith and his three bandmates to rehearse every day. So, fresh from high school, the four move to Wakeville, Manitoba to pursue their passion for music.
A half-year later, gigs come fast and thick, with the group touring the northern province. However, too much partying and fighting leads to a bitter split between the band and their volatile bass player, Butch. Bad luck and sabotage from Butch causes gigs to dwindle, and with encouragement from his best friend and guitarist, Ray decides to join a new, well-known band, where his music career takes off. Soon he’s recognized on the street, has spots on TV, and back home he’s hailed a hero.
But success has a dark underbelly. A girl goes missing, and Ray’s loved ones are terrorized by a faceless, vengeful stalker. The question isn’t the culprit’s identity—Ray’s almost positive he knows who’s responsible. But stopping the killer before someone else is murdered…that’s a whole other story.
Additional Information
234 pages | 5.25" x 8.00"
Synopsis:
Threatened by encroaching colonialism, one Métis family struggles to protect their way of life.
In 1869, the arrival of surveyors from the new Dominion of Canada sends ripples of anxiety through the people of Red River. As the Métis Nation begins negotiating terms for joining Confederation, each member of the Rougeau family adapts in their own way: Clément looks outward, trying to maintain his livelihood as a carter, while his wife, Marienne, looks inward, determined to hold their fracturing family together. Julien, the eldest son, joins Louis Riel to confront the same intruders that so impress his sister, Charlotte. As the Red River Resistance unfolds, the consequences of each choice become heartbreakingly clear.
Additional Information
256 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
“Swim Home to the Vanished is a lush and fantastic journey through strange lands and minds from an incandescent new voice full of my kind of melancholic brilliance and unromantic magic.”—Tommy Orange, author of There, There
After the death of his brother, a grief-stricken young man seeks refuge and oblivion in a secluded fishing village dominated by a family of brujas in this haunting debut novel, inspired, in part, by the ramifications of Diné history and thought—a mesmerizing, original tale in the tradition of works by Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, and Gabriel García Márquez.
When the river swallowed Kai, Damien’s little brother didn’t die so much as vanish. As the unbearable loss settles deeper into his bones, Damien, a small-town line cook, walks away from everything he has ever known. Driving as far south as his old truck and his legs allow, he lands in a fishing village beyond the reach of his past where he hopes he can finally forget.
But the village has grief of its own. The same day that Damien arrives, a young woman from the community’s most powerful family is being laid to rest. A stranger in town, Damien is the object of gossip and suspicion, ignored by all except the dead girl’s mother, Ana Maria, who offers Damien a room and a job.
Grateful for her kindness, Damien soon begins to fall under Ana Maria's charismatic spell. But how long can he resist the rumors swirling through town suggesting she might have had something to do with her daughter’s death? Or deny his strange kinship with one of Ana Maria's surviving daughters, Marta, who knows too well the grief that follows the loss of a sibling—and who is driven by a fierce need for revenge? Swiftly, Damien finds himself caught in a power struggle between the brujas, a whirlwind battle that threatens to sweep the whole village out to sea.
Resonant with the Diné creation story and the unshakeable weight of the Long Walk—the forced removal of the Navajo from their land—Swim Home to the Vanished explores the human capacity for grief and redemption, and the lasting effects it has on the soul.
Additional Information
240 pages | 5.31" x 8.00" | Paperback