Indigenous Speculative Fiction and Horror Reads to Check Out
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Back Cover: Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden—but what they don't know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.
Cherie Dimaline is an award winning indigenous author, activist, and member the Georgian Bay Metis Community in Ontario. In a 2017 article with Publishing Perspectives, Dimaline discusses the importance of keeping “indigenous” as an identifier:
“Because we are the people of story, it is a great honor for me to be called a Métis writer. It denotes a title, an honor, and a certain knowledge. In fact, I feel demoted when I’m referred to as only a Canadian writer. My community has struggled and survived, and I’m enormously proud to be able to carry our voices forward. I can’t speak for every writer, but for myself, I am a writer. But being called an Indigenous author is like having a PhD at the end of your signature.”
Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones
Back Cover:
Blackfeet author Stephen Graham Jones brings readers a spine-tingling Native American horror novella.
Walking through his own house at night, a fifteen-year-old thinks he sees another person stepping through a doorway. Instead of the people who could be there, his mother or his brother, the figure reminds him of his long-gone father, who died mysteriously before his family left the reservation. When he follows it he discovers his house is bigger and deeper than he knew.
The house is the kind of wrong place where you can lose yourself and find things you'd rather not have. Over the course of a few nights, the boy tries to map out his house in an effort that puts his little brother in the worst danger, and puts him in the position to save them . . . at terrible cost.
Stephen Graham Jones is an award winning author whose bio starts like this:
“Stephen Graham Jones was born in Midland, Texas in 1972. As an infant, he got knocked out by a ceiling when a family friend threw him too high into the air and, before he was even one, he had more than 100 stitches in his face. Another time, the fire department had to be called to get his head unstuck from the highchair. It’s so easy to get hurt.”
He’s worth checking out. Buy Mapping the Interior here.
Deer Woman: An Anthology
Back Cover: Based on the true stories of Indigenous women throughout the world, Deer Woman: An Anthology is an extension of the Deer Woman: A Vignette, comic book that itself is a powerful expression and weaves the stories of Deer Woman into a modern narrative of the struggles of Indigenous women in North America. This anthology features the work of more than a dozen Native women sharing stories of survival, empowerment, and healing. Edited by Elizabeth LaPensée and Weshoyot Alvitre and featuring the work of: Patty Stonefish, Allie Vasquez, Mia Casesa, Darcie Little Badger, Tara Ogaick, Kimberly Robertson, Barbara Kenmille, Maria Wolf Lopez, Tatum Bowie, Jackie Fawn, Rebecca Roanhorse, Carolyn Dunn, Nashoba Dunn-Anderson, and more, this anthology is an important addition to the current conversation about violence against women, especially Native women.
