I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Anglo who identifies as a Scotsman-in-exile, which is to say I come from a long line of mostly-British-descended people who came here from Scotland in the early days of the US, and I wish they’d all stayed in the UK so I could have been born there.
That said, I somehow picked up a very fierce appreciation of the American Southwest, and the native tribes that live there. Because of this, I did several classes on Native American literature in college, and read quite a few amazing stories. But in the SFF field where my true heart lies, there’s remarkably little Science Fiction or Fantasy written by Native Americans.
One of my favorite science fiction novels is Roger Zelazny’s Eye of Cat, a story taking inspiration from Navajo traditions. As much as I love that book, though, Zelazny was as white as I am. He did a good job, but how much better might it have been if it had been written by someone who knew the culture from the inside?
One of my favorite stories this year was Rebecca Roanhorse’s Hugo Award-nominated “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience.” Go give it a read, I’ll wait.
Good, wasn’t it? SO MUCH going on there. Well, imagine how happy I was to see that she’s got a novel–first in a series–coming out this month? She describes Trail of Lightning as an “Indigenous Mad Max: Fury Road.”
Read more about her book at this link. (Includes B&N Preorder link at bottom)