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Horror, history, and superhero comics are included in this trio of books by great Indigenous authors.
By Honora Quinn ’27
Staff Writer
Content Warning: this article mentions violence against Indigenous communities, fetal alcohol syndrome and the sexual abuse of children.
Monday, Oct. 9, was Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In honor of the holiday, the Books section of Mount Holyoke News has curated a list of books by Indigenous authors for you to check out.
“Man Made Monsters” by Andrea L. Rogers
“Man Made Monsters” is a horror anthology perfect for the spooky season. This anthology follows a family over the course of almost 200 years as they battle both literal monsters and the figurative monsters of colonialism and imperialism. One summary on the author’s website reads: “From the tribe’s homelands in Georgia in the 1830s to World War I, the Vietnam War, our own present and well into the future, each story delivers a slice of a particular time period that will leave readers longing for more." A review of the book by Goodreads user Beautifully Bookish Bethany noted that “often the true horror of the story will be rooted in human violence, racism, misogyny, homophobia and systemic oppression.”
Rogers is from Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She has a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the Institute of American Indian and Alaskan Arts and is pursuing her doctorate at the University of Arkansas. Her debut novel, “Mary and the Trail of Tears,” came out in 2020 and was in NPR’s “Favorite Reads of 2020” list. She also contributed to the anthology “Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids.”
“A Council of Dolls” by Mona Susan Power
“A Council of Dolls” is a family saga following three generations of women from the same family. According to the dust jacket, it is “told in part through the stories of the dolls they carried.” According to the author’s website, the scope of the story spans “from the mid-century metropolis of Chicago to the windswept ancestral lands of the Dakota people, to the bleak and brutal Indian boarding schools.” As one Goodreads reviewer said, “This is not an easy read. Combining fact and fiction, the author has poured heart and soul into a narrative that is powerful in its simplicity, matter-of-fact yet intimate, insightful and thought-provoking.”
Power is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and “A Council of Dolls” is her fourth novel. She got her Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, respectively, and was a member of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. This is the first long-form prose that Power has published since 2014. Following her debut novel, “The Grass Dancer,” her short-form writing has appeared in a number of publications, such as The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review and The Best American Short Stories.
“Tribal Force” by Jon Proudstar
The idea for the Tribal Force comic series originated almost three decades ago, in 1996. Soon afterwards, the comic’s publisher went out of business, meaning that the first issue was also the last. However, a Kickstarter campaign has revived the project after raising $1800 more than its $6500 goal. The team at the center of the story is composed of seven heroes who reprise their roles for a minimum of five issues. Proudstar has said that he will not back down from the difficult real-life topics his characters face and has turned down working with big publishers because of their unwillingness to spotlight these problems, including childhood molestation and fetal alcohol syndrome.
Jon Proudstar is an accomplished actor who is well known for his work on the hit Hulu series “Reservation Dogs,” but he has a track record of writing. In addition to authoring the Tribal Force comic, Proudstar wrote, starred in and directed the movie “Dude Vision” (2005). Proudstar is of Yaqui, Mayan, Jewish and Latino descent.