My true name is Dove. I am both a boy and a girl and I don’t question anything anymore. I want to live. We all, including our Great Mother, want to live.
I don’t care that a north wind will blow now that I’ve told you about them.
Let’s fight.
A ho.
Tapwe.
Dawe.
Prayers
For those taken
Too soon
By those they loved
and trusted…
Afterwords
Mahsi cho for reading my stories. I would like to dedicate the spirit of this collection to the memory of Dr. Renate Eigenbrod. As well, I would like to thank Janine Cheeseman and Tracy Essex-Simpson at Aurora Artists for their incredible representation. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the MacEwan University Writer in Residence program, where I was proud to serve as their Writer in Residence in 2013 and 2014 and hone this collection. Maurice Mierau and Catharina de Bakker, mahsi cho for editing all of my stories with Enfield & Wizenty. I am grateful.
“bornagirl” is dedicated to Annelies Pool.
“Where are you tonight?” is dedicated to Anita Doron, Christina Piovesan, Alex Lalonde, Joel Evans, Kiowa Gordon, Adam Butcher, Chloe Rose, Benjamin Bratt, Tony Rabesca and everyone who had anything to do with the making of The Lesser Blessed, the movie, with First Generation Films. Mahsi cho!!
“The Strongest Blood” is dedicated to Earl, Marlene, Trevor and Ty Evans
“I Double Dogrib Dare You” is dedicated to Joel Duthie, Casey Germain and Graeme Comyn.
“Blood Rides the Wind” is dedicated to Garry Gottfriedson because he inspires me in all the right ways. I’ve always wanted to write one of those Continuum 33 1/3 books where an author gets to write a whole book inspired by an album. I love Kate Schatz’s take on PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me. “Blood Rides the Wind” is dedicated to Leif Gregersen, Alex Russo and Shane Turgeon. This story is Bear’s part two of “The Contract” in Godless but Loyal to Heaven with hints of more in “Love Walked In” in The Moon of Letting Go. The album that I hear as the backdrop of Bear’s narrative in all of his stories (including “The Fleshing” in Godless but Loyal to Heaven) is “Disintegration” by The Cure. This album changed my life forever.
“Skull.Full.Of.Rust” is dedicated to the memory of JCS.
“Because of What I Did” is dedicated to Ric and Rose Richardson and Louise Halfe.
“Crow” is dedicated to Chrystos, Katrina Chappell and Gregory Scofield.
“If Only Tonight” is dedicated to everyone you thought of when you read it(!)
“The Rock Beat” is dedicated to my brothers: Roger Wah-shee, Johnny Van Camp and Jamie Van Camp.
“Wheetago War” is dedicated to Antonio Fuso and Art Napoleon.
Thank you for reading my stories. I am grateful to you. Mahsi cho!
Acknowledgements
“The Strongest Blood” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, Vol. 3, No. 3, University of Alberta Press, 2014.
“Where are you tonight?” Prairie Fire, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2013.
“bornagirl” Coming Home: Stories from The Northwest Territories, Enfield & Wizenty, 2012.
“Skull.Full.Of. Rust” mitêwâcimowina: Indigenous Science Fiction and Speculative Storytelling, Theytus Books, 2015.
An excerpt from “Because of What I Did” is published in Kwe: Standing With Our Sisters, Penguin Books, 2015.
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