Roman, Trish Fox (Ojibwa), ed. Voices under One Sky: Contemporary Native Literature. Freedom: Crossing, 1994.

Short fiction, poetry, and autobiographical writings by forty-four Native American authors, including Frank Conibear, Twance Fiddler, Daniel David Moses, Duke Redbird, Wendy Rose, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Elizabeth Woody.

Sarris, Greg (Coast Miwok-Kashaya Pomo), ed. The Sound of Rattles and Clappers: A Collection of New California Indian Writing. Tucson: U of Arizona P, 1994.

Poetry, short fiction, and autobiographical narratives by ten writers of California Native American descent: Janice Gould, Frank LaPena, James Luna, Stephen Meadows, William Oandasan, Wendy Rose, Georgiana Valoyce-Sanchez, Greg Sarris, Kathleen Smith, and Darryl Babe Wilson. Themes include place, family, and anger about oppression.

Smelcer, John E., and D. L. Birchfield, eds. Durable Breath: Contemporary Native American Poetry. Anchorage: Salmon Run, 1994.

Poems focusing on themes of home and loss. Includes work by diverse Native American writers, such as Sherman Alexie, Kimberly Blaeser, Rayna Green, Simon Ortiz, Wendy Rose, and Elizabeth Woody.

Swann, Brian, ed. Coming to Light: Contemporary Translations of the Native Literatures of North America. New York: Random, 1996.

The first anthology of Native American literature to place the difficulties and possibilities of translation at its theoretical and textual center. The editor presents accurate and engaging translations and provides historical and cultural contexts for them. Translators include Donald Bahr and Vincent Joseph, Keith H. Basso, Judith Berman, John Bierhorst, William Bright, Julie Cruikshank and Angela Sidney, Larry Evers and Felipe S. Molina, Calvin W. Fast Wolf, Leanne Hinton, Dell Hymes, Elaine A. Jahner, Tom Lowenstein, David P. McAllester, Anthony Mattina, Jarold Ramsey, Julian Rice, William Shipley, Barre Toelken, Judith Vander, and Paul G. Zolbrod.

Trafzer, Clifford E. (Wyandot), ed. Blue Dawn, Red Earth: New Native American Storytellers. New York: Anchor, 1996.

Thirty new short stories, many of which adapt traditional oral narratives, by writers from varied tribal backgrounds, including Jim Barnes, Jason B. Edwards, Craig Fleet, Eric L. Gansworth, Tiffany Midge, Patricia Riley, Lorne Simon, Gerald Vizenor, and Craig Womack. Notably resisting nostalgia and sentimentality, the writers focus on the grit and humor Native Americans need to survive in contemporary everyday contexts.

Vizenor, Gerald (Anishinaabe), ed. and introd. Native American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology.

Foreword by Ishmael Reed. New York: Harper, 1995.

Native American autobiography, fiction, poetry, and drama from the eighteenth century to the present organized by genre in a volume intended for classroom use. The introduction outlines Native American literary history.

———. Shadow Distance: A Gerald Vizenor Reader. Introd. A. Robert Lee. Hanover: Wesleyan UP, 1994.

Autobiography, fiction, stories, essays, and a screenplay from previously published works, including Interior Landscapes, The Heirs of Columbus, Landfill Meditation, and The People Named the Chippewa. Contains a bibliography of the author's works.

Witalec, Janet, and Sharon Malinowski, eds. Smoke Rising: The Native North American Literary Companion. Detroit: Visible Ink, 1995.

Short fiction, poetry, and prose by thirty-five indigenous writers from the United States. Includes brief critical biographies and excerpts of reviews.

Fiction

Alexie, Sherman (Spokane-Coeur d'Alene). Indian Killer. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 1996.

A story set in Seattle about a Native American who grows up with white adoptive parents. While searching for his Native American identity, he becomes a suspect in a search for a serial killer who is murdering whites. Themes include violence against homeless Native Americans, the Indian Child Welfare Act, white liberalism, and Native American activism.

———. Reservation Blues. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 1995.

Alexie's first novel. A famous blues guitarist arrives on a reservation in Washington state and gives his magical guitar to a young man who starts an all-Native American rock band.

Bell, Betty Louise (Cherokee). Faces in the Moon. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1994.

A first novel about three generations of Cherokee women written from the point of view of the granddaughter, who is trying to make sense of her Native American identity. The granddaughter ends up at the Oklahoma Historical Society in an effort to substantiate family history through official tribal enrollment.

Bruchac, Joseph (Abenaki). Long River. Golden: Fulcrum, 1995.

A sequel to Bruchac's 1993 novel Dawn Land, this historical novel describes how an Abenaki couple survives by using intimate knowledge of the natural world.

Carr, A(aron) A(lbert) (Navajo-Laguna Pueblo). Eye Killers: A Novel. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1995.

A combination of mystery, terror, and Native American mythology. Vampire Europeans, long dormant, awake in contemporary Albuquerque. When the vampire leader bites a Native American teenager, her family and friends must look to indigenous traditions to overcome evil.

Conley, Robert J. (Cherokee). Captain Dutch. New York: Pocket, 1995.

Historical fiction about a Cherokee warrior involved in a conflict between the Cherokee and the Osage.

———. Crazy Snake. New York: Pocket, 1994.

Historical fiction about Chitto Harjo, a traditionalist Muscogee (Creek) who resists assimilationist agreements and becomes a target of the United States government. He leads a faction of resisters in a flight to Kansas when government troops advance into Indian Territory in the wake of the Civil War.

———. The Dark Island. New York: Doubleday, 1995.

An account of a young mestizo who must decide whether to follow his Spanish or his Cherokee heritage.

———. Geronimo: An American Legend. New York: Pocket, 1994.

Historical fiction about the life of a nineteenth-century Apache leader well known for his resistance to United States encroachment and for his success in evading capture by the United States Army.

———. The Long Way Home. New York: Doubleday, 1994.

A fictionalized account of the Cherokee's first contact with Europeans. Focuses on a Cherokee sold into slavery who serves as an interpreter for Hernando de Soto.

———. Outside the Law. New York: Pocket, 1995.

The story of an investigation into the murder of a schoolteacher.

———. To Make a Killing. New York: Pocket, 1994.

A narrative about a murder investigation that takes place while citizens of Tahlequah, the Cherokee capital, prepare to vote on a land grant.

———. The War Tail North. New York: Bantam, 1995.

An imaginative account of a young Cherokee warrior's efforts to avenge the murder of his brother.

———. The Way South. New York: Doubleday, 1994.

A Native American trader confronts Spanish invaders seeking gold.

———. Zeke Proctor: Cherokee Outlaw. New York: Pocket, 1994.

An account of a Cherokee Civil War veteran who becomes an outlaw as a result of murder, betrayal, and oppression.

Erdrich, Louise (Chippewa). The Bingo Palace. New York: Harper, 1994.

Continues the linked stories of characters from Erdrich's earlier novels Love Medicine, The Beet Queen, and Tracks. The protagonist returns to the reservation, where he falls in love; a variety of comic misadventures lead him to greater self-awareness.

———. Takes of Burning Love. New York: Harper, 1996.

A novel set in and around Argus, North Dakota, tells the stories of five women, all linked to one man, a character introduced in Erdrich's first novel, Love Medicine. Themes include relationships, love, community, and loss.

Forbes, Jack D. (Powhátan-Renate, Delaware-Lenape). Only Approved Indians: Stories. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1995.

Seventeen short stories by a professor of anthropology. The stories highlight questions about tribal origin, social status, age, and lifestyle and depict the tensions between individual and community identities.

Glancy, Diane (Cherokee). Monkey Secret. Evanston: Triquarterly, 1995.

Three short stories and a novella entitled Monkey Secret address the inadequacy of language and the search for a sense of place and for a connection to a lost Native American heritage.

———. The Only Piece of Furniture in the House. Wakefield: Moyer, 1996.

A novel set in Texas and Louisiana about a family both united and unsettled by its matriarch.

———. Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears. New York: Harcourt, 1996.

A novel of the forced nine-hundred-mile walk of the Cherokee from the southeast to Indian Territory in 1838<caron>39. Told in multiple voices—including those of displaced Cherokee, European American soldiers, and various religious and political leaders.

Henry, Gordon (Ojibwa). The Light People: A Novel. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1994.

Searching for his roots, a young Ojibwa boy looks to his past and finds assistance from a tribal elder, one of the light people. The interweaving of stories, dreams, poems, and legal testimony suggests the complex relations within the community.

Hogan, Linda (Chickasaw). Solar Storms. New York: Scribner's, 1995.

The story of five generations of Native American women, one of whom runs away from Oklahoma and returns to her birthplace (northern Minnesota and southern Canada) in search of her mother, who has abandoned her. The strong female characters resist environmental destruction (an enormous hydroelectric project) and link violence against the earth with violence against Native Americans and women.

Louis, Adrian C. (Paiute). Skins. New York: Crown, 1995.

A contemporary story of two brothers living on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Influenced by alcohol and the Vietnam conflict, they face alienation and despair yet survive with humor.

———. Wild Indians and Other Creatures . Reno: U of Nevada P, 1996.

A collection of interrelated stories set on and around the Pine Ridge Reservation, in South Dakota. Some adapt traditional trickster tales in contemporary contexts.

Owens, Louis (Choctaw-Cherokee). Bone Game: A Novel . Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1994.

A detective story set in Santa Cruz, California, that retells the traditional tale of the gambler whose game determines life and death for both the individual and the tribe. With the help of traditionalists, a mixed-blood professor must confront himself and the gambler or “skin-walker” (ghost). Depicts the powerful bonds of family and community that endure the long-term effects of attempted genocide.

more great info

Owens, Louis (Choctaw-Cherokee). Bone Game: A Novel . Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1994.

I was sooooo sad when he put a bullet through his head at the airport in Albuquerque a few years back....

what a shame, these statistics....

(don't you wish there were a smiley face for :devastated:)?