Sometime back, I wrote a book and inadvertently began a
journey. That book was called Cut Hand. Judging
from readers’ reactions, it was a good book. Oh, I made a mistake or two along
the way, among which was making Splitlip Rumquiller and Wild Red Greavy speak
in such heavy dialects. I did it on purpose and in the face of everything I’d
learned along the way (e.g., the declaration that Mark Twain was the last author able to get away
with such a thing). It cost me some readers who put the book down rather than slog through the 40 or so pages where these two are on-stage, so to speak. I wouldn’t
do that again. Readers are too precious.
Nonetheless, I got lots of favorable, encouraging readers’
comments on the story and decided to continue the saga with River Otter. Reaction to that book
prompted the third in the series, Echoes
of the Flute. Next year, STARbooks Press will publish the fourth and final
in the series, Medicine Hair.
These books have two overarching themes. The subplot was
to show the native peoples as humans with all the strengths and weaknesses of
those beings. And, of course, their tragic and disastrous dealings with the
white man. But the primary goal was to show how many of the Indian tribes (not
all) accepted berdaches (deviants) as
ordinary people, occasionally placing them in positions of responsibility and
honor. Then, in succeeding stories reflect on how the influence of the
Europeans changed that view. The Native American Circle of Life perspective back
in those days was really quite remarkable.
When I finished Medicine
Hair, I became involved in a couple of projects, neither of which were
particularly interesting to me. I needed to become more proficient and
effective at using social media in order to market my books to a wider audience
and was engaged in learning to use Dragon Naturally Speaking as a possible way
of increasing the volume of my writing. As a Nineteenth Century man living in
the Twenty-First Century, neither proved to be easy.
One day, I realized my lifestyle had changed …
drastically. I no longer got out of bed easily. My powers of concentration were
poor. I’d start a project and find myself ten minutes later playing a game of
Free Cell Solitaire or working a crossword puzzle. I would literally fall asleep
at the computer and find myself not sleeping
at night. All because I was doing working on two things which I found
frustrating and in which I had zero interest.
At least, I thought that was the problem. One morning, as
I lay abed trying to avoid getting up, I realized my mind was working on
something. It was a prologue for a new book. It even had a name. And a
protagonist. The book’s name was Wastelakopi
… Beloved, and the individual was John Strobaw, also known as War Eagle and
Night Sky Hair, and, of course, Medicine Hair. So if STARbooks is willing to
publish it, there will be another book in the series.
I haven’t had trouble getting up and going to work since
that revelation.
Hope that’s good news for some of you. Every day, I say
thanks for my readers. They make the effort worthwhile.
Would appreciate hearing a reaction from some of you to
the emergence of a new book in the series.
Thanks, guys.
Mark
New posts are
published at the first of every month at 6:00 a.m.
