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I've tried several different ways to write this so I can tell you about the novels I've written. They are called The SILVER HAWK Warrior series. There are 6 of them and we hope to have the first one out soon. We've been busy taking care of ALL the details so that they are RIGHT because that is very important to me.
I thought of writing an 'article like' blog, very professional ~yawn~ but I think I'm just going to tell you about them as if you were sitting here.
Since I'm I writer, I'm in bookstores a lot and I have a lot of books. Because these books are Native, I watch to see what else is out there. The only books I'm happy with (personally) are some of Sherman Alexie's books. I like those but that's my personal taste. I'll tell you what I'm TIRED of...books that promote STEREOTYPE, oh...I hate those. Enough of those. Same way with the movies...have we not seen enough??? I have. That is how people get so mixed up to begin with...what is REAL is not out there.
To me there is no point to adding to THAT pile of horse manure they call literature. No. Enough is enough and it is time for something new.
Now, when the series begins it is based on historical fact but it is historical fact according to Native people, definitely not what you read in your history books. Even though these are fiction books, a TON of research has gone into them and that is not just researching other books...it was talking to people, incorporating real life into fiction, listening to people tell how it really was...how it is. I wanted to do something that has never been done before.
And it is a story so you're not reading something like this, "In 1890 on the plains during the month of June..." ~snooze~ I would put myself in a coma writing something like that. Although the story is very well researched it is also entertaining.
The entire series is based on research and not only Native research but every aspect of the series...if you like stories about hardship overcoming obstacles, child abuse, drinking, rape, drugs & gang life...I worked as a counselor for youth and I talked with the ones who faced these problems. I know what it is like and I used what I know, what they knew, and I wrote a story. The martial arts aspect that is involved, I've talked with people who are masters and grand masters in martial arts. Crime & criminology...I know plenty about that aspect and I worked with Law Enforcement for years...I know how there are some cops who work hard while others are on a power trip...I used it all in these books.
I did not just sit down one day and say, I am going to write a Native American series, pick out a topic and write...ohhh noooo...it wasn't like that at all.
As I said, there are enough of those out there now.
The series is based on the Ghost Dance prophecy...where Native people gathered to dance to bring back an old way of life, to bring back the old warriors. (See the videos on my profile).
Well what if one DID come back? What if a young man is walking around with almost 200 years of memories in his head and what if he used to be a Lakota warrior in the past? But what if he's born on Pine Ridge and his father goes to prison for murder and his mom moves him to Queens, NY?
What if life becomes all about SURVIVAL again???
What if he, like many Native youth today, know they have a proud history and yet they are faced with alcholism, addictions and abuse? Would it matter that he rode in the Bighorn Mountains? Would it matter that he was once a strong warrior who had to watch his people being massacred and taken away by sickness...and now the unseen enemies of alcohol, heroin and meth are taking his people??? How does that affect him to KNOW what was and now to see what IS.
The question is, can this 17 year old boy survive on the streets and will he ever go HOME again? Can he? And now...what is home but a reservation he never wanted to go to in the first place? His people know who he is and they want him to come home. Can he lead again the way he did in the past? Does he want to???
There are plans for this series. We want the series of books to go out. We want movies made and we want a regular Native TV series. We want it in MAINSTREAM America. We intend to break that barrier that exists. Native NEWS doesn't even make it on CNN. To mainstream society it is as if Native people are not there at all. We intend to do what has never been done before and shatter that barrier. The last thing mainstream society remembers seeing is Dances With Wolves...the past, the tipi's...We might start out rooted traditionally in the past but we are going to move it FORWARD to NOW. We are still here and we intend to show that but to do that we are very, very much interested in keeping the story RIGHT. These novels could have gone out faster without any attention to detail if it was just a business oriented ordeal. It's not. These novels are carrying a message of hope with them and THAT is what's important...for all of us.
*If you want to see the summaries for the novels, go backward in my blog to the July 25 2009 entry.
A. Miller
2:26 PM
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