Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo)
When the ex-mistress of a sinister cocaine wholesaler takes a job as secretary to a Native American clairvoyant who works the TV talk show circuit, she begins transcribing an ancient manuscript that foretells the second coming of Quetzalcoatl and the violent end of white rule in the Americas. Witches and shamans across the country are working to fulfill this prophecy, but the capitalist elite is mounting a dirty war of its own, with weapons such as heroin and cocaine. Occult conspiracies multiply at a dizzying pace, and eco-radicals actually do blow up the Glen Canyon Dam. Silko succeeds more as a storyteller than a novelist: the book is full of memorable vignettes, but the frame story of apocalyptic racial warfare is clumsy comic book fare. Recommended for collections of magic realism and Native American fiction.
Penguin Books

Carole laFavor (Ojibwa)
Teacher Renee LaRoche lives and works among her fellow Red Earth Ojibwa on Minnesota's northern plains. She turns amateur sleuth when priceless ceremonial artifacts are missing and the tribal chief is found with a bullet in his back. Her white lover, Samantha, who already wonders whether love will ever bridge the cultural gap between them, soon despairs of diverting Renee from an increasingly dangerous path of investigation. "Suits" (i.e., the FBI investigators responsible for Indian affairs) come to complicate the case, yet Native American wisdom prevails. Meanwhile, readers will learn Ojibwa words of greeting and blessing as they enjoy a lesbian mystery that adds some cultural diversity to that subgenre. - Whitney Scott
Firebrand Books

Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (Dakota)
A collection of three novellas spanning several decades, Aurelia tells of the invasion of Indian lands, the destruction of a river--the Missouri, or Mni Sosa--in the twentieth century, the continued failure of the people of the Northern Plains (both Indian and white) to refute historical fraud, and the grief and joy of an American Indian family.
University Press of Colorado

James Bruchac  (Abenaki)
Within the pages of BE GOOD author/storyteller James Bruchac recounts one of the most terrifying author visits of his life. A visit that forever changed his views on the power of stories. Having already presented this story to audiences across the country this book represents the first time it has ever been written down. Along with many never before told details readers will also come to understand the great sense of responsibility felt by Mr. Bruchac in spreading the word to all those "not so good kids." If you have ever even thought of being bad you better read this book.
Bowman Books

Tiana Bighorse (Navajo)
Tiana Bighorse draws on her memory to tell her father's story. In doing so, she ensures that a new generation of Navajos will know how the courage of their ancestors enabled their people to have their reservation today: "They paid for our land with their lives." Following the text is a chronology of Navajo history, with highlights of Gus Bighorse's life placed in the context of historical events.
University of Arizona Press

Don Birchfield (Choctaw/Chickasaw)
In this fast-paced novel by D. L. Birchfield, a hard-luck Oklahoma Choctaw lawyer, Hom-Astubby, decides that doing things on Indian time just isn't compatible with practicing law. When he tries his hand at becoming an outdoor photographer instead, Hom-Astubby finds himself being driven nearly crazy by a curious problem he never expected to encounter--having constant good luck.  Hom-Astubby fears that his unbridled good fortune has come to an end, though, when he befriends a huge abandoned dog while on vacation in southwestern Colorado and then suddenly finds himself at the center of the biggest manhunt and the biggest media event in that state's history. Hunted by Colorado's most powerful cop, with whose girlfriend Hom-Astubby has become infatuated, he can only hope that his luck hasn't run out altogether as he plays detective in a baffling murder. Hom-Astubby seeks the help of former girlfriends he hasn't seen for years--who aren't exactly waiting by the phone for him to call--and even puts his fate in the hands of a Navajo-Comanche bull rider, as he races the clock to solve this murder and keep himself from being arrested as its perpetrator. The first in a series of mysteries featuring this appealing character, Birchfield's Black Silk Handkerchief is sure to keep readers on their toes.
University of Oklahoma Press

Adrian C. Louis (Paiute)
"Stories surge through these poems which strip away all the rationalizations we Americans use to blind ourselves to history." - Leslie Marmon Silko. "Blood Thirsty Savages is a collection that reaches to the core of contemporary Native American life....It is a work of profound honesty, and it ought to be read by everyone who cares to know the American heart." - N. Scott Momaday.
Time Being Books

Lee Maracle (Metis)
Beginning with her childhood, Maracle traces her teenaged years and adulthood during the 1960's, '70's, and '80's. "...a valuable book about one remarkable women's spiritual quest..." - The Gazette, Montreal
Women's Press

Louis Owens (Choctaw/Cherokee)
Owens, who teaches English at the University of New Mexico, takes a second turn at fiction in this sequel to The Sharpest Sight, a tense blend of fantasy and mystery centering on American Indian lore. Relying on his own Choctaw heritage, the author tells the story of Cole McCurtain, whose life is coming apart at the seams. Cole no longer enjoys teaching American Indian Studies at UC-Santa Cruz. He drinks a lot, eats little and sorely misses his daughter, who's living with his divorced wife (to whom he owes substantial alimony). To top it off, he can't sleep because his dreams are haunted by images of a mysterious, malevolent Indian gambler. Matters turn dramatically worse when someone starts murdering female students. Are the killings somehow related to Cole's nightmares? To his dismay, it appears that it is his destiny to face the gambler and to solve the slayings. At first he is aided by his only friend at Santa Cruz, a transvestite Navajo. But soon Cole's daughter arrives, then his Choctaw family, and together they confront a centuries-old evil force that was unleashed by Spanish missionaries' cruel treatment of Native Americans. Owens expertly mixes genres and blends in generous amounts of Native American history. To his credit, he also leavens his grim but gripping tale with substantial humor.
University of Oklahoma Press

Louis Owens (Choctaw/Cherokee)
Owens, who teaches English at the University of New Mexico, takes a second turn at fiction in this sequel to The Sharpest Sight, a tense blend of fantasy and mystery centering on American Indian lore. Relying on his own Choctaw heritage, the author tells the story of Cole McCurtain, whose life is coming apart at the seams. Cole no longer enjoys teaching American Indian Studies at UC-Santa Cruz. He drinks a lot, eats little and sorely misses his daughter, who's living with his divorced wife (to whom he owes substantial alimony). To top it off, he can't sleep because his dreams are haunted by images of a mysterious, malevolent Indian gambler. Matters turn dramatically worse when someone starts murdering female students. Are the killings somehow related to Cole's nightmares? To his dismay, it appears that it is his destiny to face the gambler and to solve the slayings. At first he is aided by his only friend at Santa Cruz, a transvestite Navajo. But soon Cole's daughter arrives, then his Choctaw family, and together they confront a centuries-old evil force that was unleashed by Spanish missionaries' cruel treatment of Native Americans. Owens expertly mixes genres and blends in generous amounts of Native American history. To his credit, he also leavens his grim but gripping tale with substantial humor.
University of Oklahoma Press