RavenShadow (American Dreamers) - Softcover

Blevins, Win

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0692203710 ISBN 13: 9780692203712

Publisher: WordWorx Publishing, 2015

Synopsis

From a three-time Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers Writer of the Year, this tale of lost faith and crowning redemption follows one American Indian’s spirit journey to heal his past and claim his future. “RavenShadow has the impact of a hurled war lance.” —Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Before he was born, Joseph Blue Crow was chosen to carry the sacred ways of the Sioux. But instead of walking the good Red Road of his people, he put his feet on the white man’s road of basketball and booze, women and the blues.

Haunted by the loss of his Lakota heritage and the inexplicable suicide of the woman he loves, Blue sinks into alcoholism and despair. He soon finds himself on the precipice of oblivion, a train roaring toward his car on the railroad tracks. Only his best friend’s words can save him:“You got to go on the mountain.”

Blue’s journey takes him on a tortuous path, guided by a shaman and a spirit bird under whose wing lies the shadow of the past. He relives the massacre of Wounded Knee, standing beside his family and his people as they fall under fire of guns and cannons. Blue seeks redemption and healing through the course of this extraordinary story.

Reviews

“RavenShadow has the impact of a hurled war lance.” —Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

“Win Blevins has long since won his place among the West’s very best. RavenShadow adds a new dimension to reputation.” —Tony Hillerman

“An outstanding novel that people from age eight to eighty should read. . . . [Blevins] is a true storyteller in the tradition of Native people.” —Lee Francis, chair of the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers

“Blevins’ prose is razor sharp, his characters are clearly defined, and his heart, like so many, is at Wounded Knee. An outstanding novel.” —Booklist

“A strong, thoughtful story.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[RavenShadow] is destined to become an American classic. . . . [Blevins] raises the genre to a new level.” —Roundup Magazine

“Powerful and poetic.” —Tulsa World

“No one can come away from this magnificent work without feeling humble and meditative. . . . Blevins beautifully and skillfully merges the past and the present.” —El Paso Times

About this title

About the Author:

Win Blevins is an authority on the Plains Indians of North America and the era of the "mountain man". Author of a dozen novels set in the fur trade era of the American West as well as Give Your Heart to the Hawks, Blevins resides in the canyon country of the Four Corners of Utah.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Ravenshadow
PART ONEBlue Is LostBlue Introduces Himself 
 
Mitakuye oyasin--We are all related, we are all one. Mitakuye oyasin--those are the words we use to end all our prayers, we Lakota, the ones you call Sioux. I'm telling you this story to teach it to myself.You can call me Blue.My full name is Joseph Blue Crow. It is one of my names. I am the man of many names. I am the man of more than one voice, more than one language, more than one culture. I am the man you do not know, do not want to know, cannot permit yourself to know. To see me is to feel the cold beneath the shadow of the Raven's wing.Look at me. Here I stand before you, a buffalo bull of a Lakota Indian, six and a half feet tall and up toward three hundred pounds. My skin is dark, my hair blue-black, and I wear it in one long braid. I look like I belong in another world, any other world, not yours.Will you listen to my story? You must listen very carefully.I set out on a journey to save my soul.Maybe I will save it.And maybe, as my witness, you can save yours.Copyright © 1999 by Win Blevins

About this edition

• Publisher: WordWorx Publishing
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0692203710
• ISBN 13: 9780692203712
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 476