Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/tag/off-the-path/)
In a novella I wrote, “Where Custer Last Slept”—the title referring to the town of Busby on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation where Custer camped before his last infamous day on the Little Bighorn—I detailed the gruesome murders of a couple of teens whose killer is not brought to justice, prompting a group of friends to take matters into their own hands. That story is part of “Off the Path,” a Montana-based anthology of American Indian writers. (more…) Continue Reading →
Lay of the Land: A series of essays on the spirit of Montana
On Oct. 23, acclaimed American Indian author Sherman Alexie came to a packed Rocky Mountain College Fortin Center gymnasium and gave what was reported to be a hilariously entertaining speech that had the crowd laughing until their stomachs hurt. I had written several in-depth articles about the controversy his young-adult book, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” had caused in School District 2 last year at this time. (more…) Continue Reading →
Don’t miss Craig Lancaster’s interview with Adrian Jawort, who edited and published “Off the Path: An Anthology of 21st Century Montana American Indian Writers, Vol. 1.” We wrote about the book in February, but Lancaster’s interview has a lot of new information, including Jawort’s plans for upcoming anthologies and his own novel. Excerpt: “A lot of people open the book perhaps expecting something typical and almost clichéd and formulaic about Native Americans, but this is very edgy and atypical. We do touch on plaguing real issues like suicide, abuse , alcoholism, and poverty that Natives out west deal with on a seemingly extreme level and a lot of it is biographical, but it’s still very original fiction. Off the Path has basically created a life force of its own and a lot of that stemmed from positive reactions to it.” Continue Reading →
