All My Relations: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Native Fiction

The impressive breadth and variety of expression among Native Canadian writers is demonstrated in this fine collection. Contained in the volume are short stories, poems, selections from novels and an excerpt from a play. Some pieces--such as Peter Blue Cloud's and editor King's funny and ironic Coyote tales and Harry Robinson's lengthy poem about an Indian who becomes a circus hit in England-- are clearly designed to be read aloud, reflecting their continuity with oral tradition. Others, like Bruce King's eerie and ominous story of the Hookto, an evil entity that sucks the life out of its victims, seem more in the tradition of Stephen King than what most readers would think of as Native fiction. Not all the pieces are set in Canada--locations range as far as Oklahoma and the Southwest, and city dwellers as well as reserve Natives are depicted. The unsentimental, uncompromisingly authentic work thus reflects the increasingly pan-tribal nature of much Native art and discourse. Free of sentimentality and un compromisingly authentic, this volume will help give readers a picture of the diversity of Canada's one million Na tive people. King is the author of Medicine River . (Sept.)