Tag Archives: indigenous stories

Book Review: Indian Burial Ground

Nick Medina is back with another Native American horror story steeped in folklore and mythology in his new novel, “Indian Burial Ground.”

Medina, author of “Sisters of the Lost Nation,” takes us back to the rez to talk about two issues that plague Native Americans – alcoholism and suicide.

In his Acknowledgments, he explains:

These two themes, along with Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, create the backdrop to this Louisiana story.

Synopsis

A man lunges in front of a car. An elderly woman silently drowns herself. A corpse sits up in its coffin and speaks. On this reservation, not all is what it seems, in this new spine-chilling mythological horror from the author of Sisters of the Lost Nation.

All Noemi Broussard wanted was a fresh start. With a new boyfriend who actually treats her right and a plan to move from the reservation she grew up on—just like her beloved Uncle Louie before her—things are finally looking up for Noemi. Until the news of her boyfriend’s apparent suicide brings her world crumbling down.

But the facts about Roddy’s death just don’t add up, and Noemi isn’t the only one who suspects that something menacing might be lurking within their tribal lands.

After over a decade away, Uncle Louie has returned to the reservation, bringing with him a past full of secrets, horror, and what might be the key to determining Roddy’s true cause of death. Together, Noemi and Louie set out to find answers…but as they get closer to the truth, Noemi begins to wonder whether it might be best for some secrets to remain buried.

Review

For those who know me, or follow me on Instagram, they know I reference Nick Medina’s books often, especially when we are discussing Indigenous issues.

One of the themes in this story that really resonated with me was the part about good and evil and how sometimes they can get out of balance. There are times when evil abounds, and then there are times when good outweighs evil. The universe will always try to correct itself when this happens in order to restore balance.

We can not have good without evil or evil without good.

This story is told by Noemi (present day) and Louie (past). For those who have seen Reservation Dogs, Gary Farmer narrates Louie in the audiobook, while Erin Tripp narrates Noemi’s story.

While Noemi is going through a horrible heartbreak (losing her boyfriend to suicide), Louie tells the story of the scary things that happened when he was a teenager. Stories of the Takoda vampire, the Takoda people, and the tamahka (the two great gators). Then there are the people dying and their corpses sitting up during their wakes. Bones in the cemetery are being dug up, and screams can be heard underground. People are going missing.

There are a lot of creepy things happening on the rez.

What I appreciate the most about Medina’s stories is the intertwining of myth and folklore into these characters’ lives in order to explain the unexplained. Each tale invokes ancient wisdom that helps people understand what is going on inside of them as they battle the monsters around them.

With every Medina book, I always learn so much. I enjoy reading Native American mythology and folklore, especially the scary stories that are passed down from one generation to the next. 

The book is out on April 16, 2024. You can purchase the book through the Bookshop.org or Amazon Bookshop links in the Shop menu.

Indigenous Stories: Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie

November is Native American Heritage month. As I finish my two book projects, I will be sharing Indigenous stories, as well as stories from Indigenous creators and storytellers.

Berkley Publishing sent along Blood Sisters [#ad] by Vanessa Lillie to be featured this month on this site. This book released on 10.31.2023. [NOTE: This post contains affiliate links. Please see the disclosure at the end of this post for more information.]

In this story, Syd Walker is an archeologist working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). She’s uncovered a skull of an Indian woman in Rhode Island. Finding that skull is just the beginning of a much bigger story.

Another skull is unearthed in her hometown in Oklahoma, but this one has her old badge inside of it, like a calling card asking her to come home.

Find me.

The BIA sends her home to Oklahoma, where she has to face her own demons. Haunted by a friend who was killed when they were kids, she suffers from ongoing psychological trauma from that incident. She killed their attacker, but it was too late to save her friend and her parents.

Going home isn’t what she expected. She’s not an archeologist on this return, she’s an investigator, but what she’s investigating is more than just the skull with her badge in it. There is so much more to what is calling her back home.

She arrives to find out her sister, Emma Lou, has gone missing. The land is poisoned and caving in, thanks to mining and energy companies polluting the land. People are being forced to take a pittance for their poisoned homes and nothing for the land. Drugs are becoming a way of life for their community so much that even Syd’s mother is making drug deliveries.

Bad people are taking advantage of this dying community. Whites are encroaching on the land and taking it as their own without reprimand. The government…don’t get me started. Underneath all of this are the Indigenous women who have gone missing. Their bones are littering the earth, completely undiscovered. But there are people looking for them, hoping they are still alive.

Lillie incorporates a lot of the issues plaguing Native Americans. The story takes place in 2008, but the problems are still relevant today (if not worse).

Lillie is a white-facing Cherokee. I didn’t start crying until I read the Author’s Note at the end of Blood Sisters. [#ad] Her note reminded me of why it is so difficult for me to write Book Project #1. I’ve cried so many times already, because to tell what is happening to Native Americans over these last hundred years all the way up until today has been so difficult, because it hurts me to know how much evil has been wrought against an entire race, all in an effort to exterminate them.

For this book, I will say that the ending surprised me. The twists kept coming and they didn’t stop. There’s redemption, surprise, intrigue, and just pure evil slamming up against you. She even threw a tornado in there (which actually did happen on May 10, 2008). There is more involved in this return to home than just investigating a skull with her badge in it. Ends up, everything is far worse than you can imagine.

This is a fantastic read for those who love thrillers and want to understand a little more about the terrors facing everyday Indigenous lives. If it’s not the white man trying to poison Native Americans, it’s people trying to murder them and steal the land out from underneath them, and people flooding their communities with drugs. This book goes into a very dark place, so tread lightly.

Thank you Berkley Pub and PRHAudio for sending Blood Sisters my way. [#ad] I think it frightened me more than I let on, because a lot of the topics Lillie touched upon are elements that appear in Book Project #1 (and that’s the horror book). It reminded me a bit of the psychological terror in the Hannibal Lecter books and the evil the FBI are chasing down (which is far worse than the cannibal). In this case, Syd had no idea what she was searching for when she arrived home, until it stumbled out of a cave. That was when everything changed.

[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review on this site. My review is not influenced by the publisher or the author in any way. This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchase helps support my work.]

Fall Horror Books: White Horse

Today’s fall horror book comes from Erika T. Wurth, and it is called White Horse.

[Disclosure: I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this website.  Your purchase helps support my work.]

I’ve been sitting on this book for a little while now, because I’ve been mulling it over.  That is actually how I know the book is really good…if I am still thinking about it long after I read it.

For me, what I am mulling over is Bigfoot.  Weird, right?  Kind of reminds me of Big’s obsession with Bigfoot on Reservation Dogs.  If you are like most, Bigfoot is just some urban legend that no one really believes is out there.  Never once did I contemplate just where the story of Bigfoot came from.

Imagine my surprise that Bigfoot’s roots come from Indigenous cultures.

As I dive more and more into Native American stories and their culture, I am learning how protective they are of their stories.  One book (I’ll be sharing soon) lists most of their horror stories as the white man being the monster.  And truthfully, it is rather eye opening to see the story through the eyes of a Native American.  I usually just nod my head and go, “Wow, you are so right.” 

With White Horse, you can see the monster through different eyes and it is equally as terrifying.  Watching history and folklore cross paths to explain the monsters around us, really made my heart sad.  I think I didn’t want to talk about this horror story so soon, because my heart wept.  To have that sort of emotional feeling during a horror story, that means you need to read it.

All I can say is that I don’t think the horror story ever really ends. There are so many levels of horror that stick with you long after you turn the last page. That is what makes this debut novel an incredible horror story.

Synopsis

Some people are haunted in more ways than one…

Kari James, Urban Native, is a fan of heavy metal, ripped jeans, Stephen King novels, and dive bars. She spends most of her time at her favorite spot in Denver, a bar called White Horse. There, she tries her best to ignore her past and the questions surrounding her mother who abandoned her when she was just two years old.

But soon after her cousin Debby brings her a traditional bracelet that once belonged to Kari’s mother, Kari starts seeing disturbing visions of her mother and a mysterious creature. When the visions refuse to go away, Kari must uncover what really happened to her mother all those years ago. Her father, permanently disabled from a car crash, can’t help her. Her Auntie Squeaker seems to know something but isn’t eager to give it all up at once. Debby’s anxious to help, but her controlling husband keeps getting in the way.

Kari’s journey toward a truth long denied by both her family and law enforcement forces her to confront her dysfunctional relationships, thoughts about a friend she lost in childhood, and her desire for the one thing she’s always wanted but could never have…