This week, I’m reading two debut novels by First Nations authors, one is a Mohawk writer and one is a Diné writer. One novel was released as an audiobook two weeks ago and one is from 2022. Both books explore dark, violent themes and draw on supernatural or Science Fiction elements.
I’m hoping for storytelling using distinctive voices and offering fresh perspectives while delivering tense, engaging content.
“In The Hands Of Men“ (2023) by Gin Sexsmith
‘In The Hands Of Men‘ was an Editor’s Choice on Audible and has received fairly positive reviews. I listened to the audible excerpt below and was intrigued. I think this is going to be one of those books that either blows me away or which leaves me feeling that it attempted more than it could deliver. Either way, I’m expecting a read that pushes my boundaries a little.
Gin Sexsmith is a Mohawk writer and musician from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, and a member of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation. Obsessed with the darker sides of our psyche, Gin’s work explores love, loss, sexuality, and mental illness
“Shutter” (2022) by Ramona Emerson
I picked up ‘Shutter’ because a number of people whose reviews I follow had rated it as a four-star read and because It made the National Book Award Shortlist in 2022.
The idea of a Diné woman who works as a crime scene photographer having a gift for seeing the dead called to me even before I learned that Rita Emerson had worked as a forensic videographer.
At the moment Audible are offering the book to members for free. ‘Exposure’, the second book in the Rita Todacheene duology will be released in October 2024 so, if ‘Shutter’ works out, I’ll have a second book to follow up on.
I’ve picked up the audiobook version because I wanted to hear how the names and places were pronounced. Charley Flyte’s narration takes a little getting used to but it matches the text well.
Ramona Emerson is a Diné writer and filmmaker originally from Tohatchi, New Mexico. She has a bachelor’s in Media Arts from the University of New Mexico and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. After starting in forensic videography, she embarked upon a career as a photographer, writer, and editor. She is an Emmy Award nominee, a Sundance Institute Native Lab Fellow, a Time Warner Storytelling Fellow, a Tribeca All Access Grantee, and a WGBH Boston producer fellow. In 2020, Emerson was appointed to the Governor’s Council on Film and Media Industries for New Mexico. She currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she and her husband, the producer Kelly Byars, run their production company Reel Indian Pictures. Shutter is her first novel. The sequel, ‘Exposure‘ will be published in October 2024.
Mike Finn's Fiction 