Take Us to Your Chief

January 16, 2017
This short story collection mixing sci-fi with First Nations myths and contemporary politics highlights prolific writer Taylor’s formidable talents across genres. Taylor (The Night Wanderer) cleverly uses the tropes of science fiction—alien connections, government conspiracies, thinking machines, time travel—to frame colonial-indigenous relations in an off-kilter way. The funniest and most fully realized of the stories is “Dreams of Doom,” in which First Nations people discover the government has been spying on them using specially adapted dream catchers. A more poignant story is “Lost in Space,” in which Mitchell, a First Nations astronaut on a long mission, learns of his grandfather’s death back on Earth. His vessel’s artificial intelligence, known as Mac, is a wholly inadequate companion for grieving—until it tracks down some lost footage of Mitchell’s grandfather. Exploring the complicated no-man’s-land that looms large between modernity and tradition, this collection is an unromanticized attempt to make sense of the world we live in with all its problems and benefits. Although the collection is probably too retro to appeal to serious fans of speculative fiction, its intriguing combination of serious politics and good fun will appeal to a broad readership. Agent: Janine Cheeseman, Aurora Artists.

March 1, 2017

Gr 5-8-Taylor delights with humorous short stories that will have readers longing for more. This volume of short science fiction tales from a First Nations perspective invites contemplation. In one piece, men living in a nursing home are conquered by aliens, thereby seeing history repeat itself. In "I AM...AM I," a computer develops artificial intelligence and human emotion, struggling to identify what it is. It turns to Native spirituality as a way to relate, only to become depressed by what it learns. In "Dreams of Doom," a slightly scary and sarcastic entry, dream catchers are used to subdue First Nations into passive people. In "Superdisappointed," a Native man discovers that being the first Aboriginal superhero isn't as glamorous as one might think. Taylor's writing is entertaining and thought provoking. While these tales employ familiar tropes, the First Nations point of view is a refreshing change of pace from typical sci-fi fare. VERDICT Recommended for most libraries. With its appealing cover art, this will be a great addition to short story collections.-Amy Zembroski, Indian Community School, Franklin, WI

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2017

A reservation radio station beaming an old Native American song attracts alien visitors. A First Nations astronaut learns of his grandfather's death back on Earth and ponders his relationship through lost footage brought up by his ship's artificial intelligence. Taylor's nine tales take such classic sf tropes as alien invasions and space travel, and reworks them with a contemporary indigenous North American outlook. New parallels between first alien contact and the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, magic, mystery, Armageddon, and humor are all found in this singular collection. VERDICT Taylor's writing (The Night Wanderer: A Native Gothic Novel) shows that social criticism and art can mix successfully, and that sf is an excellent genre to explore the Native experience in present--and future--worlds.--KC

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.