Drew Hayden Taylor
A forgotten Haudenosaunee social song beams into the cosmos like a homing beacon for interstellar visitors. A computer learns to feel sadness and grief from the history of atrocities committed against First Nations. A young Native man discovers the secret to time travel in ancient petroglyphs. Drawing inspiration from science fiction legends like Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury, Drew Hayden Taylor frames classic science-fiction tropes in an Aboriginal perspective.
The nine stories in this collection span all traditional topics of science fiction--from peaceful aliens to hostile invaders; from space travel to time travel; from government conspiracies to connections across generations. Yet Taylor's First Nations perspective draws fresh parallels, likening the cultural implications of alien contact to those of the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, or highlighting the impossibility of remaining a "good Native" in such an unnatural situation as a space mission.
Infused with Native stories and variously mysterious, magical and humorous, Take Us to Your Chief is the perfect mesh of nostalgically 1950s-esque science fiction with modern First Nations discourse.
Prize(s): Short-listed Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour (2017)
Take Us to Your Chief and Other Stories is available in paperback from your favourite bookstore or directly from douglas-mcintyre.com.
ISBN 13: 9781771621311
6 × 9 – 160 pp
CAD$18.95 • USD$18.95
An ebook edition is also available from Amazon, Kobo, Apple iBooks and other ebook retailers.