#native authors

Do I ever!

Never Whistle At Night is a collection of short stories that will chill you to the bone. A wonderful collection that includes several Indigenous women authors.

Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline was definitely a fun choice to bring on a camping trip last year. The ending had me feeling all kinds of conflicting emotions.

And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott is a WILD ride. More Thriller than Horror and I feel that Native readers and Non-Native/White readers will have very different experiences reading it. I don't want to give too much away because figuring out what's going on as you're reading it is definitely part of the appeal.

Mexican Gothic is exactly what it sounds like. A scary remote village in Mexico? A big scary mansion run by a rich colonizer family? A badass Meso-Indigenous main character trying to figure out a mystery? It's all here. The build up is slow but as soon as shit starts getting WEIRD it's nothing but thrills and fun.

Anoka by Shane Hawk is another collection of short stories. It's a short read but each story is as fun and creepy as the next. Read at night <3

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth is for all the urban NDNs out there. The main character is a certified badass. I love the NDN/Punk rock feel of it combined with the horror of the supernatural.

🦦 Treaty Words: For as Long as the Rivers Flow by Aimée Craft, illustrated by Luke Swinson

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

“We learned to make treaties from everything around us, listening and observing to see how good relationships are made. We use the word aagooiidiwin to explain the Treaty: it means that we agree to work together.”

I live on Indigenous land, specifically of the Dakota and Anishinaabeg tribes. This little book for all ages reflects on what goes into treaty making- trust, respect, responsibility, and renewal- and lets you reflect on the treaties we make in our lives with the world and people around us.

I think this is a very important book to read, especially as many people are celebrating a Treaty today that was not kept in good faith. When European settlers came to the Americas they exploited the Indigenous communities, the land, the fauna, and broke just about all of their Treaties. We should take this day to reflect on what was lost and what we are continuing to lose every day, as Indigenous communities are still being exploited and killed off. We should also reflect on how we can affect change and take part in restoring the land to the original owners.

November is Indigenous Heritage Month here on Interact-IF!

This month, we recognize and celebrate native/indigenous authors, their heritage, and the love they’ve poured into their projects for this community.

Here are our featured authors for this month! Join us in supporting them by checking out their works!

J, author of The Graves of Heirs

Carmine Ehrenreich is the villainess of your favourite series, The Graves of Heirs; the Queen of Apostates, she makes a pact with the elder god Deathe and tears the titular heirs’ lives apart. When the series ends with her death, you assume that’s that in the story of the possessed sorcerer and close the book.

Only problem is after you’re murdered by… something, you wake up to a proposition offered by Carmine herself; she hates the way the series ended and needs your help to change the story. Before you know it you are trapped in the position of the young Carmine in the horrific Ehrenreich Organization to learn the magic that turned her into a villain. Alongside the first of the heirs you must now make your way through a school year beset with magical mishaps, murderous teachers, and monsters that may or may not be hunting you down in the middle of the night.

Will you save the other students, or leave them to their fate? Will you help the heir, organize his death, or take the place of protagonist yourself? Hindsight is twenty-twenty, after all. You know how events are going to happen - what will you do to change the story?

Read more here | The Graves of Heirs demo | Ko-fi

Tags: fantasy, academia

Roast, author of When it Hungers

When it Hungers is a cosmic horror story based on a world dissimilar to ours full of monsters and magic.

You play as a monstrous parolee in 1913, forced to work for a company that investigates magical and monstrous phenomena. You’re set on a conundrum of a case with no easy answers, plaguing a town like the mysterious illness that plagues your body and has stolen bits of your memories–that are slowly starting to come back.

Solve the case, survive, get answers.

Read more here | When it Hungers demo | Patreon | Discord

Tags: cosmic horror, historical

Scott, author of The Watchwood

This is a story about trauma, recovery, and what family always should have been. It's about the ghosts that linger in your head and learning to live with them. It’s about the people who love you, and how sometimes they have ghosts, too. It’s about moving forward, even when it’s hard, and even when it feels like you’re moving backward.

You are a member of the Grey family. Once, you were a child, and as children are wont to do, you broke the rules. You went somewhere you'd been told not to go, and something very bad happened. Something that has lived in your head ever since.

Your parents took you, and the three of you moved far away from your ancestral home. 22 years later, your grandmother, the Head of the Grey Family, has passed away, and you have all returned home for the first time.

This is what happens next.

Read more here | The Watchwood demo | Ko-fi | Discord

Only 50 pages in and im already crying and invested. I missed this feeling 💕

Seems like forever since I've been able to sit down wirh a good book