Description
Take Us to Your Chief and Other Stories consists of a collection of nine classic science-fiction stories reinvented with a contemporary First Nation outlook. 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 Aboriginal man discovers the secret to time travel in ancient petroglyphs. Drawing inspiration from science fiction authors like Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury, Drew Hayden Taylor frames classic science-fiction accounts 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 Nation 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. A much-needed science fiction collection from Ojibwe playwright and humourist Drew Hayden Taylor. Recommended for senior secondary level students and public library adult fiction collections. Take Us to Your Chief has been selected in the Young Adult/Adult Category Longlist for First Nation Communities READ 2017.