An American Indian woman's past and future collide in unthinkable ways in this richly imagined short story of deep secrets and Lovecraftian horrors by a New York Times bestselling author.
Millie Two Bears lives alone in a trailer in the heart of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. Since her husband went to jail, she's been on the outs with the reservation. And it's not just people she has to contend with. Now the prairie dogs are moving in on her patch of land. When a strange woman comes into Millie's life, and Millie's rodent war escalates, a fateful confrontation with vengeance, secrets, and survival is just underfoot.
Stephen Graham Jones's The Backbone of the World is part of Trespass, a collection of wild stories about animal instincts, human folly, and survival from award-winning, bestselling authors. Read or listen to each in a single sitting.***
Eleven months after her husband Arthur swerved around a stopped school bus and mowed down two first graders and got sentenced to twenty years, Millie Two Bears went to war against the prairie dogs. 1
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(Amazon Original Stories, 24 February 2022, 54 pages, borrowed from @AmazonKindle, #PrimeReading)
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I've enjoyed other books by the author so was looking forward to The Backbone of the World. I really enjoyed this. The story starts off innocently enough with Millie trying to survive the last weeks on the ranch she's lived all of her married life before her incarcerated husband's family take it from her. The story gets darker and darker as Millie is plagued by prairie dogs which increase in number daily as if the universe is doubly punishing her. There are some truly Lovecraftian, chilling moments in the story. I'd recommend this.
