Have you ever wondered how Pete Risingsun, a Northern Cheyenne elder living on the tribe’s reservation in southeastern Montana, and Marcha Fox, a science fiction author living in Texas, became coauthors? If so, you’ll want to read the article published by the staff of Soaring Eagle, the charitable organization that supports the Heritage Living Center for Northern Cheyenne elders where Pete resides. You can find it in the Spring edition on their website here. That organization was key to facilitating this incredible partnership that has produced three award-winning novels over the past five years.
Pete and Marcha have never met face-to-face and he does not even have a computer! Phone calls, texting, and snail mail were the vehicles used to communicate, collaborate, and produce over 1400 pages of an incredible three-volume story.
The response to the article was great, as shown by a significant increase in book sales. Of particular interest was a letter, which you can see below, that was sent to Soaring Eagle by a woman who read the newsletter and as a result purchased and read the three books.
The biggest challenge for most authors, especially those that are self-published, is finding their audience. The Dead Horse Canyon Saga is unique, making this even more difficult since it doesn’t fit a single genre. However, with multiple story themes including a government conspiracy, murder, a detailed glimpse at Cheyenne history and ceremony, deep bonds of family and friendship, to say nothing of Charlie Littlewolf’s transformational journey back to his roots, there is something for everyone.
So far the three volumes have captured a total of 13 awards. This includes 5-stars and glowing reviews from Readers’ Favorite for each book, along with prestigious Book Excellence Awards.
Fans of the Longmire series (Craig Johnson’s books as well as the TV series) or the Leaphorn and Chee stories by Tony Hillerman and continued by his daughter, Anne, (novels and the Dark Winds TV series) are likely to enjoy these books. Dead Horse Canyon takes an even deeper dive into native culture and history with characters the reviewer from The Book Commentary described as “lovable,” while an Amazon reviewer of the third book described them as “Characters you will fall in love with. Characters you will fantasize horrible death wishes for with fingers crossed. And sleepless nights as you read it.“
It’s been said, “Do not to judge a book by its cover.” Just in case this is an issue, new covers are coming the end of June! Stay tuned!
Pete Risingsun, my coauthor, and I did a vast amount of research when we wrote “The Curse of Dead Horse Canyon” trilogy. The depiction of the Cheyenne culture is accurate. The history referred to in the stories really happened, save that which was clearly made-up, though even that was feasible. Abandoned mines definitely are a pollution issue. The astrology is actual for the time and place and characters involved, which is weird and another blog in itself.
But if there was one thing that was made up it was the source of the conspiracy, i.e., the Pearson Underground Residence Facility (PURF).
Or was it?
My jaw dropped when a friend sent me this article about just that, such a facility on an even grander scale than I have in our novel! Check it out here.
The article in The New York Post linked above opens with the following paragraph, “The federal government has secretly spent trillions building an elaborate network of subterranean ‘cities’ where the rich and powerful can shelter during a ‘near-extinction event,’ a former Bush White House official sensationally claimed.”
Much of its source and, if you’ll excuse the expression “from the horse’s mouth,” can be found in this short video (12 minutes) where Elizabeth Austin Fitts, who served as the assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing between 1989 and 1990, talks about it on Tucker Carson’s podcast.
While I knew there were plenty of underground bases (because the History Channel says so, right?) which made PURF credible, I had no idea it was even worse than I imagined!
So if anyone out there thinks that part of the story is a stretch, bear in mind that they have actually spent even more, by several orders of magnitude, than I have noted in the books. We’re talking TRILLIONS whereas in the story it was BILLIONS.
The money probably came from those “magic money machines” the DOGE team found, right? The actual corruption coming out these days makes my fictitious situation pale by comparison.
While Pete and I were writing these books I was amazed by how many actual situations–historical and otherwise–fit perfectly. Particularly, as we researched Cheyenne ceremonies, much came out that drove and further defined the storyline. I didn’t know anything about the Massaum as the Earth Giving Ceremony, the meeting of Indigenous leaders at Walker Lake, Nevada, or any number of other things when I conceived this story. I knew how it would end but I had no idea how.
As I look back, I can’t help but wonder where this story came from? Mine and Pete’s imagination? I may have mentioned this before, but I’m what they call a “pantser,” not a “plotter.” In other words, I write “by the seat of my pants.”
I start with a very general idea/theme in mind. I populate it with characters and turn them loose. I’m more of a scribe than an author making the story up. I simply watch what they do and write it down. My characters repeatedly get themselves into scrapes where I have absolutely no idea how they’ll get out.
But they do. Usually in some way I never dreamed of.
Did I channel these books rather than make them up?
I think most of us can agree there are other dimensions out there. Psychic phenomena are very real and no doubt operate in some other reality beyond what we can currently detect. Did these stories actually take place in one of them?
I had much the same experience while writing the Star Trails Tetralogy, especially in “The Terra Debacle: Prisoners at Area 51″ in developing the science behind a telepathic walking plant.
One of the reasons I love research is all the amazing, serendipitous factoids I uncover that fit and often drive the plot and action. It’s as if the story is already out there, just waiting for some writer’s muse to whisper it in their ear.
I must say, not knowing what will happen makes writing as much fun as reading. I like to think that if it has me in suspense that such will be conveyed to my readers as well.
Here’s one teaser from “Revenge of Dead Horse Canyon: Sweet Medicine Spirits – Novavose” where I had absolutely no idea what would happen. The character in question popped up quite late in the book, but she fit perfectly.
If you’d like to get the entire trilogy in a single mega-ebook that also includes some bonus material about that Earth Giving Ceremony, you can pick one up on Amazon here.
Let me know in the comments what you think regarding where stories come from as well as whether you find my stories predictable. Like I say, I know how they’ll end, but rarely if ever know how it comes about.
I believe that most artists, like myself, are basically insecure. Especially those of us who are perfectionists. We’re acutely aware of any flaws in our work and cringe at their discovery. Nonetheless, authors look forward to readers’ reviews, albeit with fingers crossed, that they’ll be good.
Imagine my horror when my latest release got an abysmal 2-star nasty review! Not only had I made a mistake that she gleefully pointed out, but said it was “long and boring.”
OMG!
Part of what she criticized actually was a mistake (and perfectionist that I am, immediately corrected), but clearly she didn’t have the same experience I had with how some Texans butcher English grammar.
It’s been said that a book doesn’t have true credibility until it has a few “bad” reviews. True as that may be, it’s not much consolation when it’s your book. Especially when it was only the second review posted, so it dragged the rating down significantly, as you can see above.
I immediately turned to people I know who’d read it as well as the previous two books and asked for their honest opinion. I really wanted to know if it was that bad, not fishing for unworthy praise. If it was truly that awful I was ready to unpublish it and do some serious editing. I was told that it was just fine, there was nothing wrong with it, the person simply didn’t “get it.”
Only slightly consoled, I decided to follow the advice of a fellow author’s blog which stated to check out the bad reviews given to some of the classics.
Such as this 1-star review of Hemingway’s “Farewell to Arms” that states, “This is, according to critics, one of Hemingway’s best books. If so, I really cannot fathom his greatness. Really boring book that feels neither exciting nor, for that matter, educational. Just dry…”
That helped.
Then I found this 3-star review for Charles Dickens’ classic, “A Tale of Two Cities:” It’s dense, wordy, and often confusing, making the story tough to follow and, at times, flat-out boring. The writing felt clunky, not lyrical, bogging down the epic scope with unclear details and slow pacing.
By then I was starting to see my reader friends were right. It’s all a matter of “getting” the story’s meaning. Having the mental and emotional depth to comprehend something that’s not the usual straight-line plot loaded with continual action is not every reader’s superpower.
Did being described as “boring” rank me with other great misunderstood authors?
Probably not, but it was a pleasant, albeit fleeting, thought. 😉
The reviewer admitted she’d “skipped” several parts and hated the ending. No doubt by skipping certain parts she missed the context leading up to the finale, detracting from its impact and meaning.
As I write this, I know of at least one reader who is already reading it for the second time. Her first read was a marathon race to whiz through it, just wanting to know what happened. Now she’s reading it to savor and absorb all that it contains.
The book has 569 pages. That is definitely long.
Why?
Let’s just say I have more than one shelf filled with books used researching this story along with my co-author, Pete Risingsun.
We read thousands of pages. More time was spent researching and crafting the story than writing it. Our idea of “perfection” was to present an accurate representation of Cheyenne culture, ancient and modern, as well as all they suffered at the hands of the U.S. Government. Their ceremonies have deep spiritual meaning, often beyond the comprehension of readers whose view of Native Americans hails from watching old TV shows like Gunsmoke depicting the “Old West” with its “cowboys and Indians.”
A 5-star review I found for Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” helps explain this syndrome. This wise reviewer states, “I feel that this book is not viewed as being one of the top tier of Dickens works due to the fact that it is thrust upon grade 9 students as an introduction to literary classics and, being so, its impact and overall cultural power has become diluted due to the audience that initially received it. It is not in regards to the content of the work itself. The intellectual abilities of students of this educational level are not able to understand the historical era, appreciate the fluent descriptive nature of the writing nor to comprehend the literary nuances that the author presents.”
And there you have it.
Readers may consider a story “boring” when they can’t grasp its depth, context, and meaning.
Granted, many books lack all three and are the ones I’d be likely to give a 2-star review along with those riddled with typos, poor formatting, grammatical errors, plot holes, and so forth.
Reviews say as much about the reviewer as they do about the book. If they scare away readers like themselves that’s a good thing if it precludes more unfavorable reviews, right?
Forgive me for sounding defensive, but the fact the book earned both a Book Excellence Award and 5-stars from Readers’ Favorite since that horrific review helped restore my confidence. Hopefully, those awards also restore enough credibility for the story to highlight that bad review for what it is.
In the aftermath of that 2-star slam, truly the worst I’ve ever had, I cherish the Readers’ Favorite reviewer’s statement.
“This finale succeeds with a perfect 10 landing. Very, very highly recommended.”
It brought tears to my eyes. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Needless to say, I’m beyond grateful that she “got it.”
I am very pleased to report that “The Revenge of Dead Horse Canyon: Sweet Medicine Spirits – Novavose” has received both a Book Excellence Award and a 5-star review from Readers’ Favorite. I give tremendous credit to the reviewer, Jamie Michele, who had a heavy task, dealing with the final book in this long, complex saga. I’m beyond grateful she was clearly up to it, however, and comprehended the significance and import of the events. Here is what she had to say:
“The Revenge of Dead Horse Canyon: Sweet Medicine Spirits – Novavose by Marcha Fox and Pete Risingsun is the finale to the Dead Horse Canyon Saga. In books one and two, Sara Reynolds recalls only her husband Bryan’s dying plea to discover his killers after a deadly crash. With the help of Bryan’s friend, Charlie Littlewolf, and ancient ceremonies, they uncover the truth behind Bryan’s murder, sending their lives into turmoil.
“As Charlie roils with conflict over his oil drilling job, he also faces his true destiny on the Northern Cheyenne reservation. Meanwhile, Sara risked her life to expose a government conspiracy that was ready to silence her permanently. Now, Sara fights for survival after the attack that left her paralyzed, and Charlie vows to help her heal. His journey to Bear Butte reveals a destiny tied to restoring the ancient Massaum ceremony. As corrupt officials celebrate a secret facility’s opening, Indigenous leaders gather, fulfilling long-held prophecies that could change the fate of Dead Horse Canyon forever.
“’Do not become afraid when the Sweet Medicine Spirits come to you. Do not disobey them. Be humble and do what you are told.’
“The Revenge of Dead Horse Canyon by Marcha Fox and Pete Risingsun stands out for its sharp writing and complete ability to immerse readers, especially in Charlie’s spiritual transformation. Poor Sara just cannot get a break. Attacked, paralyzed, kidnapped, and then labeled a domestic terrorist and sanctioned! This isn’t just a fight for survival; this is about the power of truth in the face of overwhelming opposition.
“Charlie fits into this description, with a spectacular ceremony for Sara’s healing, but also as a powerful catalyst when he is in the presence of Grandmother Earth and the consequences of his actions. Fox and Risingsun are a dream writing team in every way, and, culturally, this portrayal of Charlie’s heritage is painted from the sky to the smallest pebble and the fire burning in between. The pacing is elevated by point of view shifts and all the drama, but also a surprising relationship transformation as well. Ultimately, this finale succeeds with a perfect 10 landing.
“Very, very highly recommended.”
Every author believes in their work but receiving validation from an objective reviewer who doesn’t know you from Adam is worth its weight in gold. Self-promotion is not my superpower, making me appreciate the kudos even more.
If you haven’t yet read the trilogy, all three volumes are coming out April 18 as a box set ebook on Amazon. You can preorder your copy here.
My method of writing is generally referred to as a “pantser,” i.e., I write by the seat of my pants. The other prevalent writing style that of a “plotter,” where the author determines the entire story, scene by scene, in an outline. I tried plotting, but my characters persistently got out of hand. They’d refuse to follow my plan and do their own thing. It didn’t take long to discover they had a better grip on the story than I did. Thus, I became a “pantser.” I populate my story idea with characters, then sit back to watch what they do as would a dutiful scribe.
I began work on this saga before connecting with my co-author, Pete Risingsun. I had a handle on the story’s government conspiracy angle, but lacked cultural knowledge of my main character, Cheyenne Charlie Littlewolf. I wrote what he told me to, but didn’t know whether it was feasible.
As a science fiction author, I wondered.
Was my imagination getting carried away?
I tend to obsess over accuracy and can get carried away with research. I started reading books on Native American cultures, but I needed to find a Cheyenne elder who could let me know if what I had written from Charlie’s point of view was accurate or too off-the-wall.
When Pete got involved he assured me that the various incidents I’d included were indeed realistic in the Cheyenne world. I smiled, relieved to learn Charlie was not leading me astray.
One incident that I wondered about is depicted in chapter six, “The Aspen,” of the first book, “The Curse of Dead Horse Canyon: Cheyenne Spirits.” It’s there that Charlie receives a message from the aspen tree that witnessed the wreck that killed his best friend. Besides numerous others, another one of my favorites is in the second book, “Return to Dead Horse Canyon: Grandfather Spirits,” where in chapter thirty-nine, “Trail Ride,” Charlie finds an ancient arrowhead that tells him and his brother, Winter Hawk, (cousin in western culture), that their prayer regarding the fate of the murderer had been heard.
As work on the saga continued, more and more research came into play. The works of George Bird Grinnell as well as Peter John Powell were excellent sources, but had limitations. I find it ironic that some of the most detailed information on ancient Cheyenne (Tsistsistas) beliefs and ceremonies is conveyed by German anthropologist, Karl H. Schlesier. His book “The Wolves of Heaven” was priceless while writing this trilogy, especially his detailed description of the Massaum, the Earth Giving Ceremony, that plays a key role in the final volume. In a typical episode of serendipity, I found Schlesier’s book on Amazon, attracted by its subtitle, “Cheyenne Shamanism, Ceremonies, and Prehistoric Origins.”
Or was it a maiyun who brought it to my attention?
What is a maiyun?
Schlesier tells us they are powerful spirits that associate with human beings. There are also the hematasoomaeo, which he describes as “the immortal spiritual forms of plants, animals, and human beings. . . .The maiyun most responsible for physical life on earth belong either to the deep earth or to the sky places. In Tsistsistas ceremonies they are celebrated especially and represented through plant and animal forms.”
The lodge of the maiyun is the Sacred Mountain, i.e., Novavose. (You’ll meet plenty of them in “Revenge of Dead Horse Canyon: Sweet Medicine Spirits – Novavose.”)
Why have western religions denied the existence of such things? Claim that animals do not have souls, a belief with which any pet owner, farmer, or rancher will disagree? Slowly the world is awakening to the reality of other dimensions; recognizing the thin veil between life and death and the elusive nature of time.
Things ancient peoples took for granted.
Speaking of animals, a few months ago, my precious 18 year old feline fur baby, Ophelia, crossed over. I hoped that when she did, that she was reunited with her half-brother, Hamlet, who’d left this life four years before. Thus, I was drawn to the “Pets and the Afterlife” book series by Rob Gutro. He’s a medium who specializes in connecting with pets in the spirit world. These books contain dozens of stories of such experiences. The truth of what he envisions is validated by multitudes of grieving pet owners when he provides details of the encounter that he couldn’t possibly have known.
As I read Gutro’s books I couldn’t help but think of the maiyun–spirit helpers that indigenous people have relied on for millennia. What are “civilized” people missing by tuning out these messages and connections?
I am beyond grateful for my introduction to this marvelous world while writing these three tomes with Pete. My heart and mind lived there from July 2018 when this story was conceived until the final book was published in January 2025. My life is enriched beyond measure for the experience.
Two of my favorite quotes related to this lost wisdom were spoken by Tȟašúŋke Witkó (Crazy Horse), the Oglala Lakota Leader who said:
The red nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world; a world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations; a world longing for light again. I see a time of seven generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the sacred tree of life and the whole earth will become one circle again. . . In that day, there will be those among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things and the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom.
The Curse of Dead Horse Canyon Trilogy is a lengthy saga that is more than a juxtaposition of a corrupt government’s clash with Cheyenne spirituality. It’s an introduction to a world too many don’t yet see.
But as Crazy Horse declared, they will.
You can find the trilogy on Amazon and other online vendors.
This book deserves to be a Best Seller for more reasons than I can count. For one thing, it’s informative. If you’ve never heard of MK-ULTRA, this will give you a close-up-and-personal view of what it was about. If you’re naive or unaware of some of the things that the U.S. Government has done, then it’s going to enlighten you in that area, also.
Indigenous people were not the only people the government lied to and abused. Many of their own natural-born citizens were used in experiments, often without their knowledge, much less consent.
Previous to reading this story I knew the basics of this program, specifically that it involved the CIA following up on work in mind-control techniques conducted by the Nazis during WWII. That alone, much less being highly classified, should be enough to demonstrate it was nothing short of evil.
I happened upon this book at an opportune time. Based on what I knew, I used MK-ULTRA as a backstory for a character in my latest book, “Revenge of Dead Horse Canyon: Sweet Medicine Spirits – Novavose.”
Oddly enough, while writing the story, MK-ULTRA arrived at my muse’s bidding and I wondered if it was a credible explanation for one of the character’s idiosyncrasies. My research seemed to validate it, but it was gratifying when nothing in this story contradicted what I’d assumed. Numerous scenarios in this book fit my character’s odd traits perfectly. Synchronicity, perhaps?
Actually, I have some very sharp muses who lead me to all sorts of things that turn out to be accurate and a perfect fit for the plot. Which is what I love about writing fiction.
The fact that the author is an MK-ULTRA survivor says it all. While written as a novel, the level of detail is such that its reality is inescapable. It pulls you right in, moving along at a fast pace and alternating between Tommy Matthews’ life after being subject to their experiments and flashbacks indicating what was done to him to motivate it.
While all the antagonists in the story are certainly evil, some are darker than others. From the purely scientific side, understanding how the brain and memory work is fascinating, useful data. It helps psychiatrists understand and help their patients. But when it turns to controlling another person’s life by programming them as an innocent child to pursue a malevolent destiny it’s another story. Using torture such as isolation, hallucinatory drugs, electric shock, and ritual sexual abuse to achieve it definitely treads on criminal as well as unethical ground.
Preventing this sort of thing is what the post-WWII Nuremburg Trials were all about!
It was fascinating to read of Tommy’s perceptions, then learn how that particular impression was programmed into him in the next chapter. One question that ran in the back of my mind was how on earth could responsible parents subject their children to such experiments? This was clarified by the end, which made it even more tragic. Some people simply should not be allowed to have children.
Yet who is qualified to define the criteria? Years ago, Indigenous people were subjected to forced sterilization as a means of genocide. Again, by the U.S. Government. See what I mean? Who decides who’s qualified to be a proper parent? Certainly not the government!
If brain research tell us anything, it’s that there are other realities outside the corporeal world and that “consciousness” goes beyond what is visible with our natural eyes. Aliens, UFOs, remote viewing, prophecy, shamanism, near-death experiences (NDEs), and everything else defined as “paranormal” are elusive when it comes to scientific investigation. Thus, closed-minded people dismiss them as hoaxes, imagination, superstitions, and so forth.
While this story did not emphasize the paranormal, there were enough references to sense its presence, which gave it all the more interest. My jaw literally dropped when I read the last sentence in Chapter 76.
When the three children grow up and start to remember and compare notes, it’s impossible to put the book down. I’m not a fan of “horror stories” and elements in this story fall into that realm, some downright gruesome, cruel, and heartbreaking. While it’s shocking that these innocent children and numerous others were subjected to these horrific experiments, the author presented them in an objective, journalistic way rather than exploit them in a graphic, gratuitous manner. Nonetheless, you cannot “unsee” what was revealed.
Anyone who doesn’t believe that a battle for the minds and souls of men has existed for millennia needs to read this book. If you know nothing about MK-ULTRA you are likely to be shocked. But being blind to unpleasant realities is what allows evil to persist, often right beneath our noses.
After binge watching the first two seasons of Dark Winds with my granddaughter, I wanted to see what the Hillerman books are like. I chose this one hoping for the mystery and intrigue seen in the TV rendition of another novel in the series, “Listening Woman,” which comprised the basis for the first season.
The story centers around three murders that Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant, Joe Leaphorn, is trying to connect and solve. Someone has also tried to kill Officer Jim Chee by firing a shotgun into his trailer. Strange bone beads are found in the victims, one of which is also found in Chee’s trailer, which are what introduces the possibility of witchcraft into the story.
While I enjoyed it, it lacked the creepy sense of magic I expected. It had plenty of plot twists and the usual suspense regarding “whodunnit” but didn’t quite measure up to what I was hoping for, especially with such an intriguing title. Very little was mentioned about those entities, much less sorcery and the dark side of the Navajo culture, other than in a vague, informative way. All it touched on was the belief that such existed and that it may have been behind the murders. Needless to say, this is something that Navajos don’t like to talk about, but makes fascinating stories.
There were a few good tidbits about the Navajo culture, however, such as not mentioning the name of the deceased and “wearing out their name.” The significance of the bone beads was likewise fascinating, but not as creepy or scary with paranormal implications as they could have been described.
No doubt the TV show “The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch” on the History Channel, which is indeed fascinating, gripping, and usually creepier and scarier than this book, is going to send readers to this series and more specifically this particular book. If that’s your motivation, be warned you are likely to be disappointed, as I was.
I may try another book in the series, perhaps a newer one written by Anne Hillerman, Tony’s daughter, who assumed writing the series upon her father’s passing. Far be it from me as a fellow author to criticize books that are best sellers, but as a reader it did not measure up to what I expected. (The problem with being an author yourself is you’re not an unbiased reader anymore, but part editor and part critic.)
This book was written in 1986 and they’ve updated the cover, but I don’t know if they’ve also reprinted it. The hardcover copy I received from an Amazon vendor was clearly used and had a pricetag on it from Goodwill for $4.99 while I paid $17.62.
You can pick up a copy on Amazon here:
or try https://www.bookfinder.com for a better deal on books that are out of print or been around for awhile.
The quote above is often attributed to Henry Ford, but in trying to confirm that, I struck out. Several have said something similar and millions agree.
The evidence is in this book, which is both shocking and heartbreaking. Its essence is captured in its subtitle: “The case of 60,000 murdered children and the man who surfaced their fate.”
The author, Kevin Annett, was a priest associated with the United Church in Canada. In the course of his ministry he uncovered evidence of the genocide committed against Native American children in the government sponsored Residential Schools. Witnesses who’d survived the schools told horror stories of children being murdered before their eyes. He proceeded to take it upon himself over the course of decades to expose these crimes and achieve justice for the victims and the survivors. Note that these “schools” weren’t closed down until 1996!
“The day I saw my little brother Benny get beaten to death by a Catholic priest, I prayed to the Great Mystery to someday give me the chance to get justice for him.” — Albert House of the Anishinaabe-Ojibwe nation
Naturally, governments and churches wield their power to protect their own, making exposing their crimes an herculean task. In February 1998 Annett and survivor Harriett Nahanee launched a campaign to publicize the death camp crimes and prosecute those responsible.
This led to the first public inquiry in June 1998. It convened under the auspices of the United Nations affiliate, International Human Rights Association of American Minorities (IHRAAM). IHRAAM recommended to the United National Human Rights Commission that Canada and its churches be formally charged with genocide. But diplomatic pressure prevented such action and IHRAAM withdrew its statements.
How typical.
Ten years later in 2008 Canada admitted to some of it, yet whitewashed it by indemnifying and exonerating all the guilty parties. Meanwhile, Harriett Nahanee had been murdered in prison.
In 2010 Annett helped found the International Tribunal of Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS) which sponsored the International Common Law Court of Justice (ICLCJ) that tried and convicted Canada and its churches of genocide and compelled Pope Benedict and three Catholic cardinals to resign their offices during 2013. Their success sparked a worldwide movement to establish common law courts and sovereign Republics to replace criminally convicted churches and governments.
Today genocide continues as part of China’s economic penetration of North America to seize oil and gas resources by displacing indigenous communities in northern British Columbia and Alberta. This is being done with the support of the Canadian government, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the same churches, which continue to traffic and murder indigenous children. More native people die in police custody in Vancouver than any city in Canada.
Needless to say, you’re not going to hear about any of this in the mainstream media. Anyone who thinks that genocide ended with World War 2 needs to wake up. More information about these incidents can be found at the website https://www.murderbydecree.com
Of course Annett was “punished” for his actions by the United Church by defrocking him as a minister in a shamelessly biased kangaroo court. He was never told what he was accused of, witnesses in his favor were disallowed, and there were clear conflicts of interest with those conducting the hearings. All details of the bogus procedures are described in the book. Furthermore, they paid his wife to divorce him and set out to do everything possible to destroy his life and livelihood.
“Physical assaults and public smears against Kevin increased and his native supporters began to be killed by police or while in jail or in the hospital.” (p. 50)
I can’t begin to summarize the background any better than what is stated in the book and I quote:
“Between the years 1889 and 1996 tens of thousands of indigenous children across Canada were deliberately and systematically murdered by the Crown of England, the Canadian government, and the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and United Church. These killings occurred in internment camps operated by these churches and authorized by the Crown, and deceptively called ‘Indian residential schools.’
“For the first year of their operation, the annual death rate in these camps was between 25% and 70%: A genocidal mortality rate that continued for over half a century. As a result, more than 60,000 of these children died.
“This enormous mortality was caused by a deliberate and continual practice by all the churches of starving children and housing the healthy ones with those sick and dying from tuberculosis and smallpox while denying them medical treatment and any form of care; in short, by a regime of institutionalized germ warfare designed to “find a final solution to the Indian Problem,” according to Duncan Campbell Scott, the Deputy-Superintendent of Indian Affairs, in May, 1910.
“Every crime defined as genocide under international law was perpetrated in these Christian internment camps, including murder, mental and physical torture, starvation, slave labor, systematic beatings, gang rape, sex trafficking, destruction of family, sexual sterilizations, involuntary drug testing, medical experimentation, and daily, mandatory brutality.
“When I was six years old, I saw a little girl killed right in front of me by a nun… The girl she killed…was five years old. The nun kicked her hard in the side of the heck and I heard this terrible snap. She fell to the floor and didn’t move. She died right in front of us. Then the nun told us to step over her body and go to class. That was in 1966.” –Steven H, St. Paul’s Catholic Day School
“These crimes were inflicted on children as young as four years old according to a mandatory death quota and torture regimen established by these churches and the government. The purpose of this operation was genocidal: to exterminate the remaining indigenous nations and seize their lands and resources by killing off or enslaving most of their children.
“From its inception, this genocide was authorized, perpetrated, and concealed by every level of state, judicial, police, and church authority in Canada until the camps officially closed in 1996. The master plan for this genocidal operation was adopted on November 25, 1920 at a meeting in Ottawa of top officials of the Canadian government and the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches (the latter two being the forerunners of the United Church of Canada, formed in 1925 by an Act of Parliament.”
“The master genocidal plan was made Canadian law by a special Order in Council on July 1, 1920. It required every indigenous child seven years or older to be interned in an ‘Indian school’ or face arrest and imprisonment.” (p. 11-14)
Unless you’ve had your head in the sand the past few years and/or have a naive and horrendously misplaced trust of government and various powerful institutions including the Vatican and main stream media, this should not come as a surprise. I must say I was nonetheless shocked by the scope and blatant actions of church and state, but had no trouble believing it.
“Richard Rubenstein, a chronicler of the Nazi Holocaust, observed that modern states have the legal power to render their own citizens into stateless people without rights prior to their wholesale destruction.” (p. 6)
The evidence in this book is sickening but irrefutable.
It’s essential for everyone to wake up. Recognize what is going on and that the COVID debacle is more of the same. Indigenous people have been the target for centuries.
Who’s next?
Bear in mind that no one of any skin color, religion, national origin, or ethnicity can be assured that it won’t be them.
One more thing.
For those of you who are white like myself, can you begin to understand why our race is hated?
Today we recognize September 23, 2022, as Native American Day, the perfect time to honor Cheyenne Culture Hero, Sweet Medicine.
As with most tales preserved by oral tradition, there are different versions regarding Sweet Medicine’s origin. One version (from Cheyenne Memories by John Stands in Timber and Margot Liberty) tells of a young woman who lived with her parents. She had a dream where someone said, “Sweet Root will come to you, because you are clean, and a young woman.” She thought it was just a dream, but it repeated the next three nights. At this point she told her mother who said it was nothing and not to worry.
But as time passed, she began to feel as if she were expecting a baby, which her parents noticed as well. Yet this made no sense, since she never met anyone, other than the voice in the dreams.
When it was time to give birth, she left the village and went down by a creek where she built a small shelter and had a baby boy. Rather than take him home, however, she left him there, since she and her parents were ashamed.
Later that day an old woman was down by the creek collecting rye grass as bedding when she heard the baby crying. She found him and brought him home. Her husband was very happy and said “That’s our grandson. And his name shall be Sweet Medicine.”
The similarities to the virgin birth of Christ are hard to miss. Perhaps this shows a Christian influence creeping into later versions of the story. The Cheyenne’s high moral standards encouraged their women to be virtuous, so would embrace such a detail.
(If you’re a fan of The History Channel’s Ancient Aliens program, you may notice parallels to UFO abduction stories, many of which date back centuries. Native American connections with extraterrestrial visitors are well-documented, including Nancy Red Star’s book, Star Ancestors.)
The version of Sweet Medicine’s beginnings in George Bird Grinnell’s The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Ways of Life (Volume II) is less dramatic. It states that Sweet Medicine was the second born child of a married woman, but nonetheless a very unusual child and individual.
Sweet Medicine was said to have performed various miracles, from conjuring up a buffalo calf when the tribe was hungry, to being able to elude pursuit by covering vast distances in record time, i.e., shades of Superman’s ability “to leap tall buildings in a single bound.”
Specific laws and ceremonies were among his most important contributions to Cheyenne culture. He organized the original four warrior societies, Swift Foxes, Elks, Red Shields, and Bowstrings. He instituted a sophisticated leadership structure that included ten chiefs from each of the four societies, plus four “old man chiefs,” one of whom carried the sacred medicine bundle he gave them. This brought stability to the Cheyenne that other tribes lacked.
“You chiefs are peacemakers. Though your son might be killed in front of your tepee, you should take a peace pipe and smoke. Then you would be called an honest chief. You chiefs own the land and the people. If your men, your soldier societies, should be scared and retreat, you are not to step back, but take a stand to protect your land and your people.“
He admonished chiefs to be examples of peace and courage. As stated in Cheyenne Memories, Sweet Medicine said, “Listen to me carefully, and truthfully follow up my instructions. You chiefs are peacemakers. Though your son might be killed in front of your tepee, you should take a peace pipe and smoke. Then you would be called an honest chief. You chiefs own the land and the people. If your men, your soldier societies, should be scared and retreat, you are not to step back, but take a stand to protect your land and your people.”
Generosity was another requirement imposed on chiefs. “When you meet someone, or he comes to your tepee asking for anything, give it to him. Never refuse. Go outside your tepee and sing your chief’s song, so all the people will know you have done something good.”
The four Sacred Arrows were another gift along with the sacred medicine bundle. Two arrows were for hunting and two for war, a detailed ceremony provided for renewing their power, which was lost should a Cheyenne murder a member of the tribe.
He taught the complex ceremony known as the Massaum, a.k.a. Animal or Crazy Dance, which bears some resemblance to an origin story among Plains Indians referred to as “The Great Race.” The Wolves of Heaven by Karl H. Schlesier is a comprehensive work focused on the Massaum. As an anthropologist, Schlesier places the ceremony’s origins, and thus Sweet Medicine, in the 500 – 300 BCE timeframe.
So where did Sweet Medicine gain his profound wisdom?
The legend states that Sweet Medicine and his wife disappeared for four years, which was spent deep inside the Sacred Mountain where they were taught by spiritual beings known as maiyun. (This is very similar to stories about other important spiritual leaders as expressed on Ancient Aliens, Season 18/Episode 20, “Secrets of Inner Earth.”)
Thus, the tradition arose of fasting on the Sacred Mountain for four days to commune with the holy people. Bear Butte in South Dakota is the Cheyenne’s Sacred Mountain while other tribes have their own versions. There are numerous references to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming in these stories, another location infamous for UFO sightings, as immortalized in Steven Spielberg’s 1977 movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Cheyenne Sacred Mountain, a.k.a. Bear Butte, South Dakota
Before Sweet Medicine died at a very old, but undetermined age, he gave his final address, which included admonitions along with a prophesy:
“I have brought you many things, sent by the gods for your use. You live the way I have taught you and follow the laws. You must not forget them, for they have given you strength and the ability to support yourselves and your families.
“There is a time coming, though, when many things will change. Strangers called Earth Men will appear among you. Their skins are light-colored, and their ways are powerful. They clip their hair short and speak no Indian tongue. Follow nothing that these Earth Men do, but keep your own ways that I have taught you as long as you can.
“The buffalo will disappear, at last, and another animal will take its place, a slick animal with a long tail and split hoofs, whose flesh you will learn to eat. But first there will be another animal you must learn to use. It has a shaggy neck and tail almost touching the ground. Its hoofs are round. This animal will carry you on his back and help you in many ways. Those far hills that seem only a blue vision in the distance take many days to reach now; but with this animal you can get there in a short time, so fear him not. Remember what I have said.
“But at last you will not remember. Your ways will change. You will leave your religion for something new. You will lose respect for your leaders and start quarreling with one another. You will lose track of your relations and marry women from your own families. You will take after the Earth Men’s ways and forget good things by which you have lived and in the end become worse than crazy.
“I am sorry to say these things, but I have seen them, and you will find that they come true.”
So who exactly was Sweet Medicine?
A real person?
Or no more than another figure in the realm of folklore and mythology?
We may never know, but his prophesy’s accuracy is pretty hard to ignore.
An author never knows how a sequel will be received in a contest. Without the backstory presented in the previous book, the judges may be lost or unimpressed, thinking there are too many unanswered questions. All you can do when you submit it is cross your fingers and hope for the best.
Clearly, this was not a problem with Return to Dead Horse Canyon: Grandfather Spirits. So far it has done as well as its precursor, plus winning a Firebird Book Award, but The Curse of Dead Horse Canyon: Cheyenne Spirits was not entered in that particular competition.
Each of the awards is described on the book page, so I won’t repeat that information here. While winning another award is always a good day for authors, the one that impressed me the most was the wonderful review rendered by Asher Syed on behalf of Readers’ Favorite.
It was beyond gratifying to see that he comprehended the message Pete and I were trying to convey. Not only that, but that he actually went back and read the first book when that was not required. Yet, he did so, and provided very complimentary comments about that as well. Calling us a “dream team” truly made that day and several since! To be perfectly honest, it made me cry.
Many thanks to the various individuals who have read our work and provided us with such valued feedback. Nothing makes all the work more worthwhile than being recognized by complete strangers. Thank you, one and all.
Our goal with this ongoing saga is to provide readers with a glimpse of the beautiful Northern Cheyenne culture about which most know little, if anything. Pete and I are learning more about it as well. The conclusion to this trilogy is in work with the goal to be well underway by the time we celebrate Native American Heritage Month in November. The challenge upon us is to make the conclusion even better than the first two installments.
The Curse of Dead Horse Canyon 