UBC Press Walking the Clouds book Paperback 272 pages

In this first-ever anthology of Indigenous science fiction, Grace
Dillon collects some of the finest examples of the craft with
contributions by Native American, Canadian First Nations, Aboriginal
Australian, and New Zealand Maori authors. The collection includes
seminal authors such as Gerald Vizenor and Eden Robinson, historically
important contributions often categorized as “magical
realism” by authors like Leslie Marmon Silko and Sherman Alexie,
and authors more recognizable to science fiction fans like William
Sanders and Stephen Graham Jones. Dillon’s engaging introduction
situates the pieces in the larger context of science fiction and its
conventions.
Organized by sub-genre, the book starts with Native slipstream,
stories infused with time travel, alternate realities and alternative
history like Vizenor’s “Custer on the Slipstream.”
Next up are stories about contact with other beings featuring, among
others, an excerpt from Gerry William’s The Black Ship. Dillon
includes stories that highlight Indigenous science like a piece from
Archie Weller’s Land of the Golden Clouds, asserting that one of
the roles of Native science fiction is to disentangle that science from
notions of “primitive” knowledge and myth. The fourth
section calls out stories of apocalypse like William Sanders’
“When This World Is All on Fire” and a piece from Zainab
Amadahy’s The Moons of Palmares. The anthology closes
with examples of biskaabiiyang, or “returning to
ourselves,” bringing together stories like Eden Robinson’s
“Terminal Avenue” and a piece from Robert Sullivan’s
Star Waka.
An essential book for readers and students of both Native literature
and science fiction, Walking the Clouds is an invaluable collection. It
brings together not only great examples of Native science fiction from
an internationally-known cast of authors, but Dillon’s insightful
scholarship sheds new light on the traditions of imagining an
Indigenous future.