Available for the first time in one volume, Daniel Heath Justice's acclaimed Thorn and Thunder novels take Indigenous fantasy fiction beyond its stereotypes and tell a story set in a world similar to eighteenth-century eastern North America. The original trilogy--an example of green/eco-literature--is collected here in a one-volume novel.

The Everland. Home of the tree-born Kyn since time immemorial, a deep green world of ancient mystery... and danger. As the eyes of men turn once more to the Everland and its rich bounty, the leaders of the folk gather in Sheynadwiin, the Kyn capital, hoping to find a way to survive the growing storm.

BOOK ONE IN THE BROKEN EMPIRE TRILOGY “Prince of Thorns deserves attention as the work of an iconoclast who seems determined to turn that familiar thing, Medievalesque Fantasy Trilogy, entirely on its head.”—Locus When he was nine, he watched as his mother and brother were killed before him. By the time he was thirteen, he was the leader of a band of bloodthirsty thugs. By fifteen, he intends to be king... It’s time for Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath to return to the castle he turned his back on, to take what’s rightfully his. Since the day he hung pinned on the thorns of a briar patch and watched Count Renar’s men slaughter his mother and young brother, Jorg has been driven to vent his rage. Life and death are no more than a game to him—and he has nothing left to lose. But treachery awaits him in his father’s castle. Treachery and dark magic. No matter how fierce his will, can one young man conquer enemies with power beyond his imagining?

Taking fantasy literature beyond the stereotypes, Daniel Heath Justice’s acclaimed Thorn and Thunder novels are set in a world resembling eighteenth-century North America. The original trilogy is available here for the first time as a fully revised one-volume novel. The story of the struggle for the green world of the Everland, home of the forest-dwelling Kyn, is an adventure tale that bends genre and gender. “Justice has created a fantasy epic so rich in history and so complex with all of its inhabitants and mystery that you’re never going to want The Way of Thorn and Thunder to end. What a treasure for anyone looking for heroes and adventure in a series based on Aboriginal philosophy and wisdom.” —Richard Van Camp, author of The Lesser Blessed “The Way of Thorn and Thunder is a beautifully wrought high fantasy novel, drawing from the unique and fascinating cultures of North America’s aboriginal peoples but successfully creating a world and characters that stand on their own, and are even set apart from what we usually see in high fantasy. Readers who enjoy meticulously created landscapes and cultures, as well as language that is by turns both visceral and elegant, will likely find much to love in The Way of Thorn and Thunder.”—Karin Lowachee, author The Gaslight Dogs “A powerful heroic fantasy, notable for being set, not in the familiar myth-Europe of most such fantasies, but (like Liliana Bodoc’s haunting Saga de los Confines) in the Old World of the Western Hemisphere, the Native American world, where the true, deep roots of magic are threatened by conquest and destruction.”—Ursula K. Le Guin

Part survey of the field of Indigenous literary studies, part cultural history, and part literary polemic, Why Indigenous Literatures Matter asserts the vital significance of literary expression to the political, creative, and intellectual efforts of Indigenous peoples today. In considering the connections between literature and lived experience, this book contemplates four key questions at the heart of Indigenous kinship traditions: How do we learn to be human? How do we become good relatives? How do we become good ancestors? How do we learn to live together? Blending personal narrative and broader historical and cultural analysis with close readings of key creative and critical texts, Justice argues that Indigenous writers engage with these questions in part to challenge settler-colonial policies and practices that have targeted Indigenous connections to land, history, family, and self. More importantly, Indigenous writers imaginatively engage the many ways that communities and individuals have sought to nurture these relationships and project them into the future. This provocative volume challenges readers to critically consider and rethink their assumptions about Indigenous literature, history, and politics while never forgetting the emotional connections of our shared humanity and the power of story to effect personal and social change. Written with a generalist reader firmly in mind, but addressing issues of interest to specialists in the field, this book welcomes new audiences to Indigenous literary studies while offering more seasoned readers a renewed appreciation for these transformative literary traditions.

The Sevenfold Council stands firm against Dreydmaster Vald's treaty terms--they will not surrender the Everland. Their will is strong, but there is a traitor in their midst, and Vald intends to win this struggle...by any means necessary. As the Everland is torn apart by invasion and the threat of civil war, the young warrior-Wielder, Tarsa'deshae, and the little Tetawa Leafspeaker, Tobhi Burrows, travel to Eromar City, the centre of Vald's influence, in hopes of rescuing the diplomats who have long languished in the shadows of Gorthac Hall. But only one remains alive, and he knows too well the price for fighting the Dreydmaster's will. It will take all their strength, courage, and good fortune to escape with their lives. Whether they have a home to return to is another matter entirely....

Once the most powerful indigenous nation in the southeastern United States, the Cherokees survive and thrive as a people nearly two centuries after the Trail of Tears and a hundred years after the allotment of Indian Territory. In Our Fire Survives the Storm, Daniel Heath Justice traces the expression of Cherokee identity in that nation’s literary tradition. Through cycles of war and peace, resistance and assimilation, trauma and regeneration, Cherokees have long debated what it means to be Cherokee through protest writings, memoirs, fiction, and retellings of traditional stories. Justice employs the Chickamauga consciousness of resistance and Beloved Path of engagement—theoretical approaches that have emerged out of Cherokee social history—to interpret diverse texts composed in English, a language embraced by many as a tool of both access and defiance. Justice’s analysis ultimately locates the Cherokees as a people of many perspectives, many bloods, mingled into a collective sense of nationhood. Just as the oral traditions of the Cherokee people reflect the living realities and concerns of those who share them, Justice concludes, so too is their literary tradition a textual testament to Cherokee endurance and vitality. Daniel Heath Justice is assistant professor of aboriginal literatures at the University of Toronto.