Mary S Black

I have several favorite periods in history that fascinate me and when presented with an opportunity to read a novel in one of those periods I get all kinds of happy. One of the periods that is, in my opinion, severely under represented in my library is the earliest history of the peoples that inhabited our world. Therefore when given the opportunity to read Peyote Fire I responded with a very fast yes.

It’s not a long book like several of the others I have read but a lot of historical detail is packed into the 350 pages. I love the inclusion of so much exacting research into a novel of this nature but some might find more like reading course study. I think it helps to have a strong interest in the time period and the location – and if you want to start appreciating the peoples of this area of what is now Texas this book would certainly be a good start.

The novelization involves orphan siblings Deer Cloud and Singing Grass. Deer Cloud is called to be a Shaman and while attempting a dangerous climb another dies and some feel Deer Cloud killed him. This sets up the main tension in the book. The other being a back and forth over which plant to use for the clans hallucinogenic rituals. The members of the tribe also freely share themselves with each other without any jealousies. While I think I understand where Ms. Black was going with this at times all of the erm, activity seemed more to spice up the book rather than to advance the story.

All in all though, I enjoyed my journey back into the far reaching past and learning about a part of the country I’ve not had the honor of visiting. Maybe someday.… (meer)

This book is an effort to illustrate the daily lives of the native Americans of the Lower Pecos region of Texas prior to European contact. The main character was a real person, who was well known by the prehistoric people of Mexico, and still remembered by them today. The remainder of the characters are fictional.

The author incorporated a wealth anthropology, obtained over the last several decades of archeology work in the region. The result is a story that is as realistic to the true lifestyle of these people as is possible. Consequently, the author sells some books at Texas Archeological Society meetings as well as more conventional book outlets. That lifestyle is very interesting.

In addition to the realistic window presented on the daily lives of these prehistoric people, the author has developed a plot that becomes exciting as the book progresses, and is conformable to what is plausible in the life of the real main character, as remembered by his ancestors.

In summary, the book presents an accurate daily lifestyle of early Americans, using a true person as the main character, and the book also has an exciting plot that is very plausible.… (meer)

Mary S. Black’s debut novel is compelling prehistoric fiction. Her story of young Deer Cloud and his quest to become a shaman, or healer, as well as a painter of rocks, is set thousands of years ago in the southwest Texas desert, near where the Pecos and Devils rivers flow into the Rio Grande.

Deer Cloud and his sister, Singing Grass, are orphans in the Bird Wing band of the Rain Bringer clan. Their aunt, Hawk Wing, and their grandfather, Panther Claw, have raised them. This reader loves the names of Black’s characters, groups and especially the gods: Mother Rain, Father Sun, Aunt Moon, Grandmother Grief, Grandfather Fire.

Panther Claw is the head shaman for the Rain Bringers. Deer Cloud is an apprentice shaman. During a dangerous cliff-climbing ritual, the second shaman and Panther Claw’s rival, Stone Face, falsely accuses Deer Cloud of using witchcraft to kill a third shaman who falls to his death. So the central conflict in the story begins.

The story includes another interesting conflict. The shamans have traditionally used the hallucinogenic wolf flower for their rituals and healing. Wolf flower, though, can bring death to those who eat its crushed seeds. Deer Cloud and his ally, Jumping Rabbit, a female shaman, prefer the “little cactus,” otherwise known by them as the “Child of Deer Person and Mother Rain.” Many of the scenes in Black’s novel feature characters quite “high,” as we’d say now, on wolf flower or peyote.

Another welcome ingredient in Black’s prehistoric stew (for this reader, at least) is the carefree sexuality of her characters. Deer Cloud, for example, has a lover, Cliff Swallow, and he also has Jumping Rabbit. Both women appear to be aware of the other, but neither complains. Likewise, Singing Grass has sexual relations with at least three young men. One of them is a trader she knows will eventually move on and leave her.

I highly recommend Peyote Fire: Shaman of the Canyons.… (meer)