I am Native American (Ohkay Owingeh) on my mother’s side, so I wanted to focus on a Native story that may not be familiar to most science fiction and fantasy readers. I chose the classic Tewa story “Deer Hunter and White Corn Maiden,” which has over 788,000 hits on Google and has been published in multiple books.
The original story has a historical setting, but Native people are very much part of the future, and I wanted my retelling to reflect that. So I chose a cyberpunk-eqsue setting where fame is everything and technology has made it possible to live, if not forever, then for a very long time. (As I researched biological memory and CGI “digital reincarnation” in Hollywood movies, I realized my story is much more near-future than I anticipated.)
I see this story with its cautions about obsessive love as still relevant and beautiful. I hope that it intrigues readers enough that they learn more about Native cultures and peoples.
REBECCA ROANHORSE