One of the best novels in ten years of running this contest.
Hackney Literary Awards Committee
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In this fast-paced suspense novel, Gabriel Branch leaves his home on the Queensland coast to search the rugged outback for his best friend. Although Gabe is a biracial Aborigine, he lost all ties to his culture when the government forcibly removed him from his family when he was a child. Everything about the red desert seems alien including the artifact, a message stick, that is his only clue.
While crisscrossing the unforgiving terrain he draws the attention of Dana Pukatja, a Pitjantjatjara shaman who runs the smuggling ring. Using his traditional knowledge and many tricks, he stalks Gabe to keep him from discovering the truth. As Gabe struggles with the loss of both his friend and his biological family, the shaman draws closer. The men clash on an arid plain of twisted mulga shrub far from any law except that of the outback itself.
Message Stick provides a panoramic look at Australia, its land, its peoples and the social issues that continue to this day. Dreamtime tales, with their beautiful, spare styles and eternal lessons, are woven throughout Message Stick. The novel won two national awards and was supported by The Jerome Foundation, the New York Mills Cultural Center and Cornucopia Arts Center.
Ms. Cunningham shows an Australia beautiful and brutal. You know it isn’t going to be a gentle ride but you’re still not expecting to be kicked out of your seat onto the desert floor, rolling to a stop in the sharp-as-glass spinifex. Don’t be surprised when you want to put it down but can’t.
– Garrison Somers, Editor-in-Chief, The Blotter literary magazine
Message Stick demonstrates a mastery of psychological introspection and an uncanny feel for the spirit of place. The novel hit us all very hard.
– James Jones Literary Society President
Featured in Provincetown Arts magazine
Winner, James Jones Literary Society Fellowship for a First Novel
Winner, Hackney Literary Award for the Novel
Finalist, Pirate's Alley William Faulkner Award
Finalist, Evans Harrington Prize
Recipient, Lake Region Arts Council Grant
The song that will launch Seven Sisters is now available. Words and lyrics by Laine Cunningham, performed by NPR-featured singer/songwriter Patty Kakac and Friends. Seven Sisters is a beautiful harmony of seven women's voices singing about the Aboriginal Dreaming tale of the Pleiades.
Book available summer of 2010
Seven Sisters: Messages From Aboriginal Australia pairs traditional Aboriginal stories with essays that address the very adult issues faced by modern people. Laine has expanded the original oral versions of the stories to include descriptive details of Australia’s land and Aboriginal culture. With an emphasis on relationships between family, friends, neighbors and spouses, the power and the spirit of these stories resonate across the boundaries of time and space.
CLICK HERE TO PREORDER SEVEN SISTERS AT A DISCOUNT PRICE OF ONLY $10.00.
Upcoming Books for 2010 and Beyond (Working Titles)
Messages from Native America
Messages from Hawaii's Aloha Spirit
CELEBRITY SWAG FOR DIONNE WARWICK, WOODY KING, JR., AND 