Long Dark River Casino
by
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A red-winged blackbird called, swaying in the breeze atop an alder bush. In the lodge, the boy had responded to the snake skins and "sucking cure," administered as the skins were pulled off. He opened his eyes, his expression blank.
"The red-wing is a spirit-being," intoned the Prof-as scholar. "The bird has heard the rattle. He has been sent by a manitou. He has brought good medicine to the boy."
Slowly, the boy sat up from his lying-down position, his back erect. He was fervently blinking his eyes in counterpoint to his blank expression, eyes dull and unfocussed, now dimmed, slowly becoming brighter.
Then, suddenly, a small image appeared on his forehead. The Red Hawk. The boy fell dead to the earthern lodge floor.
All the members of the Midewiwin Society leveled accusatory glares at Prof Gary.
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About the Book
This innovative novella, LONG DARK RIVER CASINO, probes the soul of a fictional Mississippi River community, Quinlan, Iowa, by deftly flashing incandescent vignettes on telling facets of the collective life. Dr. Gary Klemetson, Sociology Professor at Quinlan University, goes on a vision quest on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota as Ralph Kilen and Kim Nevins work to establish a new casino, the Long Dark River Casino in Iowa.
The Manitou of the Red Hawk brings the feathers of their activities together in scintillating insights into the human condition as well as a horrific murder on campus plus a baffling death in a Midewiwin ceremony of the Ojibway.
About the Author
G. Louis Heath, Ph.D., has served as Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa since 1988. He holds B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. He was born in Portola, California in the Western Pacific Railroad Hospital and grew up in Oroville, California, located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, at the base of the Feather River Canyon. He worked his way through university as a firefighter for the California Division of Forestry.
Dr. Heath is the author of Harper and Row's best-selling textbook, THE NEW TEACHER. His volume of short stories, MESKWAKI BURIAL MOUNDS AND OTHER STORIES FROM QUINLAN, IOWA is available in most Iowa libraries. His latest book prior to this one was the 2007 HAROLD SINCLAIR OF ILLINOIS: LETTERS, BIOGRAPHY, about the famous historical novelist whose works include MUSIC OUT OF DIXIE, THE CAVALRYMAN, and THE HORSE SOLDIERS, the latter made into a 1958 John Wayne movie by the same title.