Buffalo Is the New Buffalo

Superb! Vowel describes her work as “Métis-futurist”; I find it difficult to pigeonhole because each story is so different in style and form. One common thread is Indigenous strength and agency in the face of crushing, often brutal, settler colonialism; another common factor is grace. Oh, and intelligence: Vowel is hella smart, but she writes in a way that brings the reader to her.

Some of the stories demand effort from the reader. Primary difficulty: language. Vowel liberally sprinkles Cree throughout, usually without translating, and often in contexts where the reader can get only a vague idea of the tone. I found this especially challenging because words like ‘kimiywêyihtên' and ‘okanawêyihcikêwak' do not register in my old brain. Secondary difficulty: the scholarly footnotes. They do add value in a few places, but their use in the first story is waaaaay excessive: “[20] (Vincent 2013) This is an accurate depiction of where the moon would have been close to dawn in May in the northern hemisphere”?! Okay, she's done her research, but please let the reader trust you, and get absorbed in the story, without breaking their reading flow.

Gripes over. And, the first story is by far the worst in that sense; I recommend reading it without the footnotes. It's a worthwhile and lovely story – and the following ones are even better.