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Grace L. Dillon. Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction. Sun Tracks: An American Indian Literary Ser. Tucson: U of Arizona P, 2012. isbn: 978-0-8165-2982-7. 260 pp.
Walking the Clouds ventures a competent exploration into the infrequently discussed area of Indigenous literary genre. Dillon posits that science fiction (sf) "provides an equally valid way to renew, recover, and extend First Nations peoples' voices and traditions" (1), a position that contributes to a celebration of these authors' artistic accomplishments as well as opening up a refreshingly new realm of study for Indigenous literary critics. Her central question, as stated in her introduction, asks, "[W]hat exactly is science fiction? Does sf have the capacity to envision Native futures, Indigenous hopes, and dreams recovered by rethinking the past in a new framework?" (2). Even readers unfamiliar with science fiction and skeptical of its juxtaposition with Indigenous literature may find themselves likewise convinced that both fields "have much to gain by the exchange" (2).
Dillon's anthology represents an international array of Indigenous writers, from familiar authors such as Sherman Alexie to less familiar writers such as Celu Amberstone. Her introductions to each selection of fiction provide a critical framework in that she helpfully places the selection in relation to the rest of the anthology, as well as providing its contextualization within the more general realm of the science fiction genre. Particularly enjoyable in the introduction to each piece of fiction are occasional passages from the particular authors, commenting on the connection between their work and the science fiction category. Some, like Diane Glancy, openly acknowledge that their work was not originally conceived within science fiction, as she states: "I was happy 'Aunt Parnettas Electric Blisters' was in the Norton sf reader. I hadn't thought of the story in terms of sf, but after it appeared there, I understood. The story is about . . . that combination of tradition and technology" (27). Another writer, Stephen Graham...