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Hell Loo and good morning Eddie.
How are you doing today? Good?

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How are you? Absolutely fantastic.
I'm going to thank you for this book

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because growing up in Billings, Montana, we didn't have books like this that

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told the stories of Native Americans and
the lifestyle. What we had we had

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history books. And I love the
way that you are bringing this Indian kid

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into a storybook form where people can
say, you know what, I want

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to write my own story. I
want to be able to get out there

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and share the story of my elders
as well. Yeah, things to put

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the book together. Where did the
inspiration come from, Eddie? Because I

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mean this, this is stepping out
there. Well. My first book was

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a collection of short stories and some
of some of my experiences from youth were

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taught up in it, but they
didn't really say it into the story.

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I was rying, but I was
kind of discovering all these things that have

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happened to me as a kid.
So I kind of made a side note

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of it. And what I finished
those stories, I went back and expanded

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on the Tissumingo section and I showed
my agent and he liked it, and

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he goes, do you have you
know a lot more these stories of your

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growing up, because I can see
a memoir here and that's how that started.

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And I'm glad that you gave yourself
permission to do that because I mean

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to so many times people writers especially
will hide their material and it's not going

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to be released. Because I've sat
down with many elders and they've said that

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they had saddened their heart because they
didn't want to share their stories. And

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he says, we're all about sharing
stories. That's what the circle is about,

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all right, Did you grow up
in such a circle? Yeah,

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one of the families that I kind
of grew up with. And now this

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was before our table. TV was
just not coming along, so it wasn't

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like or streaming wasn't even thought of
then, but we would towards the end

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of the day, you know,
they're at a large family and everyone finally

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beat home at night, and everyone
want to go around talking about what happened

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to them that day, you know, acting out stuff like if they met

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someone who had a particular the way
they talked or the the way they looked

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or whateverthing just kind of act out
or whatever happened to you that day in

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like story form. Starting in journalism, at such an early age. I

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mean, you knew about storytelling way
before most people even jump into it.

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That usually comes after college. But
you knew that it was time to start

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sharing stories as a teen, all
right. I actually started writing when I

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was five or six years old.
We lived out in the country in Muskogie,

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and then there was you know,
like I said, there was no

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social media. We didn't even barely
had TV. So I did a lot

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of reading and then writing. I
just kick that cancel on paper one day

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and just started doing it. And
my grandma saved the first story I wrote

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back when I was like five or
so. Do you still have it today?

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Now? We were looking for for
this book, and since I'm in

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Minneapolis and all the other stuff back
in Oklahoma, I had to ask my

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mom to look for it. She
couldn't find it, but she did find

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a lot of photos, but that
particular story couldn't find But I know she

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saved it because I saw it,
you know, maybe twenty years ago somewhere,

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but yeah, she saved it.
The importance of this book being released

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right now is so huge in my
heart and so many other hearts, because,

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as the reservation Dogs on Tellivision is
coming to an end. People want

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more stories about real, authentic Native
Americans, and this book right here is

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it's it's a part of it.
It's it's a part of the new culture

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of sharing the stories of those that
that that have been hidden away because nobody

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wants to talk about it. Yes
we do, and that I think that

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that's what that will do, is
we get more stories coming out that we're

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going to shoot down some of these
stereotypes about all eighties who live on the

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reservation, all naighties go to powout. Uh my grandma poor Blood Creek or

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great grandma, you know, she
didn't even speak English as a kid,

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lived to be around ninety or in
her eighties, never went to the powout.

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Never She's full blood Indian, and
uh that becomes back in her day,

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that wasn't a thing. Palos weren't
weren't just weren't a thing, you

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know. Uh, Any dances were
more traditional, right or you know,

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and and if you didn't do that, like she married a Baptist creature and

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that was crowned upon among the church
going set, going to these traditional thought

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then so yeah, so she probably
didn't even do much of that much left

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Powow. What was it like against
Powow? I just yeah, I was

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gonnay nothing against Palout. I just
wasn't raised up going. You know,

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I've been and everything. It's just
not a something I don't do every weekend

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or anything right right right, Learning
how to put the thoughts onto paper,

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that transition, to be able to
take it from short stories into this book

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right here, a memoir. I
mean, my god, I mean was

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that a growing period for you?
Was it? How did you make that

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transition? Uh? I've written columns
before, personal columns for a newspapers,

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so I was actually anxious to try
to get a to do this. The

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only problem I had was a you
know, being a fiction writer all in

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years, I've come to a spot
and I'd say, well, why don't

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we just have him, you know, like go back home and come back

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that att you know, well,
you can't do that, You're just making

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stuff up. Like one of my
first attempts I started writing about uh that

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family, the Tiger family in uh
Muscogie. I was trying to write a

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non fix a piece about I was
going to get the car. It was

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a Mercedes bench get it, uh
and speak couldn't get it inspected in Oklahoma.

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They don't do that anymore. I
don't think you used to had the

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little stickers on the side. Uh
and uh the uh the mechanics straped it

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off and said they found a little
tiny hole there and uh. And I

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was trying to write a straightforward non
fiction account, but then I started drifting

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off and fictioning again. I started
making up quotes and making up for everything

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to have it. You just got
to walk out for that. But that's

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what's fun about being a writer.
That's why well, you know, and

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that's one of the reasons why I'm
a daily writer in a journal, so

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that I can get it as it's
happening, and then this way I can

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always go back and pick up where
it's almost like saying, dear future reader.

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In fact, that's the way I
describe this book to people to about

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your book, is the fact that
it's almost like Eddie sat down and said,

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dear future reader. Yeah, is
that what you're thinking about when when

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you're when you're writing for ya readers, Yes, thinking about who actually is

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going to be reading this and at
what age and what hopefully they learn from

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it? Is a Native American life
in the America right now as so diverse

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and it's not just you know,
uh, living on a reservation. You're

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so right about that, Eddie.
Where can people go to find out more

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information about your writing? Because I
want people to fall in love with your

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writing in the way that I have, and that it really is a story

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and there is a journey here.
Well, they could start with my first

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book. It's called Shyanne Madonna,
a book short story, Black Sparrow Press

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out of Boston. You can get
that at bookstores or online and uh obviously

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by this Indian kid, which is
also there was book book shops and online

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through Scholastic. I can't wait to
talk to you more and more in the

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future, sir, because I love
what you're doing with your writing. I

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appreciate it. Er excellent. Will
you be brilliant today? Okay, sir,

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we'll do it neat as well.
Thank you,