Friday, 18 July 2008 00:00
John Smelcer won the prestigious James Jones First Novel prize for The Trap , which has been published in the USA by Henry Holt. He has a unique perspective on the Native American point of view, as he is himself an Ahtna Athabaskan Indian, as well as having a doctorate in contemporary literature.
0. Edge of Nowhere - Paperback
£5.99 by John Smelcer
(Books/All genres)
(ISBN:9781849391962) This is an astonishing tale of survival; a poignant Robinson Crusoe story, based on true events. When Seth and his dog, Tucker, are washed overboard from his father’s fishing boat during a torrential storm, they are assumed drowned. But by good fortune, Seth and Tucker make it safely to one of the hundreds of islands that line the Alaskan coast. Over many months, the boy and his dog make their way, island by island, towards home, while Seth’s desperate father never gives up hope. Along the way, Seth learns many hard lessons about survival, and even harder lessons about himself.
0. The Great Death - Paperback
£5.99 by John Smelcer
(Books/All genres)
(ISBN:9781842709191) The visitors from downriver had strange pale skin and blue eyes, but they left a deadly sickness of red spots and fever. Thirteen-year-old Millie and her younger sister Maura were the only survivors. As the first snowflakes fell the dogs were turning wild, and it was clear that the two girls must leave to find a new home. They loaded up a raft to take them away, and so began an epic journey through the harsh snowy landscape.
This is an extraordinary story of courage, commitment and survival.
0. The Trap - Paperback
£5.99 by John Smelcer
(Books/All genres)
(ISBN:9781842707395) Johnny worries when his grandfather doesn't return home from checking his trap line. The elderly Indian has packed ample supplies on his snowmobile, but has stayed out far too long in the plummeting temperatures of the Alaskan winter. Only readers know that he has caught his leg in his own trap, several feet from his supplies, and is unable to free himself. Chapters alternate between his predicament, and Johnny's failed attempts to raise concern among his family. As the old man progressively uses every technique he knows to stay alive - from creating a rabbit snare from a shoelace to fending off wolves with a newly made cedar spear, this suspenseful page-turner shows that the old man's survival is a race against time.
Last Updated ( Friday, 18 July 2008 00:00 )