The Wonder Bull

Mark Anthony Rolo has a killer eye, a bleeding heart, and a blessed wit. This book nails the pain and fallout of the federal government's Native relocation program-a mid-century policy aimed at destroying Native American cultures and languages. The Wonder Bull is a wildly original (but not heartwarming) story. The characters inhabit a hell that Rolo makes worthy of respect. Louise Erdrich Author of Love Medicine I soaped myself up very good that night and I got to thinking long and hard about Oklahoma, about Willow having Indian ceremonies going on all the time. I was sure that Oklahoma was a place where that warm orange glow goes on nonstop. I wanted to be in that glow, be in that calmness, that softness forever. And as I pulled my crumpled hand open, rinsing away the soap between my fingers, I wondered what a real shaman was like. So begins the daring journey of Martin, a 40-something emotionally disabled Native American born and raised in Los Angeles, who seeks freedom from the grip of the harsh streets and the heavy hand of those who have controlled his life since he can remember. The Wonder Bull is that rare tale of magically stumbling onto a chance for acceptance in the midst of crushing chaos.

Mark Anthony Rolo is a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. He has worked as a journalist in Washington, D.C., Minneapolis and Los Angeles. His plays have been performed in the Twin Cities, Tulsa, Oklahoma and Los Angeles. He lives in Wisconsin. The Wonder Bull is his first novel.