THUNDERSTICK (A Double d Western) - Hardcover

Coldsmith, Don

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385470266 ISBN 13: 9780385470261

Publisher: Doubleday, 1993

Synopsis

After reaching his seventeenth year, Singing Wolf, the son of a holy man, prepares to join the buffalo hunt, taking with him a strange new weapon that shoots fire. 15,000 first printing. $15,000 ad/promo.

About this title

From the Publisher:

Singing Wolf has reached his seventeenth summer, and the time has come to prove himself as a hunter. . .and a lover. But Singing Wolf has a rival in the hunt for buffalo and in the courtship of the beautiful woman called Rain. He is a handsome stranger from the eastern band of the People, and he has brought a weapon of extraordinary power, magic, and danger: the thunderstick. Their enemies already have the death-dealing muskets, and if the People are to survive they must have them, too. To learn the way of the thunderstick, Singing Wolf must overcome his jealousy and accept the teaching of White Feathers. . .even as their love for the same woman threatens to destroy their clans.

From Publishers Weekly:

Coldsmith's ( Walks in the Sun ) newest installment in the popular Spanish Bit Saga examines the changes in Plains Indian culture wrought by increasing contact with whites during the early years of colonization. At 17, Singing Wolf, the son of the Elk-dog People's leader Walks in the Sun, is about to become a man by engaging in his first hunt. With adulthood upon him, he thinks of courting Rain, the childhood friend whom he has always assumed he would marry. A hitch in Singing Wolf's carefully conceived plans occurs when White Feathers, a warrior from another band, arrives in the camp. Not only does the interloper show interest in Rain, but he wins status and respect because of his hunting prowess, which is enhanced by his possession of a flintlock musket--the "thunderstick" of the title. In an encounter with a hostile Shaved-head youth, Singing Wolf acquires a firearm of his own, but his decision to spare the boy's life imperils his people. Coldsmith's stated goal is to depict the Native Americans of this distant time as "human beings, rather than as stereotyped 'Indians.' " Unfortunately, he all too often portrays the Elk-dog People as cliched noble savages.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0385470266
• ISBN 13: 9780385470261
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 182