Red Ants

Anishinaabe poet Blaeser (Ancient Light) blends genres and tones in this beguiling collection of short stories. In “River Dreams,” a combination of speculative and political fiction, unemployed college graduate Bineshi sets out to uncover the truth behind her activist uncle’s death and the possible culpability of a company that was polluting the Midwestern river where he drowned. In the comical and redemptive “Fancy Dog Contest,” a woman reminisces about being a young girl watching two brothers on her reservation who hadn’t talked to each other for years compete in a dog training class for a $500 first prize. “Translation for Dummies,” written from a dog’s point of view, chronicles its owner’s domestic abuse by a known antagonist of its species—a mailman. “Vision Confidence Score” takes a skillful turn into spy fiction, following a Native woman who becomes a government mole to root out a computer hacker, but falls in love with another hacktivist. Throughout, Blaeser offers an intriguing window into Indigenous culture while showcasing her dry wit (“I figure for Native people, humor is... our growing medicine,” observes the narrator of “A Tally in Birch”). Readers won’t want to put this down. Agent: Rachel Letofsky, Transatlantic Agency. (Oct.)