{"product_id":"passing-through-a-prairie-country-1","title":"Passing Through a Prairie Country","description":"\u003cp\u003eby Dennis E. Staples\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCounterpoint LLC\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3\/31\/2026, paperback\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSKU: 9781640097636\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA darkly humorous thriller about the ghosts that haunt the temples of excess we call casinos, and the people caught in their high-stakes, low-odds web\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor decades, a dark force has terrorized the Languille Lake reservation. Spoken of only in whispers as \"the sandman,\" he lurks in the Hidden Atlantis Lake Resort and Casino, the reservation's main attraction and source of revenue, leeching its patrons' dreams and preventing the ghosts that linger there from moving on. Fleeing a breakup, Marion Lafournier, a midtwenties Ojibwe, seeks solace in the slot machine's siren song. Here he falls afoul of the sandman, an encounter he barely escapes through the timely intervention of his cousins Alana and Cherie, who both work at the casino and are intimately aware of the sandman's power. Meanwhile, Glenn Nielan, recently out of the closet and an aspiring documentarian, hopes to capture the faces of the Ojibwe land while experiencing the casino's thrills. But he will learn that all who choose to play the sandman's games are in danger of falling into his grasp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMarion and Alana are members of the Bullhead clan, a family with ties to a sacred past and a fierce determination to ensure their future. Alana, with her sevenfire sight, is the only person to fully understand the danger the sandman poses. Aware of Marion's occasional ability to navigate the spirit world, she enlists his aid in defeating this wraith. But the power and reach of the sandman go far beyond Alana's worst fears. Soon she and Marion find themselves in a battle for their lives and for the souls of the reservation's residents, both the living and the dead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReviews:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Wooziness pervades \u003ci\u003ePassing Through a Prairie Country\u003c\/i\u003e, in which Marion escapes the clutches of a malevolent figure known as the Sandman and--with help from cousins Alana and Cherie--is drawn into a battle between good and evil, partially fought between slot machines and blackjack tables.\" -- Chris Hewitt, \u003ci\u003eStar Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e (Minneapolis)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In this novel he smoothly combines a ghost story with life on the reservation and Indian-owned casinos in a lively and a-lot-of-fun story set among all the flashing lights, bells and whistles in a busy casino in northern Minnesota...Staples [...] gives us a creepy and fast-paced story that details the workings of a well-run casino and the spirits of those who have been there in life. A great summer read.\" -- Mary Ann Grossman, \u003ci\u003eTwin Cities Pioneer-Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDennis E. Staples\u003c\/strong\u003e is an Ojibwe writer from Bemidji, Minnesota, and the author of \u003ci\u003eThis Town Sleeps\u003c\/i\u003e. He holds an MFA in fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts and is a graduate of the 2018 Clarion West Writers Workshop and a recipient of the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship. His work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eAsimov's Science Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eNightmare\u003c\/i\u003e magazine. He is a member of the Red Lake Nation.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Burning Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52072719843611,"sku":"Passing Through a Prairie","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0466\/5121\/files\/814M0Vg5ZqL._SL1500.jpg?v=1776449500","url":"https:\/\/burningbooks.com\/products\/passing-through-a-prairie-country-1","provider":"Burning Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}