books in order

Thomas King Books In Order

DreadfulWater Books In Publication Order

  1. DreadfulWater (By:Hartley GoodWeather) (2002)
  2. DreadfulWater Shows Up (By:Hartley GoodWeather) (2002)
  3. The Red Power Murders (By:Hartley GoodWeather) (2017)
  4. Cold Skies (2018)
  5. A Matter of Malice (2019)
  6. The Obsidian Murders (2020)

Minerva Chronicles Books In Publication Order

  1. Insurrection (2020)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. Medicine River (1990)
  2. Green Grass, Running Water (1993)
  3. Truth and Bright Water (1999)
  4. The Back of the Turtle (2014)
  5. Indians on Vacation (2020)
  6. Sufferance (2021)

Collections In Publication Order

  1. One Good Story, That One (1993)
  2. A Short History of Indians in Canada (2005)
  3. 77 Fragments of a Familiar Ruin (2019)

Graphic Novels In Publication Order

  1. Borders (With: ) (2021)

Picture Books In Publication Order

  1. Coyote Sings to the Moon (1999)
  2. A Coyote Columbus Story (2002)
  3. Coyote’s New Suit (2004)
  4. A Coyote Solstice Tale (2009)
  5. Coyote Tales (2017)

Non-Fiction Books In Publication Order

  1. The Truth About Stories (2003)
  2. The Inconvenient Indian (2012)

Anthologies In Publication Order

  1. All My Relations (1988)
  2. Our Story (2004)

DreadfulWater Book Covers

Minerva Chronicles Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Collections Book Covers

Graphic Novels Book Covers

Picture Book Covers

Non-Fiction Book Covers

Anthologies Book Covers

Thomas King Books Overview

DreadfulWater Shows Up (By:Hartley GoodWeather)

From award winning literary author Thomas King aka Hartley GoodWeather comes a stylish mystery debut featuring ex California cop Thumps DreadfulWater, a smart and savvy Cherokee Indian whose witty exterior belies a clever, stubborn sleuth. With his cop life officially behind him, Thumps now makes his living as a fine arts photographer in Chinook a western town snuggled up against a reservation that’s struggling for economic independence via investment in a glitzy new resort and casino complex called Buffalo Mountain. It’s a slow paced, good life for Thumps and his eccentric cat, Freeway. Most of the time. But when a dead body turns up in one of the just completed luxury condos, things change fast and not for the better. Photographing corpses is not part of Thumps’s master plan. He can’t help getting involved, especially when he realizes that the number one suspect is Stanley ‘Stick’ Merchant, anticondo protestor and wayward son of Claire Merchant, head of the tribal council and Thumps’s onetime love. If it affects Claire, it affects Thumps. It seems that Stick disappeared just about the time of the murder. Coincidence? Or just bad timing? Thumps knows that the police often shoot smart ass teenagers first and ask questions later. He doesn’t want that to happen to Stick. But can Thumps find Stick in time? And can Thumps find a killer before a killer finds Thumps? DreadfulWater Shows Up marks the arrival of a detective with a difference. With energy and verve and a very special voice, Thomas King and Hartley GoodWeather create an engaging and original page turner that zings with memorable characters and biting social commentary.

Green Grass, Running Water

Strong, Sassy women and hard luck hardheaded men, all searching for the middle ground between Native American tradition and the modern world, perform an elaborate dance of approach and avoidance in this magical, rollicking tale by Cherokee author Thomas King. Alberta is a university professor who would like to trade her two boyfriends for a baby but no husband; Lionel is forty and still sells televisions for a patronizing boss; Eli and his log cabin stand in the way of a profitable dam project. These three and others are coming to the Blackfoot reservation for the Sun Dance and there they will encounter four Indian elders and their companion, the trickster Coyote and nothing in the small town of Blossom will be the same again

Truth and Bright Water

Thomas King is a writer of lyrical, comic poignancy, and a best selling author in Canada. Of his latest novel, Newsday wrote, ‘Thomas King has quietly and gorgeously done it again.’ Truth and Bright Water tells of a summer in the life of Tecumseh and Lum, young Native American cousins coming of age in the Montana town of Truth, and the Bright Water Reserve across the river in Alberta. It opens with a mysterious woman with a suitcase, throwing things into the river then jumping in herself. Tecumseh and Lum go to help, but she and her truck have disappeared. Other mysteries puzzle Tecumseh: whether his mom will take his dad back; if his rolling stone aunt is home to stay; why no one protects Lum from his father’s rages. Then Tecumseh gets a job helping an artist Bright Water’s most famous son with the project of a lifetime. As Truth and Bright Water prepare for the Indian Days festival, their secrets come together in a climax of tragedy, reconciliation, and love.

Coyote Sings to the Moon

An old woman and her animals gather every night to serenade the moon. Coyote wants to join them, but his voice is so bad that the others are sure he ll scare the moon away. Offended, Coyote wonders, Who needs the moon, anyway? Moon is listening, and she knows just the solution for a cheeky Coyote. Unfortunately, Coyote’s friends must pay the price, too!

A Coyote Columbus Story

Coyote, the trickster, creates the world and all the creatures within it. She is able to control all events to her advantage until a funny looking red haired man named Columbus changes her plans. He is unimpressed by the wealth of moose, turtles, and beavers in Coyote’s land. Instead, he is interested in the human beings he can take to sell in Spain. Native American author Thomas King reinterprets the entire Columbus conquest mythology as a trickster tale, making the point that history is influenced by the culture of the reporter. This delightful book has been nominated for a Governor General s Literary Award. ‘ A Coyote Columbus Story is very funny, provocative, and offers a unique and absolutely engaging point of view.’ The Toronto Star ‘An entertaining story…
the language is crisp, colloquial, and very expressive. It is also extremely thought provoking.’ Quill and Quire

A Coyote Solstice Tale

Wily trickster Coyote is having his friends over for a little solstice get together in the woods when a little girl comes by unexpectedly. She leads the friends through the snowy woods to the mall a place they had never seen before. The trickster goes crazy with glee as he shops with abandon, only to discover that filling a shopping cart with goodies is not quite the same thing as actually paying for them. The trickster is tricked and goes back to his cabin in the woods somewhat subdued though nothing can keep Coyote down for long. Thomas King is known for his fiction featuring Canada’s Native people, while Gary Clement’s artwork has appeared in several popular children’s books. A Coyote Solstice Tale blends King’s brilliant deadpan humor and Clement’s evocative watercolors in this witty critique of consumerism and consumption aimed at all ages.

The Truth About Stories

‘Stories are wondrous things. And they are dangerous.’ In The Truth About Stories, Native novelist and scholar Thomas King explores how stories shape who we are and how we understand and interact with other people. From creation stories to personal experiences, historical anecdotes to social injustices, racist propaganda to works of contemporary Native literature, King probes Native culture’s deep ties to storytelling. With wry humor, King deftly weaves events from his own life as a child in California, an academic in Canada, and a Native North American with a wide ranging discussion of stories told by and about Indians. So many stories have been told about Indians, King comments, that ‘there is no reason for the Indian to be real. The Indian simply has to exist in our imaginations.’ That imaginative Indian that North Americans hold dear has been challenged by Native writers N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louis Owens, Robert Alexie, and others who provide alternative narratives of the Native experience that question, create a present, and imagine a future. King reminds the reader, Native and non Native, that storytelling carries with it social and moral responsibilties. ‘Don’t say in the years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story. You’ve heard it now.’

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