{"product_id":"jonny-appleseed","title":"Jonny Appleseed","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrief Description\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003eA tour-de-force debut novel about a Two-Spirit Indigiqueer young man and proud NDN glitter princess who must reckon with his past when he returns home to his reservation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrief Description\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\"Off the reserve and trying to find ways to live and love in the big city, Jonny Appleseed, a young Two-Spirit\/Indigiqueer, becomes a cybersex worker who fetishizes himself in order to make a living. Jonny's world is a series of breakages, appendages, and linkages--and as he goes through the motions of preparing to return home for his step-father's funeral, he learns how to put together the pieces of his life\"--\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003eJoshua Whitehead is an Oji-Cree, Two-Spirit\/Indigiqueer member of Peguis First Nation. He is the author of \u003ci\u003efull-metal indigiqueer\u003c\/i\u003e (Talonbooks, 2017) and the 2016 winner of the Aboriginal Arts and Stories Challenge which awarded him a Governor General's History Award. Currently he is undertaking a Ph.D. in Indigenous Literatures and Cultures at the University of Calgary.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\"With only seven days until he returns home for his stepfather's funeral, Appleseed spends a pyretic week attempting to reconcile the competing factions of his life: sex, friends, work, sex, family, identity, sex. Throughout, memories of his kokum (grandmother) intrude upon the chaos, and these unexpected moments of remembrance prove most striking. A radically original new voice.\" -- \u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"If we're lucky, we'll find one or two books in a lifetime that change the language of story, that manage to illuminate new curves in the flat vessels of old letters and words. This is one of those books.\" --Cherie Dimaline, author of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Marrow Thieves\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Unflinching and intimate, Joshua Whitehead takes his readers on a journey to the heart of an NDN glitter princess with generous, swooning prose. Unforgettable.\" --Eden Robinson, author of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eSon of a Trickster\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDescription for Sales People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe latest in a line of culturally diverse LGBTQ titles from Arsenal that has included Lambda Literary Award winner \u003ci\u003eGod in Pink\u003c\/i\u003e by Hasan Namir, \u003ci\u003ea place called No Homeland\u003c\/i\u003e by Kai Cheng Thom, and the works of Vivek Shraya.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe title character is a young queer First Nations man (\"Two Spirit\") and self-described \"NDN glitter princess\" who is unapologetic about being a cybersex-worker who invokes \"Indian\" stereotypes as he helps other men get off. He has escaped his restricted life on the reserve and is living in the \"big city\" on the Canadian prairies, but must reconcile with his past traumas when he learns he must return to the reserve for his stepfather's funeral. The novel takes place during the seven days prior to his return.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe novel functions in \"NDN\" time, meaning that each segment holds within it past, present, and future narratives. The story is about much more than his step-father's death, who Jonny seems to care little for, and instead focuses more on how to live and love as an urban Indigiqueer in the now.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJoshua Whitehead is 28; his work reminds us of the controversial queer fiction title When Everything Feels like the Movies by Raziel Reid, who was similar in age and whose main character is similarly incendiary and unapologetic. Joshua himself is an accomplished young writer and academic; his debut poetry book \u003ci\u003efull-metal indigiqueer\u003c\/i\u003e is being published by Talonbooks in fall 2017, and he is currently working on his PhD in Indigenous Literatures at the University of Calgary.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn writing Jonny Appleseed, Joshua was inspired in part by Raziel's book. In Joshua's words: \"I love the fearlessness and fierceness that Reid exhibited with his storytelling and then with his defense of his novel [as a result of the controversy]. This was one of the stories I saw myself in and helped me to come into myself as a Two-Spirit\/Indigiqueer person. This was my impetus behind writing my novel. I wanted to craft a book of mirrors for other Indigiqueer\/Two-Spirit (2S) folks to see themselves in as well as to give a glimpse into the life of a 2S person living, loving, thriving, and surviving in the now: a narrative away from the mystical, pre-contact, queer utopias that often characterize and essentialize the term Two-Spirit for settler queers.\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe book will be marketed as an adult novel (due to its graphic content and language) but Joshua and we agree that mature young and new adults (15 and older) should be able to read it: \"Initially I had written this novel for a mature teen audience. Ultimately, though, I wrote this for Indigiqueer and Indigenous youth to see themselves in, as a means to give them strength during times of need and depression. That being said, I think we live in a time when a person's maturity depending on their age is fluid. Mature teens and youthful adults should and can read this book. I envision this text being read from 15+ but I do acknowledge the rather uncensored language that permeates Jonny's vernacular, which is true to Jonny's world. Any anxieties or fear around sex and language remains only the projected fear of adults and not children.\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Arvida Book Co.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51155395674343,"sku":null,"price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/IMG-0014.gif?v=1751597206","url":"https:\/\/arvidabookco.com\/products\/jonny-appleseed","provider":"Arvida Book Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}