Chris Mallory bluemountn@angelfire.com
Assignment 2
1. A Chill in the Blood by P. N. Elrod In this book, set in 1930’s Chicago, Jack Fleming, a vampire detective, and his human partner, Charles Escott stop a gang war when New York mobsters try to take over the Chicago territory run by Big Frankie Paco and his daughter Angela.
The protagonist is Jack Fleming. The conflicts are: 1) preventing the gang war, 2) Jack’s fear of losing his humanity.
2. The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman This "Joe Leaphorn mystery," titled after a Navajo ceremony, begins with Lt. Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police searching for Luis Horseman, a suspect in a knifing incident. When Horseman is found dead, his death is linked to rumors of Navajo "Wolves" or witches said to be in the area where the body was found. Lt. Leaphorn doesn’t believe in witches, but he does – as he tells one elder – believe in evil. As Leaphorn searches for the murderer, he discovers a portable radar set up on the Navajo Reservation, tracking U S Army ballistic missiles on their flight path from the Tonepah Range in Utah to the White Sands Proving Grounds. The men responsible for the radar had killed Horseman, as well as spread tales of witchcraft, to keep the local people away from the area.
Joe Leaphorn is the protagonist. The conflict is finding the human killer and discounting stories of a supernatural one.
3. Quillworker: A Cheyenne Legend adapted and written by Terri Cohlene This children’s book tells the story of Quillworker, a young girl renowned in her village for the beautiful designs she creates on buffalo robes using dyed porcupine quills. One night Quillworker has a dream telling her to make seven warrior’s outfits, then go in search of seven brothers that live a seven day’s journey from her village. This she does, and lives happily with the brothers as their sister. Buffalo Calf shows up at the tepee one morning, saying that Buffalo Bull wants to marry Quillworker. She refuses. The next morning Buffalo Cow visits, and again the offer of marriage is made and refused. Finally Buffalo Bull and the entire buffalo nation comes calling. Either Quillworker will marry him, or she and her brothers will be killed. She still refuses. Quillworker and her brothers climb a tree to escape. They keep climbing, from tree to clouds to sky, until they’re so high up that they can’t get down. There they become the stars of the Big Dipper, and Quillworker works to this day decorating the night sky with her beautiful designs.
Quillworker is the protagonist of this story; the conflict is her refusal to marry the buffalo.
© 1999 Chris Mallory
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