BEMIDJI—Dennis E. Staples is a writer from the Bemidji area and a member of the Red Lake Nation. His debut novel This Town Sleeps was published in 2020—a thrilling story taking place in Northern Minnesota blending Ojibwe legends with the modern world, and featuring Marion LaFournier, a mid-twenties gay Ojibwe man whose family has ties to sacred power.
Marion’s story continues in Dennis’s new novel Passing Through a Prairie Country. In this story, fresh from a breakup with his boyfriend, Marion leaves town for a break, but stops at the Hidden Atlantis Lake Resort and Casino where he is reacquainted with his cousins Alana and Cherie and has an encounter with a dark force known as the sandman.
In a recent What We’re Reading interview, Dennis described, how among other influences, a trip in middle school to visit with Minnesota writers played a role in his path to becoming a writer.
He recounted, “I remember meeting the writer Mary Casanova who does children books with a lot of animal themes, and that got me really excited and motivated.”
Over the years, Dennis has found inspiration from other writers as well, like Clive Barker and Louise Erdrich. But for his newest novel, Dennis’s inspiration for the dark spirit, the sandman, came to him while in college at Bemidji State University.
He explained, “I took a myth class that involved reading a lot of Ojibwe and Greek myths…One book called Wisconsin Chippewa Myths & Tales by Victor Barnouw--it describes some of the common tropes that were found in a lot of the stories and some of them had to do with what would basically be like an anti-medicine man or anti-shaman.”
Dennis further explained that this anti-medicine man would take the shape of an old man who “binds his will over his victims and trap them in a distorted reality.”
This element brings an evocative and atmospheric tone to the story. The characters, and sometimes the readers, can’t entirely trust their senses or what is being presented to them.
Dennis described his process for writing for this effect, citing the influence of other authors. He said, “It’s a hard thing to navigate. But I think that there's a few different authors who helped me move toward that way: Thomas Ligotti, who does a lot of supernatural horror fiction, and John Cheever, a short story writer. They have…these really broken up narratives that will kind of present you scenes in almost montage fashion, but at the same time, you know you're following this one thread.”
Learn more about writer Dennis E. Staples and his books at Counterpoint Press.
On Tuesday, March 18, Dennis will be talking about Passing Through a Prairie Country with writer Justin Holley. The event will be at 6 pm at Four Pines Bookstore in Bemidji. More information can be found on their website.
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