Medicine Road

Illustrated by Charles Vess.

Medicine Road will be a series of linked short novels by Charles de Lint, profusely illustrated by Charles Vess.

Each of the projected three volumes will feature various combinations of the seven red-haired Dillard sisters (from Seven Wild Sisters) as well as new characters introduced as the stories progress. The first book will be set in the Sonoran Desert around Tucson, Arizona, with excursions north.

Just received from Charles de Lint, the poem which opens Medicine Road, and tells what came before the novel:

Red Dog chasing, Jackalope
out in the badlands, that's the way it can go
driven by hunger, looking for something
deep in the desert, deep in the soul

medicine wheel, dreams in the moonlight
from each direction, the four winds blow
Coyote Woman, she has a vision
sets them to travel, on the Medicine Road

they're on the Medicine Road, out in the desert
thunder is talking, rumbling low
bound by a promise, laid upon them
to help each other, on the Medicine Road

in the flight of the hawk, there is a mystery
in the sound of a flute, hear a raven's cry
in the beat of a drum, there is a heartbeat
in the eyes of a lover, is a medicine sky

smoke is rising, sage and sweetgrass
smoke is rising, like an eagle's flight
smoke is rising, tobacco burning
smoke is rising, from a medicine pipe

brothers and sisters, are guided by spirits
some follow the Ghost Dance, some the buffalo
los peyoteros, are guided by Mescal
Coyote's children, take the Medicine Road

they're on the Medicine Road, out in the desert
thunder is talking, rumbling low
bound by a promise, laid upon them
to help each other, on the Medicine Road

Charles de Lint
Ottawa, May 5, 2002

Medicine Road will be available only from Subterranean Press, in two hardcover editions:

Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover edition
Deluxe: Limited to 750 signed numbered hardcover copies with full-color endsheets and an extra section of working sketches by Charles Vess.