Edited by Susan Musgrave

Grant MacEwan Author's Award FINALIST


The Story of Blue Eye opens at a full gallop across the western prairie controlled by the powerful Plains Indian Horse Culture of the early 1800's. Blue Eye James, The Sun Dance scarred descendent of a Philadelphia Quaker, leads his Piikani friends and their horse herds across enemy territories to American and British posts where his beliefs in equality, honesty and pacifism are tested by ruthless Cree raiders, slavery, whiskey forts, and colonial agendas.



 "NEW WRITER RIVALS ZANE GREY'S GENIUS."


" Not since I devoured saga after saga by that great chronicler of the American West, Zane Grey, 45 years ago have I enjoyed a story of the wide open spaces so much.


Canadian author Tyler Trafford's first Sun on the Mountains series novel set in our own unique 19th century Prairie landscape fills two voids that Grey, as wonderful a writer as he was, could not. Back then, I wondered why we didn't have any stories about the Canadian West as good as the ones Grey wrote. Now, with publication of The Story of Blue Eye, we do, and I hope Trafford follows with another absorbing and meticulously researched Western adventure novel soon. " Review by Joan Taillon.

 


SPIRITUAL VIGNETTES

"HUMOUR, WISDOM AND GENTLENESS"

Review by Reverend Joyce Sasse

"Can we deal with conflict in ways that are positive and bring healing?

Jesus said "yes" when he told the story of the Good Samaritan.

Tyler Trafford says "yes" by telling the more contemporary "Story of Blue Eye" (Thistledown Press). And we are compelled to draw up our chairs and listen.  

Trafford's novel is set among the Plains Indians in the mid-1800's, at a time when they were threatened with annihilation. Settlers were moving in, and the buffalo were disappearing. But there remained one window of opportunity...

What if someone was able to enhance the Piikani's (Blackfoot) strength -their love of horses - rather than take advantage of their weaknesses?  

What if someone, young though the teen-aged trader may have been, was confident enough in himself to gain the respect of others?

Blue Eye, whose Quaker grandfather established the Sun-On-The-Mountains Trading Post on the Bow River, carries on the family tradition of encouraging warring neighbours to work with him to develop a lucrative horse trade.

The story, told with humour and wisdom and gentleness, invites us to "think outside the box". It titillates our sense of history and captures our imagination.

I'm sure, when Trafford presents his "Ride the Blue Eye Roadshow" to high school students, the girls will cheer the positive role he gives to women, and the guys will try a left-handed handshake to see what if feels like.

The Metis man born with one eye blue reminds us "We don't have to choose sides ... We can learn from both sides and better understand who we are ... We can make a difference." This is what is important to the writer.

It's a story of vision, set on a landscape we know, that shows how we can build a more harmonious world. I look forward to the sequel soon to be released."


 

CBC Homestretch Bookmark 1010 AM Calgary

Review by Darryl Severight

“The history of the Aboriginal population has endured countless European interpretations in the past and it continues to this day with writers taking liberties when telling the story on behalf of the Indian. From Grey Owl to Karl May their take on the Red man and the “wild west” attempts to make the Native man part of the scenery and not apart from the scenery...

"Tyler's story takes us to an amazing time in Native/European history. Where others fail in telling a Native story, Tyler avoids all that by simply telling what is in his heart. This first book does not dwell on the hardships that are to come. Rather, he offers insight into the depth of a culture that rides hard and fearlessly into your heart.”

 

Lethbridge Herald Book Club Reviews

"Book Weaves Together Adventure and History"

June 26,2004

Janet Groenewag:

FOUR STARS (Excerpts )… "Adventure and history woven into this story of a family operating a trading post from 1830 to 1880, informed and entertained. The author's intensive research covers so many facts about the Indian Tribes on the great plains that the reader is well informed about culture, beliefs and traditions.

Blue Eye takes part in the sun dance, learns from his grandfather and accepts his destiny to develop the family fort into a thriving and honest enterprise. I found this story to be just as strong and thought-provoking as the history that it covered. The amazing combination of Quaker beliefs and native traditions, and the excellent character development made this a quality novel.

Now, one wonders what the next book in this series would cover and if it could have as much information and character development as Sun on the Mountain."

 

Don Behrens:

FOUR STARS ( Excerpts)… "Having taught junior and senior high school English at Piikani High School for five years, this novel hit heavily into my great love for the people of Brocket. The author gives the reader a chance to live with the many members of that tribe from 1836 through 1877. All students, ages 12 through 22, and their adult relatives should read this novel to understand the development of the tribe during those decades.

The theme is double barrelled in showing Blue Eye and his family's development as adults in native and white worlds. The author lets us see the difficulties aboriginals had to face in the white man's quest for land expansion. As the novel moves along chronologically, we discover why Blue Eye's grandfather moved into the Hudson Bay Company territory.

The author has done great research in language and names to present this historical novel. Hopefully, his research will give all of us a better understanding of the difficulties faced by many natives in their present day inner tribal politics."

 

Alberta Native News

"Trafford is a talented writer ... a flair for storytelling ... as exciting and fast-paced a novel you'll ever read about the old west.

" ... characters are interesting, down-to-earth ... an entertaining cycle of excitement that every reader of historical fiction/non-fiction strives to find and loves to read.

"Blue Eye, with his knack for figures, his talent for trade and his fortitude on the long treks to the trading posts on either side of the border, quickly becomes a role model readers will have little trouble identifying with." Reviewed by John Copley, June 2004.


Canadian Cowboy Country

"Filled with complexities and conflicts, but simply told, Trafford clearly illustrates the life of the historical Plains Indians, white settlers and the horse culture, so prominent in Alberta, Southern SK and the U.S. during these times." (NANCY CRITCHLEY)