The Legend of Morning

Rating:
Summary: The past meets the present
Review: It isn't often that authors writing in two different genres collaborate on projects, especially books out of their comfort zone and their area of specialty, but T. L. Gardner and Michelle McGriff are to be commended on their first joint effort. Gardner normally writes horror while McGriff writes both mysteries and romances. Alternating between past and present, THE LEGEND OF MORNING focuses on the characters' innermost feelings, their dark sides, and the things they'll do for love or revenge. With a set of protagonists from the past and a set from the future, a connection is formed between the two as one meets the other.

The Legend of Morning opens with a historical scene of Black Seminole Indians being used in the military to track down Indian tribes responsible for stealing property from white settlers. The reader is quickly taken into the past to share experiences first hand. The major incidents noted are the attack on a group of renegade raiders and the honor in which the Indians fought, specifically the Black Seminoles. Flash a few scenes ahead and it's 1990 in Klamatee, Texas at a beautiful resort in Southern Texas.

On the surface, a group of four semi-friends are taking a sort of retreat to get to know each other better and deal with their problems with one another. Yet beneath the lies and deceit, one woman has gathered together the three men in her life as a means of finally making sense of her situation. She is married to one, wants the second one, and falls in the hands of the third. Three men with three different roles in her life, yet she's convinced that at the end of their trip, she will have a better sense of the situation. Each one is harboring their own conflicts with love, hate, jealousy, and the thin line that binds them together. Upon arriving at the resort, they are greeted by the hostess, and later an Indian appears out of nowhere, introduces himself as Chuddy, and begins telling them the history and legend of the city.

As the days pass, they continue to meet Chuddy for a continuance of the story as they learn about two Indians, as different as night and day, but both wrought with the pain of their current situations. However, through it all, one is still stronger in that he's learned to accept the wisdom of his gods. When he receives an unforgivable blow, he sets his sights on revenge and stops at nothing until he gets it. The other learns his true origin and becomes lost in a sea of emotions as he tries to figure out the why's of his life. It soon becomes quite clear how the two will meet as the white townsmen have hired one to find the other. Through reliving the past, the characters of the present are able to see the parallels and relate them to their own lives. The only question is will they realize the wisdom of Chuddy before or after it's too late?

Gardner and McGriff are to be lauded and commended for this new wave of fiction. They label it a Western, though I would lean more towards speculative fiction, fantasy, or supernatural at the least. Had the editing been a bit tighter and the timelines a bit clearer in places, this would've been without a doubt, a top rated book, receiving the highest rank possible from RAWSISTAZ. Despite having those editorial flaws, the originality of the work still stands in a class of its own. Not only that, but the story was vividly written. It was easy to picture the scenery, smell the smoke, and even feel the pain of the characters. This is indeed one of my favorite reads of the year and also sits on my list of favorite books ever read. (RAW Rating: 4.5)

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers


Rating:
Summary: A Western-Style Shakespearian Tragedy
Review: The Legend of Morning is a "different" kind of book, a self-published venture that is refreshing to read in a flood of street life/baby mama drama books that are flooding African American literature shelves. Part Indian folklore and Western shoot-em-up, part mythology, and a love story with a Shakespearian twist; this novel has issues of family drama and loyalty, mixed-race issues, racial conflict and history. The authors deftly weave in and out of past and present with parallel storylines of present day and the late 1800s.

Darren and Morgan are half brothers, sharing the same mother while Morgan's father is black and Native American. Their Cain and Abel relationship is volatile and spurned by Butch, Darren's friend, who has always been jealous of the brothers' relationship and never misses a chance to cause dissension between them. Butch abuses his wife Lotus, who, lonely in her marriage, finds solace in Darren's bed. Morgan loves his wife, Janice and therefore agrees to her plan to go away on a retreat to confront and strengthen his relationship with his brother. So they travel from their California home to a remote area of Texas where they meet Chuddy, an old Native American man who enthralls them with the legend of the Black Seminoles and Creek Indians

Everyone's motive for going on the retreat is different. Butch, a slum landlord and closet racist, thinks he is fooling everyone; Morgan, the "half-breed, whose bloodline is Black and Seminole is filled with revenge for Butch that causes him to commit an act that can possibly change his life. Darren, who shares a mother with Morgan but both loves and hates his brother while also coveting his wife. This trip can either make or break their bond.

According to the legend as told by Chuddy, Morning Littlejohn, a Black Seminole, has suffered the worst kind of pain when he returns to the village and finds his wife slain and his children kidnapped. He fears he will never love again until he meets Jae, who is posing as a boy so she can work for the whites in town. Jacy Akando, a Creek Indian, saw his father killed and was abandoned by his mother, always feeling the pain of those losses. The white lawmen pit the Native men against each other, charging Akando with killing Morning, who they call "The Black Demon."

The juxtaposition of two parallel storylines of brotherly rivalry, loyalty, love and death, vengeance and redemption amidst the Texas landscape deserves recognition and definitely has cross-over appeal. Gardner and McGriff are to be commended for bringing the culture and history of the Black Seminoles in a multilayered storyline. The authors employ several literary devices such as symbolism and foreshadowing, and weave stunning imagery throughout the novel. This book deserves recognition and cross-over appeal.


Dera Williams
APOOO BookClub