Stacie Boston
Cherokee Phoenix
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Bringing in aspects of Cherokee history and culture and tying in a world of fiction and horror is what Cherokee Nation citizen Andrea L. Rogers did in her latest collection of short stories, “Man Made Monsters,” which was released in October.
While she has done book signings in St. Louis and California during conferences, Rogers had her first signing in Oklahoma along with the book’s illustrator, Cherokee Nation citizen Jeff Edwards, at Too Fond of Books in Tahlequah on Dec. 3.
“I think it’s the first one I’ve done in Oklahoma…so I’m pretty excited because I grew up in Tulsa,” said Rogers, who currently resides in Arkansas.
“Man Made Monsters” features creatures such as werewolves, vampires, goat men and even ghost cats and brings them to life during important periods in Cherokee history.
“So, it starts in 1839, which is a pretty important year for Cherokees because it was the year we were legally removed from our homeland. But it’s also the year that in Texas, Chief Bowls (Cherokee) and his band were massacred just outside of Dallas. And so that’s actually where the book starts is in Texas,” Rogers said.
Rogers said the stories explore elements of horror and some pay homage to Mary Shelley and her work “Frankenstein” or “The Modern Prometheus.”
“I had the title in my head before I’d ever written the second story, which is the title story, because…I knew I needed a story that reflected Shelley’s ideas or her monster Frankenstein,” Rogers said. “If you read Frankenstein, and if you have any kind of heart whatsoever, you recognize that the true monster in that story are the people. The idea that we look around and we paint people as if they’re monsters because we don’t understand them or we’re frightened of them.”
Rogers, who is working on a doctorate degree in English with a focus on Native Literature at the University of Arkansas, said she worked to make sure it was clear that the stories follow a main Cherokee family with other families tying in while also bringing in some of her own family stories.
“I had to do the family tree and figure out how many generations did I cover if the family starts in 1839. And so basically, I kept jumping into the next generation between 16 and 19 years each time. So, I laid all of those out and tried to see where I was missing things and figure…out what’s really important in Cherokee history at that time,” Rogers said. “Then also I had my own family stories. My grandfather was in World War I. He and his, I don’t know if it’s a stepbrother or a half-brother or cousin, were both in France…and all my dad knew about it was he took care of the horses. So, I wrote a story that takes place in France and the guy takes care of the horses, and there’s a werewolf.”
With Rogers’ written words taking readers on an adventure, Edwards also helps paint a picture while weaving in Cherokee syllabary within his illustrations.
“I was absolutely stunned. I was super lucky to be able to get Jeff Edwards to illustrate it. He would read the stories, and he would pull these threads out of it and every single illustration would just be perfect,” Rogers said. “I would read the translations of what he had written (in the Cherokee syllabary), and it was just perfect. I mean, he got it. He got me, he got the stories. Seeing those fantastic illustrations; it blew me away.”
As for which story is her favorite, Rogers said, “I jokingly say that all my stories are my favorite stories.”
“When I was a kid, I didn’t have any stories like this. People loved to write about Indians, but they weren’t publishing Cherokee people very often, especially for children. All they wanted was dead Indians, all they wanted was the people who are gone. We could only exist in the past,” Rogers said. “What that meant though is our Cherokee cultural values didn’t exist, our language didn’t exist in the stuff that I could find in the library. So, I read ghost stories. That was my thing I enjoyed.”
Rogers is also the author of “Mary and the Trail of Tears: A Cherokee Removal Survival Story” as well as other short stories and collections.
“Man Made Monsters” can be purchased at Too Fond of Books or online.
“I always suggest people buy from an indie (independent) bookstore or a Native bookstore if they can,” Rogers said.
For information, visit andrealrogers.com or follow Rogers @andrealrogers on Instagram.
This article was first published in the Cherokee Phoenix.