Drowning in Fire

Josh Henneha has always been a traveler drowning in dreams burning withdesires. As a young boy growing up within the Muskogee Creek Nation in ruralOklahoma Josh... » 

Josh Henneha has always been a traveler drowning in dreams burning withdesires. As a young boy growing up within the Muskogee Creek Nation in ruralOklahoma Josh experiences a yearning for something he cannot tame. Quiet andskinny and shy he feels out of place at once inflamed and ashamed by hisattraction to other boys. Driven by a need to understand himself and hishistory Josh struggles to reconcile the conflicting voices he hears from themessages of sin and scorn of the nonIndian Christian churches his parentsattend in order to assimilate to the powerful stories of his older Creekrelatives which have been the center of his upbringing memory and ongoingexperience. In his fevered and passionate dreams Josh catches a glimpse ofsomething that makes the Muskogee Creek world come alive. Lifted by his greataunt Lucilles tales of her own wild girlhood Josh learns to fly back throughtime to relive his peoples history and uncover a hidden legacy of triumphsand betrayals ceremonies and secrets he can forge into a new sense of himself.When as a man Josh rediscovers the boyhood friend who first stirred hisdesires he realizes a transcendent love that helps take him even deeper intothe Creek world he has explored all along in his imagination. Interweaving pastand present history and story explicit realism and dreamlike visions CraigWomacks Drowning in Fire explores a young mans journey to understand hiscultural and sexual identity within a framework drawn from the community of hisorigins. A groundbreaking and provocative comingofage story Drowning in Fireis a vividly realized novel by an impressive literary talent. «