Auguste Forel

Publisher description: The Lightning Shrikes is a cinematic novel about an American Indian softball team in a national coed professional league sponsored by a rich and powerful Nike-like company. The team is led by an ex-major leaguer with a gift for making the most of any business opportunity and a great eye for talent -- along with a weakness for home cooking -- stocked with the best Native athletes from around the country, most with no experience on the diamond, The Shrikes work hard to destroy misconceptions about Native Americans, to instill pride in their people(s), to promote greater communication between Native tribes and nations, and to build the skills and teamwork needed to win the inaugural national championship. Devon Mihesuah makes her characters real, unlike the Hollywood or New Age Indian caricatures that are usually foisted upon the public. The Lightning Shrikes are far from perfect: they're good and bad, strong and weak, determined and vacillating, but in the end, like the fierce shrike -- the diminutive butcher bird of the Western plains that impales its often much larger prey, they prevail against the odds.