“I was taught from a young age that the earth was sacred,” is how Stacie Shannon Denetsosie’s The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories begins. “Yet, every two weeks or so, I’d back my little truck up to the edge of the Divergent Dam and throw our garbage into the gorge below.” A Diné writer originally from Kayenta, Arizona, who now resides in northern Utah, Denetsosie makes a promising debut with this collection of fiction, published by Torrey House Press. Comprising nine stories, The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories is a testament to Denetsosie’s deep engagement with her Navajo heritage and her insightful observations of the contemporary Native American experience.

Denetsosie deftly melds the enduring traditions of healing ceremonies and lambing practices with the 21st-century realities of convenience stores and trailer parks. She avoids the pitfalls of both romanticism and sensationalism, presenting grisly realities like rape, murder, and kidnapping as elements of a larger narrative tapestry focused on growth, discovery and joy. This approach results in stories that are relatable and grounded, yet imbued with a sense of wonder and resilience. They are often stories of generational struggle for understanding and redemption, navigating a world sundered but also nourished by two cultures. “In the English language it could be said I was a cheat. A two timer. An adulterer if you were religious,” relates a recently deceased, disembodied character who must seek his grandson for liberation in “The Casket in the Backseat.” But a shift in language gives him a shift in understanding. “In Diné stories, ‘adilyé, ‘adultery’ stemmed from disagreement. It is the reason why the first people were driven from the three previous worlds, until they reached the fourth world, the glittering world. It dawned on me, that I had left this world in a state of disagreement over my actions and now was my chance to make it right again.” Themes of grief, coping through humor, and the imperative of truth-telling in difficult circumstances are prevalent throughout the collection.

Denetsosie’s narratives are deeply interwoven with the landscape, highlighting not only the physical terrain of the Southwest but also the emotional and cultural landscapes that her characters navigate. “As I drove, shattered glass flashed white in the sun,” the narrator notes in one story, where the grit and decay of modern reservation life mingles with the Diné creation myth of the glittering worlds. “The shards lay half-buried in sand moraines comprised of tumbleweeds, Sonic cups and white Bashas’ bags.” The Navajo reservation, particularly Kayenta or “K-town,” acts as a central pivot in these stories, exerting a gravitational pull and symbolizing a place of return and identity, even as characters venture into diverse locales like Salt Lake City, rural Idaho, and suburban Houston.  It can be a place of knowledge and solace, but not for everyone. “Home was not synonymous with possibilities for me; it was a life sentence filled with struggle, and negotiating with cruel relatives who feigned love when a paycheck is involved,” says the narrator of “Conception.”

No matter how run down the landscape may become or how tousled and torn the characters lives may be, Denetsosie’s writing is charged with wonder and joy. The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories is a compelling blend of the traditional and the contemporary, a reflection of a community’s struggles and joys, and an affirmation of the enduring power of storytelling in preserving and understanding cultural identity.

The Missing Morningstar & Other Stories
Stacie Shannon Denetsosie
Torrey House Press
148 pp
$16.95

Shawn Rossiter

The founder of Artists of Utah and editor of its online magazine, 15 Bytes, Shawn Rossiter has undergraduate degrees in English, French and Italian Literature and studied Comparative Literature in graduate school before pursuing a career in art.