Tommy Orange and Shane Hawk talk indigenous horror stories

Indigenous horror takes the floor at Local Economy

On Tuesday, November 3, Local Economy in Oakland hosts a sharp literary conversation with Tommy Orange and Shane Hawk from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. The focus is Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II, the new follow up to the popular Indigenous horror anthology.

Orange, the Oakland raised author of There There and Wandering Stars, will be in conversation with Hawk, one of the anthology’s editors. Expect a room of readers, writers, horror fans, and neighbors listening closely as they talk about fear, story, memory, and the long reach of Native and First Nations voices in the genre.

The book gathers twenty one new stories, with work from established names and newer writers. Stephen Graham Jones is in the mix, along with a wide range of Indigenous talent. The stories lean into dread, blood, hunger, old warnings, and the kind of unease that stays with you after the lights come on.

Local Economy should make a good setting for this one. It has the feel of a place where a book talk can stay personal, with people close enough to ask real questions and hear the answers without a big room swallowing the mood.

If you like horror with roots, history, and a strong sense of voice, this is worth putting on the calendar. It is also a good chance to hear Orange in Oakland, in conversation with an editor helping shape a current wave of Indigenous dark fiction.

Event details and venue info.

The team that brought you the bestselling Indigenous fiction anthology Never Whistle at Night has returned with a new collection of unsettling and sinister stories: Back for Blood: Never Whistle at Night Part II. This latest volume features twenty-one brand-new, groundbreaking, gruesome tales—authored by both established (Tommy Orange! Stephen Graham Jones!) and newly unearthed Indigenous talent. This isn’t just “dark fiction,” it’s full-tilt horror.
Co-editors Shane Hawk and Ted Van Alst Jr. say, “Not an occasional shiver, not a decorative brush with the uncanny, but sustained dread, sustained appetite, sustained consequence. If the first volume asked you to sit with darkness, this one asks you to listen to it breathe.” The stories in Back for Blood draw on a range of Native and First Nations experiences, histories, and traditions to showcase the power of Indigenous storytelling in this particular genre. It is a further celebration of Indigenous survival and the enduring tradition of transforming adversity into art.
For this event, Tommy Orange will be in conversation with anthology co-editor, Shane Hawk.