Michael W. Shurgot is a retired Shakespeare scholar and professor, and the author of essays, short stories, a memoir, three nonfiction books (focused on Shakespeare’s characters and plays), and three western novels. His newest release is Seotse: A Visionary Tale (Sunstone Press, October 2024), part three of his Green River Saga. Look for Michael on MichaelShurgot.com, on Facebook, and his Amazon author page.
At its heart, what is Seotse about? What do you hope readers will take away from it?
Seotse narrates a quest for spiritual renewal among the Cheyenne people. Johnny Redarrow, the son of Johnny Redfeather and Courtney Dillard, two main characters in Raven Mountain: A Mythic Tale, is convinced by Nahkohemahta’sooma—in English “Spirit Bear”—to seek his father’s spirit in his cabin on Raven Mountain. “Spirit Bear” is both a physical and a spiritual being. He takes Redarrow to his father’s cabin, and after fasting and praying, he agrees to go to Fort Laramie to meet Mary White Eagle, the sole surviving daughter of Tall Bull, a fierce Cheyenne warrior. Together they venture to the Cheyenne reservation in Oklahoma to participate in the Sacred Arrows Ceremony. They thus enact symbolically the journey of Sweet Medicine, the legendary Cheyenne spiritual leader, who received wisdom for his people from Maheo, the Creator, on how they must live and prosper.
What unique challenges did this work pose for you?
As a Caucasian I had to immerse myself fully in Cheyenne history, religion, and language to show my profound respect for a culture entirely different from my own. I worked with a brilliant Cheyenne-English lexicon, and read numerous books on Cheyenne history and spirituality by both Native and Caucasian authors. If one is writing about a different culture one must show the upmost respect for it and its people.
Tell us how the book came together.
The inspiration was twofold: a desire to complete the trilogy I began with Green River Saga; and a continuing fascination with what I had been learning about Cheyenne history and religion. Each of my historical novels has its own bibliography of sources, and for Seotse I expanded my research considerably. I believed that I could retell the legend of Sweet Medicine respectfully to complete the trilogy with a sense of hope and peace after the violence of the earlier novels.
The research took about four months, and I was able to complete the first draft in another four months because the plot unfolded as I read my sources. Editing, revising, cover design, etc. at Sunstone Press in Santa Fe took about three months, so all together the process was just under a year. Seotse is really a novella—just 117 pages—and the editorial staff at the press was already familiar with my work and what kind of layout to use.
The cover is a photo of a dream catcher that my colleague Dale Croes gave to me when I retired from South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Washington. Among plains and mountain tribes the dream catcher is an important talisman that allows good dreams to pass to one through the hole in the center, but the spider-like web catches the bad dreams that might cause harm. Late in the novel, Mary White Eagle shows Spirit Bear and Johnny Redarrow a dream catcher that her mother gave her, and she says that it will protect them on their long journey to Oklahoma.
Who are your main characters and why will readers connect to them?
There are three: Spirit Bear, Johnny Redarrow, and Mary White Eagle. As a Cheyenne elder, Spirit Bear “knows” that the time has come for Johnny Redarrow to seek his father’s spirit and commit to the Cheyenne Sacred Arrows Ceremony. Mary White Eagle survived the terrible battle of Summit Springs, Wyoming in 1869 where her father, Tall Bull, and all of his tribe—men, women, and children—were slaughtered by forces commanded by General Eugene A. Carr’s Fifth Calvary.
Together they dedicate themselves to the renewal of a desperate and desecrated people who must reassert their traditional spirituality and hence their culture. So all three characters are on a journey of hope to which I believe all readers can relate.
Describe one or more of the main settings in the book. Why did you decide to use these particular settings?
Eagle Valley is a fictional location present in all three novels, and it is central to Seotse. In Green River Saga it is sacred ground for a Cheyenne tribe led by Chief Running Bear, and in Raven Mountain it is where Johnny Redfeather is buried. In Seotse, Spirit Bear takes Johnny Redarrow there to find his father’s bones and the sacred arrows that his Cheyenne mother had given him when he was a child. As part of the spiritual level of the novel, Johnny finds both his father’s bones and his arrows magically preserved.
Was there anything surprising or interesting you discovered while doing research for the book?
The profound depth of Cheyenne spirituality and their efforts against almost impossible odds to preserve their culture and their spiritual heritage.
What does “Seotse” mean? If choosing the book title was a long process, tell us about that journey.
“Seotse” in Cheyenne means “spirit.” Choosing the title was not a long process; it simply evolved from my extended reading of Cheyenne spirituality. Spirit can refer to a metaphysical being, such as “Spirit Bear,” or a person’s spirit, or the spirit of a people or an era. Readers can decide how the word operates for them in the novel.
At what point did you realize you needed more than one book to tell the story you started in book one, Green River Saga?
Four months after Green River Saga was published. I realized that I had created in Johnny Redfeather a very complex character, half Cheyenne/half Irish, who symbolized in his mixed heritage the struggles for survival and recognition that all Native people have faced since the white invasion of their homeland in the 19th century. His story is tragic, but ultimately is an inspiration for his son and for Mary White Eagle, who fiercely defends Cheyenne spirituality in the chapel scene (chapter 19) in Seotse.
What was your favorite part of putting this project together?
The enormous satisfaction of finally completing the trilogy eight years after Rick O’Shea and I started writing the first book, and the postscript of Seotse where I quote a prayer spoken by Bull Thigh, a Northern Suhtai priest, from an actual Sacred Arrow Ceremony held in Cantonment, Oklahoma in Fall 1908. As I wrote after the prayer: “What began in violence ends in prayer.”
Seotse is the third book in your Green River Saga. Do people need to read the first two books to understand the third?
Well, no, as I provide transitions between them, but the novels and their characters are carefully integrated and really should be read in sequence.
Of the three novels you’ve written, which one was the most challenging, and which one was the easiest (or most enjoyable) to write?
Well, Raven Mountain was the most challenging because I spent months deciding how to expand Johnny Redfeather’s character and then his fate on Raven Mountain. Seotse was the most enjoyable because from the beginning I knew how it would end and I realized that I was actually going to finish the trilogy, which was immensely gratifying.
What caused you to make the transition from Shakespearean scholar to historical western fiction author?
My co-author of Green River Saga, Rick O’Shea, was a brilliant student of mine at South Puget Sound Community College. After he completed his BA at St. Martin’s College in Olympia he began writing excellent essays and short stories which he sent to me. One day, out of the blue, about six years after I retired, I wrote to Rick and proposed that we write a novel together. He wrote back, “Sure! Let’s write a western.” Thus was the Green River trilogy launched.
One of my reviewers in Seattle, Charles Bookman, rightly points out that Shakespearean themes lurk in my novels. Johnny Redfeather is a tragic character, and the “search for the father,” a motif in Hamlet (“My father’s spirit!”), animates Johnny Redarrow’s quest in Seotse. So, some of my Shakespeare scholarship has crept into my fiction.
Looking back to the beginning of your writing/publishing career, what do you know now that you wish you’d known then?
How damn hard writing fiction is! By comparison, writing Shakespeare scholarship is a breeze!
What writing projects are you working on now?
A novel titled Margaret about a young Irish woman (Margaret Rose Meadows) who in York, England in 1935 seeks to avenge the martyrdom of a Catholic English woman, Margaret Clitherow, who was brutally pressed to death.
Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?
Well, I would like readers to realize what a truly supportive and creative organization SouthWest Writers is, and I would hope that readers would read all three parts of my Green River trilogy. I honestly believe it is a worthwhile journey.
KL Wagoner loves creating worlds of fantasy and science fiction. Her current work in progress is The Last Bonekeeper fantasy trilogy and short stories in the same universe. A member of SouthWest Writers since 2006, Kat has worked as the organization’s secretary, newsletter editor, website manager, and author interview coordinator. Kat is also a veteran, a martial art student, and a grandmother. Visit her at klwagoner.com.
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