Second book in three-part series leaves readers on the edge

Author Wanda John-Kehewin is all about teasing her readers a little, but she’s hoping not to leave them hanging for another three years to see where Damon Quinn’s life takes him. Dreams: Visions from the Fire, her second book in a three-book series, available Feb. 24, leaves the story on a personal cliffhanger.

Damon, his mom Marnie, and friends Marcus and Journey were introduced to readers in Dreams: Visions of the Crow in 2023. Damon is a Cree-Métis teen, who has a mysterious connection to a crow and to Journey, a new girl in school. His mother Marnie is struggling with alcohol addiction and has moved them away from their reserve in Alberta. Marcus, who starts out as a bully, finds out he, too, is Indigenous.

John-Kehewin admits that having to wait three years between the first two books was not ideal. But there was “stuff going on” for both her and illustrator nicole marie burton. John-Kehewin finished her Master of Fine Arts during those years.

She also had to travel from her home in Coquitlam, B.C. to Kehewin First Nation in Alberta to take photos of St. Joseph’s Hill for burton to include in the second book as Damon, Marnie and Journey make the same trip.

“It’s a landmark in Kehewin. It's not a mountain but people will recognize, ‘Hey, that's St. Joseph's Hill.’ I went there to take pictures up the road so it could be drawn,” said John-Kehewin.

St. Joseph’s Hill figures prominently in Damon’s vision quest where he confers with Chief Kihiw, who is an actual ancestor of John-Kehewin and once the great chief of Kehewin.

Chief Kihiw is modeled after photographs of J.B. John, son of Chief Kihiw, which John-Kehewin shared with burton.

John-Kehewin says doing the second graphic novel was an easier process than doing the first Dreams book. She understood more fully about panels and “splash pages” (a two-page graphic spread) and she provided more descriptions for burton. She also passed along more directions for facial expressions and body language for the characters.

“I kind of had an idea of how to do it, panel by panel, now. I learned a lot and it was easier to write,” she said. 

She admits though that even with the experience and after taking a graphic novels course, “I still don’t have it all figured out.”

John-Kehewin plans to have the third novel written by July or August. Then there’s the editing process and the illustrating. 

At this point, she says, she has an idea of where Damon’s and Journey’s relationship is going to end up, which is the personal cliffhanger facing the non-couple at the end of Visions from the Fire.  However, without the third book being completed, it could change.

“I don't know if this happens for every writer and I don't know if they have their outline and with the ending ready, because … I don't do that. I write in a way that it's kind of linear, what could potentially happen. So I don't know…It just sort of happens organically…(as) my brain's constantly weaving this story,” said John-Kehewin.

Visions from the Fire further develops the characters that readers were introduced to in the first book and then adds a few new characters, including Auntie Corinne and her son Cornell.

“Everybody has an auntie like that who doesn't give a crap about anything and will say what she thinks. And who will just be like, ‘Meh, whatever.’ And will wear t-shirts that say, ‘Check your privilege out,’ those kind of things,” said John-Kehewin, laughing fondly.

John-Kehewin hopes Indigenous youth see themselves in this second book as Damon and his mother return to her reserve, their culture and their ceremony. In Dreams: Visions of the Crow, Damon learns from his mother that “sometimes when you run from things you run too far the other way.” 

John-Kehewin also wants Indigenous youth to understand that addictions, loss of parenting, loss of language and loss of culture have been the effects of colonization.

“I want it to be transformative for them to have these ideas of chiefs and ancestors and all these different things. And so, for them to be able to critically think about, “Oh, why is my auntie…not drinking now…Oh, I'm not the only one in this entire world as an Indigenous person who has a mom that has alcohol problems or who has an uncle or who has a sister.’ So I wanted them to see themselves and be set free by the thinking that they're the only ones that are going through this at this point, right? To open up dialogue as well,” she said.

John-Kehewin also hopes Indigenous youth make the connection that she’s an Indigenous writer and that it is a path they can follow too.

“‘There’s this writer writing about a fiction and there's this writer writing about identity and there's this writer writing about… Indigenous characters.’ So to be able to dream about. ‘Oh, I could be a writer, I could be a novelist and I could tell stories’,” she said.

As for non-Indigenous readers, she wants them to understand that Indigenous people are still impacted by colonization. She also wants them to understand that it’s not only Indigenous people who suffer from addictions.

Dreams: Visions from the Fire (Volume 2) is published by HighWater Press. It can be pre-ordered at https://www.portageandmainpress.com/Books/V/Visions-From-the-Fire