The Backbone of the World

Trespass Collection

By: Stephen Graham Jones

Narrated by: Charlotte Flyte

An American Indian woman’s past and future collide in unthinkable ways in this richly imagined short story of deep secrets and Lovecraftian horrors by a New York Times bestselling author.

Millie Two Bears lives alone in a trailer in the heart of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. Since her husband went to jail, she’s been on the outs with the reservation. And it’s not just people she has to contend with. Now the prairie dogs are moving in on her patch of land. When a strange woman comes into Millie’s life, and Millie’s rodent war escalates, a fateful confrontation with vengeance, secrets, and survival is just underfoot.

Stephen Graham Jones’s The Backbone of the World is part of Trespass, a collection of wild stories about animal instincts, human folly, and survival from award-winning, bestselling authors. Read or listen to each in a single sitting.

©2022 Stephen Graham Jones. (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Insidious in the best ways

It’s a great balance of creepy and real human grief, the end of which I can’t decide if it’s triumphant or sinister ha. I am still thinking about it which the mark of a compelling work

Good one!

Indigenous folks, prairie dogs, and a bit of horror mixed in a bag of sci-fi. 👍

another great story

excellent story and delivery(as usual). his stories perfectly combine present day and beliefs that were created in the past.

Excellent storytelling

I 'discovered' Stephen Graham Jones from the Haunted Nights anthology. His contribution, Dirtmouth, inspired me to explore deeper into his stories. (If you haven't listened to it yet, definitely check it out. Wow.)

The Backbone of the World was my next listen. Beautifully written, it captures the stark rhythm of the land, the tone of life on The Rez and inserts a quirky otherworldliness into the very normal, everyday activities of the main character, Millie Two Bears.

Deceptively quiet, the story wraps itself around you, transporting you right there with Millie, her odd tenant, Frog, and her efforts to evict the prairie dogs that have moved in just the other side of the border of her husband's property. It's a matter of pride. Despite his failings, she doesn't want people thinking her husband didn't care for his land. So they have to go before her husband's family takes over their trailer at the end of the month, now that he's no longer living there. Except...the prairie dogs don't act like prairie dogs.

Charlotte Flyte voices Millie perfectly. Her performance is superb, capturing her age, pragmatism and down to earth attitude. The other characters too. Everyone is distinct and three dimensional, making the entire story step off the page.

Well worth the purchase.

Not what I was expecting

The story had a slow start but the ending definitely took me by surprise. The narrator was a little boring but she sounded exactly like I would think millie would sound . If you want to read something or listen to something different this is your book look.