Jonny Appleseed

WINNER, Lambda Literary Award “You’re gonna need a rock and a whole lotta medicine” is a mantra that Jonny Appleseed, a young Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer, repeats to himself in this vivid and utterly compelling novel. Off the reserve and trying to find ways to live and love in the big city, Jonny becomes a cybersex worker who fetishizes himself in order to make a living. Self-ordained as an NDN glitter princess, Jonny has one week before he must return to the “rez,” and his former life, to attend the funeral of his stepfather. The next seven days are like a fevered dream: stories of love, trauma, sex, kinship, ambition, and the heartbreaking recollection of his beloved kokum (grandmother). Jonny’s world is a series of breakages, appendages, and linkages—and as he goes through the motions of preparing to return home, he learns how to put together the pieces of his life. Jonny Appleseed is a unique, shattering vision of Indigenous life, full of grit, glitter, and dreams. I wanted to craft a book of mirrors for other Indigiqueer/Two-Spirit (2S) folks to see themselves in as well as to give a glimpse into the life of a 2S person living, loving, thriving, and surviving in the now: a narrative away from the mystical, pre-contact, queer utopias that often characterize and essentialize the term Two-Spirit for settler queers.” The book will be marketed as an adult novel (due to its graphic content and language) but Joshua and we agree that mature young and new adults (15 and older) should be able to read it: “Initially I had written this novel for a mature teen audience. Ultimately, though, I wrote this for Indigiqueer and Indigenous youth to see themselves in, as a means to give them strength during times of need and depression. That being said, I think we live in a time when a person’s maturity depending on their age is fluid. Mature teens and youthful adults should and can read this book. I envision this text being read from 15+ but I do acknowledge the rather uncensored language that permeates Jonny’s vernacular, which is true to Jonny’s world. Any anxieties or fear around sex and language remains only the projected fear of adults and not children.”