About The Blood of Bones:
The boy’s name is Tesfahun.
Nestled in the vastness of Ethiopia’, he lives among an ancient tribe in the Omo Valley untouched by modern civilization. His people live an isolated life where revenge killings are required and ruled by superstitions where mingi or cursed babies are thrown into the river for the sake of the tribe.
As friends are forced to avenge the tribe and children disappear in the night, Tesfahun begins to question his people and his beliefs, growing further from his grief stricken mother and hardened father. After his initiation into manhood, Tesfahun discovers a terrible secret about his family and himself.
Fearing for his life and the demons he tried to flee, Tesfahun crashes headlong into his blood-soaked fears and must come to terms with the violence inherent in his bones in order to find salvation.
Reminiscent of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, The Blood of Bones is a mythic, coming-of-age tale that speaks to the struggles of humanity across cultural boundaries. Themes of belief vs. violence, community vs. the individual, and, above all, the quest for peace are imbued in the narrative. Based on actual, current practices among tribes in the Omo Valley, The Blood of Bones is a testament to the resilience of hope in even the most hostile circumstances
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Author Bio:
N.T. McQueen is a writer and professor in Kona, Hawai’i. His novels include The Blood of Bones (Adelaide Books) and Between Lions and Lambs (City Hill, 2010). He earned his MA in Fiction from CSU-Sacramento and his writing has been featured in issues of the North American Review, Fiction Southeast, Entropy, The Grief Diaries, Camas: Nature of the West, Stereo Stories, and others. He has done humanitarian work in Cambodia, Haiti and Mexico and tries to fish with little success.