"The Warrior's Gift appealed to me through its energy, its verve, its oddity, and its achievement in ringing a new energetic and strangely innocent change on a central group of American literary myths."—Margaret Atwood
"Mack Faith does not 'show promise' in The Warrior's Gift, he delivers, and the certainty of his future as a novelist is assured!"—Gordon Weaver
Set in 1960, Mack Faith's extraordinary first novel opens with a carnival troupe traveling in western Colorado and abruptly shifts to murder and the settling of old grudges.
The characters in this alternately suspenseful and magical tale are gritty and memorable: Joy, a white exotic dancer; Louis, her sixteen-year-old son; Lenny, Joy's shady boyfriend; and Dacia, the black fortune-teller who prophesies the trouble that befalls the group.
In the background lurks another figure: Washington, the warrior of the novel's title. Washington has recently left the band of sideshow performers but his instructions in magic leave a lasting impression on Louis.
As murder, incest, enemies, incredible landscapes, pathos, and sex swirl about him, Louis remains untarnished and incorruptible. He discovers surprising answers to his past and the killers who stalk him, leading to a grand denouement and an ultimately triumphant ending.