The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
"Robert Conley adds another dimension to Western literature with
Nickajack. The Cherokee Nation was never more vividly brought to
life than in this outstanding novel."
Jory Sherman, author of The Medicine Horn
"Robert J. Conley is a poet, short story writer, novelist and
screenplay writer who happens to be, as I have written elsewhere,
the most important and promising of contemporary Cherokee writers--
in fact, the most 'Cherokee' of all the nearly dozen or so authors
of Cherokee blood scattered across the country, from Oklahoma to
Washington state, from North Carolina and around and back to
Oklahoma again."
Geary Hobson
Editor of The Remembered Earth
"There is a movement among contemporary Cherokee writers to produce
more indigenous literature. Robert Conley is a leader of that
movement."
Wilma P. Mankiller
Principal Chief of the Cherokee
Nation
" . . . Conley invokes the Cherokee sensibility to tell of modern
Indians coping with the reality of mysterious animals and spirits
that often have evil intentions. A fascinating and different
reading experience."
W.P. Kinsella
The Vancouver Sun
"The Witch of Goingsnake and Other Stories is recommended
reading, not only for the book's insightful quality, but for
Conley's ability to entertain the reader from a Native American
perspective. In these times, such a publication is a rare avis in
terris."
Gabriel Horn
Tampa, FL, Tribune and Times
"Powerful, often dealing with cruel events, yet imbued with a mystical aura,
[Conley's] stories reflect the range of Cherokee culture and the
difference among the full and mixed-blood inheritors.
Publisher's Weekly
" . . . Conley speaks with a clear Cherokee Indian voice to show how his
tribe's cultural characteristics have survived centuries of abrupt change
and to give readers an understanding of the
fullness and humanity of the Cherokees as a people."
The Cherokee Advocate
"The 'Goingsnake' anthology sings long lasting songs and leaves
tracks deep as dinosaurs. Besides that--it is just plumb fun to
read."
Max Evans
author of The Pounders
"Robert Conley's Mountain Windsong deserves to become an American
classic. Conley takes the grim facts of our `Manifest Destiny' and
makes them come alive in a novel which is beautiful and
heartwarming as well as tragic.
"Read Mountain Windsong! You won't forget it."
Tony Hillerman
author of Coyote Waits
"At last a Cherokee love story about two ordinary people caught up
in an extraordinary period of time. In telling the love story of
Oconeechee, Bob Conley takes the reader on a journey that allows
one to feel the effects of the Trail of Tears on individual people
and their families while weaving in solid historical information
about all the external forces which forever changed the Cherokee
Nation. Mountain Windsong evokes deep feelings and thoughtful
reflection. It is a poignant story, powerful and disturbing."
Wilma P. Mankiller
Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
"Mountain Windsong is a masterpiece. It is the most honest,
deeply felt book of the American Indian I have ever read. It is
full--no, it's more--it is blessed with heart-tearing savagery,
and a love story that reaches into your every fiber and your
soul."
Max Evans
author of The Pounders
