Pointing with Lips is "powerful"

Press Release: Rez Sensation Pointing with LipsNative American publishing collective Blue Hand Books has announced that Dana Lone Hill’s sensational fiction novel Pointing with Lips, A Week in the Life of a Rez Chick, debuts on Amazon.com and Kindle in early March 2014.

Her first book is already creating a rez sensation with Indian Country media:

“Dana Lone Hill is a powerful new voice from Lakota Country that has so often been confined to historical stereotype or painted in a contemporary setting with a one dimensional brush. Dana shatters those shackles and forms a deeply personal, raw and moving narrative that takes the reader deep into contemporary life on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, one of the world’s most complex and engaging societies.” –Steven Lewis Simpson director of the Native films Rez Bomb, A Thunder-Being Nation & The Hub.

“With so much literature out there attempting to portray authentic Native life, it is refreshing to have a work written from the perspective of someone who has actually lived it. This book is essential reading for those attempting to understand the life of Native people living in America.” –Brandon Ecoffey, editor, Native Sun News

“It is rare that you come across a new voice as authentic as Dana Lone Hill. She writes with passion and determination about a side of America that few will ever see. But Lone Hill takes you there with emotion and raw power. Pointing With Lips is a startling debut.” –Paul Harris, The Guardian

“Pointing with Lips by Dana Lone Hill just might be one of the best books I’ve come across—if not the best. A beautiful, entertaining, relatable, inspirational, and so-much-more read, Lone Hill’s poetic yet readable wording makes you feel as if you’re sitting attentively across from her, gripping a cup a coffee waiting for more.” –Patricia Stein, Urban Native Magazine

“As her publisher, we are so thrilled for Dana and her first book depicting the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota and the realities of living there,” Trace DeMeyer, founder of Blue Hand Books, said. “This book is a triumph for Dana and for her reservation relatives. It’s so real you forget its fiction, and that’s really good fiction.”“Pointing With Lips” by Dana Lone Hill

By Sara Jumping EaglePowerful. I read the whole book in two days. I did not want to put it down. I laughed out loud and I cried. This book surprised me at every turn, kept me guessing. The main character of the book, Sincere, and her family, the “Strongheart” and “Rain on Shield” families, are in some ways–my family, my relatives, my friends–they are in some ways–me. The book, in an exciting and entertaining way, led discussions through a myriad of contemporary American Indian issues, discussions regarding the realities of Indian life. These are issues Indian families face every day–portrayed in a way which is not sugar coated, shown with a mean Indian woman reality. We can enjoy the rez humor we know and love, the crazy stories that are so “out there” as to be true, including those rez nicknames such as “Boogie” and “Two Times.” This rez humor that helps us live and survive the pain of a world where weekly funerals and years per life lost dominate, the humor that shows that hope lives even while acknowledging the reality of shortened life spans due to health disparity and socioeconomic poverty culture. One of my favorite lines of the book seems to say it all–“maybe I was born pissed.”Native Sun News: Dana Lone Hill depicts rez life with debut book

By Brandon EcoffeyFinding books about Native people is fairly easy. They are a dime a dozen. Finding a book written about Native people written by someone from an actual Indian reservation is a rarity. A book titled Pointing with Lips by Dana Lone Hill hopes to fill that void.

The debut release from Lone Hill is a fictional story set on the very same Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where she was born and raised. The book portrays the life of a single Oglala mother struggling to raise her children amidst the chaos, struggle, and beauty that accompanies being a resident of the reservation.

“The inspiration (for the book) definitely came from two best friends of mine. We would sit around and watch seasons of Sex & The City and talk about having a rezzed out version of the show,” said Lone Hill.

The author who has written for several publications across the world including Native Sun News, The Guardian, Last Real Indians, LA Progressive, and her blog justarezchick has had the privilege of interacting with many people from multiple cultures. Thus creating an image of reservation life that was both authentic and understandable by the larger population was important factor in the formulation of the plot.