Hand Talker: The Life and Times of a Monster Slayer

A contemporary Native American saga of survival, family building and post-traumatic healing

In the spirit of the Old West, but with a contemporary twist, Johnny Doeskin mixes coming-of-age, adventure, satire and a splash of horror into a mocky cocky tale worth guzzling.

With bloodied fists and no memory of what happened, Davy “Hand Talker” Judd, a mixed-blood Native American teen, disappears into the night and hitchhikes from the big city north to Canada, eventually becoming a wilderness trapper. He’s haunted by nightmares and visions of skinwalkers—the legendary witch-wolves whispered of during his childhood. Fifteen years later, Beth Winsley (a teacher and animal rights activist related to the British Royal Family) discovers his remote trapline. Beth is hiding from paparazzi. Hand Talker is hiding from his painful past. They forge an unlikely alliance when she becomes his nursemaid and he becomes her teacher. After Beth’s boyfriend goes missing, it seems the culprit is punished: Hand Talker’s son dies of an overdose and a massive wildfire leaves him homeless. Forced to make a change, he emerges from obscurity to become a tribal leader. But to beat his rival, he must come to grips with what transpired on that long-ago deadly night. Will Hand Talker and Beth survive the day of reckoning?