Mammoths of the Great Plains

PM's Outspoken Authors #4

by Eleanor Arnason

Shaggy herds of mammoths still roam the Great Plains-to the delight of President Thomas Jefferson-in this imaginative alternative history in which the beasts thunder over the grasslands as living symbols of the oncoming struggle between the Native peoples and the European invaders. This unforgettable saga soars from the Badlands of the Dakota Territory to the icy wastes of Siberia, from the Russian Revolution to the American Indian Movement protests of the 1960s and one woman’s attempt to harness DNA science to fulfill the ancient promises of her Lakota heritage. In addition, this volume includes the essay “Writing During World War Three,” a politically incorrect take on multiculturalism from a science fiction point of view and an outspoken interview with the writer of some of today’s edgiest and most uncompromising speculative fiction.

Genres: Science Fiction, Alternate History, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories, Historical Fiction

153 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2010

About the author

Eleanor Atwood Arnason (born 1942) is an American author of science fiction novels and short stories. From 1949 to 1961, Arnason and her parents lived in "Idea House #2," a futuristic dwelling built by the Walker Art Center. Arnason's earliest published story appeared in New Worlds in 1972. Her work often depicts cultural change and conflict, usually from the viewpoint of characters who cannot or will not live by their own societies' rules.

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are three pieces in this mini-collection: The title novella, an essay on what SF's social duty is, and an extended interview with the *fascinating* Author Arnason. All are worthy of your $8 and your eyeblinks. About that novella:

Honestly, I think I should simply put this in front of you:

"The thing your teachers may not have told you is how full of hope the late '60s were. Yes, there was violence. The police and FBI and Natiional Guard were dangerous. Plenty of people—good people—died in fishy ways; and plenty went to prison for things they almost certainly did not do. But the times were changing, and many of us thought we were building a new world in the shell of the old. As it turned out, we were wrong, at least for the time being. The '60s wound down slowly through the '70s, and in 1980 Ronald Reagan began a long period of reaction."

...issue an apology for my entire generation for allowing the calamity that was Reagan's rule, and go quietly away. In fact, I suspect many (some even related to me) would like that a lot. So I won't do it.

But you *will* need to visit Ye Olde Blogge for the full text. That much trimming isn't worth my time.

[Clay Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointing book cover, the main story is about mammoths but the author is on the cover. The mammoth story needs a professional edit.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still need to read A Woman of the Iron People, which is the main work I’ve been recommended by Arnason. But I thought I’d read this on Scribd, since it was available and I find the Outspoken Authors series generally interesting. I was less interested in the interview and essay, though it’s interesting to know where Arnason comes from (in many senses!) and what her preoccupations are. I’m not sure how much general interest the essay has; certainly, if you’re not fond of non-fiction, I can’t imagine you’ll appreciate it.

The story itself is interesting: it’s alternate history, where mammoths survived into the last couple of centuries, and where humans drove them to extinction with hunting and tourism. The background of the Native American characters and customs was particularly cool, especially given the educated and successful Native American women at the heart of the story.

The contemplative tone is a bit Ursula Le Guin-ish, which I think Arnason says herself — and the structure, too, with the story within a story. It’s quite a slow narrative: not about things happening, so much as things that have happened, about the power humans have for good and bad (but usually bad) over our environment. I don’t know enough about Native American culture and belief to judge that aspect of the story: to me the ecological, intimate link with nature stuff seemed a little like an idealisation, more of the ‘noble savage’ persuasion than realism, but it doesn’t do so in a negative way and, like I said, I don’t know enough to judge.

Originally posted here.

[David H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This special collection from the Outspoken Authors series has a single novella, along with an essay and an interview with the author.

"Mammoth of the Great Plains" is an alternate-history story set in our future where our narrator is being told a story by her grandmother--the twin story of their grandmother and the mammoths that used to roam the Great Plains. I found it fascinating following this family through the decades.

The essay, "Writing Science Fiction During World War Three," was interesting, though the timing was unfortunate (I believe several of the foreign leaders she praised have definitely shown their true colors in the end). She definitely is something of an anti-capitalist here, but I found her discussion of Wallerstein's theory to be even more relevant today.

The interview (conducted by Terry Bisson) was also really fascinating as I learned even more about Arnason's background (all her early world-traveling and 1960s activism). It's unfortunate that she's not as quick a writer as I'd like. My favorite stuff by her is still her Hwarhath stories.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title novella had a reprint in Dozois #28 (2011). I didn't find the extra material in the PM book very interesting. I gave the PM book a 3-star rating in 2016.

I reread the novella itself again in 2023 and liked it much better the second time. I'm re-reading Dozois #28, and this was easily the best story in the first third of that collection. A strong 4-star story for me, recommended reading. If you are an Arnason fan and missed seeing this one, you have a treat in store.

[Cynthisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like stories, especially SF, that are merely thin shells for carrying the author's personal political views. This story had virtually nothing "new" to say about the world at all -- even a speculative future world where mammoths once existed. Ms. Arnason is no Orson Scott Card, that's for sure. The story is just a girl recounting the history of her family and her people (Lakota). A very dry form of fiction and not at all compelling. The "Science Fiction Writing During World War Three" essay at the end of the "book" (I'm not sure you can even call it a novella -- the book totals about 500 pages, 350 of which seem to be the essays afterwards) was interesting -- if you long for a nice refresher of one of your college liberal studies reads. I read it -- I don't mind stretching the old academic screed-reading brain cells now and again. But, sorry, I wouldn't want to make regular meals of this stuff. (Humans cannot live on quinoa alone!) Though on a personal note, coming from Icelandic stock (on my mother's side) and having gone to Chinese school as a kid, it was a blast to find an account of someone with even more Chinese and Icelandic background than myself. ....Something you just don't encounter very often!

[fire_on_the_mountain · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had any complaint, it's that I wanted more! I really liked the conceit, and how the book started, but it kind of whimpered to the conclusion and I had higher expectations. The drop off between where the narrative ended, and the later time period where the book began, really would have been an awesome piece of world-building had it been included. Otherwise, this is a world that dramatically resembles ours... plus mammoths.

However, the story-within-a-story was pretty great, and I liked the focus on the Native American oral tradition as a storytelling measure. So all in all, a good work, I just wish I had more to chew on.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how the story is told; it's a story in a story and it nails the oral tradition vibe it's going for.

The essay/speech has some interesting ideas to mull over, but didn't engage me as much as the story did.

The interview was disappointing. I learned a bit about the author, but the questions were so bland without any real followups that it felt like anything worthwhile came from the author ignoring the questions and talking about something more interesting.

ALSO: This doesn't impact my rating, but when I found out the author was not an indigenous writer, I was disappointed that this series has ignored the large number of amazing indigenous speculative fiction writers. She wrote a great story and it deserves to be published, but why are the Outspoken Authors mostly white folks when there's also been so many outspoken writers of color?
(And yes, I know the answer is institutional racism.)

[Jacqie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really a short story of about 80 pages followed by a couple of the author's essays or speeches. I enjoyed this softly written alternate history, mostly a grandmother telling her granddaughter the family history, which is bound up with preserving the North American mammoth. In this world, mammoths weren't extinct when Lewis and Clark explored the American West. The family in the book's heritage is Indian, and an ancestor was tasked to help preserve mammoths. Except for that part, the book plays out remarkably realistically. Mammoths are hunted to the point of endangerment, genetically fragile, and eventually succumb to a disease. But the story is a nice mix of dream messages and genetic science, and I enjoyed the tone of the book. It's not a novel, though, and ended quite quickly.

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun story, with a lot of humor. The alternative history setting is so subtle and detailed -- just slightly off from capital-h History -- that readers might find themselves double checking and looking stuff up just to keep their own heads straight. This is the first Arnason book I have ever read and I really like the mix of progressive at times radical politics and optimistic, happy endings.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.5 of 5

Eleanor Arnason's novelette/novella Mammoths of the Great Plains is an alternate history story where mammoths survived into the last century and Native Americans led tours so that visitors can gawk and hunt. The latter ultimately resulting in the mammoth extinction. The story is narrated by an Indigenous family charged with preserving the mammoth.

The story reads more like a short story than a novel (it's about things people do rather than about people who are doing things) and it's very direct. We follow along, learn about this alternate Native culture (not too different) and the women who save the mammoths, and we're done.

The culture reflections are quite interesting and it's nice to see someone showing Indigenous People in a positive light. I was a bit underwhelmed by the story, although I liked what it was saying.

This would be my same reaction to the interview with the author. I'll be honest - I don't know much about the author except that she's written some short stories I've liked, she's written some novels that I want to read, and she's from Minnesota (so am I). Learning a little about her background (family from Iceland and she grew up living in an experimental house behind the Walker Art Center) was quite interesting, but these are the things that stuck with me, and nothing about her writing.

Of the three pieces in the book, the essay (initially a speech at a convention) "Writing Science Fiction During World War Three" was the strongest work and feels somewhat prescient today and sentences such as this, which are quite frightening, are the kinds of things I suspect we'll look back on in the next couple of years and thing, "Well, if we knew that, why didn't anybody do anything about it." Arnason says/writes:

Earth’s farmers have not produced enough food to feed humanity for the past four years. We’ve been making up the difference with stockpiled food. This cannot continue indefinitely or for long.
and

Most disturbing, global warming is happening more rapidly than predicted. The environmental, social and political consequences of climate change will be huge. The American Pentagon is now doing global warming war games. As rivers dry and farmland is lost to drought, there will be wars over scarce resources.
But given some recent events in Texas as I write this, this comment really struck me: "The kind of theocracy described in Native Tongue and The Handmaid’s Tale seem much more possible to me than it did a few years ago."
This was written in 2004, updated in 2005, and again in 2010.

The book is part of the PM's Outspoken Authors collection.

Looking for a good book? Mammoths of the Great Plains by Eleanor Arnason is a good sample of Arnason's work (fiction, non-fiction, and memoir by way of an interview) and may encourage you to read more of her writing, but the book is not necessarily the best example of her work.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, though Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

On an alternate Earth, the mammoth lived into historical times, abiding with the bison and the Native Americans. But then Lewis and Clark saw their first mammoth, and reported on it to President Jefferson and the teeming masses of the East. This is the story of the disappearance of the mammoths, and how they reappeared.

This chapbook from PM Press is part of their “Outspoken Authors” series, mixing stories with essays and interviews of writers who have opinions. In this case, it’s Eleanor Arnason (1942-present), who is well known in the Minnesota science fiction community and also read elsewhere.

The title story is a long one, with a framing device of a girl visiting her grandmother on the Standing Rock reservation in the near future of this alternate history. The grandmother tells the tale of the mammoths, and how the women of her family became entwined with the fate of these creatures.

There’s a bit of world-building of “the present day” but it’s largely in the background, and there’s a fairly large jump from “and that’s how the first mammoth in decades was born” to “and now there are mammoths again, if you want to see them, go over to the casino.”

The story is told very much in the style of oral tradition, with the elder imparting family history (and perhaps some wisdom) to a child. It’s clear that Grandmother Liz is remembering events through her own lens, but she tries to be fair to those long dead. The tale meanders a bit, and might be boring for those only reading for the exciting mammoth bits.

There’s some period racism, never depicted as a good thing.

Also in this volume is “Writing SF During WWIII”, an essay adapted from Ms. Arnason’s guest of honor speech at Wiscon in 2004. It talks about the current time of instability, ecological crisis and liberation movements, and how science fiction can respond to these issues and help guide the future.

This is followed by an interview Eleanor Arnason gave to Terry Bisson in 2010, talking about her life story (“…I was raised by time travelers in a house of the future.”), her writing, activism, and politics. The last highlighted for me just how much has changed in the last eight years in the political world, and how much has not changed at all.

There’s a bibliography of the author’s work, and a short autobiography written in third person.

Recommended to fans of Eleanor Arnason, and those interested in a window into the life and thought processes of authors. Those just interested in fiction might want to wait until “Mammoths” is collected elsewhere.

[Melondrop · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Mammoths” itself was a fine novella - an interesting account of an ever-so-slightly alternate history in which the last of the mammoths didn’t die out til the early 20th century, and then were later revived in part due to the efforts of an elder Native American woman scientist. I don’t mind the author’s matter of fact, dry style — and the story grappled with questions of assimilation, loss of culture, and the nexus of magic/“scientific achievement” in an effective way. But I just wasn’t especially compelled by the characters/focus of the story — especially not after reading the accompanying essay & interview with the author. First off, I don’t think the author is actually Native American (?), and an argument can totally be made about fiction authors’ ability to write cultures that are not their own — but maybe in this case that’s part of what made the novella fall a little flat for me. Especially considering it’s a story all in quotes, a young girl listening to her grandmother tell her own grandmother’s - as well as her’s - life stories. The essay Writing Science Fiction in World War III fell so short for me. Its basic premise was to affirm that we are in a place of global instability and can dream up new worlds — pointing to progressive government actions in South American countries as indicators of awesome new changes to come, and grappling weakly with questions of whether or not any governments are actually capable of having “credibility.” Maybe i didn’t like it so much because I felt like I could have been reading my own ineffectual, floundering, lukewarm writing.

[Steve LaForest · Rating 1 out of 5]

Is there a rule about reviewing novelettes that I wouldn't/couldn't/shouldn't even finish reading?

If so, guilty, as charged, your honour. Guilty - with an explanation, may it please the court. It was Eleanor Arnasson, and I (just about) never enjoy Eleanor Arnasson.

Perhaps this was supposed to be humourous????????

But I do hope I didn't unduly influence your reading plans.

My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals to B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.

A Goodreads score of 1 star is much much too high for this novelette - definitely a bomb!

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had not heard of this author before so I'm glad I picked up this slender volume. Her life sounds fascinating. The first Tiptree winner, and a fan of WisCon. I, too, am a fan of WisCon.

The novella is gentle and slow and feels like a lived-in future. It's unusual to have something told almost entirely in monologue.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining novella about mammoths, women in science and elements of the Weird West. The volume also includes Arnason's GOH speech from WisCon and an interview with her by author Terry Bisson. Possibly not the best place to start with her work, if she's a new author for you.

[J. Allen Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable alt-herstory in which mammoths are saved from extinction by the resourceful women of one particular family; plus non-fiction pieces of interest to the reader who wants more background into the author. Part of a great series of Outspoken Authors editions.

[Eowyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable novella and an interesting speech and interview with the author. A Woman of the Iron People remains one of my favorite SF novels in the Le Guin style and I wish Eleanor Arnason had written more or it was easier to find.

[Tomasz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The bittersweet tale that makes for most of this book's volume? Outstanding, absolutely. Arnason is a terrific writer, she grew into her skills and wields them with aplomb and precision. Fantastic job.

[Brianne Reeves · Rating 4 out of 5]

The interview in this is fascinating

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever and engaging, with an almost oral-storytelling style.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly subtle alt-world. I rather liked it.

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars.

[Saygın Mehmet Caglar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring...

[Juliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

There isn't a lot of SF with Native Americans out there, and in my inexpert opinion, this is a well-written story. Arnason explores issues of culture and identity and family through the story of several generations of a Lakota family's connection to mammoths and bringing them back from extinction.

The interview with Arnason is also an interesting read; I like the way PM Press put this series together.

[Kersplebedeb · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love this Outspoken Authors series! quick little books to read on a bus-ride or while waiting at the doctor's office...

While the story was definitely good, i especially liked the interview, where Arnason speaks about her own politics and life. Imagine growing up in a household where Buckminster Fuller was a regular guest!

[Shauna · Rating 5 out of 5]

PM Press's Outspoken Author series is well worth reading by every writer and reader of genre fiction. I give these brief books only four stars because the $12 asking price seems too high for what you get.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its more of a long story than a short novel. But 70 pages of a really fascinating alternative history where mammoths were alive... until white people killed them off anyway.

[Hotske · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utterly devoid of vision, invention, or poetry.

[Ali Firat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yarım bıraktım, hiç beğenmedim