Python's Kiss

by Louise Erdrich

If you are touched by the tongue of a snake, it is somehow good. It gives you wisdom and long life.

In Ojibwe mythology, Mishipeshu, a reptile with the head of a cat, stands sentinel at the gates of the underworld, where the mortal becomes eternal. Louise Erdrich’s remarkable story collection navigates this terrain where life and death are inextricably entwined. Python’s Kiss probes the essence of our humanity in moments both intimate and grand, inviting us to consider the nature of existence; the wonder, bravery, shame, loneliness, yearning, and terror that drive and define us.

Python’s Kiss opens with the acclaimed story “Nero,” originally published in The New Yorker, which explores the tragic transformation of a fierce and innocent spirit and the first stirrings of self-awareness. It is followed by twelve stories that exhibit the range of Louise Erdrich’s remarkable talent. In “Hollow Children,” a school bus driver experiences a terrifying realization during a freak spring blizzard. Collective consciousness and a woman’s longing for revenge transcend death in the near future “Domain.” “December 26” culminates in a terrible debt that must be paid. The final story, “The Stone,” is a reminder of our deep connection to the earth and those who came before us.

Featuring wives and husbands, spirit animals, ghosts, and talismans, betrayals and secrets, an artificial afterlife and a dangerous teenage game, Erdrich’s stories, at once intimate and universal, conjure up narrative worlds which capture our beauty and pain. Python’s Kiss is a gift from one of our greatest chroniclers of human fallibility and nobility, an imaginative and perceptive storyteller whose generosity of vision, wit, and lyricism sing from every page.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Indigenous, Fantasy, Short Story Collection, Native American

240 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication March 24, 2026

About the author

Karen Louise Erdrich is a American author of novels, poetry, and children's books. Her father is German American and mother is half Ojibwe and half French American. She is an enrolled member of the Anishinaabe nation (also known as Chippewa). She is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant Native writers of the second wave of what critic Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renaissance.

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/louise-e...

From a book description:

Author Biography:

Louise Erdrich is one of the most gifted, prolific, and challenging of contemporary Native American novelists. Born in 1954 in Little Falls, Minnesota, she grew up mostly in Wahpeton, North Dakota, where her parents taught at Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. Her fiction reflects aspects of her mixed heritage: German through her father, and French and Ojibwa through her mother. She worked at various jobs, such as hoeing sugar beets, farm work, waitressing, short order cooking, lifeguarding, and construction work, before becoming a writer. She attended the Johns Hopkins creative writing program and received fellowships at the McDowell Colony and the Yaddo Colony. After she was named writer-in-residence at Dartmouth, she married professor Michael Dorris and raised several children, some of them adopted. She and Michael became a picture-book husband-and-wife writing team, though they wrote only one truly collaborative novel, The Crown of Columbus (1991).

The Antelope Wife was published in 1998, not long after her separation from Michael and his subsequent suicide. Some reviewers believed they saw in The Antelope Wife the anguish Erdrich must have felt as her marriage crumbled, but she has stated that she is unconscious of having mirrored any real-life events.

She is the author of four previous bestselling andaward-winning novels, including Love Medicine; The Beet Queen; Tracks; and The Bingo Palace. She also has written two collections of poetry, Jacklight, and Baptism of Desire. Her fiction has been honored by the National Book Critics Circle (1984) and The Los Angeles Times (1985), and has been translated into fourteen languages.

Several of her short stories have been selected for O. Henry awards and for inclusion in the annual Best American Short Story anthologies. The Blue Jay's Dance, a memoir of motherhood, was her first nonfiction work, and her children's book, Grandmother's Pigeon, has been published by Hyperion Press. She lives in Minnesota with her children, who help her run a small independent bookstore called The Birchbark.

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

our best living american writer tbh

[Book Riot Community]

Book Riot’s Most Anticipated Books of 2026:

If you've never read Louise Erdrich, I envy you the joy of discovery wherever you start in her extensive catalog. If you have read Louise Erdrich, you know that her signature blend of the sacred, the mundane, and the mythic is unlike anything else in contemporary fiction. Erdrich's stories are deeply human and real. Her writing is somehow both spare and lyrical. She's a master of her craft with a Pulitzer and National Book Award under her belt, and she routinely shows up as someday-contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Wherever she wants to take me, I’m ready to go. —Rebecca Joines Schinsky

[Britta · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this collection of short stories (some might be familiar as they're a compilation/reworking of works she has published in various literary publications), Louise Erdrich reminds me why she’s one of my very favorite authors. As in her other works, her characters feel like the folks you left behind in your small town. Her world-building is unlike any other author I've encountered, but there's a je na sa quois (did I spell the right??) about them that I just can't put my finger on. The worlds she creates feel familiar—like being reminded of a dream you'd had months or years before. This is quintessential Louise Erdrich, so you're sure to get everything you love about her from this book like I did. I'd still say LaRose or The Round House are my faves, but this was good.

Many center around the small fictional town of Tabor. In one, we follow a little girl as she watches her favorite uncle fall in love with a lady whose father is a formidable fighter. In another (my favorite) we ride along on a school bus as it rolls along lost on the prairie in a blizzard.

Most of the stories land just this side of magical realism (or maybe very very light sci-fi?) and I love them for it. Wonderful job, Louise Erdrich!

[Care · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Just when I was saying short stories aren't for me, they just aren't punchy as often as I want them to be...I'm entranced by my favourite author. What do I know? What is this mere reader to a god? 🙌🏻 I'm born again.

Sure, there's a couple in here that don't hit as hard as the rest. But it's a stunning ratio and there's no duds. There are some new all-time favourite short stories in this collection. Erdrich continues to enchant me with her rich characterization, funny dialogue, and original concepts.

"Python's Kiss", "Wedding Dresses", and "The Hollow Children" are the most accomplished three stories in the collection and open us up to her imaginative and confident voice. They're devastating, memorable, and capture so much intensity in just a few pages.

I love the snake theme running through several of the stories including "Python's Kiss", "Borsalino", and "December 26". A rhythm that runs through and binds them together without sacrificing their individuality.

The science fiction afterlife world we're introduced to in "Domain" and "Asphodel" is weird and wonderful. Hard to describe, but captivating to read.

I laughed at a troubadour, cried for a dog, felt the cold of an April blizzard and a frozen field and the warmth of moss. As always, I bow down to the master. She doesn't have a golden era, it's been this way the whole time. From Love Medicine and Jacklight to Python's Kiss.

[Sara M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this book, I read it so fast. Louise Erdrich is such a beautiful and emotional writer. I really enjoyed reading this book for the most part. It was like a grab-bag of different genres all rolled into one book - including some magical realism, sci-fi, and literary fiction.
I gave this book five stars because the short stories that I did like, I really liked. I had a hard time reading the first story in the book, there is a "sad animal" story line that really got to me. I know it wasn't really about the dog, but I didn't love reading it first thing in the book. Maybe I'm too sensitive though.
My very favorite stories were "Wedding Dresses" and "Amelia". I also thought "Assassins" was especially poignant considering the awful events happening in the Twin Cities right now (even though this story was written before any of it was happening). I don't want to give too much away though.
One of my best friends is a big Louise Erdrich fan and she will definitely be getting this book for her birthday this year! Overall, very thoughtfully put together and beautifully written book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of Louise Erdrich's work, so I was excited to receive this ARC of short stories in Python's Kiss. Admittedly I knew little about it when I requested the ARC other than the author, so I went in with little expectation. At times, the stories seem disconnected from each other, but the descriptions available on other sites say they are held together by the in-between of life and death. I could see it, but it wouldn't be what jumped out at me. These are stories all having been published elsewhere in different forms. As with all short stories collections, some are stronger than others. Overall, however, I did enjoy the variety of characters, stories, and even genres. This is a good selection for people who have liked Erdrich's other stories or those who are looking to get into her writing for the first time. Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for this ARC.

[Jifu · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Note: I read an advanced reader copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley)

Since Louis Erdrich is one of my favorite authors already, I confess that I was already a bit predisposed towards enjoying Python’s Kiss. But the fact that this is a short story collection really made this into something great. It’s a literary variety pack where Erdrich’s always-memorable writing covers an impressive range of plots, characters, and genres, leading to a fantastic array of different reading experiences wrapped up into one package.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published March 24, 2026.

3 stars

Great title (it’s explained) for this collection of thirteen short stories by this redoubtable author. I did not love all the tales, I think Erdrich reads better as a novelist, but I did enjoy “Borsalino” and “December 26” quite a bit (the two related stories about the afterlife really unsettled me in a bad way that I can’t quite put my finger on.).

If you like Erdrich you’ll probably enjoy. If this is your first experience with her, better to start with one of her great novels.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Louise Erdrich is one of my favorite writers. Some of her books I think about all the time, and as a readers' advisory librarian, I suggest them to my patrons constantly. Also, I'm not much of a short story person, so this could just be me.

This collection is just okay. They grabbed me enough that I read all of them, but they're kind of forgettable. Louise Erdrich is such a spinner of tales- but I think she maybe needs more space than a short story offers to spin them in?

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. There's no simple way to summarize Erdrich's short story collection-- her writing spans across time and genre. What I can guarantee for sure is that almost every story in Python's Kiss landed a gut punch that made me "oof" out loud from the emotional impact. What a spectacularly moving assortment that capture the moral and psychological complexities of being human.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice compilation of short stories that feels homey and comfortable. Ms Erdrich is a star when it comes to writing about the everyday happenings of ordinary people.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the ARC to read and review.

[Andrea]

Reading for work, so not rating.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great and varied collection of stories.