Buckskin Cocaine

by Erika T. Wurth

Fiction. Native American Studies. Erika T. Wurth's BUCKSKIN COCAINE is a wild, beautiful ride into the seedy underworld of Native American film. These are stories about men maddened by fame, actors desperate for their next buckskin gig, directors grown cynical and cruel, and dancers who leave everything behind in order to make it, only to realize at thirty that there is nothing left. Poetic and strange, Wurth's characters and vivid language will burn themselves into your mind, and linger.

"This is the raw stuff, the loud stuff, the hard stuff, the true stuff. It'll infect you in a way you won't realize at first, too. Not until days later, when you can't remember if you read this or you lived it. Trust you did both."— Stephen Graham Jones

"BUCKSKIN COCAINE is a big voicey chorus of drugs, sex, booze, movies, and most of all the drumbeat of want, need, and desire."— Kyle Minor

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Indigenous, Native American, Contemporary

118 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2017

About the author

Erika T. Wurth’s novel WHITE HORSE is a New York Times editors pick, a Good Morning America buzz pick, and an Indie Next, Target book of the Month, and Book of the Month Pick. She is both a Kenyon and Sewanee fellow, and Kenyon faculty. She’s published in Buzzfeed, McSweeny’s, and The Writer’s Chronicle, and is a narrative artist for the Meow Wolf Denver installation. She’s a professor of creative writing at Western Illinois University. She’s represented by Rebecca Friedman. She’s an urban Native of Apache/Chickasaw/Cherokee descent and lives in Denver with her partner, niece, step-kids and two incredibly fluffy dogs. Her novel THE HAUNTING OF ROOM 904 will be out with Flatiron books March 2025.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This well written, interconnected collection of stories showcases the gritty underbelly of Native American film culture.

Each vignette follows different characters who seem to revolve around one another over the course of the book. Vain hangers-on who are trying like hell to become the next big thing, skeevy manipulative directors who only care about their next free drink and banging hot chicks, a druggie actresses who's forced to come to terms with the fact that she's no longer what she thought she was, and a whacked out ballerina head-case who toys with men like a cat with a mouse.

Erika's got a knack for story-telling and she gifts each of her characters with personalities that transend the page. Though dark by nature, the collection nevers feels heavy or bleak.

This was my first experience reading Wurth's work. It most definitely will not be my last!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The prose in these stories is so dazzling that you never see the gut punch coming, and it's coming. That's guaranteed. The dreams and tragedies of the characters is tangible, both in their triumphs and more often in their failures. The world beats on them and they then turn and beat on each other, in the most honest way possible. Brutal, and heartbreaking. Stellar writing.

[❤Marie Gentilcore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for book club. It is a novella with 8 related vignettes about different Native Americans in the film industry. The first story was awful and really hard to understand. The next 6 were meh and the characters were very unlikable. But, thankfully, the last story about Olivia was great and her story took up half the book which pulled up my rating from 2 stars to 3 stars.

[Rusty · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last story gutted me. Bravo.

[in8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.5cense.com/17/559.htm

[KL · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these stories. They are poetic, sometimes painful, and seared with truth. I'll definitely be looking for more by this author.

[Tobias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always up for good fiction set in the world of film, and....this is exactly that.

[Karen Kao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buckskin Cocaine is a collection of fierce short stories by Erika Wurth. Sexual predators, male and female, roam these pages. They drink in the Anodyne, do drugs at the Blue Hotel, gatecrash VIP parties at the Red Stick Festival. These men and women inhabit the world of American Indian film. Most of them hate each other.

Instead of stereotypes, Wurth gives us flawed human beings: directors hungry for money and fame, actors willing to give blowjobs if it means a role in a movie, dancers desperate to get out of Colorado or Oklahoma. They recognize each other's cons because they use them, too.

To read the full review, please visit my website for Red Stick Festival

[ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t be like me and not read anything about books before picking them up. I didn’t realize this was multiple perspectives until maybe the third story but even though I was a bit confused in the beginning, I was still swept away by the beautiful, captivating prose.

Once I got over that minor confusion, I loved every second of this heart-wrenching intertwined story of various people following their dreams.

It was interesting to see how each character experienced life vs how others experienced them in their life; Especially, Olivia ! Seeing her in the other perspectives, I couldn’t wait to read her POV and I was definitely not disappointed!

The ending. Ugh. *sob*

I can’t recommend this enough, if you’re looking for something short and filled with emotion!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

When reading short story collections, I will often have to read something else between the stories or they will mesh together. However, Wurth creates such vivid and individual voices for her different narrators that there is no danger of that happening when read straight through. Each narrator's voice stands out as fully formed individual. These stories do a wonderful job of exploring each of these narrators flaws and heartbreaks.

[Julia Alberino · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this series of interconnected stories, the author shows us the world of Native American film and, in one extended piece, ballet. It is a lacuna in my reading history that I have read so few books by native Americans, so I have little basis for comparison, but this short work engaged my attention, and I did learn a few things about Indian (Wurth doesn't use the term Native American) performing arts. In fact, I gave the book the fourth star for teaching me without being pedantic.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

- simple, sometimes (rarely) impactful
- first story and last story thumbs up emoji
- too cartoonish with its satire of ppl sometimes
- still good, strong voices, indigeneity not obsessed with baring trauma

[Sarah Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, brutal, and truth-telling.

[Margaret Adams]

Why are more people not talking about Erika T. Wurth? This is a fantastic collection of interconnected short stories centered around the Native American film industry. Poignant, biting, and funny.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creatively insightful, insight-fully creative!

[Mina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of interconnected stories. The pieces are raw, honest, and engaging. They show the truth of the film industry. Wurth has a way to tell a story that will draw you in and keep you there.

[k w · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve ever read. Writing this many perspective characters with such distinct, compelling voices, with a huge gradient of moral goodness, is a godlike feat. Gritty, gorgeous, and tender.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ballerina story is my fave!