What do you think?
Rate this book
The Moccasin Telegraph and Other Stories
These comical Indian tales feature Silas Ermineskin, an eighteen-year-old trickster and storyteller who has a genius for irony and a talent for trouble
196 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
3 people are currently reading
199 people want to read
About the author
W.P. Kinsella
56 books234 followersWilliam Patrick Kinsella, OC, OBC was a Canadian novelist and short story writer. His work has often concerned baseball and Canada's First Nations and other Canadian issues.
William Patrick Kinsella was born to John Matthew Kinsella and Olive Kinsella in Edmonton, Alberta. Kinsella was raised until he was 10 years-old at a homestead near Darwell, Alberta, 60 km west of the city, home-schooled by his mother and taking correspondence courses. "I'm one of these people who woke up at age five knowing how to read and write," he says. When he was ten, the family moved to Edmonton.
As an adult, he held a variety of jobs in Edmonton, including as a clerk for the Government of Alberta and managing a credit bureau. In 1967, he moved to Victoria, British Columbia, running a pizza restaurant called Caesar's Italian Village and driving a taxi.
Though he had been writing since he was a child (winning a YMCA contest at age 14), he began taking writing courses at the University of Victoria in 1970, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing there in 1974. He travelled down to Iowa and earned a Master of Fine Arts in English degree through the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1978. In 1991, he was presented with an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from the University of Victoria.
Kinsella's most famous work is Shoeless Joe, upon which the movie Field of Dreams was based. A short story by Kinsella, Lieberman in Love, was the basis for a short film that won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film – the Oscar win came as a surprise to the author, who, watching the award telecast from home, had no idea the film had been made and released. He had not been listed in the film's credits, and was not acknowledged by director Christine Lahti in her acceptance speech – a full-page advertisement was later placed in Variety apologizing to Kinsella for the error. Kinsella's eight books of short stories about life on a First Nations reserve were the basis for the movie Dance Me Outside and CBC television series The Rez, both of which Kinsella considers very poor quality. The collection Fencepost Chronicles won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour in 1987.
Before becoming a professional author, he was a professor of English at the University of Calgary in Alberta. Kinsella suffered a car accident in 1997 which resulted in a long hiatus in his fiction-writing career until the publication of the novel, Butterfly Winter. He is a noted tournament Scrabble player, becoming more involved with the game after being disillusioned by the 1994 Major League Baseball strike. Near the end of his life he lived in Yale, British Columbia with his fourth wife, Barbara (d. 2012), and occasionally wrote articles for various newspapers.
In the year 1993, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2005, he was awarded the Order of British Columbia.
W.P. Kinsella elected to die on September 16, 2016 with the assistance of a physician.
William Patrick Kinsella was born to John Matthew Kinsella and Olive Kinsella in Edmonton, Alberta. Kinsella was raised until he was 10 years-old at a homestead near Darwell, Alberta, 60 km west of the city, home-schooled by his mother and taking correspondence courses. "I'm one of these people who woke up at age five knowing how to read and write," he says. When he was ten, the family moved to Edmonton.
As an adult, he held a variety of jobs in Edmonton, including as a clerk for the Government of Alberta and managing a credit bureau. In 1967, he moved to Victoria, British Columbia, running a pizza restaurant called Caesar's Italian Village and driving a taxi.
Though he had been writing since he was a child (winning a YMCA contest at age 14), he began taking writing courses at the University of Victoria in 1970, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing there in 1974. He travelled down to Iowa and earned a Master of Fine Arts in English degree through the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1978. In 1991, he was presented with an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from the University of Victoria.
Kinsella's most famous work is Shoeless Joe, upon which the movie Field of Dreams was based. A short story by Kinsella, Lieberman in Love, was the basis for a short film that won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film – the Oscar win came as a surprise to the author, who, watching the award telecast from home, had no idea the film had been made and released. He had not been listed in the film's credits, and was not acknowledged by director Christine Lahti in her acceptance speech – a full-page advertisement was later placed in Variety apologizing to Kinsella for the error. Kinsella's eight books of short stories about life on a First Nations reserve were the basis for the movie Dance Me Outside and CBC television series The Rez, both of which Kinsella considers very poor quality. The collection Fencepost Chronicles won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour in 1987.
Before becoming a professional author, he was a professor of English at the University of Calgary in Alberta. Kinsella suffered a car accident in 1997 which resulted in a long hiatus in his fiction-writing career until the publication of the novel, Butterfly Winter. He is a noted tournament Scrabble player, becoming more involved with the game after being disillusioned by the 1994 Major League Baseball strike. Near the end of his life he lived in Yale, British Columbia with his fourth wife, Barbara (d. 2012), and occasionally wrote articles for various newspapers.
In the year 1993, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2005, he was awarded the Order of British Columbia.
W.P. Kinsella elected to die on September 16, 2016 with the assistance of a physician.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 29, 2009
My comment re: The Fencepost Chronicles by this author applies regarding this collection, as well.
Note also, that W.P. Kinsella won the George Woodcock Award for an outstanding literary career in BC; very recently, in fact: Spring 2009
Note also, that W.P. Kinsella won the George Woodcock Award for an outstanding literary career in BC; very recently, in fact: Spring 2009
August 12, 2025
Goodreads reviewer Paul Secor nails it in one line—
“Laughing – Sometimes laughing to keep from crying.”
That’s as fine a compass as you’ll find for navigating this collection of Silas Ermineskin tales. Life on the Cree Indian Reserve of Alberta, Canada, can wear a person down to the bone—hard winters, harder luck, and the quiet ache of dreams deferred. Yet in W.P. Kinsella’s hands, those same plains and backroads bloom with a sly, almost conspiratorial humor, the kind that sidles up beside sorrow and takes its arm so it won’t walk alone.
These stories hold the bite of cold wind on your face and the warmth of a kitchen table where the coffee’s been on since morning. Some will sting you with their truth, some will catch you grinning before you know it, and more than a few do both at once. They’re stitched through with Kinsella’s sure touch for character and his gift for finding joy in the places you least expect it.
The most resonating and unforgettable of the lot is “The Bottle Queen”. Silas’ little sister collects bottles to raise money to buy a fancy dress costume for dancing at pow-wows. She has the skills to become a champion dancer if only she can get one of those dresses. This bitter-sweet tale is worth the purchase of the book.
The funniest of the collection are “Where the Wild Things Are” and “The Queen’s Hat”.
In “Wild Things”, Silas and Frank take two rich businessmen on a wild-game hunt. The businessmen don’t know a thing about hunting. Neither do Silas and Frank.
“The Queen’s Hat” revolves around the visit of Prince Phillip to the Reserve to witness a buffalo hunt along the main street, thought up and coordinated by Frank and Silas. Of course, they get caught in a hilarious snag when they can only find one buffalo, an aged one on its last legs.
The saddest story in the collection is “Pius Blindman is Coming Home”. An old Indian woman is kept alive by the lie told to her by her daughter—her wayward son is coming home.
In the end, all 15 stories are keepers—funny, poignant, and alive with the kind of humanity you don’t soon forget.
“Laughing – Sometimes laughing to keep from crying.”
That’s as fine a compass as you’ll find for navigating this collection of Silas Ermineskin tales. Life on the Cree Indian Reserve of Alberta, Canada, can wear a person down to the bone—hard winters, harder luck, and the quiet ache of dreams deferred. Yet in W.P. Kinsella’s hands, those same plains and backroads bloom with a sly, almost conspiratorial humor, the kind that sidles up beside sorrow and takes its arm so it won’t walk alone.
These stories hold the bite of cold wind on your face and the warmth of a kitchen table where the coffee’s been on since morning. Some will sting you with their truth, some will catch you grinning before you know it, and more than a few do both at once. They’re stitched through with Kinsella’s sure touch for character and his gift for finding joy in the places you least expect it.
The most resonating and unforgettable of the lot is “The Bottle Queen”. Silas’ little sister collects bottles to raise money to buy a fancy dress costume for dancing at pow-wows. She has the skills to become a champion dancer if only she can get one of those dresses. This bitter-sweet tale is worth the purchase of the book.
The funniest of the collection are “Where the Wild Things Are” and “The Queen’s Hat”.
In “Wild Things”, Silas and Frank take two rich businessmen on a wild-game hunt. The businessmen don’t know a thing about hunting. Neither do Silas and Frank.
“The Queen’s Hat” revolves around the visit of Prince Phillip to the Reserve to witness a buffalo hunt along the main street, thought up and coordinated by Frank and Silas. Of course, they get caught in a hilarious snag when they can only find one buffalo, an aged one on its last legs.
The saddest story in the collection is “Pius Blindman is Coming Home”. An old Indian woman is kept alive by the lie told to her by her daughter—her wayward son is coming home.
In the end, all 15 stories are keepers—funny, poignant, and alive with the kind of humanity you don’t soon forget.
July 3, 2020
Canada tags ... Kinsella ... some laugh out loud stuff.
Thinking about counting to 21.
Would like to re-read. The one Kinsella I recall connecting with.
Regional library does not have copy.
Here's another review borrowed from an old-line library review outfit.
"KIRKUS REVIEW
Kinsella (Shoeless Joe) has, in Canada, published four collections of stories set, like this one, in the Cree Indian reserve town of Hobbema, Alberta. Here, the same basic cast of characters revolves through all the stories: Silas Ermineskin is the writer/narrator; there's a merry prankster and put-on artist in Frank Fencepost; and Chief Tom is an ""apple""--red outside, white in. The general tone throughout is tuned to the comic. And the general pattern of action is the escapade. The standouts: Frank and Silas, in ""Where The Wild Things Are,"" pose as guides to two Alabama hunters willing to employ any Indian; and in ""Fugitives,"" an escaped Indian movement leader is kept safe under the assumed identity of an East Indian name and turban. In these two tales, the underlying bitterness is played down: ""We found out a long time ago that if we tell the Government the truth no matter how simple the question, they find a way to either charge us money or take away something that already belongs to us."" The anger is translated into resistance of a mischievously amoral sort (shoplifting, a.k.a. ""creative borrowing"" or ""five finger bargains"") as well as self-parody (the AIM movement is referred to as ""Assholes In Moccasins""). On the other hand, however, many of the stories are soggily sentimental or forcedly winsome, Ã la lesser Saroyan. And though the discrepancy between the hopeless reality of the reserve life and the bantering tone of its denizens is intriguing for a while, it eventually reduces to a rigid formula. In sum: bittersweet, half-appealing, repetitions capers."
**
Tried most of the Kinsella books the library bought. There was marginal demand, but had half a dozen perhaps. Usually recommended this one, or a baseball book ...
Thinking about counting to 21.
Would like to re-read. The one Kinsella I recall connecting with.
Regional library does not have copy.
Here's another review borrowed from an old-line library review outfit.
"KIRKUS REVIEW
Kinsella (Shoeless Joe) has, in Canada, published four collections of stories set, like this one, in the Cree Indian reserve town of Hobbema, Alberta. Here, the same basic cast of characters revolves through all the stories: Silas Ermineskin is the writer/narrator; there's a merry prankster and put-on artist in Frank Fencepost; and Chief Tom is an ""apple""--red outside, white in. The general tone throughout is tuned to the comic. And the general pattern of action is the escapade. The standouts: Frank and Silas, in ""Where The Wild Things Are,"" pose as guides to two Alabama hunters willing to employ any Indian; and in ""Fugitives,"" an escaped Indian movement leader is kept safe under the assumed identity of an East Indian name and turban. In these two tales, the underlying bitterness is played down: ""We found out a long time ago that if we tell the Government the truth no matter how simple the question, they find a way to either charge us money or take away something that already belongs to us."" The anger is translated into resistance of a mischievously amoral sort (shoplifting, a.k.a. ""creative borrowing"" or ""five finger bargains"") as well as self-parody (the AIM movement is referred to as ""Assholes In Moccasins""). On the other hand, however, many of the stories are soggily sentimental or forcedly winsome, Ã la lesser Saroyan. And though the discrepancy between the hopeless reality of the reserve life and the bantering tone of its denizens is intriguing for a while, it eventually reduces to a rigid formula. In sum: bittersweet, half-appealing, repetitions capers."
**
Tried most of the Kinsella books the library bought. There was marginal demand, but had half a dozen perhaps. Usually recommended this one, or a baseball book ...
December 16, 2022
Great book of short stories about Native Americans living on a reservation in Canada. The protagonist, Silas, and his friend Frank end up in situations both funny and sad.
The writing in this collection makes Silas a good narrator with a great eye for observation and intuiting other people around him, but he’s young enough that pieces of the issues in these stories still elude him at times, and other times he is pointing out how nonsensical some things around him are pertaining to government influence, racism, systemic oppression, imperialism and colonialism, as well as North American history. It makes for great stories and generates a lot of thought while reading; every one of these stories was enjoyable.
The writing in this collection makes Silas a good narrator with a great eye for observation and intuiting other people around him, but he’s young enough that pieces of the issues in these stories still elude him at times, and other times he is pointing out how nonsensical some things around him are pertaining to government influence, racism, systemic oppression, imperialism and colonialism, as well as North American history. It makes for great stories and generates a lot of thought while reading; every one of these stories was enjoyable.
July 19, 2016
It took a bit to get into the cadence of speech here, but once in the rhythm this was just a great read.
Not all the stories have happy endings, a couple are left pretty open ended, but that does not detract from an excellent group of shorts.
Highly recommended.
Not all the stories have happy endings, a couple are left pretty open ended, but that does not detract from an excellent group of shorts.
Highly recommended.
June 11, 2018
Laughing - Sometimes laughing to keep from crying.
July 15, 2014
One of the funniest books I've ever read. This one is on my desert island list.
January 3, 2015
By the author of Field of Dreams, short stories set in a Canadian Reserve. Reserve is Canadian for Indian Reservation. Funny, sad, picaresque stories.
December 2, 2017
Wow I didn't realize this is by the guy who did Shoeless Joe until just now seeing the author name, having remembered it from getting through it in eleventh grade. Read this before then. Came off totally different. Really good. Better. Had my sister read it. She liked it too. Stylistically I like how every story reintroduces recurring characters
January 17, 2026
This is an interesting set of stories set in western Canada. The stories describe Native American life as it was back in the mid-twentieth century, and are in turns humorous, poignant, sad, hopeful, and much more.
May 20, 2019
W.P.Kinsella was a great short story writer and I love all his books about the native people.
October 7, 2022
This is great. I really enjoyed 'Shoeless Joe', also by Kinsella, which I bought initially because the movie 'Field of Dreams' is a favourite (and it is based on Shoeless Joe). I was surprised, though, because I enjoyed the book in it's own right - in fact I really enjoyed it and decided to read more of Kinsella's work. I found out that he wrote a lot from the perspective of native American Indians in the modern world, which also appealed, hence this collection of short stories.
There is a whole cast of characters who pop regularly throughout most of the tales. The narrator is Silas Ermineskin: a young man with journalistic ambitions on the reservation, and the stories he relates are at turns humorous, poignant, dramatic and sad. The stories don't particularly go anywhere, they are just snapshots of everyday life on a modern day Indian reservation. The old chief wants to be a white man and acts as such despite alienating his own people by doing it, the narrator's best friend is a wisecracking chancer who loves to play white folks at their own game by misleading them and acting out the stereotype, the medicine woman is fat and old but knows a thing or two about human nature. All good stuff and it makes a really enjoyable read.
The stories remind me a lot of W.W. Jacobs, but instead of canals and riverboat life we're on a modern Indian reservation in Canada.
There is a whole cast of characters who pop regularly throughout most of the tales. The narrator is Silas Ermineskin: a young man with journalistic ambitions on the reservation, and the stories he relates are at turns humorous, poignant, dramatic and sad. The stories don't particularly go anywhere, they are just snapshots of everyday life on a modern day Indian reservation. The old chief wants to be a white man and acts as such despite alienating his own people by doing it, the narrator's best friend is a wisecracking chancer who loves to play white folks at their own game by misleading them and acting out the stereotype, the medicine woman is fat and old but knows a thing or two about human nature. All good stuff and it makes a really enjoyable read.
The stories remind me a lot of W.W. Jacobs, but instead of canals and riverboat life we're on a modern Indian reservation in Canada.
July 10, 2024
I feel like throughout my life, I have only ever been able to see indigenous people either represented by what they looked like before they were colonized or after the year 2000. The Canadian government works hard to bury what it’s done to the indigenous population, but this book works harder. The indigenous population in Canada has always been there, trying to make the best of the injustice and prejudice passed down from generations of government rule. When I read this collection of stories, I found myself in Silas’ community, living these pieces of his life with him. I came to understand a kind of life that is lived “in-between” under a government that has no place for you; powerless but prideful, happy but suppressed, deeply connected but isolated from the rest of the world.
I think this is probably a book you should read in bits every once in a while. It’s boring. It’s just a dude living his average life in a world that’s rigged against his community, but I can recognize the social and moral significance that it has.
I think this is probably a book you should read in bits every once in a while. It’s boring. It’s just a dude living his average life in a world that’s rigged against his community, but I can recognize the social and moral significance that it has.
September 12, 2024
Kinsella is best known for his baseball stories (especially "Shoeless Joe," the basis for the film "Field of Dreams") but I've always been partial to his short stories about First Nation people living on a reserve in Alberta. I don't think this later collection is quite as lively as some of his earlier Ermineskin stories, but that's just a matter of degree. The stories are humorous, sad, subversive, poignant, and the characters are lovable. Does he co-opt native culture, as some critics have claimed? You decide, while enjoying these charming, often lovely tales.
August 8, 2021
A collection of short stories about life on a Canadian Indian reserve. Some are funny, some are heart-rending, all are good [if not always great] reading. Almost everyone on Goodreads surely knows that Kinsella is the author of 'Shoeless Joe' which became the movie 'Field Of Dreams', so I wont bother reiterating that. (^-^)
April 9, 2025
W.P. Kinsella's collection of short stories of the Indigenous people from the Ermineskin Reserve are humorous, sensitive and insightful. The narrator, Silas Ermineskin with a host of returning characters, provide the reader with examples of trust, frustration, fighting back and love in the author's fourth collection of his Hobbema stries.
November 29, 2018
This book contains a few of Kinsella's earliest short stories. They show tremendous promise and he showed a steady progression. I liked reading about Canadian Indians today. The view of whites and government are truly unique. Silas is an excellent character.
November 25, 2025
This author has the special talent of conveying so much detail into very few words. The characters in this book are so well written and you become instantly attached to them as soon as you are introduced. Excellent read. Would absolutely recommend 🔥
March 16, 2020
The stories are all a great read. Lots of emotions and laughter.
September 20, 2024
Funny, short, close-to-home kind of stories. This one is staying on my shelf to be re-read.
May 22, 2025
There was not one story that stood out to me but this was another good read form Kinsella.
October 1, 2011
A nice collection of short stories, some humorous, others more serious, as Kinsella returns to the Erminskin world and takes on the troubles of reservation life and Indian-white relations. I really enjoy these stories.
December 29, 2024
I enjoyed these short stories, they were humorous and engaging. However, I was uncomfortable with the fact that it was a non-indigenous author writing stories about living on the reservation. It left me reluctant to absorb any potential insight about our indigenous people.
Read
June 11, 2012Trans-Siberian, book 2
July 10, 2012
The one with Prince Philip and the buffalo - hilarious!
January 22, 2017
A charming and humorous collection of short stories of life on a First Nations (Indian) reservation in Western Canada's province of Alberta. I will read more from this author.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews