Indigenous Heritage in Horror Month: Interview with Colin Medicine Horse

Colin Medicine Horse grew up In and around the Topeka and Lawrence, Kansas areas. He has worked at Haskell Indian Nations University as a food service worker for 18 years. The title of his collection of poetry is Broken Bones, published in 2017.

Do you make a conscious effort to include indigenous characters and themes in your writing and if so, what do you want to portray?

Do I intentionally put Indigenous things in my writing? This Is also a confusing question. It’s like asking someone If I still live In a Tee pee and If my great-granny was a Cherokee princess. Well yes, I’m native American and all my words are from a native American or more like a human being. Sometimes I do put In the odd pow-wow or majestic eagle if It fits. 

How do you feel the indigenous community has been represented thus far in the genre and what hopes do you have for representation in the genre going forward?

There are plenty of native writers making a good living doing that. That’s not me. I suppose that’s why I’m still serving people food and wiping tables at my age. 

What is one piece of advice you would give horror authors today?

I would tell other writers to write what they know and you don’t always have to go by the rules. 

And to the Indigenous writers out there who are just getting started, what advice would you give them?

Question everything and everyone who tries to tell you things has to be a certain way.