Fiction

Shann Ray is the author of numerous works, including the short story collection American Masculine, which received the Bakeless Prize, the High Plains Book Award, and an American Book Award; Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity, a work of creative nonfiction; and the poetry collection Balefire. His essay “Takes Enemy” was the Second Place winner of Narrative’s 2014 Spring Story Contest. Ray lives in Spokane, Washington, with his wife and three daughters and teaches leadership and forgiveness studies at Gonzaga University.

Winter’s Gate

A Novel Excerpt

by Shann Ray

Elias knew she still slept around.

He didn’t know she was pregnant or that he was the father.

He’d been talking by phone weekly with his uncle Clayton again, a Lakota elder not so tainted by ego. Quiet, modest, respected, good with people and horses. Especially good with the young. Elias was happy to be in touch. The conversations were changing him. Clayton prayed and sang over him at the end of each phone call. Elias felt it, his uncle making him better despite the arc Elias’s life had taken in recent years into greater financial and work success but further from spirit. Further into self. More ambition. Less love.

Want to read the rest?
Please login.
New to Narrative? sign up.
It's easy and free.
The password field is case sensitive. Account & Password Help.
Joining Narrative gives you FREE access to thousands of stories, poems and essays. It’s easy:
PLEASE ENTER A VALID EMAIL ADDRESS.
PLEASE NOTE: We are discontinuing our support of Microsoft-related addresses, including msn.com, live.com, outlook.com, and hotmail.com, and we ask that you use an alternative address, such as gmail.com, yahoo.com, fastmail.com, comcast.net, verizon.com, icloud.com, or other.

We have found Microsoft-related email addresses to be sometimes inconsistent in terms of delivering messages, and we want to make sure that you can access your account and reliably receive messages that you have requested.
Email Preferences
Email Preferences