Beta readers for Navajo-based book

[Randy]

"A Heart to Understand" features a half-Navajo character who thinks he is a witch and understands how to reopen the gates the Holy People to obtain new gifts for the Navajo (Dine) to free themselves from the White People. This is a mystery/thriller. Ideally, there would be a Navajo reading this forum who would like to be a beta reader. I think the book contains one of the best retelling of the Navajo creation story that exists in fiction, so non-Navajo are sought as well. Just email me: randyattwoodhotmail.com Novel is about 65,000 words. NOT a Tony Hillerman ripoff.

[Randy]

Boy, this post laid a stink bomb. Not a single response. Maybe take a little tempting:


Ko-yo-teh used both of his hands to cradle the gray Anasazi clay pot he and his father had taken from the ruins of the Navajo’s ancient enemies. Soon the precious and powerful blackish red powder the pot embraced would be in his right palm. Soon that reality-giving powder would be running through his thumb and index finger onto the holiest sandpainting ever created. He walked carefully, taking each step deliberately and respectfully as he carried the pot and its all-important contents into the hogan where the vitality of that almost-completed sandpainting, the iika´a´h for which he had prepared all his life, commanded that life:
"Hurry," the voice of his father said to him, a voice he was hearing more and more as he made slow but perfect progress on the work. "Hurry. This will be your gate to the Holy People. The gate through which you can trick the Holy People."

[Richard]

Our home is in New Mexico. I have spent more than twenty years in the American Indian trading business and have read everything Tony Hillerman ever wrote. I'd be willing to give you a beta, not a copy-edit. I would tend to be pretty critical of factual mistakes/placenames, etc., but I give notes. Please let me know.

[Jade]

I think it sounds very interesting. I enjoy Hillerman's books and I find that world fascinating. But I definitely can't help with spellings and place names; I can only give you notes regarding characters and plot.

[Randy]

Jade, Thanks for responding. Feel free to email me at attwoodconsulting@gmail.com so I can send you an email with the doc attached. I've got an editor/proofreader at work and cover designer is about to finish reading and will have ideas soon, so I'd appreciate your reaction to "A Heart to Understand."

[Randy]

I wanted to publicly thank Richard for an outstanding beta read he did on A Heart to Understand. Richard has lived in New Mexico for 25 years and his intimate knowledge of the Navajo and their creation stories provided invaluable comments and mistake catches in the manuscript and much indebted to him for taking the time for such a careful reading.