Author

D.B. Pacini

When I first decided to write this novel, I called a number of American Indian organizations and several professors who specialize in Native studies. I also emailed online organizations associated with American Indian tribes. I was seeking a knowledgeable consultant.

I received little help. Most people passed on my request because they were truly too busy. Some felt they were not qualified to serve as a consultant, and a few admitted that they did not want “another white woman” writing her brand of salve for deep wounds that they felt she could never understand. They did not want another book out there portraying American Indians as savages or as romanticized tragic figures (no more American Indian princesses please).

So, without discouragement, I did this on my own. To my many years of American Indian studies, I added several weeks of researching specifics. I read personal accounts of American Indian people. I read dozens of American Indian myths, legends, and handed down stories. I researched native horses, art, diet, religion, tribal politics, and ancient ways of life. No American Indian helped me, other than the spirit of my maternal grandfather, who was American Indian and Irish. He helped each day. I also studied other cultures, intensely researching everything I wished to include in this story.

Now this enchanting and inspiring fantasy story is finished. At its foundation is a message to all people, regardless of color, to treat one another with respect. Also, it encourages all people to view one another as equally valuable. This novel urges all of us to respect and take care of the earth, our environment. This novel features red, yellow, brown, black, and white characters. It is not New Age; it is old and ancient age. The tribe is named the Tribe of the Innocent Ones. One adult was displeased that I say the tribe is Native American in a story set in a time before Columbus. My reasons are easily understood by most readers.

The main characters are deliberate composites of several Native American tribes. For years I have felt that mainstream literature has rarely featured American Indian youth. I feature them as an amalgamation in order that all American Indian youth from any tribe can feel honored in mainstream literature.

I've received criticism from a few adults for the “romanticized” names I have purposely given to many of my characters. Most readers love the names. I'm aware of the fact that American Indian people in ancient times were generally given ordinary names. The Loose End of the Rainbow is a fantasy novel. The names are meant to be enchanting. In such a novel youth favor names like Paints-With-Words to names like Tall Boy. Paints-With-Words has beautiful deep lavender eyes with brilliant glinting flecks of many colors. Her great-great-grandmother, Amethysta, had such unusual eyes also. Amethysta had been the tribe's most beloved storyteller. Amethysta's remarkable great-great-granddaughter (Paints-With-Words) is a beloved storyteller too. Their beautiful names fit them.

I've received a little criticism for having supernatural powers and a bit of magic in this fictional story. Some of my favorite books are The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkin, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkin, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie, and Harry Potter by J.K. Rowlings. Of course The Loose End of the Rainbow has talking animals, fairies, unicorns, mermaids, univeral knights, and giant frog monsters!

Yes, I'm a “white” woman, but that is not my sole identity. I was raised by an economically poor single mother, who suffered the illness of chronic alcoholism her entire adult life. My early childhood was difficult and tragic. We sometimes lived in poverty, many days we went hungry. I remember hunger. It is an experience you don't forget. My siblings and I also endured the embarrassment and the undeserved stigmatism of being innocent children trapped in a desperate circumstance. When I was almost fifteen, my remarkable mother was hospitalized, and I was sent to live with a father that I had not seen or heard from since I was nearly four. I was on my own at age eighteen, young and often scared, but I made it.

As an adult I worked hard to create a healthy life for myself. I was a single mother and I was determined to give my child a better childhood than mine. Most single parents struggle; I was no exception. Since I was a teenager, I've had a compassionate heart for people who've been neglected or abused, never out of guilt, but out of empathy because I've experienced and survived deep pain. I'm stronger and richer because of it.

I loved my parents. They did the best they knew how to do; the best they were equipped to do. I was not taught many things that I should have been taught by my parents. I had to learn too much on my own and alone. There are young people of every color in the world today like I was. They must learn on their own, for a number of reasons. I hope The Loose End of the Rainbow will inspire them to become men and women of excellence. I hope it will motivate them to treat one another with compassion and respect. I hope it will help them understand that they do have a personal responsibility in taking care of the earth.

I wrote this novel to encourage others, especially young people. If some people refuse to embrace the story because it was written by a white woman (Italian, American Indian, Irish, and French) that is alright. None of us can please everybody. Ironically, I have received some reversed-prejudicial responses from a few American Indians. They questioned my right to write this story. They say that when writers (or any creative artist) puts Indigenous peoples into one clump that they make them invisible.

In this story I put Native Americans into one group, the group of humankind. I put them with "all" people. This novel is not genocidal to any specific race; it is sunlight upon all peoples. I advocate that all peoples are precious and equally valuable. No race has more specialness. I wish this could be true in real life.

This book is not like the book/movie Roots. This is a novel. It is fiction. It does not matter if I am male, female, young, old, red, yellow, brown, black, or white. When a person, especially a young person, settles down with this novel, I don't need for him/her to care who the writer is. Who I am is not relevant. I want readers to be swept into the world of the story. I want the story to lift their imaginations to soaring heights.

When you read Alex Haley's book, Roots, knowing who wrote the book is hugely important. It is the heart foundation of the factual story. When you read The Loose End of the Rainbow, I hope you will forget all about me.

People, especially creative artists, must not allow themselves to be controlled by fear. We cannot be free if we clutch our "specialness" in our hands like a chunk of ice. If we do that, we're not protecting our specialness; we're not preserving it. It is melting upon the parched ground while the world is thirsting for water that we could share. There are 194 countries in this changing world, and more and more people are becoming mixed-blood. It is time that we lovingly embrace being humankind together. We must celebrate all peoples.

I have done a lot to promote harmony, to celebrate and to honor all peoples, never to erase them, never to make them invisible. The story of the colors of the rainbow (included in this novel) shares this wonderfully. It seems that we still need to learn from the colors of the rainbow how to be beautiful together.

We must join hands to help one another and this suffering earth. That is what we must teach our children. The little babies being born today are our future mothers, fathers, teachers, leaders, and artists. We need to help make sure that their lives and their creative abilities are not chained to fear. We need to help insure that their spirits are free. Our hands must be open to one another, not clutched in a fist.

Young people of all colors, it does not matter who I am. What matters is the message this story shares. The blood in our veins is the same color. Don't ever allow anyone to define your creative art solely by the color of your skin. Don't be afraid to share your art with the world. Those who can receive your gift will receive it. Those who can't, they won't. Don't let them silence you. Be true to yourself.

I have donated money and countless hours to non-profit organizations for many years, especially to organizations that serve at-risk kids. I'm donating 10% of the profits from my first novel, Emma’s Love Letters, to Guitars Not Guns. GNG is a non-profit organization that gives free guitars and guitar lessons to foster kids, at risk youth, and other deserving children. GNG is not anti-guns, it is anti-gun violence, especially in schools.

I will donate 10% of the profits from The Loose End of the Rainbow to a worthy non-profit organization that helps to educate on diversity and issues of tolerance, Web of Life Enterprises, Inc. WOLE seeks to bring some justice and comfort to those who are suffering on Indian reservations in South Dakota. Money, goods, and services are all required to bring change there, to better the housing, to bring warm clothing and blankets to the elderly, and to provide boots and coats to children in a place where winter seems to begin just after it has ended. All the funds WOLE receives from my donation will be specifically spent on the essential needs of children and young adults living on the Rosebud Reservation.