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Windspeaker.com Books Feature Writer
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The new fantastical world that young adults will soon be exploring In the Long Shadows is steeped in Indian residential school history and intergenerational impacts.
Ojibwe and Scottish writer Bear Meawasige (a pen name) explains that in his hometown of Spanish, Ont. there are the hulls of two residential schools acknowledged only by “knowing looks between adults.”
His imagination was sparked as a child as he “learned bits and pieces” of what happened to his grandparents there and later came to understand the impacts on his family.
“It just got me thinking about generational effects of trauma and I liked the idea of exploring that but through a fantasy lens,” said Meawasige, a member of Serpent River First Nation.
In his book geared to youth ages 12 to 18 years, Meawasige paints vivid exciting scenes of searching the Deepwood for the feared Wood Witch and a raging battle at sea between ships.
“I think of those lessons that I've picked up from all the books I've read as a kid that I can do the same thing by targeting young readers and putting them in a fantastical world that is safe to explore but does explore real issues or issues that are reflections of what's going on in the real world,” he said. “I've always found fictional scenarios help you make sense of people's values in an exaggerated but safe way to explore.”
Enter the characters that populate Meawasige’s imaginary setting. Leaf and Ash live on Great Turtle Island where the Stonefolk’s cursed ruins exist that kept imprisoned children like Leaf’s grandmother. Reed and Finch are across the Broken Waters, where Finch is a crew member on a ship and Reed scams his livelihood on Flotilla, a makeshift land of ships floating in the middle of the sea.
All four characters, says Meawasige, represent different parts of him.
Leaf, the wanderer, encapsulates Meawasige’s love of exploration with her desire to understand history and how it has shaped her. She represents Meawasige’s Ojibwe side.
Ash is similar to Leaf but represents Meawasige’s “other heritage that I don't know as much.”
“I've always had this feeling of ‘where do I stand between (my heritages)?’ Because these are two very distinct cultures,” said Meawasige. “Just those feelings of isolation that I don't feel connected to anyone. And what do you do with that? What do you do when you don't know your past?”
Finch, who is snarky and dismissive, was “very fun to write” and represents Meawasige’s distrust and natural suspicion about people. Both Finch and Meawasige believe “it's easier to assume and prepare for the worst than to trust and potentially be hurt because of that.”
Reed is a grifter, who says what he needs to say to get where he needs to be. Meawasige admits to being a “little enamored with…this romantic aspect” of the conman.
“I think in writing their journeys it does help me make sense of my own life,” he said.
And these four characters will have a very long journey.
Meawasige had plotted In the Long Shadows to be a seven-part series. However, after submitting the book in the Second Story Press Indigenous Writing Contest and winning in 2025, the publisher decided the first book should be split into two.
“And now I'm trying to figure out if they're all going to be that long; is that 14? Am I able to condense my writing to seven?” he said.
Meawasige admits it’s a “little daunting” to consider his first step in the publishing world of novels is a long series that could mean a commitment of 14 years. It took him two years to write the first instalment, which he had to rewrite in part when Second Story Press decided the first offering was too long.
“It feels like a tremendous accomplishment because I didn't expect the first book I had written to do so well finding a publisher, especially one who was excited to keep going with it,” he said.
Meawasige is writing the second book now. He has a corkboard in his office with note cards to map out the major events and characters of the next books in the series. The further out the series goes, those note cards are restricted to the major themes, locations and characters.
How the story ends for Leaf and Ash is set, Meawasige says, while Reed’s journey has the potential to “make some turns.”
“Finch is the one who's most in the air. There's a couple ways she could go and just her natural suspicion, writing that, she has given me the most trouble at times. So I could see her veering off a path as I move further books in,” he said.
In the Long Shadows, published by Second Story Press, will be released Oct. 13. It can be purchased through https://secondstorypress.ca/products/in-the-long-shadows?srsltid=AU7gw4UxsvLS1xecXNn_W24eYvCblOpjTRZZceIm1c5sZSiB2__uw1cY