Arnold James Isbister

Stirbugs & Screws Arnold James Isbister

Much of this Novel is true. An insight into life on a Reservation and within a Maximum Institution is shown with brutal clarity in violence yet within both worlds the two ?cultures? share a morbid humor and history. Our notion and fears of the supernatural in all our cultures plays a part in this story. This is so true within the confines of this Psych Center where reality has been twisted, manipulated by the enigmatic inmate Charlie Fuhr whose horrific crimes relate to his grooming as the leader of an ancient international cult. He shares his seclusion time in the Hole with an ?Indian? who is a product of violent sexual abuse suffered onto him by Priests of an Indian Residential School. The two rule the ?Bug-House? with their smarts and violence. A Native guard (the Narrator) who through many years will get to know them both and discover they share a secret from their childhood. His files prepared by nurses and Psychologists are filled delusions of horror, bestiality, incest, murder and a Grandfather of profound powers. The guard will discover through research and a childhood friend from their school in the U. S. that these delusions maybe true. An order of deportation is agreed upon (Canada-U. S.) to investigate other murders and a cult headed by his Grandfather. The dialogue is graphic, brutal yet insightful to the personalities in this novel that really do exist in real-life. The story has interludes of coming-of-age that fit into the plot complete with music, songs, activities and movies of that childhood (1950?s-60?s).