Author’s Notes from Coyote Blue

Coyote Blue

Do you ever get the feeling that forces unseen are messing with your life? Yeah, me too. And theres little doubt that those forces are driven by the greatest force in the universe — irony, right? Right?

So imagine my surprise when, some years ago, while I was researching a book on demons, I kept running across references to tricksters, and one trickster in particular, the trickster god Coyote. I thought, Heres a god whose main function seems to be acting as an agent of irony — the special prosecutor of Murphys Law, if you will. And, I figured, if ever there was a time during which the god of irony seemed to be testing his powers that time would be now.

So, I set about getting to know Coyote, spending a lot of time in folklore libraries and a month or so living on the Crow reservation, talking to people who never seem to be able to conceal a smile when they mentioned Old Man Coyote. I came away not only feeling that Coyote was a viable presence in the world, but that he could carry a book with the same goofy elegance with which hed brought civilization to the Plains Tribes (if only so he could mess with them). So, I wrote Coyote Blue. I think once you get to know Coyote, youll see that hes been messing with us all the while — he just forgot to write.

Sincerely,
Christopher Moore