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Synopsis
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"Save the Good Seed"
by Monty Joynes
August
“Ray” Rey was adopted as an infant from a Pueblo reservation
by Anglo college professors and raised in their North
Carolina culture. When Ray’s adoptive mother dies, he
learns, at the age of 44, of his Pueblo ancestry and begins
to explore his Indianness. His walk between the two cultures
as a Lost Bird has been painful and lonely; and although he
is a first-class Ford dealership mechanic and an Army
veteran, he lives confused and alone with his dogs on a
remote mountain farm. Eventually, he summons the courage to
go to New Mexico in search of his tribal identity. Ray is
not well received, but Booker recognizes Ray’s struggle to
find spiritual peace, and supports his efforts.
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Booker becomes a controversial
presence on the reservation especially when Debbie and Sue,
the Las Vegas showgirls introduced in the novel LOST IN LAS
VEGAS, show up and claim his support for their lifestyle
changes. Booker is forced off the reservation and taken in
by the two beautiful women just as his estranged son and
daughter make separate visits.
White Wing and all of Booker’s traditional friends play
roles in Ray’s re-entry to the tribe, a process that is not
without high emotional drama as Ray meets his mother’s
sister and his blood relatives for the first time.
The dancing school that the showgirls develop offers space
for Pueblo dancers to teach tribal traditions to their
children. At a year-end recital, cultures are united in
mutual support, and Ray takes his place among his people as
Found Bird in a clan of famous Southwestern potters.
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"Save the God Seed"
Reviews
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 “Monty
Joynes, an “anglo,” (also the name of one of the
main characters) presents an insightful novel on
the intuitive consciousness vs. the rational,
and how these modes play out in the human drama
between Native American and white materialist
cultures. “What could be the evolutionary
purpose in such radical psychological
differences?” asks Joynes.
Joynes writes
with a refreshing humility, seemingly aware that
he is a white man from a white culture. He has
to change his consciousness to authentically
touch the repressed side of his own heart and
mind in order to write about an Indian culture
with integrity, understanding, and real
respect. By writing this story, he is able to
harmonize the two distinct aspects of perception
shown by two clashing cultures, creating a new
myth of synthesis that could have major healing
effects on individual, cultural, and archetypal
levels.”
Paul Amero, Magical
Blend
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“We
walk with respect around this man, even if he’s
white,” says one Pueblo man to another in SAVE
THE GOOD SEED by Monty Joynes. The white man
they speak of is Booker Washington Jones, once
Winn Conover a.k.a. Anglo Who Became Chief Old
Woman’s Son, recently relocated to living in New
Mexico among Pueblo compatriots. In meeting
August (“Ray”) Rey, a “Lost Bird” dissociated
from his Pueblo people when he was “adopted”
into white society 44 years before, readers are
brought close to both sides of the alienation
issue. Facts of our government’s anti-Native
American history flesh out their story.
SAVE THE GOOD
SEED is also about the touching parallel
development of two middle-aged men finally
finding themselves at home in a culture
completely different from the one in which they
were raised. The warmth of this moving tale
offers us the opportunity to actually share in
the exquisite joy and solidarity of the Pueblo
people coming together to live out their
mission: “In every moment, person or object, is
an opportunity for connection. Our role is to
be aware of the potential and bring it into
realization.”
Heidi Rain, New England Spirit of Change
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