When the Spirits Came to Take Me

Long before the outsiders came, there was a land where people and spirits lived. Not always in harmony, but the people and the spirits loved the mountains and the sea. The people made homes along the inlets, and the spirits came and went as they pleased.

Ts'uwaas met the cannibal spirits when he was fifteen, but even that ordeal failed to prepare him for what the future had in store. The life of his tribe had remained much the same for generations, but now there were strangers in the land, arriving from across the ocean in vast, wooden ships and with their own Great Spirit. Like many of his people, Ts'uwaas embraced these new people as friends, but as more and more came, it wasn't clear if they were friends at all.

WHEN THE SPIRITS CAME TO TAKE ME is a fictional story based on the time when the original inhabitants of what is now called British Columbia first encountered the peoples of Europe. It follows the life of one young man as he navigates the rapidly-evolving world around him, living through the changing fortunes of his tribe, his land, his home, and his love affair with a man from another village.

A world now mostly lost is recreated in poignant detail in this tale of tragedy, endurance, and redemption that seeks to entertain and promote understanding towards a brighter future.

Proceeds from this work will be split evenly between Rainbow Refugee and Out On Screen.