Otci, a rising youth in the village of Attaugee in the great Muskogee nation, knew the rites of initiation to warriorhood and manhood would demand the best of mind, body and spirit. But what he didn't know was how quickly the tensions mounting in the nation would bring the ultimate conflict, and challenge Otci to his very core. Otci and his brother initiates are trained by a master legend-giver for the ceremony that marks their transition. He is assisted...

In Robert Day's new story collection, Where We Are Now, most of the stories are set in the fictional town of Bly in rural western Kansas, and they chronicle life there through such diverse subjects as a grandmother who lives in fear of Russian-nuclear attack, to a handyman who hunts for skulls along the Whitewoman River, to a Kansan man who lives for a time in rural France. In ''My Father Swims His Horse at Last,'' Day offers a moving portrayal of...