James D. Doss

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James D. Doss, recently retired from the technical staff of Los Alamos National Laboratory, now spends most of his time in a small cabin above Taos -- writing mystery fiction. He also travels to the fascinating locations where his stories take place, often camping in remote areas to absorb the impression of an Anasazi ruin, a deep canyon, an arid mesa, or a Sun Dance. His Shaman series includes <em>The Shaman Sings</em>, <em>The Shaman Laughs</em>, <em>The Shaman's Bones</em>, <em>The Shaman's Game</em>, <em>The Night Visitor</em>, and <em>Grandmother Spider</em>. The unusual plots are a mix of high technology and mysticism (<em>Shaman Sings</em>), bizarre animal mutilations (<em>Shaman Laughs</em>), theft of a sacred artifact (<em>Shaman's Bones</em>), an unprecedented form of murder and revenge at the Sun Dance (<em>Shaman's Game</em>), a most peculiar haunting followed by the discovery of an astonishing fossil (<em>Night Visitor</em>), and -- because a small girl has killed a spider without performing the prescribed ritual -- the appearance of a monstrous, murderous, eight-legged creature on the reservation (<em>Grandmother Spider</em>, of course!).