About the author

Marcha Fox

<p>Pete Risingsun is an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe well-versed in their ceremonies and traditions. He has served as a spirit helper to medicine men in ceremonial sweat lodges where traditional procedures are meticulously followed. Born the eighth child of ten in 1950, he was raised on a small ranch east of Busby, Montana. He's a proud fifth generation descendant of Chief Iron Shirt, a lodge keeper and powerful medicine man. </p><p><span>After graduating high school in 1968 he attended Montana State University for four years. When offered a position with Exxon as an employee relations director overseas, he turned it down, instead completing a three-year apprenticeship in plant operations in Billings, Montana. He worked in that capacity for one additional year until he accepted a job as adult education director for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe back home in Lame Deer, grateful to see the refinery fade away in the rear-view mirror. </span></p><p><span>Back on the reservation, Pete raised black angus cattle and bred championship Quarter horses. He served as a Tribal Council member for six years and was the first Northern Cheyenne elected as a Rosebud County Commissioner, a position he held from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2012.</span></p><p><span>He's the proud father of one daughter, Echo Raine, who blessed him with two grandchildren, Sierra Star and Skyler Seven. Pete is currently retired, but has stayed busy co-writing <em>The Curse of Dead Horse Canyon </em>trilogy the past few years as well as compiling an accurate history of his tribe from the Northern Cheyenne point of view.</span></p>