Gordon Lee Johnson (Cahuilla/Cupeo) lives and writes on the Pala Indian Reservation. A former newspaperman, he was last a columnist and feature writer for the Press-Enterprise, covering Southern California's Inland Empire. He is also the author of Rez Dogs Eat Beans and Fast Cars and Frybread. Deborah A. Miranda is an enrolled member of the Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen Nation of the Greater Monterey Bay Area in California, with Santa Ynez Chumash ancestry. In addition to Bad Indians, she is the author of four poetry collections and coeditor of Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature.
""Gordon Johnson's voice is like no other, and he continues in this new book to send out missives from his place in the world—the beating-strong heart of southern California's first peoples and the land they've loved for generations. Johnson is by turns tender and hilarious—as ever. This book is a welcome addition to his loving history of the world as he knows it."" —Susan Straight, author of Sacrament ""A delicious communal feast of memory and imagination for California Indians or for anyone who has spent time living among us; on every page, there is a sensory connection to people, places, and events to delight the senses, evoke a smile, and trigger more stories about traditional gatherings, summer softball tournaments, elders who have passed on, or the bone-rattling comfort from hearing bird songs wafting through the summer air all night long."" —Dr. Theresa Gregor (Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel), CSU Long Beach