My career means, if you're a non-Indian writing about Indians, at least there's one Indian in your rearview mirror.

I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers. I don't write to protect them. It's far too late for that. I write to give them weapons-in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.

"I used to think the world was broken down by tribes," I said. "By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not."

I felt so conflicted about having fled the rez as a kid that I created a whole literary career that left me there.

I ain't interested in the truth. I'm interested in the way things should be.

I am extremely conscious of my tribalism. And when you talk about tribalism, you talk about living in a black and white world. I mean, Native American tribalism sovereignty, even the political fight for sovereignty and cultural sovereignty is a very us versus them. And I think a lot of people in this country, especially European Americans and those descended from Europeans don't see themselves as tribal.

I don't think the revisionist historians are accurate. I think their agendas are clouded by selfishness and anger and rage.