H.L. Delaney

Klamath Basin · The American West

Stories the land never stopped telling.

H.L. Delaney writes mythic and historical fiction rooted in the volcanic country of the Klamath Basin — Indigenous memory, regional history, and the supernatural woven into literary narratives about inheritance, resistance, and survival.

Out now · Debut novel Cover of Captain Jack & The Original Renegades by H.L. Delaney

Historical fiction · Cultural heritage

Captain Jack & The Original Renegades

380 pages Paperback $19.99 · Kindle Unlimited ★★★★★ #1 New Release · Native American Literature

"What if the story you were taught wasn't the whole story?"

A powerful work of historical fiction rooted in real events, Indigenous memory, and the unfinished truths of the Modoc War. Set in the volcanic landscapes of the Klamath Basin, the novel follows Kintpuash — known to history as Captain Jack — and the Modoc people as they face displacement, broken treaties, and the slow violence of assimilation.

Drawing from archival records, oral tradition, and land-based memory, Delaney reconstructs a story long distorted by official accounts and retells it from where it never left… the ground itself. Through alternating timelines, a modern father and son walk the same land where history unfolded — and the meaning of "renegade" is reclaimed, not as rebellion, but as return.

The land remembers. This book listens.

Published in partnership with EagleSpeaker.

A series

Native Myths of the American West

A living continuum of creation stories carried across generations — told whole, in the obsidian-and-ember palette of the Klamath Basin.

The Book of Spirals

The Spirals of Kemush

The twelve origin myths of the Klamath Basin, told whole — from the obsidian dark before time to the threshold of memory. Kemush, witness and mediator, breathes against the first Darkness and walks the world that follows.

Paperback & illustrated app · Basalt Sea Press, 2025

Paperback on Amazon →

Twelve spirals

Origin to Memory

Origin · Illusion · Change · Wind · Hunger · Kinship · Buffalo · Pride · Mountain · Storm · Purpose · Memory. Each spiral a single arc, told one panel at a time across 190 paintings.

The shared cosmology of the cycle
The Spiral Cycle

A twelve-book flagship

The foundational sequence of the Native Myths of the American West — each title standing alone, all connected through a shared cosmology that reaches from ancestral voices into the hands of modern readers.

In progress · Basalt Sea Press

Forthcoming

Forthcoming novel

Enos

Witness to the American West.

In progress
Forthcoming novel

Yellow Bird

The Legend of John Rollin Ridge — the Cherokee writer remembered as the first Native American novelist.

In progress

Interactive

Apps & interactive work

The same ground, in your hands — illustrated myth, and quiet games built on documented Indigenous design. No ads, no tracking, no dark patterns. One purchase, finite and complete.

Spirals of Kemush app icon

Spirals of Kemush

Illustrated myth · Book

The complete, unabridged text of The Book of Spirals, paired with 190 panels of painterly artwork sequenced for tablet reading. Optional read-aloud. Works fully offline. No accounts, no tracking — nothing leaves your device.

Spirals of Kemush app screenshot — basalt triangle with ember spiral
Auntie's Baskets app icon

Auntie's Baskets

Quiet puzzle game

A quiet puzzle game built around 42 documented basket designs from Northern California — Maidu, Yana, Yurok, Karok, Hupa and more. Three modes (Match-3, Jigsaw, Slide), each ending with a design revealed, named, and credited to the people who wove it. No timers, no lives, no leaderboards.

Auntie's Baskets app home screen

Salmon Run: Fish Survival

Premium game · Swim. Spawn. Begin again.

A premium river-survival game in the same land-rooted spirit — swim the cycle of life across generations. No ads, no in-app purchases.

Salmon Run title screen
Coming soon · in review
H.L. Delaney

About the author

H.L. Delaney

H.L. Delaney writes mythic and historical fiction rooted in the American West. A member of the Klamath Confederated Tribes, he lives in the shadow of Crater Lake.

His award-winning stories weave Indigenous folklore, regional history, and the supernatural into literary narratives about memory, inheritance, and survival. His series Native Myths of the American West includes the acclaimed The Spirals of Kemush, alongside digital and audio reimaginings of the region's oral and elemental myths. His debut novel, Captain Jack & The Original Renegades, reached Amazon's Top 10 in Native Literature.

For readers drawn to mythic realism, Indigenous cosmology, and the haunted landscapes of the American frontier, Delaney's work offers a bridge between the ancestral and the modern.

Princemere PrizeNational recognition
Calvino PrizeNational recognition

The imprint

Basalt Sea Press

An independent literary house devoted to stories that rise from the land, memory, and mythic imagination of the American West — mythic fiction, historical realism, and hybrid narrative forms drawn from Indigenous oral tradition. Publisher of The Spirals of Kemush and the Spiral Cycle.

Visit Basalt Sea Press →

Get in touch

For rights, press, and readers

[email protected]