Erika T. Wurth Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Erika T. Wurth is a bestselling author of horror fiction from Denver that is best known for her debut novel “White Horse,” which was published in 2022. She has claimed that she is Cherokee/Chickasaw/Apache that was brought up in Denver.
The author was brought up in Idaho Springs and remembers being a very nerdy child. In fact, she used to eat lunch hiding under the display case at school where the bullies could not get to her.

During this period of her life, she read all manner of ghost and dragon books. At some point, somebody gifted her with Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” She remembers being so disappointed when she found it did not have any dragons.
When she was older, she went to Fort Lewis College for her undergraduate studies. She would then study for her master’s degree in English at the University of Toledo.

Erika also went to the University of Colorado for her doctorate degree in literature and creative writing.

After graduating with her doctorate degree, Erika T. Wurth split her time between teaching at Western Illinois University and Colorado. Through all this, she continued writing and made a name for herself portraying gritty realities.

She made her fiction writing debut when she penned “Buckskin Cocaine,” her collection of short stories in 2017. The work did very well despite being self-published just like her later collection “Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend” which came out in 2021.
Wurth would ultimately publish “White Horse” her blockbuster novel in 2022. She is also the author of the picture book “When Naiche Visits the Stars.” Over the years, Erika has become known as a consummate author of poetry, nonfiction, and fiction work.
Aside from her writing, she is also employed at Western Illinois University where she teaches creative writing. For some time she also did some work at the Institute of American Indian Arts where she was a guest writer.

Her work has been featured in several prestigious publications including The Kenyon Review, Boulevard, Waxwing, and The Writer’s Chronicle.

Erika attended the Tin House Summer Workshop and is a Writers Workshop Scholar for the Kenyon Review.

Erika T. Wurth had always published with small presses until she published her biggest work yet in “White Horse.”

Overall, she has said that her debut work is all about urban Indian culture, even though she still has a lot of respect and love for the Indigenous people who live on the reservations.

This perhaps has to do with the fact that she is an indigenous person that was brought up in the city of Denver. As for her other inspirations, she cites the likes of Brandon and Kelli Jo For for their realism.

She also credits her partner who is an award-winning author David Heska Wanbli Weiden. The one author that made her believe she could write horror fiction has to be Silvia Moreno who writes some of the most beautiful Mexican Gothic works.
As for indigenous fiction, she was most influenced by the works of Rebecca Roanhorse, who she deems to be the most innovative and groundbreaking Indigenous author of her generation.

“White Horse” by Erika T. Wurth is the story of Kari James, an indigenous woman who is characterized by her ripped jeans, heavy metal music, occasional beer drinking at the White horse, and reading of Stephen King novels.
But when Debby her cousin stumbles upon an old family bracelet that had once been the property of Kari’s mother, things become very interesting.

She inadvertently invokes her mother’s ghost in addition to a dark monstrosity that soon enough makes her let go of the wilful ignorance of her past.

Hunted by the mysterious creature and visions of her mother, Kari needs to find out what happened to her mother all those years in the past.

She cannot find any help from her disabled father but believes Squeaker her auntie may have some knowledge even though she is not interested in giving it all up at once. Debby seems eager to help but is thwarted at every turn by her domineering husband.
Kari’s family is always getting in the way of her getting to know the truth. Meanwhile, law enforcement is forcing her to deal with her dysfunctional relationships, her desire for what she knows she may never have, and a friend she lost in childhood.

Erika T. Wurth’s novel “Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend” is the thrilling story of Margarite, a sixteen-year-old who is constantly planning an escape from her miserable circumstances.

She is a potent mix of white, Apache, Cherokee, and Chickasaw who finds her home in Idaho Springs, Colorado very depressing.

Besides her dissatisfaction and listlessness with home, margarita also has to confront the everyday stresses of her volatile alcoholic mother and father. Most of the time, she has to help take care of two of her twin sisters who are six years old.
She hates living on the edge of poverty in addition to being surrounded by teenagers with hardly any ambition. Most of them usually escape with alcohol and drugs, even as many succumb to teenage pregnancies.

Ironically, Margarite who smokes pot, and drinks alcohol hopes that she can make it as a drug dealer, which is something Mike Walker her new love wants to introduce her to.

But her hope of escaping her loathsome life comes to naught when she discovers that she is pregnant.

“Buckskin Cocaine” by Erika T. Wurth is a collection of interconnected and well-written stories showcasing the gritty underbelly of Indigenous American film culture.

Every vignette is about a different character with connections to other characters. There are distasteful and manipulative directors whose only thought is having sexual relations with hot women, vain groupies who will do anything to become the next big thing;
a whacked-out mental case ballerina who loves to toy with men and a drug-addicted actress who has to confront the fact that she is slowly but surely becoming washed out.

Erika showcases a knack for telling a good story as she pens characters who transcend the page.