Seven Volumes, One Epic Journey from the Land Above to the World Below
Explore the Tale of Twins saga, where Lakota family choices unfold into a story of belonging, sovereignty, and an extraordinary discovery beneath Kansas.
A Family’s Choices. A Land’s Long-Held Secret.
Tale of Twins by Joe Kidd unfolds across seven volumes, beginning with the intimate decisions of a Lakota family and widening into questions of Indigenous sovereignty, responsibility, and what it means to belong to land rather than own it. Volume One contains Book One: Revelation (Wówicakĥe Ečhúŋyapi) and Book Two: Discovery (Wóyaka). Volume Two continues with Book Three: New Beginnings (Piya Wiconi) and Book Four: Long Journey (Háŋska Oómani). Volume Three brings Book Five: Amity (Mitákuye Oyáśiŋ) and Book Six: Sacred Hoop Restored (Càgléška Wakà waštḗ). Volume Four is The Star Road Home, a Tale of Twins midquel. The arc then continues through Volume Five: Guardians of the Cavern — The Sea, The Oil Lake, The Rock and The Wakantankium; Volume Six: Amity — Sacred Care and The City; and Volume Seven: Tale of Twins — The Hoop and The White Buffalo Calf. Across this long journey, family choices lead toward revelations of an underground world and the question of who is ready to receive what the earth has kept hidden.
The Kansas Land and Its Inheritance
In rural Kansas, a million acres carry a history far older than their recorded ownership. A railroad land grant in 1874 brought the land to Heinrich Braun, a German immigrant who believed he had acquired farmland. It passed through three generations of his family to William White Bear, whose German-Lakota heritage shaped a lifetime of preparation for what the land might one day reveal—and for the Lakota family at the heart of the saga.
What Lies Beneath the Prairie
Beneath that seemingly ordinary landscape lies the rim of an impact crater eight hundred miles across, formed when a sixty-nine-mile-wide iron-nickel-lead asteroid struck at hypervelocity. The collision transformed the continent’s geology and concealed an extraordinary natural resource. As the story moves below ground, the discovery becomes more than a find of unprecedented scale: it tests who belongs to this place, who can care for what it holds, and what its revelations will demand.
From Inheritance to Revelation
Across generations, a family obligation becomes a decades-long act of preparation before the Lakota family discovers what lies beneath the land.
1874
A Grant With Hidden Depths
Heinrich Braun receives a railroad land grant in Kansas, unaware that his million acres trace the rim of an ancient impact crater.
Three Generations
An Obligation Takes Shape
As the land passes through the Braun family, each generation grows more aware that holding it carries a responsibility.
Age Twelve
A Question at the Kitchen Table
William White Bear’s mother asks what he will do with what he has inherited. Her question guides the rest of his life.
Six Decades
Preparing to Receive
William builds legal, financial, institutional, and personal foundations so the people who belong to the land can receive what it offers.
The Discovery
The Lakota Family Finds the Way In
The family William has awaited encounters a resource beneath the land on a scale no one, including William, had imagined.
Across Seven Volumes
The Questions Deepen
The saga follows what the discovery asks of the family, the meaning of sovereignty, and the ancient mystery waiting beneath their feet.
The Seven Volumes, in Order
Volume One · Book One: Revelation (Wówicakĥe Ečhúŋyapi)
Volume One · Book Two: Discovery (Wóyaka)
Volume Two · Book Three: New Beginnings (Piya Wiconi)
Volume Two · Book Four: Long Journey (Háŋska Oómani)
Volume Three · Book Five: Amity (Mitákuye Oyáśiŋ)
Volume Three · Book Six: Sacred Hoop Restored (Càgléška Wakà waštḗ)
Volume Four · The Star Road Home — A Tale of Twins Midquel
Volume Five · Guardians of the Cavern
Volume Five · The Sea
Volume Five · The Oil Lake
Volume Five · The Rock
Volume Five · The Wakantankium
Volume Six · Amity
Volume Six · Sacred Care
Volume Six · The City
Volume Seven · Tale of Twins
Volume Seven · The Hoop
Volume Seven · The White Buffalo Calf
One Story, Widening Horizons
What the Saga Holds
Family at the Center
Siblings and elders face choices that reshape their relationships as the discovery changes what their future can be.
Land and Sovereignty
The story asks what becomes possible when Indigenous people stand at the center of decisions about the land to which they belong.
An Ancient Impact
Beneath rural Kansas lies the geological legacy of an immense asteroid strike, revealed piece by piece across the saga.
A Discovery Beyond Measure
The resource below the land widens the family’s responsibilities far beyond anything William White Bear could prepare for.
The Midquel’s Place
The Star Road Home, Volume Four, opens another path through the tale between its early discoveries and later reckonings.
What Lies Beneath
As the volumes unfold, the cavern’s physical wonders invite deeper questions about sacred meaning and what the earth is ready to give.
“What does it mean to belong to the land instead of owning it? Across seven volumes, Tale of Twins follows a family learning to receive what the earth holds—and to answer that question through the choices they make.”
The question at the heart of Tale of Twins
Start Where the Story Opens
Follow Tale of Twins across seven volumes, from a family’s first life-changing choices to the deeper responsibilities waiting beneath the land. Begin with Revelation, the opening book of the saga.