Until now, Lorna Rainey, a Native New Yorker and owner of Talent Express, normally made her fortune discovering, tapping into and nurturing the talents of others. While she continues to operate as a successful talent agent and business woman, Rainey has taken steps to begin nurturing a talent of her own - writing novels.This past July, Rainey released her first novel, Native Intelligence.

Native Intelligence is staged in post 9/11 New York immediately following the attacks on the World Trade Center. Rainey draws heavily on her own Choctaw heritage as she weaves a suspenseful thriller about the novel's heroine, Nita, a beautiful woman of Choctaw descent who follows her instincts straight into the heart of a sinister anti-American plot. Guided by her ‘native intelligence,’ Nita must discover who and what mysterious substance killed her best friend before the police arrest her as their prime suspect.

On her maternal side, Rainey is a descendant of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Her paternal great-grandfather, the Hon. Joseph H. Rainey, was America’s first Black Congressman. To Rainey, Native Intelligence offers a look into the lives of a segment of Americans that is rarely told.  “I wanted to show contemporary Native American people as they are…living and working among general society….,” says Rainey. “I wanted to show Native people in situations which have nothing to do with eagle feathers and mystical smoke; not to say that those are not a part of the culture. But it is a great disservice to always be relegated to Hollywood Indian stereotypes.”

An advocate of communication, Rainey began her love affair with language with Latin in the fifth grade, French in the sixth and German in the seventh. Since she was raised an Episcopalian, the study of classic Latin was very advantageous during High Mass which was entirely in Latin. “It was truly amazing to realize how much of English, and many other languages, has Latin roots. Even now, I am able to understand many words in other foreign languages because of my study of Latin. It has been a tremendous advantage,” she said.  In High School she continued her Latin and German studies and went on to become a German tutor for other students. For her excellence in the language, she was awarded a scholarship to a total immersion summer session at the University of Kansas. Back in New York for her freshman year of college, Rainey chose German as her major, with a spilt minor in Linguistics and Ancient History. Originally, she intended to be a German-English literary translator, but after years of study was informed that German children are taught English as a required element in school; therefore, most German authors are perfectly capable of translating their own books. She has always been involved in communication….as a copywriter at a radio station and for her own ad agency, as a teacher of grammar and pronunciation at a broadcasting school and as a voice-over announcer. She credits her love of language with the decision to finally become an author.  

The inspiration for Native Intelligence came as a result of an experience she had in a rental car. Once the basic idea had gelled, the rest of the plot came in furious spurts of writing. A full-time talent agent and business woman, Rainey had to limit her writing time.

Many people have asked why the two main characters are Native American. “Our hero and heroine happen to be Native American, and that does add another dimension to the story. I used this as an opportunity to have other Americans remember that, in spite of efforts to eradicate them, the people continue,” she explains. “All of my writing, including the TV sitcom I am shopping, shows our society as it is, blended…with the races and cultures overlapping, intermingling, and striving to work together for a common purpose.”

Native Intelligence was featured in the Native American Times, Queens Courier, New England Informer, Choctaw Community News and on the live call-in program, Native America Calling.

For information on where to purchase the book log onto www.NativeIntelligencethebook.com, Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com or Borders.com.

Glena Hibbert, Public Relations Society of America, contributed to this article.