Pete Risingsun is an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. He is recognized as a Ceremonial Man who is well-versed in his tribe's ceremonies and traditions of the Creator's circle of life. His experience includes serving as a spirit helper to medicine men in ceremonial sweat lodges, where traditional procedures are meticulously followed.Born in 1950, he was the eighth child of ten, and raised on a small ranch east of Busby, Montana. He's a proud fifth generation descendant of Chief Iron Shirt, his great-great-grandfather, who was a lodge keeper and powerful medicine man. After graduating high school in 1968 he attended Montana State University for four years. He was offered a position with Exxon as an employee relations director overseas. He turned it down, instead completing a three-year apprenticeship in plant operations and working in that capacity for one additional year in Billings, Montana.

When he was offered a job as adult education director for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe back home in Lame Deer, he accepted, grateful to see Billings and the refinery fade away in the rear-view mirror. Upon returning to the reservation, Pete bred championship American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) horses and raised black angus cattle. He served as a Tribal Council member for six years and was the first Northern Cheyenne elected as a Rosebud County Commissioner, a position he held from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2012.He's the proud father of one daughter, Echo Raine, who blessed him with two grandchildren, Sierra Star and Skyler Seven. Pete is currently retired, but stays busy co-writing the remaining volumes in The Curse of Dead Horse Canyon series as well as making and selling sweetgrass braids, a sacred plant used in various ceremonies.