Like many of his works, Alexie's The Business of Fancydancing (1992), a collection of poems and short stories, depicts life on the Spokane Indian Reservation. In this collection, Alexie created characters and addressed themes that he has visited again in subsequent works.

Alexie's first novel, Reservation Blues (1995), once again features characters that Alexie made famous in his earlier collections, including Victor from "Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at Woodstock." The story details the experiences of Coyote Springs, an all-Native-American, Catholic rock band from the Spokane Indian Reservation, which gets its big break after the band members acquire the guitar of blues legend Robert Johnson.

When Alexie was in his influential poetry class at Washington State University, his professor, Alex Kuo, suggested that he read Songs from This Earth...