Thunder is the appropriately named new in-house magazine of the Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino.

The magazine, will be distributed in the resort's hotel rooms, and also used as a marketing tool at trade shows, Pueblo of Pojoaque governor George Rivera said.

"I got the idea to publish an in-room publication after seeing similar magazines in Las Vegas (Nev.)," Rivera said. "Las Vegas has some very high-end publications in their resorts. Our next issue will be nicer because we have more time to put it together. We only had three months to work on this one."

Rivera said the next issue will be more culturally and historical oriented, with features about the origins of Pojoaque Pueblo.

The current issue sets the tone for future publications with articles about the resort's "world class Native American art collection," including artists Roxanne Swentzell and Rose Bean Simpson — whose two-story glass mural, Dancer Descending, dominates the hotels main lobby. Simpson's piece was inspired by Marcel Duchamp's famous Nude Descending a Staircase.

Feature sections in the inaugural issue, which came out in June, include Feast, devoted to the resort's dining and drinking establishments; Jackpot, focused on gambling activities; and Live, spotlighting nationally known artists — such as Jay Leno and Ron White — who have or will perform at the resort.

There's also a compelling article about the Pojoaque Pueblo's relationship with the Hilton Hotels Corp.

Hilton, according to Thunder, manages the resort end of Buffalo Thunder, "everything that is non-gaming."

"This is the first time Hilton has agreed to manage a Native American resort," Rivera said. "It's been a satisfying relationship."

Since opening the $275 million Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino in August 2008, other tribes have made overtures to Hilton about opening similar projects, Buffalo Thunder Resort general manager Tim Booth said.

If all goes according to plan, Thunder will be published twice annually — in June and December — with a print run of 40,000 copies. There are also plans to have Thunder on the Internet, Rivera said.

Daniel Gibson, editor of Native Peoples magazine, is the magazines' publisher/editor. Kitty Leaken, a former staff photographer for The New Mexican, is the managing editor and photographer.

"The magazine is multi-functional," Rivera said. "Besides being a marketing tool, it will tell our pueblo's story. How from humble beginnings we have managed to enter the multi-million economic development arena."