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The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.
A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.
A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published March 18, 2025
2,553 people are currently reading
78.4k people want to read
About the author
Stephen Graham Jones
238 books12.2k followersStephen Graham Jones is the NYT bestselling author thirty-five or so books. He really likes werewolves and slashers. Favorite novels change daily, but Valis and Love Medicine and Lonesome Dove and It and The Things They Carried are all usually up there somewhere. Stephen lives in Boulder, Colorado. It's a big change from the West Texas he grew up in.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 837 reviews
March 17, 2025
Horror hits differently when it’s built on the bones of real, genocidal history. The blood, viscera, and supernatural vampire horror is plentiful in The Buffalo Hunter Hunter but it pales in comparison to the real horror story: the brutality of colonisation, the events of the Marias Massacre, and the hunting of the buffalo to near extinction.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter dredges up the historical truth of the massacre, reminding us of the ways history is often written by the victors/colonisers, and consequently sanitised, whitewashed or buried. We get the story through three different perspectives: the eyes of a Blackfeet named Good Stab, a Lutheran pastor and a professor seeking tenure at the University of Wyoming.
The book is a reckoning, an excavation of memory and trauma wrapped in the intimacy of Good Stab’s confessional-style recordings. The epistolary format makes it feel almost voyeuristic, like I’ve stumbled onto something not meant for outside eyes.
Initially, the language of Good Stab took time for me to settle into, because it wasn’t diluted for convenience. There’s no glossary, no hand-holding, no neat little footnotes.
Instead, I had to work for my understanding. It’s a deliberate artistic choice by SGJ, and one I respect and revere. My interpretation is that the language is something to be felt, experienced, understood through context and immersion. The effort you put in to adapt to the flow makes the emotional payoff all the richer.
Additionally, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is not an easy read, nor should it be. Some books exist to comfort, to provide escape. This one exists to confront the carnage that history books so often obscure. The sheer amount of blood, brutality, both against people and animals, is staggering, so be mindful of the content warnings. This book doesn’t just shock, it opens up a wound that never really healed. And that's a history we can’t afford to forget, no matter how ugly it gets.
I’m going to have to add SGJ officially to my favourite list of horror writers. Obviously I recommend this one highly. But that recommendation comes with a warning for a gut-wrenching, painful, but necessary read for understanding the true weight of history.
Thank you so much to NetGalley & Titan Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This one is going to stick with me for a long time.
♦️♦️♦️
A priest, a vampire and an epistolary revenge horror story walk into 1912 Montana............ I don't think there'll be a punchline. Just lots of blood. Stay tuned.
That’s two SGJ books and two 5-star ratings… might as well put his entire catalogue on auto-buy. Someone stop me. Just kidding, don't stop me.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter dredges up the historical truth of the massacre, reminding us of the ways history is often written by the victors/colonisers, and consequently sanitised, whitewashed or buried. We get the story through three different perspectives: the eyes of a Blackfeet named Good Stab, a Lutheran pastor and a professor seeking tenure at the University of Wyoming.
The book is a reckoning, an excavation of memory and trauma wrapped in the intimacy of Good Stab’s confessional-style recordings. The epistolary format makes it feel almost voyeuristic, like I’ve stumbled onto something not meant for outside eyes.
Initially, the language of Good Stab took time for me to settle into, because it wasn’t diluted for convenience. There’s no glossary, no hand-holding, no neat little footnotes.
Instead, I had to work for my understanding. It’s a deliberate artistic choice by SGJ, and one I respect and revere. My interpretation is that the language is something to be felt, experienced, understood through context and immersion. The effort you put in to adapt to the flow makes the emotional payoff all the richer.
Additionally, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is not an easy read, nor should it be. Some books exist to comfort, to provide escape. This one exists to confront the carnage that history books so often obscure. The sheer amount of blood, brutality, both against people and animals, is staggering, so be mindful of the content warnings. This book doesn’t just shock, it opens up a wound that never really healed. And that's a history we can’t afford to forget, no matter how ugly it gets.
I’m going to have to add SGJ officially to my favourite list of horror writers. Obviously I recommend this one highly. But that recommendation comes with a warning for a gut-wrenching, painful, but necessary read for understanding the true weight of history.
Thank you so much to NetGalley & Titan Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This one is going to stick with me for a long time.
♦️♦️♦️
A priest, a vampire and an epistolary revenge horror story walk into 1912 Montana............ I don't think there'll be a punchline. Just lots of blood. Stay tuned.
That’s two SGJ books and two 5-star ratings… might as well put his entire catalogue on auto-buy. Someone stop me. Just kidding, don't stop me.
December 19, 2024
I don't even really know where to begin. This is an outstanding horror novel, but it's not a pleasant read. It's enthralling, but it's not exactly enjoyable. The historical bits are interesting, but they're also awful. I read the last 40% in one sitting because I was so invested in the story, but I was disgusted by pretty much all of it. So did I love it or did I hate it? Well, a little bit of both, I think.
First off, the trigger warnings: Well, there's death and death and more death. Human death. Animal death. Like, so much death. And it's all traumatic and gory and terrible. Most of the animal deaths are wild animals and not pets, if that makes a difference to anyone.
The text is a little confusing at times. There are Pikuni words and their anglicized counterparts used constantly, and they're often not explained immediately (or at all, in some cases). Heck, I still don't know the identity of half of the animals that Good Stab kept mentioning. I also highly recommend reading the Wikipedia articles on the Piegan Blackfeet and the Marias Massacre before starting this novel – I read them after the fact, and wish I would have sought them out earlier. The summaries really helped with some terminology and also with understanding the details of and the “whys” behind the horrible events of this book.
And that's part of what makes this novel so difficult to read, I think: these events actually happened. I mean, not the vampire bits, of course, but the rest of it. The Pikuni are real people and the Marias Massacre really did happen. The buffalo were hunted almost to extinction and the Pikuni did starve because of it. Native Americans were forced onto reservations by the United States government. When you look at it from a historical point of view, Good Stab's actions start to make a lot more sense. Stephen Graham Jones really did an amazing job of weaving actual history into his fictional tale.
The supernatural aspects of this story are pretty well laid out in the blurb: a Pikuni vampire seeks revenge for the decimation of the buffalo and his people. Jones's writing is atmospheric and creepy, and I appreciated his fresh take on vampire lore. Good Stab is a morally gray character, but it's not hard to feel sympathy for him and his plight.
Overall, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter isn't a fun read or even necessarily an enjoyable one, and the subject matter is dark and difficult to stomach at times. However, it's also enthralling and well-written, and it sheds some much-needed light on a truly awful chapter in American history. If you enjoy horror and historical fiction and can handle the violence and death that permeates this novel, definitely consider giving it a read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review. Its expected publication date is March 18, 2025.
First off, the trigger warnings: Well, there's death and death and more death. Human death. Animal death. Like, so much death. And it's all traumatic and gory and terrible. Most of the animal deaths are wild animals and not pets, if that makes a difference to anyone.
The text is a little confusing at times. There are Pikuni words and their anglicized counterparts used constantly, and they're often not explained immediately (or at all, in some cases). Heck, I still don't know the identity of half of the animals that Good Stab kept mentioning. I also highly recommend reading the Wikipedia articles on the Piegan Blackfeet and the Marias Massacre before starting this novel – I read them after the fact, and wish I would have sought them out earlier. The summaries really helped with some terminology and also with understanding the details of and the “whys” behind the horrible events of this book.
And that's part of what makes this novel so difficult to read, I think: these events actually happened. I mean, not the vampire bits, of course, but the rest of it. The Pikuni are real people and the Marias Massacre really did happen. The buffalo were hunted almost to extinction and the Pikuni did starve because of it. Native Americans were forced onto reservations by the United States government. When you look at it from a historical point of view, Good Stab's actions start to make a lot more sense. Stephen Graham Jones really did an amazing job of weaving actual history into his fictional tale.
The supernatural aspects of this story are pretty well laid out in the blurb: a Pikuni vampire seeks revenge for the decimation of the buffalo and his people. Jones's writing is atmospheric and creepy, and I appreciated his fresh take on vampire lore. Good Stab is a morally gray character, but it's not hard to feel sympathy for him and his plight.
Overall, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter isn't a fun read or even necessarily an enjoyable one, and the subject matter is dark and difficult to stomach at times. However, it's also enthralling and well-written, and it sheds some much-needed light on a truly awful chapter in American history. If you enjoy horror and historical fiction and can handle the violence and death that permeates this novel, definitely consider giving it a read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review. Its expected publication date is March 18, 2025.
March 12, 2025
Title/Author: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
Page Count: 448
Publisher: SAGA Press
Format: Hardcover
Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: Too many to count!
Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/978166807...
Release Date: March 18th, 2025
General Genre: Western, Supernatural, Paranormal, Vampires, Historical Fiction
Sub-Genre/Themes: Buffalo hunting, Colonization, racism, oppression, genocide, STOLEN LAND AND RESOURCES, vampires, revenge, justice
Writing Style: Back-and-forth POV, journals, letters
What You Need to Know: A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.
My Reading Experience: Reading Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones was an experience that left me emotionally drained in the best way. There’s no distance between the reader and the protagonist’s suffering; it pulls you in, immersing you in the dark truth of the American West.
“You can’t stop a country from happening.”
“But we were already a Nation.”
.
I’d like to report this book as an actual threat to my feelings. In classic SGJ form, the story took a minute to grab me and pull me in. I was worried there for a second (this happens a lot when I start one of his books). I forget who I am dealing with. There’s a different level of presence and attention I need to bring to a SGJ book. I’m standing at the threshold of this story, this almost 500 pages book and I see Good Stab standing there waiting for me to get my head and my heart in this fucking game.
“With enough blood in me, I can see colors in the night, and I can taste those colors, and hear the roots of trees…”
Oh, I see you. I see the land, I see your people and your resources and your culture. I see your enemy. He’s my enemy too.
I want to share a little warning, this book hurts. It devastated me and the title tells you about what’s happening to the buffalo, so know that going into it but worse than that are the human monsters that are not just hunting buffalo but the people who live alongside the buffalo. It’s painful to read but then the title repeats a word doesn’t it? Someone hunting the hunters and for me, that’s what makes this book so special…the way SGJ reclaims the historical narrative. Horror + Heart. ♥️ I show up for it every time. There’s more I want to say about the way SGJ manipulates vampire lore to serve this story in some unique ways. But it would totally ruin some moments of dead-ass horror and readers need to discover that on their own. I just need to say, SGJ took the undying, immortal body of vampires and put his own fingerprints on that. The same can be said about transformation, how vampires turn others, and some really cool stuff with new identities. It’s all just very tricksy SGJ-stuff that’s really badass.
“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.”
Final Recommendation: Readers who show up for the GOOD, good stuff from Dr. Jones will not be disappointed. The expected horror with heart, the historical backdrop and the flipped script giving me those Earthdivers vibes–reclaiming that narrative and telling history from side of Indigenous people endlessly fighting colonization, oppression, persecution, and subjugation from the likes of white patriarchal systems who ravage, destroy, and kill to fill their bottomless coffers.
Comps: The Hunger by Alma Katsu, There There by Tommy Orange, The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, Attack of the 50 ft Indian by SGJ, Never Whistle at Night anthology
Page Count: 448
Publisher: SAGA Press
Format: Hardcover
Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: Too many to count!
Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/978166807...
Release Date: March 18th, 2025
General Genre: Western, Supernatural, Paranormal, Vampires, Historical Fiction
Sub-Genre/Themes: Buffalo hunting, Colonization, racism, oppression, genocide, STOLEN LAND AND RESOURCES, vampires, revenge, justice
Writing Style: Back-and-forth POV, journals, letters
What You Need to Know: A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.
My Reading Experience: Reading Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones was an experience that left me emotionally drained in the best way. There’s no distance between the reader and the protagonist’s suffering; it pulls you in, immersing you in the dark truth of the American West.
“You can’t stop a country from happening.”
“But we were already a Nation.”
.
I’d like to report this book as an actual threat to my feelings. In classic SGJ form, the story took a minute to grab me and pull me in. I was worried there for a second (this happens a lot when I start one of his books). I forget who I am dealing with. There’s a different level of presence and attention I need to bring to a SGJ book. I’m standing at the threshold of this story, this almost 500 pages book and I see Good Stab standing there waiting for me to get my head and my heart in this fucking game.
“With enough blood in me, I can see colors in the night, and I can taste those colors, and hear the roots of trees…”
Oh, I see you. I see the land, I see your people and your resources and your culture. I see your enemy. He’s my enemy too.
I want to share a little warning, this book hurts. It devastated me and the title tells you about what’s happening to the buffalo, so know that going into it but worse than that are the human monsters that are not just hunting buffalo but the people who live alongside the buffalo. It’s painful to read but then the title repeats a word doesn’t it? Someone hunting the hunters and for me, that’s what makes this book so special…the way SGJ reclaims the historical narrative. Horror + Heart. ♥️ I show up for it every time. There’s more I want to say about the way SGJ manipulates vampire lore to serve this story in some unique ways. But it would totally ruin some moments of dead-ass horror and readers need to discover that on their own. I just need to say, SGJ took the undying, immortal body of vampires and put his own fingerprints on that. The same can be said about transformation, how vampires turn others, and some really cool stuff with new identities. It’s all just very tricksy SGJ-stuff that’s really badass.
“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.”
Final Recommendation: Readers who show up for the GOOD, good stuff from Dr. Jones will not be disappointed. The expected horror with heart, the historical backdrop and the flipped script giving me those Earthdivers vibes–reclaiming that narrative and telling history from side of Indigenous people endlessly fighting colonization, oppression, persecution, and subjugation from the likes of white patriarchal systems who ravage, destroy, and kill to fill their bottomless coffers.
Comps: The Hunger by Alma Katsu, There There by Tommy Orange, The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, Attack of the 50 ft Indian by SGJ, Never Whistle at Night anthology
April 6, 2025
THE BEST HISTORICAL HORROR NOVEL I'VE EVER READ!
MY TOP CONTENDER FOR MY FAVORITE BOOK OF 2025!!
THE MOST THOUGHTFUL VAMPIRE NOVEL I'VE EVER READ, AND PROBABLY EVER WILL!!!
AN EXCEPTIONAL AUDIOBOOK PRODUCTION -- GET YOUR HANDS ON IT IF YOU CAN!!!!
I CRIED REAL GROWN-LADY TEARS AT THE END!!!!!
I'm not sure I need to say too much else about this. I'm sure from the stunning declarations above, you get the picture of my thoughts and feelings on The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.
I would also say though, as far as the content of the story goes, the Publisher's synopsis really does a good job of telling you everything you would want to know going in. The book is best served if you just take your time with it, and let it reveal itself to you in the way SGJ would want.
Trust him. He knows what he's doing.
If you follow my reviews at all, you probably already know that Stephen Graham Jones is one of my favorite authors; bested only by Stephen King in my rankings.
I always look forward to his new releases and I feel like every time I finish one, I end up saying, this is his best work yet!!
I know I said that last year upon completing my favorite book of 2024, I Was a Teenage Slasher, and I'm about to get repetitive, because THIS IS his best work yet.
When I tell you I was engrossed in this story, I mean it. Every fiber of my being was invested. The way it was told, it was like I was there. Each aspect of the narrative was blended seamlessly together for maximum impact.
I couldn't stop once I started. I needed to know the truth behind this story; the everything behind this story.
The audiobook production was a master class in bringing a story to life; in transporting the Reader to another place and making them a part of the action.
Particularly, in the final act. OMG, I cannot express how good it is. If you have the opportunity to get your hands on the audio, in addition to the hard copy, I would 1,000,000x recommend that.
At the end of the day, Stephen Graham Jones is such a talent. His edgy-style brings a distinct voice to all of his stories. You can tell that he pours his entire soul into his work. It shows. Every book is a journey that I don't want to end.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Saga Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
Finally, a sincere thank you to the author, Stephen Graham Jones, for continuing to hone your craft. Your ability to stay creative and keep pushing boundaries always astounds me. You are so appreciated. I can't wait to discover what's next!!!
MY TOP CONTENDER FOR MY FAVORITE BOOK OF 2025!!
THE MOST THOUGHTFUL VAMPIRE NOVEL I'VE EVER READ, AND PROBABLY EVER WILL!!!
AN EXCEPTIONAL AUDIOBOOK PRODUCTION -- GET YOUR HANDS ON IT IF YOU CAN!!!!
I CRIED REAL GROWN-LADY TEARS AT THE END!!!!!
I'm not sure I need to say too much else about this. I'm sure from the stunning declarations above, you get the picture of my thoughts and feelings on The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.
I would also say though, as far as the content of the story goes, the Publisher's synopsis really does a good job of telling you everything you would want to know going in. The book is best served if you just take your time with it, and let it reveal itself to you in the way SGJ would want.
Trust him. He knows what he's doing.
If you follow my reviews at all, you probably already know that Stephen Graham Jones is one of my favorite authors; bested only by Stephen King in my rankings.
I always look forward to his new releases and I feel like every time I finish one, I end up saying, this is his best work yet!!
I know I said that last year upon completing my favorite book of 2024, I Was a Teenage Slasher, and I'm about to get repetitive, because THIS IS his best work yet.
When I tell you I was engrossed in this story, I mean it. Every fiber of my being was invested. The way it was told, it was like I was there. Each aspect of the narrative was blended seamlessly together for maximum impact.
I couldn't stop once I started. I needed to know the truth behind this story; the everything behind this story.
The audiobook production was a master class in bringing a story to life; in transporting the Reader to another place and making them a part of the action.
Particularly, in the final act. OMG, I cannot express how good it is. If you have the opportunity to get your hands on the audio, in addition to the hard copy, I would 1,000,000x recommend that.
At the end of the day, Stephen Graham Jones is such a talent. His edgy-style brings a distinct voice to all of his stories. You can tell that he pours his entire soul into his work. It shows. Every book is a journey that I don't want to end.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Saga Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
Finally, a sincere thank you to the author, Stephen Graham Jones, for continuing to hone your craft. Your ability to stay creative and keep pushing boundaries always astounds me. You are so appreciated. I can't wait to discover what's next!!!
April 5, 2025
The Blackfeet Tribe has a dark history in America. Let's face it, there's a lot of dark history in America and we might be creating more, even as I write this. What this book does is enlighten readers about some of that history, and it entertains as it does so. Because this tale is told by a Native American vampire to a priest. Yep. A vampire and a priest.
The narrative is framed by a woman receiving a diary written by one of her ancestors. As she begins, the point of view switches to that of the priest that originally wrote the diary. From there we learn about the Lutheran priest of a small flock in Montana near the late 1800's, who has a Native American,(named Good Stab), dressed in robes and sunglasses, show up at a Sunday service. He keeps coming and before long requests the rite of confession. His confession goes on for weeks and is recorded in the diary. And that's all I'm going to say about the plot.
Regarding the story itself: I'll be upfront, it's long and sometimes it is difficult to read. The language the priest uses while he is writing in the diary is typical of the time period. The language where the narrator is Good Stab, (as transcribed by the priest), is a bit difficult to get used to. As he is Native American, he has words for people/animals/plants/everything in his language and he isn't proficient enough in English to do otherwise. For this reason, one must read for a while and naturally throughout the story, you figure out what a Blackhorn is and what dirty-faces are.
As Good Stab's "confession" goes on the reader becomes more and more horrified. We can't forget that Good Stab is a vampire with all that that entails. Make no mistake, while this is historical fiction, it is also horror. There are plenty of guts and entrails to go around. That said, this reader thought the vampire was pretty tame to what the white man did. Because this book piqued my curiosity, I went looking for the historical event on which this book pivots. I discovered that it was far more horrific than what any vampire could do, mostly because it's REAL and it happened.
Many people probably remember the film Dances with Wolves and the despair which the Native Americans experienced when the buffalo started being slaughtered. Entire tribes depended on the buffalo for everything, and without them they could not survive. Imagine how they felt when they saw their land covered in dead buffalo and the bodies left to rot. It's one thing to see it, as in the film, but it was another thing entirely to hear the story from a man who was there. It becomes more immediate and more painful when you do.
In spite of all this darkness,, there were a few hopeful spots...or at least they were hopeful for a little while. There were a few poignant spots as well, and I know I was not the only one to cry over Weasel Plume.
I initially rated this 4 stars, but on thinking it over I'm going with a 4.5, rounded up for places like Goodreads where half stars aren't allowed. I absolutely loved this AND I learned a lot, but I do think it was a smidge too long in the middle. A time or two, I found myself reluctant to return to it, but that could be just a "me" thing. The news these days is rather dark and sometimes I couldn't abide reading such a dark tale at the same time these things were happening.
Overall, I think this book is a FORCE. It's a voice out of Native American history, one that many of us didn't learn a lot about in our youth. It was sort of glossed over, like Christopher Columbus' story was, and I believe that was a disservice. Not learning about your country's mistakes, things your country should be ashamed about, does nothing for anyone. We are doomed to repeat history if we do not learn from it, and how can one learn when the teacher's are not teaching? This lesson apparently is one we still have not learned, as books are being removed from libraries all over the country RIGHT NOW.
These are my takeaways from this tale, another reader may have a completely different takeaway. All I know is that I was moved in many ways by this brutal tale, and for that I think Stephen Graham Jones is an American treasure and I highly recommend The Buffalo Hunter Hunter!
*ARC from publisher
The narrative is framed by a woman receiving a diary written by one of her ancestors. As she begins, the point of view switches to that of the priest that originally wrote the diary. From there we learn about the Lutheran priest of a small flock in Montana near the late 1800's, who has a Native American,(named Good Stab), dressed in robes and sunglasses, show up at a Sunday service. He keeps coming and before long requests the rite of confession. His confession goes on for weeks and is recorded in the diary. And that's all I'm going to say about the plot.
Regarding the story itself: I'll be upfront, it's long and sometimes it is difficult to read. The language the priest uses while he is writing in the diary is typical of the time period. The language where the narrator is Good Stab, (as transcribed by the priest), is a bit difficult to get used to. As he is Native American, he has words for people/animals/plants/everything in his language and he isn't proficient enough in English to do otherwise. For this reason, one must read for a while and naturally throughout the story, you figure out what a Blackhorn is and what dirty-faces are.
As Good Stab's "confession" goes on the reader becomes more and more horrified. We can't forget that Good Stab is a vampire with all that that entails. Make no mistake, while this is historical fiction, it is also horror. There are plenty of guts and entrails to go around. That said, this reader thought the vampire was pretty tame to what the white man did. Because this book piqued my curiosity, I went looking for the historical event on which this book pivots. I discovered that it was far more horrific than what any vampire could do, mostly because it's REAL and it happened.
Many people probably remember the film Dances with Wolves and the despair which the Native Americans experienced when the buffalo started being slaughtered. Entire tribes depended on the buffalo for everything, and without them they could not survive. Imagine how they felt when they saw their land covered in dead buffalo and the bodies left to rot. It's one thing to see it, as in the film, but it was another thing entirely to hear the story from a man who was there. It becomes more immediate and more painful when you do.
In spite of all this darkness,, there were a few hopeful spots...or at least they were hopeful for a little while. There were a few poignant spots as well, and I know I was not the only one to cry over Weasel Plume.
I initially rated this 4 stars, but on thinking it over I'm going with a 4.5, rounded up for places like Goodreads where half stars aren't allowed. I absolutely loved this AND I learned a lot, but I do think it was a smidge too long in the middle. A time or two, I found myself reluctant to return to it, but that could be just a "me" thing. The news these days is rather dark and sometimes I couldn't abide reading such a dark tale at the same time these things were happening.
Overall, I think this book is a FORCE. It's a voice out of Native American history, one that many of us didn't learn a lot about in our youth. It was sort of glossed over, like Christopher Columbus' story was, and I believe that was a disservice. Not learning about your country's mistakes, things your country should be ashamed about, does nothing for anyone. We are doomed to repeat history if we do not learn from it, and how can one learn when the teacher's are not teaching? This lesson apparently is one we still have not learned, as books are being removed from libraries all over the country RIGHT NOW.
These are my takeaways from this tale, another reader may have a completely different takeaway. All I know is that I was moved in many ways by this brutal tale, and for that I think Stephen Graham Jones is an American treasure and I highly recommend The Buffalo Hunter Hunter!
*ARC from publisher
April 5, 2025
⭐️ ⭐️
Ok, let the outlier castigation begin…
I know words. I speak them, hear them, read them, write them. I even eat them quite often. But these words were not parsable for my disordered brain. This prose is so inaccessible for me. I felt like a child trying to understand an adult conversation about the weight of moral ineptitude on the fabric of society.
I spent ALL of my time with this book trying to make sense of the last sentence, never looking forward to the next. When I do that, I lose complete track of what’s happening in the story. None of this was enjoyable to me.
I admire its boldness and storytelling audacity. I’m glad that so many people love it, and I appreciate that it’s strengthening the genre. It’s just not for me, and I think that probably says more about me than this clearly gifted author.
On to the next one…
Ok, let the outlier castigation begin…
I know words. I speak them, hear them, read them, write them. I even eat them quite often. But these words were not parsable for my disordered brain. This prose is so inaccessible for me. I felt like a child trying to understand an adult conversation about the weight of moral ineptitude on the fabric of society.
I spent ALL of my time with this book trying to make sense of the last sentence, never looking forward to the next. When I do that, I lose complete track of what’s happening in the story. None of this was enjoyable to me.
I admire its boldness and storytelling audacity. I’m glad that so many people love it, and I appreciate that it’s strengthening the genre. It’s just not for me, and I think that probably says more about me than this clearly gifted author.
On to the next one…
February 18, 2025
Using a frame narrative à la Frankenstein, the latest outing from horror master Stephen Graham Jones revisits the true events of the Marias Massacre with a speculative twist.
We begin with Etsy Beaucarne in 2012, a struggling academic in her early 40s fighting for tenure. When a lost journal from her great-great-grandfather, a Lutheran Priest named Arthur Beaucarne, is discovered on a construction site, she sees the chance to develop something compelling enough to cement her place at the university. Much of the narrative itself is Arthur's journal entries from 1912, which in turn include transcriptions of a 'confession' of sorts, given to him by a man from the Blackfeet nation of events that occurred in 1870. These stories layer on one another to examine the effects of westward expansion, 'Manifest Destiny', and the lingering effects this ideology had on indigenous peoples.
But of course since its a SGJ novel, there's a supernatural twist that takes this beyond just a simple historical fiction. I'll leave you to discover that for yourself, but all I will say is that SGJ's creativity continues to impress and surprise me novel after novel after novel. He has truly become one of my favorite authors to follow.
This book was SO clever. It also packed a punch in both the creep factor as well as the way he handled the historical aspect that illuminated a dark spot in American (especially white American) history. I wasn't aware of the Marias Massacre before reading this, and it wasn't until I'd finished the novel that I learned just how much of this 'fictional story' is far from made up. SGJ utilized a lot of the events and individuals involved in that horrific massacre in this book, while still creating a mesmerizing and addictive tale of vengeance and grief.
The only complaint I have with this book is that I think it was a bit too long. The middle 1/3 or so is a bit repetitive with some of the narrative elements, and I think if that had been cut down by 50-75 pages it would've maintained the overall power of what he is exploring without bogging down the story with too much of the same thing. Regardless, reading SGJ's prose and seeing how he crafts a story is still always a pleasure, even if it tended to go on a bit longer than necessary.
I can't wait for people to pick this up when it comes out in March! I think if you already love historical fiction and want something with horror elements, and if you like stories within stories and things that come full circle narratively, you will love this one. SGJ, you can do no wrong!
We begin with Etsy Beaucarne in 2012, a struggling academic in her early 40s fighting for tenure. When a lost journal from her great-great-grandfather, a Lutheran Priest named Arthur Beaucarne, is discovered on a construction site, she sees the chance to develop something compelling enough to cement her place at the university. Much of the narrative itself is Arthur's journal entries from 1912, which in turn include transcriptions of a 'confession' of sorts, given to him by a man from the Blackfeet nation of events that occurred in 1870. These stories layer on one another to examine the effects of westward expansion, 'Manifest Destiny', and the lingering effects this ideology had on indigenous peoples.
But of course since its a SGJ novel, there's a supernatural twist that takes this beyond just a simple historical fiction. I'll leave you to discover that for yourself, but all I will say is that SGJ's creativity continues to impress and surprise me novel after novel after novel. He has truly become one of my favorite authors to follow.
This book was SO clever. It also packed a punch in both the creep factor as well as the way he handled the historical aspect that illuminated a dark spot in American (especially white American) history. I wasn't aware of the Marias Massacre before reading this, and it wasn't until I'd finished the novel that I learned just how much of this 'fictional story' is far from made up. SGJ utilized a lot of the events and individuals involved in that horrific massacre in this book, while still creating a mesmerizing and addictive tale of vengeance and grief.
The only complaint I have with this book is that I think it was a bit too long. The middle 1/3 or so is a bit repetitive with some of the narrative elements, and I think if that had been cut down by 50-75 pages it would've maintained the overall power of what he is exploring without bogging down the story with too much of the same thing. Regardless, reading SGJ's prose and seeing how he crafts a story is still always a pleasure, even if it tended to go on a bit longer than necessary.
I can't wait for people to pick this up when it comes out in March! I think if you already love historical fiction and want something with horror elements, and if you like stories within stories and things that come full circle narratively, you will love this one. SGJ, you can do no wrong!
March 6, 2025
This book was difficult to get through…..the writing was just incredibly difficult to follow….
Listen, this self-proclaimed bibliophile reads, alllll kinds of stuff. I was excited to read this off of the description and cover but oh did that excitement wain as I turned page after page.
I struggled to stay interested, to be captivated, to just understand it at times. I had to re-read portions more than once. I was bored, found my mind drifting and wanted to put it down out of frustration.
The premise is amazing, the execution was… lacking.
I see all these high ratings and ask myself how I missed the mark. I’ve read classics/ unique writing before, so I can deal with obscure language and styles, but this just didn’t hit the mark.
This isn’t an engrossing vampire read with all the mystical powers or elements I’ve come to know and love (and I love both Twilight AND Dracula the classic) but you may like it as a more historical realism piece.
Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
Listen, this self-proclaimed bibliophile reads, alllll kinds of stuff. I was excited to read this off of the description and cover but oh did that excitement wain as I turned page after page.
I struggled to stay interested, to be captivated, to just understand it at times. I had to re-read portions more than once. I was bored, found my mind drifting and wanted to put it down out of frustration.
The premise is amazing, the execution was… lacking.
I see all these high ratings and ask myself how I missed the mark. I’ve read classics/ unique writing before, so I can deal with obscure language and styles, but this just didn’t hit the mark.
This isn’t an engrossing vampire read with all the mystical powers or elements I’ve come to know and love (and I love both Twilight AND Dracula the classic) but you may like it as a more historical realism piece.
Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
March 26, 2025
“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.”
I have enjoyed a few of Stephen Graham Jones’s books– but nothing prepared me for “Buffalo Buffalo Hunter.” This is a truly unique experience.
Glancing at the dust jacket, you might assume you know what you are in store for: this is a western, a Blackfoot man becomes a vampire and rains his vengeance down upon white America for the decimation of his tribe and family. However, this initial perception belies the story's true depth. The narrative transcends predictable tropes, delving into a darker, more profound exploration. Shadows deepen, spirits cry out, and souls undergo agonizing torment. In other words, Jones is leading us into a gothic, nightmarish realm.
In 2012 a document was discovered, written a hundred years ago by a Lutheran minister, Arthur Beaucarne. This is forwarded to his great-great granddaughter, Etsy Beaucarne, who studies it in the hope of capitalizing on this find. Her voice bookends the novel, with the preacher’s journal entries revealing the details of his life and the eerie confessions he heard from one man.
Historically, in 1870, the US Army broke a promise of protection and murdered over 200 Blackfeet people, mostly women, children, and the elderly, in the Marias Massacre. Arthur’s journal reveals that over forty years later a mysterious character, a Blackfoot man by the name of Good Stab, periodically appears at his church to reveal his fantastic history. At the same time, mutilated and painted bodies are turning up in the vicinity. As their dialogue progresses, Arthur becomes increasingly alarmed, threatened both by the evil he fears in this supernatural being and by an unspeakable guilt he has tried to keep repressed.
To say the atmosphere Jones conjures up is creepy does not do it justice. The church scenes, in particular, evoke a chilling dread that lingers long after reading, making you question whether the terror will follow you beyond the book's pages. A character named “Cat Man” is one of the genre’s most menacing figures. Finally, one character suffers a staggeringly insane fate; one hard to believe, if not totally justified.
There are triggers everywhere, particularly with regards to animal cruelty. While these incidents are integral to the plot, if you are at all sensitive, I would give this book a wide berth. Violence is a given, as well. Of course, historically the ease at which white America butchered humans in their way is far more horrific than any fictional depiction.
A complex and profound narrative, "Buffalo Hunter Hunter" stands as one of the best horror novels in years.
Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #BHH #NetGalley
I have enjoyed a few of Stephen Graham Jones’s books– but nothing prepared me for “Buffalo Buffalo Hunter.” This is a truly unique experience.
Glancing at the dust jacket, you might assume you know what you are in store for: this is a western, a Blackfoot man becomes a vampire and rains his vengeance down upon white America for the decimation of his tribe and family. However, this initial perception belies the story's true depth. The narrative transcends predictable tropes, delving into a darker, more profound exploration. Shadows deepen, spirits cry out, and souls undergo agonizing torment. In other words, Jones is leading us into a gothic, nightmarish realm.
In 2012 a document was discovered, written a hundred years ago by a Lutheran minister, Arthur Beaucarne. This is forwarded to his great-great granddaughter, Etsy Beaucarne, who studies it in the hope of capitalizing on this find. Her voice bookends the novel, with the preacher’s journal entries revealing the details of his life and the eerie confessions he heard from one man.
Historically, in 1870, the US Army broke a promise of protection and murdered over 200 Blackfeet people, mostly women, children, and the elderly, in the Marias Massacre. Arthur’s journal reveals that over forty years later a mysterious character, a Blackfoot man by the name of Good Stab, periodically appears at his church to reveal his fantastic history. At the same time, mutilated and painted bodies are turning up in the vicinity. As their dialogue progresses, Arthur becomes increasingly alarmed, threatened both by the evil he fears in this supernatural being and by an unspeakable guilt he has tried to keep repressed.
To say the atmosphere Jones conjures up is creepy does not do it justice. The church scenes, in particular, evoke a chilling dread that lingers long after reading, making you question whether the terror will follow you beyond the book's pages. A character named “Cat Man” is one of the genre’s most menacing figures. Finally, one character suffers a staggeringly insane fate; one hard to believe, if not totally justified.
There are triggers everywhere, particularly with regards to animal cruelty. While these incidents are integral to the plot, if you are at all sensitive, I would give this book a wide berth. Violence is a given, as well. Of course, historically the ease at which white America butchered humans in their way is far more horrific than any fictional depiction.
A complex and profound narrative, "Buffalo Hunter Hunter" stands as one of the best horror novels in years.
Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #BHH #NetGalley
February 26, 2025
Steeped in history and true horror, Stephen Graham Jones' The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a stunning reinvention of vampire lore that will transport you to the early 1900's American West. The epistolary format, reminiscent of Dracula, pulls readers into a chilling fragmented narrative that unfolds like a long buried secret finally coming to light.
Jones' character work is top tier. Pastor Arthur Beaucarne and Good Stab are vividly drawn, their perspectives rich with sorrow, faith and fury. Jones explores questions of identity and heritage alongside revenge and guilt in the face of the justification of atrocities. The horror hits hard - both the blood soaked violence and the quieter more insidious emotional wounds. Jones doesn't just write monsters - he writes haunted complicated people who will leave you questioning who the real monster is.
This is a slow burn novel where the mystery unfolds gradually, rewarding patient readers with layered revelations. At times the pacing lingers longer than necessary, stretching the suspense past the point of the reveal and yet the characters and their stories remain gripping. The modern day bookends of the novel don't resonate as powerfully as the historical core and I personally found the name 'Etsy' somewhat distracting.
But none of that dulls the impact. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is an unforgettable, meticulously crafted work of horror. Thought provoking, terrifying, and impossible to shake, Jones proves why he's one of the genre's greats with a must read for lovers of historical horror and vampire lore alike.
Thank you Titan Books for the arc.
Jones' character work is top tier. Pastor Arthur Beaucarne and Good Stab are vividly drawn, their perspectives rich with sorrow, faith and fury. Jones explores questions of identity and heritage alongside revenge and guilt in the face of the justification of atrocities. The horror hits hard - both the blood soaked violence and the quieter more insidious emotional wounds. Jones doesn't just write monsters - he writes haunted complicated people who will leave you questioning who the real monster is.
This is a slow burn novel where the mystery unfolds gradually, rewarding patient readers with layered revelations. At times the pacing lingers longer than necessary, stretching the suspense past the point of the reveal and yet the characters and their stories remain gripping. The modern day bookends of the novel don't resonate as powerfully as the historical core and I personally found the name 'Etsy' somewhat distracting.
But none of that dulls the impact. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is an unforgettable, meticulously crafted work of horror. Thought provoking, terrifying, and impossible to shake, Jones proves why he's one of the genre's greats with a must read for lovers of historical horror and vampire lore alike.
Thank you Titan Books for the arc.
March 6, 2025
Good Stab fell to his knees, pressed his forehead to the floor and he screamed too, and I daresay our screams harmonized, at least in how much they pained us.---------------------------------------
This, I believe, is the story of America, told in a forgotten church in the hinterlands, with a choir of the dead mutely witnessing.
“Your tore out the heart of my people, Three-Persons,” Good Stab said into the floor.
“I’m sorry,” I said back, I knew how weakly. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry.”
“Is it wrong to kill?” he asked then, again, sitting back on his haunches, his bared arms hooked around his knees. “Is this what you tell your people who come each Sunday?”
“Yes,” I said.
What I am is the Indian who can’t die.The vampire genre has a new dark star. Far from the European roots we all know, Stephen Graham Jones has created a uniquely American, a uniquely Native American version of the tormented and tormenting blood-sucker. The novel is rich, not only with the horrors of the genre, but with the very un-magical horrors of the time. No vampire could possibly compete with the mass slaughter of the American Bison, nor of the Native American peoples. This envisioning of an American vampire includes a remarkable twist, new to the genre, at least as far as I am aware.
I’m the worst dream America ever had.
Good Stab’s damnation comes with a wickedly satisfying pair of rules: he must feed on his prey until it’s dry—sometimes causing his side to literally burst open—and he grows to resemble whatever he’s feeding from. - from the PW interviewThe structure is frame within a frame within a frame. Etsy Beaucarne is our outermost, in 2012, a struggling academic, the descendant of a pastor from the 19th century. Arthur Beaucarne, a Lutheran, ministered to the religious needs of the residents of Miles City, Montana. His journal, stowed in 1912 was recently found in an old parsonage undergoing renovation (cheekily referred to as revamping). In this journal, Arthur, the second frame, relates the tale told to him by a strange Native American man, Good Stab. The Indian appears at the back of his congregation, in dark clerical garb, wearing sunglasses, and wanting to talk. His tale is terrifying and compelling.
Stephen Graham Jones - image from 5280 Magazine - shot by Matthew DeFeo
It is an American history not taught in Western schools. The Marias Massacre took place 1870. A U.S. cavalry troop was sent to do damage to a particular branch of the Pikuni tribe, not the branch that had made an alliance with the incoming settlers. The leader of the troop, despite being shown documentation of the alliance, decided that one Indian is the same as another and proceeded to massacre 217 mostly women, children, and old men, many suffering from small pox.
Good Stab, a Pikuni, named for his nifty defense against an attacker, was 37 when he encountered the creature he calls Cat Man.
The thing had a thin white face with intelligence to it, and at first I thought its chin and mouth were painted for ceremony, but then I saw that it was just that it ate like a sticky-mouth, where it made a mess, and then let that blood stay like it was proud of it, wanted all the other four-leggeds see what it could do. Its mouth looked like it was pushing out too far, too, bringing the nose with it. But I told myself that was just because the dried blood made it look that way.We follow Good Stab's tale through decades, as told to Pastor Beaucarne, as he struggles to survive, and finds purpose in taking down those who seek to kill “blackhorns.” There are many adventures along his journey of discovery, and many internal struggles. He is a complex character who seems at times inured to the havoc he inflicts, but one who manages to sustain a kind, caring heart, at times anyway. We feel his pain in being an outsider as he yearns to connect with his people.
Its eyes were like mine, like I see you seeing, and its hair was hanging in its face, and it was naked so we could see it was a man, or had once been a man.
But it was no man
The backdrop for this story is the Western expansion into the west, including the racism, colonial military dominance, destructiveness, wastefulness, genocide, inhumanity and cruelty of the era. Killers, murderers, and thieves preaching a religion of peace. The irony is not lost. Ultimately, this is a revenge tale. Punishment for many who have come west to pillage nature’s bounty, and targeted attacks on those responsible for the Marias Massacre.
As we get most of the story from Good Stab we get his usage as well, words for creatures of the American west. “Blackhorns” for Bison, as well as Whitehorn, Wags-his-tail, Long-legs, Sticky-mouth and plenty more. Part of the fun of reading this is identifying each species as it is introduced.
Part of the joy of reading The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is seeing the coming together of history and horror in a way that is reminiscent of one of America’s most inspired writers. While this is hardly a magical realism version of history, the incorporation of actual Native American history gives it a very Louise Erdrich-y feel. There is another form of joy to be had here. I have a particularly high bar for horror. I lose no sleep, nor do I have scary dreams as a result of reading a horror book. But there was a night, while reading this one, when I felt that I had somehow ingested three fist-size dollops of Vampire and they had taken root in my torso. I knew in the dream that I could, with effort, expel them, but knew also that it would take a supreme effort to do so. That, to me, is the sign of a good scary book.
Stephen Graham Jones is a prolific writer. Even more than Stephen King, maybe into the domain of Isaac Asimov. I have read only a few (listed below in EXTRA STUFF) but of those I have read, this one stands out. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is most definitely worth whatever time and trouble it takes to track down. Once you sink your teeth into it, you will have a tough time stepping away until you have ingested it all. This is simply a bloody wonderful book.
You don’t know this yet, but once a generation, once a century, someone is born with a kind of blood no one else has. If you drink from that person . . . how to explain it? It’s like the difference between an animal and a person. But the person is the animal now, and this new one is above them. Their blood, you do anything for it. I’ve only tasted it twice so far in all my years. She’s going to be the third time.”Review posted - 2/27/25
Publication date – 3/18/25
I received an ARE of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter from Saga Press in return for a fair review. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating.
This review will soon be cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi!
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to Jones’s personal, Twitter and FB pages
Interviews
-----NY Times – By the Book - Stephen Graham Jones Says His University Colleagues Aren’t Snobs About Horror
-----PW - Stephen Graham Jones Knows Good Stories Don’t Happen in Heaven
-----Horror Geek Life - Stephen Graham Jones Discusses ‘First Word on Horror’ & Terror on the Reservation (Exclusive)
by Stephen Rosenberg – but not much on this novel
-----The Nerdy Narrative - THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER by Stephen Graham Jones - video – 12:08
-----5280 - Meet Colorado’s Most Prolific Killer, Horror Author Stephen Graham Jones by Spencer Campbell
My reviews of (sadly, only five) previous books by Jones
-----2024 - The Angel of Indian Lake -The Indian Lake Trilogy #3 -
-----2023 - Don’t Fear the Reaper -The Indian Lake Trilogy #2 -
-----2021 - My Heart is a Chainsaw -The Indian Lake Trilogy #1 - on Coot’s Reviews
-----2020 - The Only Good Indians
-----2016 - Mongrels
Items of Interest from the author
-----People - excerpt
Items of Interest
-----Wikipedia - Marias Massacre
-----Montana Historical Society - The Pikuni and the U.S. Army’s Piegan Expedition by Rodger C. Henderson
March 23, 2025
“ but you don’t hate yourself like I do, nobody can.”
I would trade 10 round ball guns and 4 beaver pelts for an autographed copy of this book, that’s how fucking good it was.
Listened to this on audio between an endless loop of Falling Down-lil peep and Cherry Waves-Deftones
I would trade 10 round ball guns and 4 beaver pelts for an autographed copy of this book, that’s how fucking good it was.
Listened to this on audio between an endless loop of Falling Down-lil peep and Cherry Waves-Deftones
March 19, 2025
Historical horror at its very best.
Of late Stephen Graham Jones has become a read-on-sight author and my god has this emotional and horrific novel enhanced that statement.
"We're all but pigs in the style, and our moments of repose when we can see beyond the with and violence of our lives are few and far between"
The Buffalo Hunters Hunter is both a modern horror and also journal-based horror, much in the same way as Dracula.
Even though I found this a difficult read early on (much is written in a style keeping with the story's time frame), once I became used to reading this grammatical style, I found it only enhanced the reading experience. I became massively immersed, losing hours of my days without realising.
"With enough blood in me, I can see colors in the night, and I can taste these colors, and I can hear the roots of trees, reaching one piece of dirt deeper in."
This was a story of massive loss, of faith and brutality on many fronts. It also did a great deal for educating me on the plight of Native American tribes during the formation of the United States. This being a subject which as someone who lives in the UK has very little knowledge of.
I can say with no doubt that this is a work of art in every way. It's characters are so well drawn, each scene is described to near perfection. Damn, I even felt the fear and cold on occasion.
I could write and write about this book for a long long time, but I will leave it at this.
'"This is my telling for today. The pipe is empty."
Spectacular storytelling from one of the current era's greats.
I received an advanced copy for free and I'm leaving this unbiased review voluntarily.
Of late Stephen Graham Jones has become a read-on-sight author and my god has this emotional and horrific novel enhanced that statement.
"We're all but pigs in the style, and our moments of repose when we can see beyond the with and violence of our lives are few and far between"
The Buffalo Hunters Hunter is both a modern horror and also journal-based horror, much in the same way as Dracula.
Even though I found this a difficult read early on (much is written in a style keeping with the story's time frame), once I became used to reading this grammatical style, I found it only enhanced the reading experience. I became massively immersed, losing hours of my days without realising.
"With enough blood in me, I can see colors in the night, and I can taste these colors, and I can hear the roots of trees, reaching one piece of dirt deeper in."
This was a story of massive loss, of faith and brutality on many fronts. It also did a great deal for educating me on the plight of Native American tribes during the formation of the United States. This being a subject which as someone who lives in the UK has very little knowledge of.
I can say with no doubt that this is a work of art in every way. It's characters are so well drawn, each scene is described to near perfection. Damn, I even felt the fear and cold on occasion.
I could write and write about this book for a long long time, but I will leave it at this.
'"This is my telling for today. The pipe is empty."
Spectacular storytelling from one of the current era's greats.
I received an advanced copy for free and I'm leaving this unbiased review voluntarily.
March 25, 2025
2 stars
I was hooked. When I read the blurb.
That was it, to sum it up.
This book could put me to sleep at 7 PM, no joke. It’s honestly the most boring book I’ve ever read. Which is wild because it’s about a vampire. Not the Edward Cullen, sparkly-in-the-sunlight kind of vampire, mind you. This one’s supposed to be a historical, gothic, terrifying bloodsucker.
I have to give myself a round of applause for finishing this book. Seriously. Every night, I’d pick it up, and every night, I’d find myself drifting off like I’d just taken a double dose of melatonin. God help me, it was so freaking boring. But I pushed through, hoping, praying there’d be a light at the end of the tunnel. Spoiler alert: there wasn’t.
For me, Too many confusing names. Don’t get me wrong; I was intrigued at first. I even looked up some of these words because they reminded me of The Clockwork Orange with its weird language. But unlike Clockwork Orange, which worked for me, this didn’t. The initial excitement didn’t last long. After that, it was just me fighting to keep my eyes open. Maybe including a small dictionary or glossary for certain words wouldn’t hurt. For those of us who are not native English speakers, not American, and who know very little about Indigenous history.
And what about so many mentions of someone's wife’s cake? Someone’s wife in church made this cake, then that cake, then another cake. It infuriates me more. lol
This book is meant to be a slow burn, and I usually enjoy that. But despite the gory hunting scenes—teeth sinking, blood splattering, bodies falling—I struggled to stay engaged. The descriptions felt dry, and the tension just wasn’t there.
I know, I know, this book has a million glowing five stars reviews. But you know what? I have more trust for my own eyes. If my eyes can’t stay open, this book doesn’t deserve them open. Period.
I’m not sure if it was the use of Old English or something else. I’ve read books with older language before without any issues, and I didn’t expect this one to use modern English either. Maybe it’s because I don’t know much about Native American history, I’ve only read one book about Indian culture before, and that one wasn’t too bad. But shouldn’t a well-written book be engaging for anyone, regardless of prior knowledge?
Would I read another book by this author? No, thank you. Would I recommend this to you? Maybe. I mean, if you’re one of the many people who loved it, great! Or if you’ve got insomnia and need a solid cure, give it a go. It just didn’t work for me. Or maybe, I'm just too stupid for this book.
Note: Thank you, Saga Press and Stephen Graham Jones, for sending me this ARC. My opinion is my own.
I was hooked. When I read the blurb.
That was it, to sum it up.
This book could put me to sleep at 7 PM, no joke. It’s honestly the most boring book I’ve ever read. Which is wild because it’s about a vampire. Not the Edward Cullen, sparkly-in-the-sunlight kind of vampire, mind you. This one’s supposed to be a historical, gothic, terrifying bloodsucker.
I have to give myself a round of applause for finishing this book. Seriously. Every night, I’d pick it up, and every night, I’d find myself drifting off like I’d just taken a double dose of melatonin. God help me, it was so freaking boring. But I pushed through, hoping, praying there’d be a light at the end of the tunnel. Spoiler alert: there wasn’t.
For me, Too many confusing names. Don’t get me wrong; I was intrigued at first. I even looked up some of these words because they reminded me of The Clockwork Orange with its weird language. But unlike Clockwork Orange, which worked for me, this didn’t. The initial excitement didn’t last long. After that, it was just me fighting to keep my eyes open. Maybe including a small dictionary or glossary for certain words wouldn’t hurt. For those of us who are not native English speakers, not American, and who know very little about Indigenous history.
And what about so many mentions of someone's wife’s cake? Someone’s wife in church made this cake, then that cake, then another cake. It infuriates me more. lol
This book is meant to be a slow burn, and I usually enjoy that. But despite the gory hunting scenes—teeth sinking, blood splattering, bodies falling—I struggled to stay engaged. The descriptions felt dry, and the tension just wasn’t there.
I know, I know, this book has a million glowing five stars reviews. But you know what? I have more trust for my own eyes. If my eyes can’t stay open, this book doesn’t deserve them open. Period.
I’m not sure if it was the use of Old English or something else. I’ve read books with older language before without any issues, and I didn’t expect this one to use modern English either. Maybe it’s because I don’t know much about Native American history, I’ve only read one book about Indian culture before, and that one wasn’t too bad. But shouldn’t a well-written book be engaging for anyone, regardless of prior knowledge?
Would I read another book by this author? No, thank you. Would I recommend this to you? Maybe. I mean, if you’re one of the many people who loved it, great! Or if you’ve got insomnia and need a solid cure, give it a go. It just didn’t work for me. Or maybe, I'm just too stupid for this book.
Note: Thank you, Saga Press and Stephen Graham Jones, for sending me this ARC. My opinion is my own.
January 26, 2025
“What I am is the Indian who can't die. I'm the worst dream America ever had.”
Part historical fiction and part horror, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a tour de force!
The historical fiction is based on the Marias Massacre of 1870, where the US Army murdered over 200 innocent Blackfoot. The horror elements are some of his best yet! Prowling vampires in the atmospheric setting leaving behind a trail of bodies in their path. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a a spine tingling work of horror centered around one of American histories most tragic and atrocious events.
As with Stephen Graham Jones prior works, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is an immersive work that's both beautifully written with dimensional characters. This book is Reminiscent of my favorite work by SGJ, The Only Good Indians but also completely original.
Even if your not a fan of horror, I still highly recommend picking this one up. There's more attention in modern times as to how botched and whitewashed American history is. So even though this book is a fictionalized account, our world NEEDS more stories like this- Books about the colonization of America from the Indigenous perspective. As an indigenous person myself, I deeply appreciate the representation that Stephen Graham Jones has masterfully written in The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones will be available on March 8. Many thanks to Saga Press for the gifted copy!
Part historical fiction and part horror, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a tour de force!
The historical fiction is based on the Marias Massacre of 1870, where the US Army murdered over 200 innocent Blackfoot. The horror elements are some of his best yet! Prowling vampires in the atmospheric setting leaving behind a trail of bodies in their path. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a a spine tingling work of horror centered around one of American histories most tragic and atrocious events.
As with Stephen Graham Jones prior works, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is an immersive work that's both beautifully written with dimensional characters. This book is Reminiscent of my favorite work by SGJ, The Only Good Indians but also completely original.
Even if your not a fan of horror, I still highly recommend picking this one up. There's more attention in modern times as to how botched and whitewashed American history is. So even though this book is a fictionalized account, our world NEEDS more stories like this- Books about the colonization of America from the Indigenous perspective. As an indigenous person myself, I deeply appreciate the representation that Stephen Graham Jones has masterfully written in The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones will be available on March 8. Many thanks to Saga Press for the gifted copy!
Read
March 24, 2025DNF @ 41%
Whilst Stephen Graham Jones seems to be a very talented author, my first experience with him in Buffalo Hunter Hunter isn't what I would call a fun one. He has a unique literary style, at least in this book, that is very difficult to immerse yourself in. Choosing the framing narrative of a person reading the secondary account via a journal of a third account of events 100 years ago can be tough to get into for some. This one was a miss for me but due to my own reading preference, nothing necessarily that the author did wrong.
Whilst Stephen Graham Jones seems to be a very talented author, my first experience with him in Buffalo Hunter Hunter isn't what I would call a fun one. He has a unique literary style, at least in this book, that is very difficult to immerse yourself in. Choosing the framing narrative of a person reading the secondary account via a journal of a third account of events 100 years ago can be tough to get into for some. This one was a miss for me but due to my own reading preference, nothing necessarily that the author did wrong.
December 18, 2024
3.5 Stars
I love how this author always weaves the indigenous experience into horror stories. I enjoyed historical fiction as a change of pace from his recent slasher novels.
Historical fiction is not my personal favourite genre so I suspect other readers will love this one more than I did. It's very much a case where I appreciated the story and plot, even if I didn't find it personally engrossing.
If you are already a fan of this author, you won't be disappointed. This is also a good place to start with him, as long as you enjoy historical fiction. This is a great example of the sharp narratives he is known for writing.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
I love how this author always weaves the indigenous experience into horror stories. I enjoyed historical fiction as a change of pace from his recent slasher novels.
Historical fiction is not my personal favourite genre so I suspect other readers will love this one more than I did. It's very much a case where I appreciated the story and plot, even if I didn't find it personally engrossing.
If you are already a fan of this author, you won't be disappointed. This is also a good place to start with him, as long as you enjoy historical fiction. This is a great example of the sharp narratives he is known for writing.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
January 28, 2025
This novel is the burning iron used to cauterize a wound by campfire light. Stephen Graham Jones takes an unflinching look at some of the worst violences of American history, the deepest wounds whose poison still taints this nation’s lifeblood, and confronts it with equal parts heart and terror. Everything about this novel is great, from the story to the characters to the writing style and framing device to the scenes of heartbreak and terror that are scattered through the book, enough to make sure you never forget how bloody of a history you’re reading. But, also, it is a violent vampire story with literally one of the best interpretations of vampire mythology I think I have ever seen, deserving to be in the upper echelon of great vampire stories.
I have more thoughts about the overall framing device which I will get to, but first the choice to use an epistolary format is great. Of course it is a huge nod to Dracula, but it also brings an authenticity to the story that is deeply felt. Being honest, there is almost always some element of artifice with epistolary stories—how could the interlocutor remember all of this dialogue, why is this being recorded in the first place, and of course the pesky problem of how to deal with an ending—and to some extent those issues are here, though others are very cleverly circumvented. Yet they never are an obstacle because the personal voice conveyed through this narrative device is so powerful it far outweighs any such considerations. The characters are incredible. We have two central characters and they both are given voice, as epistolary sections come from both of them. What is beautiful about them is that they are complicated and painful and both have a mix of heroic and admirable traits along with the horrific and terrible. Never for a second do you doubt the authenticity of these characters, and having the story written in their alternating voices is powerful and affecting. The world-building is similarly breathtaking. Whether it be the small, grey vicissitudes of life in early 20th century Montana colony or the vast, ebullient geography of the Blackfeet, the sense of place, and all of its joy and desperation, is constantly present. It shapes the characters and story in important ways, and invites the audience deeper into the story. The writing is spectacular, the way two distinct voices are captured so well and are so pivotal to the story. The way Pastor Beaucarne can somehow have simultaneous awe and disdain, jealousy and hatred born form that jealousy, for the Blackfeet, for Good Stab, is beautifully captured. The way that he can gently mock the Blackfeet way of naming animals in very descriptive ways, childish, he calls it, and then slowly catch himself unintentionally using the Blackfeet terminology as his story progresses. It’s all great. The pacing works well, for the most part. It isn’t a fast-paced novel, but Graham Jones chooses to start it with a wonderfully lurid scene, one that tells the same story in two different ways, which serves to not only get the audience invested but also to make clear how important a role authorial voice has on the framing of events. Then there are some scenes of action and violence throughout, pretty evenly distributed, until a horrific climax that just keeps escalating. The ebb and flow is good, aided by the switching between voices. However there is a section after the climactic scene that felt a little longer than it needed to be. It was never boring, it was telling us an important story, and it could be a story all unto itself, it was that interesting. But it seemed to disconnect the climax from the denouement and resolution, a little. This novel is telling more than one story at once, in fact it is telling three, (or three-in-one), woven beautifully around each other through the novel, and this section, the longest chapter in the book, feels like a knot in that weave. There are other slow or slow-ish sections, this is a history story, a time-traveling story, first and foremost, and I suppose that may not work for some people. For me the history served to amplify the tension and terror of the present. Aside from that one section being a little longer than I may have wanted it to be continuing its placement in the overall story I really enjoyed the pacing and the way it helped keep the story bristling with meaning and emotion.
I haven’t mentioned the actual framing story, that of a great-great-granddaughter coming into possession of this journal and transcribing it. This section is so short in the beginning it does just feel like a convenient framing device. However, it comes back in the end with a lot more substance, and you realize that it is not just a literary means to deliver the story but it is the story, or at least an important part of it. I will say that these sections are where the epistolary style was the least convincing (though they also are what made the epistolary nature of the rest of the story work so well). From a thematic perspective, though, it felt important for the framing sections to also be epistolary. This is because Graham Jones doesn’t ever try to pretend there aren’t big themes and ideas being explored. Obviously there are ideas of genocide and occupation, what it means to steal not just a peoples’ land and lives but their histories, their culture, their humanity. Part and parcel with this are questions of vengeance, justice, and ownership. There are echoes of The Fall of the House of Usher, and how culpability lives in bloodlines. It is also about knowing yourself, observing your own transformation and identifying the catalysts, maybe nurturing them, even. What is ownership—of land, of actions, of blood, tragedy, and reparation? But even as these ideas are clear and present there are never easy answers, no one-size-fits-all solution. There are only messy resonances, stabs in the dark, hoping to hit the right spot. As always Graham jones highlights these obvious questions with more subtle strands running through the story. For instance, there is a wonderful fascination with trilogies, with an often contradictory (or contradictory-seeming) tri-partite nature of things. Obviously Good Stab calls Pastor Beaucarne “Three-Persons,” seemingly coming from the holy trinity worshipped in Christian mythologies. The pastor has his own triple nature, though, one that isn’t revealed in full until later in the novel so I won’t spoil it here. But Good Stab also has his own trilogy of identity: he is Good Stab, but he is also Fullblood, and also Takes No Scalps. The story itself is tri-partite: the pastor’s story, Good Stab’s story, and Etsy’s story—which is, in part, why the framing device needed to be epistolary in nature. The other reason is that even the very epistolary structure is tri-partite: it is gospel, it is confession, and it is witness. This is what this story is, at its heart, a witness. Witness to atrocity, to reality, to potential—to past, present, and future, all at the same time. It was a thrill to be able to be allowed to bear such witness, and live to share the tale.
(Rounded up from 4.5)
I want to thank the author, the publisher Saga Press, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I have more thoughts about the overall framing device which I will get to, but first the choice to use an epistolary format is great. Of course it is a huge nod to Dracula, but it also brings an authenticity to the story that is deeply felt. Being honest, there is almost always some element of artifice with epistolary stories—how could the interlocutor remember all of this dialogue, why is this being recorded in the first place, and of course the pesky problem of how to deal with an ending—and to some extent those issues are here, though others are very cleverly circumvented. Yet they never are an obstacle because the personal voice conveyed through this narrative device is so powerful it far outweighs any such considerations. The characters are incredible. We have two central characters and they both are given voice, as epistolary sections come from both of them. What is beautiful about them is that they are complicated and painful and both have a mix of heroic and admirable traits along with the horrific and terrible. Never for a second do you doubt the authenticity of these characters, and having the story written in their alternating voices is powerful and affecting. The world-building is similarly breathtaking. Whether it be the small, grey vicissitudes of life in early 20th century Montana colony or the vast, ebullient geography of the Blackfeet, the sense of place, and all of its joy and desperation, is constantly present. It shapes the characters and story in important ways, and invites the audience deeper into the story. The writing is spectacular, the way two distinct voices are captured so well and are so pivotal to the story. The way Pastor Beaucarne can somehow have simultaneous awe and disdain, jealousy and hatred born form that jealousy, for the Blackfeet, for Good Stab, is beautifully captured. The way that he can gently mock the Blackfeet way of naming animals in very descriptive ways, childish, he calls it, and then slowly catch himself unintentionally using the Blackfeet terminology as his story progresses. It’s all great. The pacing works well, for the most part. It isn’t a fast-paced novel, but Graham Jones chooses to start it with a wonderfully lurid scene, one that tells the same story in two different ways, which serves to not only get the audience invested but also to make clear how important a role authorial voice has on the framing of events. Then there are some scenes of action and violence throughout, pretty evenly distributed, until a horrific climax that just keeps escalating. The ebb and flow is good, aided by the switching between voices. However there is a section after the climactic scene that felt a little longer than it needed to be. It was never boring, it was telling us an important story, and it could be a story all unto itself, it was that interesting. But it seemed to disconnect the climax from the denouement and resolution, a little. This novel is telling more than one story at once, in fact it is telling three, (or three-in-one), woven beautifully around each other through the novel, and this section, the longest chapter in the book, feels like a knot in that weave. There are other slow or slow-ish sections, this is a history story, a time-traveling story, first and foremost, and I suppose that may not work for some people. For me the history served to amplify the tension and terror of the present. Aside from that one section being a little longer than I may have wanted it to be continuing its placement in the overall story I really enjoyed the pacing and the way it helped keep the story bristling with meaning and emotion.
I haven’t mentioned the actual framing story, that of a great-great-granddaughter coming into possession of this journal and transcribing it. This section is so short in the beginning it does just feel like a convenient framing device. However, it comes back in the end with a lot more substance, and you realize that it is not just a literary means to deliver the story but it is the story, or at least an important part of it. I will say that these sections are where the epistolary style was the least convincing (though they also are what made the epistolary nature of the rest of the story work so well). From a thematic perspective, though, it felt important for the framing sections to also be epistolary. This is because Graham Jones doesn’t ever try to pretend there aren’t big themes and ideas being explored. Obviously there are ideas of genocide and occupation, what it means to steal not just a peoples’ land and lives but their histories, their culture, their humanity. Part and parcel with this are questions of vengeance, justice, and ownership. There are echoes of The Fall of the House of Usher, and how culpability lives in bloodlines. It is also about knowing yourself, observing your own transformation and identifying the catalysts, maybe nurturing them, even. What is ownership—of land, of actions, of blood, tragedy, and reparation? But even as these ideas are clear and present there are never easy answers, no one-size-fits-all solution. There are only messy resonances, stabs in the dark, hoping to hit the right spot. As always Graham jones highlights these obvious questions with more subtle strands running through the story. For instance, there is a wonderful fascination with trilogies, with an often contradictory (or contradictory-seeming) tri-partite nature of things. Obviously Good Stab calls Pastor Beaucarne “Three-Persons,” seemingly coming from the holy trinity worshipped in Christian mythologies. The pastor has his own triple nature, though, one that isn’t revealed in full until later in the novel so I won’t spoil it here. But Good Stab also has his own trilogy of identity: he is Good Stab, but he is also Fullblood, and also Takes No Scalps. The story itself is tri-partite: the pastor’s story, Good Stab’s story, and Etsy’s story—which is, in part, why the framing device needed to be epistolary in nature. The other reason is that even the very epistolary structure is tri-partite: it is gospel, it is confession, and it is witness. This is what this story is, at its heart, a witness. Witness to atrocity, to reality, to potential—to past, present, and future, all at the same time. It was a thrill to be able to be allowed to bear such witness, and live to share the tale.
(Rounded up from 4.5)
I want to thank the author, the publisher Saga Press, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
March 25, 2025
“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.”
Ugh....god I am NOT okay.
Ugh....god I am NOT okay.
March 26, 2025
i loved this. i was so excited when it came out and it really did not disappoint. this was quite the read, i didn’t want to put this down at all. it was horrifying and emotional, and took me by surprise a couple times. the writing is good, the characters even better. just loved this so much
February 17, 2025
I’ve read a number of books by Stephen Graham Jones and I can easily say that this is almost certainly his most ambitious and probably one of my favorite. Written in a style more reminiscent of classic 19th or early 20th century literature, but not veering whatsoever from the themes, imagery, violence and trauma that SGJ has conjured up in previous books, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter stands on its own as a uniquely-SGJ addition to this growing list of works that manages to separate itself quite effectively from the others. While this framed narrative, on the surface, tells a gripping historical fiction vampire tale, the symbolism beneath and the analysis of humanity in traumatic situations all combine to explore the immorality of events and their long-lasting impact that the Native American populations have endured, a topic that Stephen Graham Jones has been writing about for years. Needless to say, while I have enjoyed most of SGJ’s works over the years, this one is arguably the most impactful. It has stayed in my head relentlessly since I finished the book and I can absolutely see myself revisiting this for a reread, or a few. Overall, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is an extremely compelling and powerful story that I would not hesitate to recommend over and over again, for both new readers of Stephen Graham Jones or veterans.
March 18, 2025
*This book is now available!*
4.5 stars rounded up.
Stephen Graham Jones is an author I keep coming back to, because his books will either be a new favorite or they will be something that might not resonate with me completely, but I still know I'll be getting a memorable experience. I was very grateful to receive an early review copy of this one, even if I was a bit apprehensive going in because I'm typically not a fan of Historical Fiction. But the vampire aspect absolutely interested me!
Honestly, it took a long time to get used to the prose since I never read this genre, and the narration is written in a very specific dialect and tone. Both the POV of the Native American character, Good Stab, and the Lutheran preacher Arthur are written out in their very specific vocal patterns. This is certainly an achievement, but for a while I had a tough time understanding some of what was being said and even some of the plot itself. I've seen some reviewers note that they struggled specifically with figuring out what Good Stab meant when he used words like "Pointy Ears" to mean "horse," for example, but the context clues would help with this. It's the sort of writing that requires your full attention, and I did have to go back and read passages more than once to make sure I didn't misinterpret things. Luckily, it got easier. And once I learned the rhythm of things, I became much more invested. The sections narrated by Good Stab were more interesting to me than the ones told by Arthur, for the most part. (At least until closer to the end, when all sorts of Hell broke loose!)
Several different people are credited with saying various iterations of the phrase: “A story is only as good as its villain.” If that's the case, this story is strong as steel. It has more than one cruel and easy to hate bad guy, the kind of intimidating force that feels unstoppable. Good Stab is up against a lot of adversity, as well as having to deal with the monster within himself.
I thoroughly enjoyed discovering how the rules of these vampires worked. It was my favorite part of this book. There were some unique aspects I hadn’t seen before, which is no small feat. And the way Good Stab discovers his vampiritic traits happens organically within the story. Every time I discovered something new about Jones' unique version of this iconic monster, I was impressed by the creativity. Jones made vampires his own, and he even addresses this in the Afterword (which also includes many interesting bits of info about his writing process for this novel.) It's probably one of the more interesting Afterwords I've read in a while.
The plot of this book went to WILD places I did not expect. I won't spoil anything, but there was what I can only vaguely describe as “Tusk” coded body horror, and that was what pushed my rating so high. The story is NOT for the faint of heart. I would maybe even go so far as to say that this is the most horrific of SGJ's books that I've read. It's incredibly violent and painfully bleak. There were moments that were truthfully difficult to read. But that was the point. Everyone suffers here, from the humans to the animals. Physically, mentally, spiritually. You as the reader must sit with it, feeling like a dying thing is writhing in your lap but there's nothing you can do about it but watch. There’s beauty, too. And horror fans will be handsomely rewarded. I did feel like I had to put the work in, due to how everything was written, but it also felt above my personal skill level as a reader even after all this time, so others may not have the same experience.
Why did I give it a 4.5, then? Well, mostly because I struggled so much in the beginning to get into it, and because of the density of the prose. Also: while Etsy’s part in the story made sense and served a purpose, her “quirky GORL” persona wore thin quickly. Her appearances in the plot served as bookends, in a way, and by the time she popped back up I had admittedly forgotten all about her. But Jones absolutely nailed the ending, leaving me with something unexpected and meaningful that will stay in my mind for a long time.
SGJ poured his heart and soul into this, and it shows. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call it a masterpiece. It feels deeply personal. I do admit that there were moments in the “Third Act” when for me the dialogue bordered on melodrama, but I can forgive that easily based on the subject matter. (As a sidenote: I'm not sure if Jones will be reading this himself for the audiobook, but if not it would be an excellent opportunity for vocal talent to perform these roles.) I highly recommend this book to any horror fans who don't mind a "complicated" read and can handle the subject matter.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.
<3 <3 <3 Weasel Plume <3 <3 <3
Biggest TW: Animal harm/death, Rape, Racism
4.5 stars rounded up.
Stephen Graham Jones is an author I keep coming back to, because his books will either be a new favorite or they will be something that might not resonate with me completely, but I still know I'll be getting a memorable experience. I was very grateful to receive an early review copy of this one, even if I was a bit apprehensive going in because I'm typically not a fan of Historical Fiction. But the vampire aspect absolutely interested me!
Honestly, it took a long time to get used to the prose since I never read this genre, and the narration is written in a very specific dialect and tone. Both the POV of the Native American character, Good Stab, and the Lutheran preacher Arthur are written out in their very specific vocal patterns. This is certainly an achievement, but for a while I had a tough time understanding some of what was being said and even some of the plot itself. I've seen some reviewers note that they struggled specifically with figuring out what Good Stab meant when he used words like "Pointy Ears" to mean "horse," for example, but the context clues would help with this. It's the sort of writing that requires your full attention, and I did have to go back and read passages more than once to make sure I didn't misinterpret things. Luckily, it got easier. And once I learned the rhythm of things, I became much more invested. The sections narrated by Good Stab were more interesting to me than the ones told by Arthur, for the most part. (At least until closer to the end, when all sorts of Hell broke loose!)
Several different people are credited with saying various iterations of the phrase: “A story is only as good as its villain.” If that's the case, this story is strong as steel. It has more than one cruel and easy to hate bad guy, the kind of intimidating force that feels unstoppable. Good Stab is up against a lot of adversity, as well as having to deal with the monster within himself.
I thoroughly enjoyed discovering how the rules of these vampires worked. It was my favorite part of this book. There were some unique aspects I hadn’t seen before, which is no small feat. And the way Good Stab discovers his vampiritic traits happens organically within the story. Every time I discovered something new about Jones' unique version of this iconic monster, I was impressed by the creativity. Jones made vampires his own, and he even addresses this in the Afterword (which also includes many interesting bits of info about his writing process for this novel.) It's probably one of the more interesting Afterwords I've read in a while.
The plot of this book went to WILD places I did not expect. I won't spoil anything, but there was what I can only vaguely describe as “Tusk” coded body horror, and that was what pushed my rating so high. The story is NOT for the faint of heart. I would maybe even go so far as to say that this is the most horrific of SGJ's books that I've read. It's incredibly violent and painfully bleak. There were moments that were truthfully difficult to read. But that was the point. Everyone suffers here, from the humans to the animals. Physically, mentally, spiritually. You as the reader must sit with it, feeling like a dying thing is writhing in your lap but there's nothing you can do about it but watch. There’s beauty, too. And horror fans will be handsomely rewarded. I did feel like I had to put the work in, due to how everything was written, but it also felt above my personal skill level as a reader even after all this time, so others may not have the same experience.
Why did I give it a 4.5, then? Well, mostly because I struggled so much in the beginning to get into it, and because of the density of the prose. Also: while Etsy’s part in the story made sense and served a purpose, her “quirky GORL” persona wore thin quickly. Her appearances in the plot served as bookends, in a way, and by the time she popped back up I had admittedly forgotten all about her. But Jones absolutely nailed the ending, leaving me with something unexpected and meaningful that will stay in my mind for a long time.
SGJ poured his heart and soul into this, and it shows. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call it a masterpiece. It feels deeply personal. I do admit that there were moments in the “Third Act” when for me the dialogue bordered on melodrama, but I can forgive that easily based on the subject matter. (As a sidenote: I'm not sure if Jones will be reading this himself for the audiobook, but if not it would be an excellent opportunity for vocal talent to perform these roles.) I highly recommend this book to any horror fans who don't mind a "complicated" read and can handle the subject matter.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.
<3 <3 <3 Weasel Plume <3 <3 <3
Biggest TW: Animal harm/death, Rape, Racism
March 5, 2025
Historical horror with some Interview with the Vampire vibes, but with an indigenous vampire and a revenge plot. This is a slower-paced novel and I suspect this won't be everyone's cup of tea. Admittedly it's quite different from other things I've read from SGJ. That being said, I think it's very well-executed and might actually be a good entry-point for readers who are more into historical fiction or lit-fic and want to dip their toes into horror.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter uses nested storytelling as a framing device. In 2012, a manuscript is discovered behind a wall and the granddaughter of the author is contacted. A young professor struggling to get tenure, she decides to study the document and try to get a book out of it. Then the majority of novel is us reading what was inside the manuscript.
In 1912, her grandfather was Lutheran minister in the American West, making up for a past he vaguely references involving a lot of drinking. He documents his life, and investigations into these bodies that have been ritually murdered, skinned, and painted. And then recounts an encounter with what turns out to be a Blackfeet vampire named Good Stab who wants to unburden himself about his actions while seeking justice for his people, as a sort of confessional across a number of meetings. So the third layer of nested storytelling is Good Stab narrating his life, how he came to be a vampire, and what he has done since then. The audiobook does a phenomenal job with this, having different voice actors for each of the three perspectives.
At the start, the minister doesn't believe what he's being told, but slowly he comes to see the truth of it as more of the past is unveiled. I don't want to spoil anything but this was clearly very well-researched, and the way everything slowly builds is really effective. The use of hunger and gluttony in different ways with different characters is fascinating and supports the themes of unpacking colonization and anti-indigenous racism.
Again, this is a very slow-paced book that reads like historical fiction a lot of the time, so not at all like some of the things SGJ is most well known for. But it's a great book and one worth picking up if it sounds like your thing. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter uses nested storytelling as a framing device. In 2012, a manuscript is discovered behind a wall and the granddaughter of the author is contacted. A young professor struggling to get tenure, she decides to study the document and try to get a book out of it. Then the majority of novel is us reading what was inside the manuscript.
In 1912, her grandfather was Lutheran minister in the American West, making up for a past he vaguely references involving a lot of drinking. He documents his life, and investigations into these bodies that have been ritually murdered, skinned, and painted. And then recounts an encounter with what turns out to be a Blackfeet vampire named Good Stab who wants to unburden himself about his actions while seeking justice for his people, as a sort of confessional across a number of meetings. So the third layer of nested storytelling is Good Stab narrating his life, how he came to be a vampire, and what he has done since then. The audiobook does a phenomenal job with this, having different voice actors for each of the three perspectives.
At the start, the minister doesn't believe what he's being told, but slowly he comes to see the truth of it as more of the past is unveiled. I don't want to spoil anything but this was clearly very well-researched, and the way everything slowly builds is really effective. The use of hunger and gluttony in different ways with different characters is fascinating and supports the themes of unpacking colonization and anti-indigenous racism.
Again, this is a very slow-paced book that reads like historical fiction a lot of the time, so not at all like some of the things SGJ is most well known for. But it's a great book and one worth picking up if it sounds like your thing. I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
January 22, 2025
ARC for review. To be published March 18, 2025.
4.5 stars, rounded to 5. This isn’t so much a super strong five star book, 4.5 stars is the right place for it, but 4 stars is too low.
A professor at the University of Wyoming who is seeking tenure discovers a diary from a family member and is hoping to ready it for publication. It dates from 1912 and was written by her great, great grandfather,, Arthur Beaucarne, of Miles City, Montana, a Lutheran minister. Most of it concerns his “confessionals”/interviews with a Blackfeet named Good Stab.
Oh, this is a good, good book. Jones has written about Native Americans a number of times, but never with the authority he does here. Beaucarne: “In all humbleness, I have only to record Good Stab’s tale, as I feel it is my duty as an American to attempt to capture these last exhalations of a people who won’t be seen again in this world.” And we see a way of life that is also dying.
Oh, and did I mention that this is a vampire story? It is, and one of the best I’ve ever read. As the Blackfeet die, one becomes immortal. This book is so rich in every way. Highly recommended.
4.5 stars, rounded to 5. This isn’t so much a super strong five star book, 4.5 stars is the right place for it, but 4 stars is too low.
A professor at the University of Wyoming who is seeking tenure discovers a diary from a family member and is hoping to ready it for publication. It dates from 1912 and was written by her great, great grandfather,, Arthur Beaucarne, of Miles City, Montana, a Lutheran minister. Most of it concerns his “confessionals”/interviews with a Blackfeet named Good Stab.
Oh, this is a good, good book. Jones has written about Native Americans a number of times, but never with the authority he does here. Beaucarne: “In all humbleness, I have only to record Good Stab’s tale, as I feel it is my duty as an American to attempt to capture these last exhalations of a people who won’t be seen again in this world.” And we see a way of life that is also dying.
Oh, and did I mention that this is a vampire story? It is, and one of the best I’ve ever read. As the Blackfeet die, one becomes immortal. This book is so rich in every way. Highly recommended.
February 12, 2025
This is a story-within-a-story-within-a-story, but told with such verve that it feels simple. It reminded me a bit of Kevin Barry's 'The Heart in Winter' and Ferdia Lennon's 'Glorious Exploits' - not in the plot, but in that kind of electric confidence with words.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy.
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy.
Want to read
June 27, 2024Historic horror???? Vampire hunter???? Lutherans????? Stephen you spoil us. I can’t wait!
December 1, 2024
No, because why would you do that, Stephen? Tell me right now, why do you enjoy emotionally damaging us like this?
This book is riveting, horrific, and absolutely heartbreaking. I can’t even talk to you guys about Weasel Plume right now. I might never be able to, honestly. I usually have so much to say when I review books but this time I find myself lost for words. This may well be Stephen Graham Jones best novel to date and will join the ranks of books I will never stop thinking about.
If you don’t read this book it’s disrespectful to Weasel Plume’s memory and I am going to turn your great great grandfather into a giant prairie dog.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book is riveting, horrific, and absolutely heartbreaking. I can’t even talk to you guys about Weasel Plume right now. I might never be able to, honestly. I usually have so much to say when I review books but this time I find myself lost for words. This may well be Stephen Graham Jones best novel to date and will join the ranks of books I will never stop thinking about.
If you don’t read this book it’s disrespectful to Weasel Plume’s memory and I am going to turn your great great grandfather into a giant prairie dog.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
March 23, 2025
First of all, this was my first ever audiobook and my first ever book by this author.
This was a completely new experience for me and I can tell that it’s not my favorite way to consume a book, but it’s the most convenient way. I did catch myself missing parts because I would get distracted by my kids or by a task and have to go back, so I probably just need more practice. The narration was top notch in my opinion though.
Anyway, for my thoughts about the book itself. Wow, lots of gore. Brutally descriptive language which made it all too easy to picture, so, excellent in that regard. Also, devastatingly eye opening look into America’s dark past. I mean, fuck, what would be a white settler’s worst nightmare… an Indian who can’t die. Getting the perspective of a “vampire” in this setting was epic too. Super interesting. Hearing Good Stab’s retelling was compelling from the word choice to the way it was written like we were in the room with him watching him use his body to accent his thoughts. In contrast, we get Arthur with his sweet tooth trying to piece together all the information he was receiving which was an intriguing back and forth. The author knit together two different voices, races, cultures, and life experiences into one captivating story.
I didn’t care at all for Etsy, she could have been removed completely and I wouldn’t have cared at all. Any side characters mentioned here and there, I didn’t even bother to save to my memory. Some chapters felt boring and drawn out or even pointless while others might just be engrained in my mind’s eye forever.
Overall, I kind of want to reread my favorite chapters from an actual physical copy because I think I comprehend better that way. Not a book I would typically pick for myself, but I’m glad it was recommended. I feel like I learned a lot while also being entertained.
This was a completely new experience for me and I can tell that it’s not my favorite way to consume a book, but it’s the most convenient way. I did catch myself missing parts because I would get distracted by my kids or by a task and have to go back, so I probably just need more practice. The narration was top notch in my opinion though.
Anyway, for my thoughts about the book itself. Wow, lots of gore. Brutally descriptive language which made it all too easy to picture, so, excellent in that regard. Also, devastatingly eye opening look into America’s dark past. I mean, fuck, what would be a white settler’s worst nightmare… an Indian who can’t die. Getting the perspective of a “vampire” in this setting was epic too. Super interesting. Hearing Good Stab’s retelling was compelling from the word choice to the way it was written like we were in the room with him watching him use his body to accent his thoughts. In contrast, we get Arthur with his sweet tooth trying to piece together all the information he was receiving which was an intriguing back and forth. The author knit together two different voices, races, cultures, and life experiences into one captivating story.
I didn’t care at all for Etsy, she could have been removed completely and I wouldn’t have cared at all. Any side characters mentioned here and there, I didn’t even bother to save to my memory. Some chapters felt boring and drawn out or even pointless while others might just be engrained in my mind’s eye forever.
Overall, I kind of want to reread my favorite chapters from an actual physical copy because I think I comprehend better that way. Not a book I would typically pick for myself, but I’m glad it was recommended. I feel like I learned a lot while also being entertained.
January 24, 2025
Stephen Graham Jones is a hit or miss for me. His characters always tend to ramble, and the plot gets thrown to the wayside. Which definitely isn't my thing at all.
But I decided to give this a try since Western Gothic is one of my absolute favorite niche subgenres. (The Power of the Dog and Lone Women are excellent.) I'm very happy to say that The Buffalo Hunter Hunter didn't disappoint. The slow burn horror combined with a lit fic, epistolary type of narrative worked well to tell the story.
While it has its lulls (of the early 1900s navel gazing, purple prose, boring subplots sort), I was still invested in the main storylines. It was a great take on vampires and racial injustice in the US. The novel's version of vampires really leaned hard on the gore, killing, and near immortality. If you have a weak stomach, I wouldn't recommend. People are murdered and animals are killed. (Justice for Weasel Plume!)
I think the narrative style worked for the most part. The present-day researcher POV petered out at the end for me tbh, but Good Stab and Arthur Beaucarne's narratives were strong and complex. They were quite immersive and made me believe that I was in 1912 Montana, watching the whole drama unfold before me.
And of course, I was seated and ready for a good ole revenge story against colonizers.
This would work so well as a film, complete with wide landscape shots with dark, cool tones. And period accurate costume design for the Native Americans and white settlers. Think Netflix's The Power of the Dog combined with Hulu's Prey.
Thank you to S&S/Saga Press and NetGalley for this arc.
But I decided to give this a try since Western Gothic is one of my absolute favorite niche subgenres. (The Power of the Dog and Lone Women are excellent.) I'm very happy to say that The Buffalo Hunter Hunter didn't disappoint. The slow burn horror combined with a lit fic, epistolary type of narrative worked well to tell the story.
While it has its lulls (of the early 1900s navel gazing, purple prose, boring subplots sort), I was still invested in the main storylines. It was a great take on vampires and racial injustice in the US. The novel's version of vampires really leaned hard on the gore, killing, and near immortality. If you have a weak stomach, I wouldn't recommend. People are murdered and animals are killed. (Justice for Weasel Plume!)
I think the narrative style worked for the most part. The present-day researcher POV petered out at the end for me tbh, but Good Stab and Arthur Beaucarne's narratives were strong and complex. They were quite immersive and made me believe that I was in 1912 Montana, watching the whole drama unfold before me.
And of course, I was seated and ready for a good ole revenge story against colonizers.
This would work so well as a film, complete with wide landscape shots with dark, cool tones. And period accurate costume design for the Native Americans and white settlers. Think Netflix's The Power of the Dog combined with Hulu's Prey.
Thank you to S&S/Saga Press and NetGalley for this arc.
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