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.
I’m the worst dream America ever had.
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.
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 interview
The 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.
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
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.
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 is cross-posted on Goodreads. 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
—–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
Coot's Reviews 