The Viscerally Tragic World of Stephen Graham Jones

 Biographical Information 

  Stephen Graham Jones is an American novelist, most known for his contributions to the horror genre. According to his own website, he was born and raised in Midland, Texas, and wrote his debut novel, The Fast Red Road, in 2000. Said debut novel was his master's dissertation, which he was convinced to published after meeting an editor during his educational career (3). Jones has predominantly written in horror, as he cherishes the sentimental and subversive elements of the genre. In an interview with the Massachusetts Review, Jones stated, "Horror's kind of sentimental about the 'before' -- it treasures thos salad days before the werewolves showed up" (5). I, having read one of Stephen Graham Jones' books, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, can absolutely attest to his feelings on the genre. He stews in the"before" of the horror, so that the after is that much more dreadful and even poignant.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter: Mastery in Historical Horror

    Graham Jones' second-most recent novel, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, is a historical fiction horror novel set in the burgeoning Miles City of Montana in 1912. It is an epistolary novel, meaning it is told through a series of logs, notes, and journal entries. The story follows three characters: Arthur Beaucarne, a Lutheran pastor with a closet full of skeletons, Good Stab, a former Pikuni Blackfeet Native who was turned into a vampire, and Etsy Beaucarne, Arthur's descendant who discovers his journal in the walls of his parsonage years later. Good Stab, following a string of violent murders surrounding the city, becomes a part of Arthur's congregation, and later regularly visits him for confessions, which Arthur transcribes in his journal. As their visits continue, Good Stab relates his story of struggle against the white invaders of his land, and the destruction of his home and loved ones at the hands of colonialism. He, having been turned during his capture, mirrors this force of destruction upon what is sacred, with Jones' unique spin on vampirism making it so one who has been turned transforms into those that they have drank from. His story is one of anguish, as he slaughters and drinks incessantly from the white invaders, he begins to look like them. Jones conveys this tragedy beautifully, with the story snowballing faster and faster with each chapter until its eventual climax. The reader learns that Arthur Beaucarne and Good Stab have more history than one might think.

Critical Reception

    NPR's Gabino Iglesias raves about The Buffalo Hunter Hunter in his review titled "'Buffalo Hunter Hunter' is Stephen Graham Jones' Horror Masterpiece" (2). He praises Jones' unique story telling, remarking on the novel's sense of humor, tragedy, and mode of intertwining the two (2). Closing his review, he says: "[Jones'] prose is gorgeous, and the plot is complex, engaging, and multilayered" (2). Randy Boyagoda of the New York Times writes in praise of this book's sense of mystery and suspense (1). This is something mirrored in many reviews of this novel, and even something I felt while reading it. Boyagoda calls the novel a "gruesome joyride," commenting multiple times on just how viscerally brutal it is (1). The reviews largely praise the novel, with some notes about the often challenging prose being frustrating, but how did I feel about it?

My Thoughts/Conclusion

    My experience with Jones' work has been nothing short of incredible. While I may have had some issues with The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, it easily wound up being one of my favorite novels I had read last year. The novel is often challenging to read, as it does not hand the reader a thesaurus for every Pikuni word said. Instead, it asks the reader to have patience and use context clues and their own research to learn more about Blackfeet culture and thus enrich their experience of reading it. It becomes an incredibly rewarding read if only the reader gives themselves fully to the novel, and that is by design. His other works, like The Only Good Indians, have been on my radar for some time now. With said novel's sequel, Off  the Reservation, having just released the day I am writing this, I am more encouraged than ever to pick up more of his work.

Works Cited: (will iron out in final draft)

(1)Boyagoda, Randy. Review of He’s undead, he’s indigenous, and he wants revenge on America, The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/books/review/the-buffalo-hunter-hunter-stephen-graham-jones.html Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

(2)Iglesias, Gabino. Review of “the buffalo Hunter Hunter” is Stephen Graham Jones’ horror masterpiece, NPR, https://www.npr.org/2025/03/17/nx-s1-5330583/buffalo-hunter-hunter-review-stephen-graham-jones-horror Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

(3)Jones, Stephen Graham. “Sgj Bio & Author Photos.” Stephen Graham Jones, 4 Oct. 2026, www.stephengrahamjones.com/bio/.

(4) Jones, Stephen Graham. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. Simon & Schuster, 2025.

(5)“Stephen Graham Jones.” A Gathering of Native Voices, 3 Dec. 2021, native-voices.com/blog/stephen-graham-jones/.