"The Buffalo Hunter Hunter" Discuss Everything *Spoilers* > Likes and Comments

A few questions to get us started:


1. What did you think of the world?
2. What did you think of the characters?
3. What worked or didn't for you?
4. Overall thoughts?

Rating: 3.5 - 4 stars

This is the third book by this author that I've read. I don't normally read a lot of pure horror fiction...because then I have trouble sleeping! Also, I read fiction for the escapism, and the horror genre doesn't fit that need in my case. I usually end up feeling anxious and depressed. But this book has Blackfeet Indians, buffalo and vampires. There are no ghosts or zombies. I trust the author to protect me from bad dreams! Read the author's acknowledgement section if you can. I found it very interesting.

Characters: It's difficult to claim that someone is totally evil or innocent. The merits of each character can be questioned in minute detail. It makes Etsy a more attractive and relatable MC.

I loved this. And I agree: read the acknowledgements.

I found this to be a fascinating work of horror. It's multifaceted in that it is a very contemporary kind of horror novel, but very rooted in the horror tradition which Jones has thoroughly studied. It is very interesting in the acknowledgements where he said he had a list for many years of vampire characters he found inspiring, but when it came to writing this book, he put that list aside and wrote this book without thinking about it.

That said, I think Good Stab is an incredible character. Because this books is epistolary (definite nod to Stroker's Dracula), we don't get him as flushed out as maybe if this was a more conventional narrative in the 3rd person. But those gaps in what we discover about him leads to many questions about Jones' thinking behind him and forces the reader to really ponder the morality of Good Stab's actions and choices. It's a gutsy move by Jones, to give such license to the reader to deem Good Stab as good or evil, justified or guilty, especially since this revolves around a heinous massacre of Jones' own ancestors.

The (admittedly weirdly humorous) ending with Etsy trying to make some right come from all of this at the end, but it all feeling so deeply inadequate, especially her gesture to Good Stab off in the distance that he seems to largely disregard, feels very real and authentic when we look at the ways white people in particular have tried to smooth over our history with Indigenous peoples on this continent. Our ancestors committed genocide, they wiped out so many innocent people, they destroyed whole cultures and languages, and they did it maliciously (I say this as a white American with Indian hunters in my family tree and even living relatives who openly hate Natives). Any amount of figurative throwing our ancestors off a cliff will always be inadequate, and the descendants of those slaughtered have every right to treat us with such indifference, regardless of their own individual moral standing in our eyes. It's not an easy thing to accept but how do you make up for such egregious wrongs?

This novel completely knocked me out. Jones’ inventive approach to what a vampire is, his ability to confront horrors both fantastical and tragically earthbound, and his mastery of giving life to the voices of his three narrators hit every mark on every page.

I’m so glad to have encountered his work.

It took a while for this book to hit me. The writing style felt a bit awkward at first, but I gradually got used to it. I think I gave it 4 stars upon first reaction. The more I think about the book, the more I tend to appreciate this unique experience. I’ve since upped my rating to 5 stars. A bloody brilliant horror novel.

This was such a great novel! I really like the way Jones built the vampire lore in this story - from the blood wanting to leak out of the body when over-drinking to taking up features of what the vampire feeds on - 'you are what you eat'.

The image of the body leaking excessive blood felt especially interesting to me; it ties into the book’s themes of overindulgence and greed, particularly with the buffalo hunters, wasteful and unsustainable in their destruction. Of course, it’s all very intentional, a part of the colonizers’ strategy to wipe out and push aside the Native population.

Something that Good Stab says to Arthur about Jesus on the cross, on the walls of the church has been on my mind, "You put your reminders of pain on the wall and pray to them. We still hurt so we don't need that reminder."

Maybe that connects to the ending, where it feels like Etsy throwing off her great-great-great-grandfather off the cliff isn’t quite enough, because the erasure and damage are still ongoing, even today.

"What I am is the Indian who can't die. I am the worst dream America ever had."
That line, too, speaks to the inheritance of generational trauma as well as the persistence of Native peoples despite brutal attempts at erasure.

OMG...the blood...there is so much of it. This work is iconic. The images of the gore-streaked Good Stab rising from the carcass of the dead blackhorn will stay with me forever.

As horrified as I was as I read this book, I will have go back to find quotes that speak to me--likely much like the ones Atqiya notes. What I came away with was the great trauma, destruction, bloodiness, and the truth of how we create our own hells. An immortal time is a long time to deal with cycles of pain that Americans cause and sustain.

Human beings everywhere sustain cycles of pain--what we cause and sustain. Sometimes it's personal. Sometimes it's cultural. Sometimes it's political. All this is described here in the novel.

Besides just reading a very few classic literary horror works, I have no real understanding of the genre or the history--nothing.

So I watched this video that probably showed up in a feed. So worthwhile.

https://youtu.be/uWeL6I7gd5U?si=XLWvH...

I will jump on the bandwagon and say I enjoyed it as well. Great read for spooky October. I loved Jones' Native American culture and mythology and his version of vampires.

We'll be discussing it over at VBC on Sunday! Come join us!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Cynda wrote: "Besides just reading a very few classic literary horror works, I have no real understanding of the genre or the history--nothing.

So I watched this video that probably showed up in a feed. So wor..."

The video was great - thanks, Cynda!

Cynda wrote: "So I watched this video that probably showed up in a feed. So worthwhile."

Thank you for posting this, Cynda. It was perfect to see the author himself discussing the book, just as i was finishing it. Here's the title for those on the fence:

Dread Alert Media (horror in all forms of media)
interview with:
Stephen Graham Jones on His New Novel The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWeL6...

Links to some books mentioned by SGJ in the acknowledgements:

"Also, to contend with: Why even bother to write a vampire novel, when Christopher Buehlman’s The Lesser Dead is already out in the world? Seriously, that book. It’s one of the Great Feats, right up with there with D. M. Thomas’s The White Hotel, Martin Amis’s Time's Arrow, Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse."

To continue October spookiness, I started The Lesser Dead

Allison wrote: "We'll be discussing it over at VBC on Sunday! Come join us!

Good discussions, with Allison putting forward smart probing questions.

I have a couple followup questions,
-What did the eggs mean, when the pastor started breaking eggs for the services?
-@Aga said that *good* horror involves another layer, that it tells about another (maybe real-life?) horror. Does the book Interview with the Vampire have that?

Bonnie wrote: "Allison wrote: "We'll be discussing it over at VBC on Sunday! Come join us!

Good discussions, with Allison putting forward smart probing questions.

I have a couple followup questions,
-What did t..."

I’m not Aga (I hope she chimes in still) and I haven’t actually read Interview with the Vampire but from what I understand, it fits that category. (If anyone is looking for any other social horror type books I would love to recommend: Bury Your Gays, Natural Beauty, and if short stories are your thing: Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology. I have other recommendations too but I think those are good segues from a SciFi and Fantasy perspective.)

As for the eggs, I know, on the surface, he was looking for signs Good Stab was near by. As for what they were meant to represent maybe the fear of his own past catching up with him and not being able to escape it? When I read that I remember feeling like he was frantic and obsessive during those scenes, which is how I imagine that might make him feel, but it’s been several months since I read it. I’m sure someone smarter than me has a better interpretation.

And agreed it was a great discussion. I always walk away from those discussions with a richer book experience than when I went in.

Re: VBC discussion - what Sarah said!

Very cool hearing from the author himself, there was a lot to unpack in this book.

I've finished The Buffalo Hunter Hunter the day before yesterday.
Stephen Graham Jones is officially on my favorite authors - list. I've enjoyed The Only Good Indians, but this one was equally good. This is one of the rare books where the acknowledgements are as important as the story itself.
As mentioned in the acknowledgements Stephen did a huge amount of research for this book and that is noticible throughout the whole story. Looking afterwards I dont think 'enjoy' is the right word for the horror, the sometimes descriptive scenes, the heavy history...Maybe it's more that I was on the edge of my seat and that I was immersed in the story. Stephen turned history into a compelling horror story that doesn't let you go easy. It makes you think afterwards for a long time. It's an excellent horror story, but the real horror, the history, gives it another vibe. It makes you think deeper about revenge, rights, war, rituals...
With the part about Beaucarne: I struggled a bit, because I couldn't connect with thim. His part was distant, not as intense as Good Stab's part. Also, maybe Etsy could've got a bigger, more important role. She was at the beginning and the end of the book, where her role was significant. But I still wonder what happened to her and to Taz. I knew Taz would be with Good Stab.
Like with The Only Good Indians I will reread this one again to understand more of it.