New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, a member of the Blackfoot Nation, will appear in El Paso to sign books and talk about writing. The Texas native spoke with Susan Morée about his novels and why he writes. Here is a transcript of their conversation:
Susan Morée:
Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a New York Times bestseller. I think it made it to the number four position. Tell us about that book.
Stephen Graham Jones:
It's set back in 1912, but it really is about stuff that happened in the late 19th century. It comes all the way up to 2012, and it's about coming at the people who were trying to knock down the buffalo herds and made the Blackfeet and all the Plains Indians retreat to reservations.
Susan Morée:
Do you often tell stories from the Native American perspective?
Stephen Graham Jones:
Yeah, that's just the default setting for me.
Susan Morée:
Why do you think the novel's doing so well?
Stephen Graham Jones:
I think Buffalo Hunter Hunter tells of a period of history that is not often taught in the classroom, maybe in the K-12 classroom. Anyway, not a moment that America should be proud of when they were trying to eradicate both the buffalo herds and the Blackfeet and all the tribes.
Susan Morée:
And you are known, I think, for blending genres. Can you talk about that? What's your inspiration for doing that?
Stephen Graham Jones:
You know, like when I read a spy novel, a spy novel is going to have action scenes, it's going to have romance scenes, it's going to have like backstabbing intrigue kind of stuff going on. Like it's not just spy, it's not just like spycraft or tradecraft, as they call it, I guess. And it's the same with Western, same with horror, science fiction, fantasy. Every genre has the other genres all braidedthrough it and that makes them stronger. It makes them stand better and tell themselves better. So I think that if I do that, that's probably why I do that. I don't like set out like an evil scientist in the laboratory and think, I'm going to mix this and this and see what happens, you know, I just tell a story. And when I'm telling a horror story and I happen to need like a romance aspect, then I'll pull that in and I don't feel like I'm breaking any rules. I feel like I'm just making the story better, hopefully.
Susan Morée:
I wonder if you read a lot across many genres. Is that true?
Stephen Graham Jones:
It is, yes. I read all over the bookshelf. I think that's actually my duty as a writer to do that because I write mostly horror, so if I read only horror, then I think the horror I produce might be kind of insular. It might be a series of in-jokes or nods or signals to people who are already in the game. But if I read paleobotany, if I read science, if I read memoirs out of historical periods I'm not familiar with, then all that stuff is going to find its way onto my page and into my story. Hopefully introduce some new DNA into the genre and keep it more vital that way.
Susan Morée:
And Stephen, you are a really prolific author. How many books do you have to your name so far?
Stephen Graham Jones:
Oh man, I don't even know. It's probably, if I had to guess, I'd guess somewhere between like 37 and 40 maybe.
Susan Morée:
Many people, it takes them a whole lifetime just to write one book. How do you write so many books so fast?
Stephen Graham Jones:
Oh, I just really, really love to write. I hide on the page, I hide on my desk, I hide on my keyboard. The world is confusing, but I can make things make sense on the page. The more confusing the world gets, the more I hide on the page.
Susan Morée:
Have you always been a writer?
Stephen Graham Jones:
No, I haven't. I was always going be a farmer. Growing up in West Texas, that was about the only option I had was to be a farmer. But then through a series of weird accidents, I ended up being a novelist.
Susan Morée:
And now you are the Ineva Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Do you feel any responsibility having that role and being a member of the Blackfeet Nation?
Stephen Graham Jones:
I feel like I've been admitted to the house of fiction, but it's incumbent upon me to stand in the doorway and hold that door open to let other people in.
Susan Morée:
And you're also going to be talking about Night of the Mannequins. Tell us a little bit about that book.
Stephen Graham Jones:
One of the mannequins is the slasher and it’s told in a way that slashers usually aren't told. And it involves scary mannequins and pranks.
Susan Morée:
What do you hope folks who come to El Paso get from hearing you talk about your books?
Stephen Graham Jones:
Oh, I just want them to leave enthused about storytelling and reading. I think that's the, if I can do anything ever, that's what I want to do. I want to get people to read more books, engage in more stories, and hang out with more storytellers.
Susan Morée:
And why do you think that's important?
Stephen Graham Jones:
I think we need stories to understand the world. That's how we process the world. I mean, the stories and narrative is how we maintain our identity. It's how we pull a culture ahead with us. It's how we encode our lives, our world. And so we need training of how to tell better, better, better and better stories.
Susan Morée:
You're one of two Indigenous folks who'll be there on Saturday, as well as a couple of other folks who are Mexican-American. Can you talk about the importance of representation?
Stephen Graham Jones:
Oh, I mean, I think every, I mean, number one, I shouldn't exist anymore. And so I think anytime that I pull up a camera or a microphone, that's a form of resistance. You know, it's reminding America that, hey, you didn't do what you set out to do. We're still here in spite of your best efforts.
Susan Morée:
Thank you so much, Stephen, for taking the time to talk to me.
Stephen Graham Jones:
It was a ball. Thanks so much.
