Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Today, we've got two indigenous authors on the pod who

coincidentally make the same bleakly wry observation that it's a miracle. There are any indigenous people

here at all in the Americas. In a bit, we'll hear about the book, Probably Ruby, which is about an

indigenous baby who gets raised by a white family and gets into all the baggage that affords.

But first, the only good Indians is a book by Stephen Graham Jones, who's a member of the Blackfeet

Nation. He dabbles mostly in horror, and in this interview with NPR's Ari Shapiro, he talks about how he feels like the mainstream

literati want to pigeonhole native writers into writing, you know, a certain type of literary fiction.

But he gives a pretty fascinating argument as to why he likes to play in the genres, horror in particular.

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you get your podcasts. Stephen Graham Jones writes horror novels, and his latest starts with a

provocative reworking of an old saying.

The title is The Only Good Indians.

The Only Good Indians are Dead Indians from, you know,

is ascribed to Teddy Roosevelt back in the 19th century,

but it was kind of the bumper sticker that would have been on horses

if horses had bumper stickers back then.

Jones is a member of the Blackfeet Nation,

and in this book, a group of friends violates

a tradition on the reservation, and a vengeful spirit haunts them to the bloody end.

...