Author Event: Stephen Graham Jones

Meeting Stephen Graham Jones! (Pardon how red and sweaty I am, it's July!)

This weekend I was lucky enough that horror powerhouse Stephen Graham Jones visited my area and did a book event and signing. He's best known for The Only Good Indians, I Was a Teenage Slasher, and Buffalo Hunter Hunter, among others. He's won the Bram Stoker four times, three Shirley Jackson awards, the August Derelth Award (British Fantasy Awards, Horror category), a Locus Award, and been nominated for so many others that I can't even list them all. Basically, in this golden era of horror, he's a big deal. But he's also not a one-genre author, some of his backlist also includes literary.

The event started with a discussion of Jones's new book, a combo of two: The Babysitter Lives and Killer on the Road. This included selected readings and sources of inspiration. Lets just say if you hate spiders, The Babysitter Lives won't be for you.

Then there was a short Q&A, and I'll admit it was mostly the fans in the audience phrasing their praise as questions. One question asked Jones how his heritage (Blackfeet) played into his writing. His answer was interesting. While white authors and readers default to assuming any non-described character is white, he defaults to Blackfeet. But when he calls it out in his writing, (white) people get reverent where the same story sans character identification was criticized. He didn't like that double standard and prefers to be thought of as an author, no identifiers added.

Last was a book signing. Every ticket included a copy of The Babysitter Lives/Killer on the Road for Jones to sign and he would sign 4 brought from home, so I had him sign Buffalo Hunter Hunter. (Review for that coming soon!) The line took about 2 hours so I was very glad I'd gone with friends. He was super kind, we talked about other Kates, and then it was over. For having to sign books for two hours, he stayed chipper (would I have the same stamina if I am lucky enough to book tour someday? Who knows.)

I highly recommend reading Jones if you love horror, write horror, or even if you are interested in the fantasy elements (Buffalo Hunter Hunter has a vampire, others have zombies, etc.) If you're squeamish, his books are probably best enjoyed from a distance.


Have you gone to author meet and greets or signings? What about those events works and what doesn't work? Let's chat in the comments!