The Only Good Indians is a fantasy horror novel by horror fiction writer Stephen Graham Jones. It tells the story of a group of Native Americans who are stalked by a female elk whom the men had killed in an illicit hunt when they were boys. The boys had cut the elk's calf out of her abdomen after killing her, and it is this loss that she has come to avenge. It is a story that is primarily about family and revenge, and many of the emotions felt by the elk are mirrored in the human characters as the story unfolds.
The novel is heavy with gruesome and bloody imagery and also contains mystical symbolism, some that relates specifically to the Native American tradition. The story takes place on a Native American reservation and within the main plot there are also sub-plots that focus primarily on the human characters and their relationships both with each other and with the responsibilities that they feel their heritage places upon them. The story that weaves around them illuminates the way in which the old traditions and modern life can sometimes create enormous difficulties for the younger generation.
Although the author's wife believes that the idea for the novel stemmed from a trip that the couple took to Colorado, Jones believes that it actually came about because of an experience in his childhood when his uncle prevented him from hunting and killing a mama grisly bear.
The novel was well-received on its publication in 2020, Jones' poetic prose winning universal acclaim. He was also praised for shining a light on present day life on and off a Native American reservation.
