My family has always supported and cared and loved me, and so my biggest thanks go to them. Thank you to my mother, Carol Morgan, who I wish could be here when this book comes out. Same goes for my father, John Talty. But I know you both are proud, as I imagine Grammy is and all the others that went before you. Thank you to my sister, Jessica Moores, for always being supportive and reading everything I write—I love you, Jess. Many thanks to my aunts and uncles: Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike; Aunt Susie and Uncle Tom; Aunt Dot Dot and Uncle Albert; and Aunt Barbara and Uncle Conrad. Thank you to my cousins Stephanie, Mike, Jade, Julie, and Lily. A special sweet thanks to my nieces and nephews: Joao, Josie, and Lizzy.

And lastly, thank you to my mother- and father-in-law—Linda and Kevin—for all you do and continue to do. To my brother- and sister-in-law, Keven and Melanie, and to their son, Cole, whose very presence is a constant reminder of how precious life is.

And finally, to my best friend and wife, Jorden.

Praise

“There is so much brutal, raw, and beautiful power in these stories. I kept wanting to read and know more about these characters’ lives, how they ended up where they ended up, how they would get out, how they wouldn’t. It is difficult to be so honest, and funny, and sad, at once, in any kind of work. Reading this book, I literally laughed and cried.”

—TOMMY ORANGE, author of There There

“Morgan Talty’s Night of the Living Rez is a beautifully crafted, raw and intimate book about youth, friendship, and family on the reservation. These stories are profoundly moving and essential, rendered with precision and intimacy. Talty is a powerful new voice in Native American fiction.”

—BRANDON HOBSON, author of The Removed

“Night of the Living Rez is an indelible portrait of a family in crisis, and an incisive exploration of the myriad ways in which the past persists in haunting the present. I loved these sharply atmospheric, daring, and intensely moving stories, each one dense with peril and tenderness. Morgan Talty is a thrilling new talent.”

—LAURA VAN DEN BERG, author of I Hold a Wolf by the Ears

“Night of the Living Rez is a fiercely intelligent and beautifully written set of stories—a spectacularly visceral and moving account of the experience of a member of the Penobscot Nation in today’s America—as well as a wrenching meditation on family and familial dysfunction. Morgan Talty is a master of the way dependency and pain transition from one body to another; the way both separating and refusing to separate become modes of saving ourselves; and the way, for all of our failures, we never stop doing what we can to provide each other hope.”

—JIM SHEPARD, author of Phase Six