FICTION | AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 12
THE MISSING MORNINGSTAR
And Other Stories
by STACIE SHANNON DENETSOSIE
"Propulsive and complex, this is a gorgeously written debut."
—KIRKUS REVIEWS, starred review
Stacie Shannon Denetsosie confronts long-reaching effects of settler-colonialism on Native lives in a series of gritty, wildly imaginative stories. A young Navajo man catches a ride home alongside a casket he’s sure contains his dead grandfather. A gas station clerk witnesses the kidnapping of the newly crowned Miss Northwestern Arizona. A young couple’s search for a sperm donor raises questions of blood quantum. This debut collection grapples with a complex and painful history alongside an inheritance of beauty, ceremony, and storytelling.
September 2023 | Fiction | 9781948814850 | 144 pp | $16.95
"Just when it feels like a plot might move into a familiar trope, it upends itself in the best way. The stories don’t provide tidy resolutions, but they reveal essential truths about the continued effects of colonization on Indigenous people, including the lack of resources on tribal lands, ongoing mental health and substance abuse crises, violence against women, and Indigenous women going missing."
​
—KIRKUS REVIEWS, starred review
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
STACIE SHANNON DENETSOSIE is a member of the Navajo Nation and her clans are Todích'íí'nii (Bitterwater) and born for Naakaii Dine'é (Mexican). Her work has appeared in Yellow Medicine Review, Scribendi, and Phoebe. She holds an MFA in Fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts and is a contributor to the Torrey House Press anthology Blossom as the Cliffrose: Mormon Legacies and the Beckoning Wild. She lives in Logan, Utah.
ALSO BY THE AUTHOR
BLOSSOM AS THE CLIFFROSE: Mormon Legacies and the Beckoning Wild
Blossom as the Cliffrose features original poems and prose by talented writers who are faithful, non-faithful, believers, heretics, converts and de-converts, dragged in or forced out of the Mormon faith. This dynamic collection demonstrates the breadth, complexity, and diversity of a Latter-day Saint legacy of commitment to natural place and challenges us to examine the myriad ways our own deeply rooted heritage shapes our personal relationship with landscape.
“Meditative and energizing, fierce and loving, balanced and rhythmic. An invitation to welcome faith and nature, and to embrace the tensions and beauty that spring from every crack and cranny along the way.”
—FOREWORD REVIEWS
PRAISE FOR THE MISSING MORNINGSTAR
“The Missing Morningstar effortlessly exudes power and charm in equal measure. Denetsosie appears on the page fully formed. A feat of voice, texture, heart, and an absolute thrill to read.”
—TOMMY ORANGE, author of There There
​​
​
“Denetsosie debuts with a bracing and poignant collection portraying the rugged lives of her Diné characters and their complex family bonds. . . Denetsosie soars when depicting the characters’ close relationships with one another. It’s a potent display of modern Navajo life.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“An unflinching collection... altogether, the poignant stories of The Missing Morningstar represent a world of people searching for love, fulfillment, and belonging.”
—FOREWORD REVIEWS
​
​
“Denetsosie’s gorgeous short story collection plunged deep into my soul, where these strong and resilient Navajo characters will remain for a very, very long time.”
—KALI FAJARDO-ANSTINE, author of Woman of Light
​​
​
“Stacie Shannon Denetsosie has given us insight and honesty on what it is to be Navajo now.”
—CALVIN CROSBY, The King’s English Bookshop
​​
​
“The Missing Morningstar is a vivid and imaginative mapping of the lives of Diné people and the many faceted ways in which we exist in this world. The characters have such depth that I could still see and hear them long after I had finished reading.”
—RAMONA EMERSON, author of Shutter
​​
​
“Full of voices that reveal grief and redemption, this collection is a compelling compendium of family, truths, loss and love. I loved it.”
—BRANDON HOBSON, author of The Removed
​​
​
“Denetsosie’s characters are tied to the land and one another in ways that nurture and sometimes hurt. They’ll have you laughing, crying, and, sometimes, singing alongside them.”
—KELLI JO FORD, author of Crooked Hallelujah
​
​
“These are stories that will break your heart and make you laugh and break your heart some more.”
—TONI JENSEN, author of Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land and From the Hilltop: Stories
​​
​
“Denetsosie’s voice, at once thunderous and tender, sings in The Missing Morningstar. A stunning debut.”
—KINSALE DRAKE, Founder of NDN Girls Book Club
​​
​
“Two thirds heartbreak, one third redemption, these stories of contemporary life in and around the Navajo Reservation bear all the generational trauma of colonialism and all the hope and humor of the people who live between the four sacred peaks.”
—PAM HOUSTON, author of Air Mail and Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country
​​
​
“Denetsosie’s characters are powerful reminders of why we keep on living.”
—HALEE KIRKWOOD, Birchbark Books
​
