Horror novella told from the pov of a 12 y/o native American boy, who thinks he sees his dead father walking through his house at night.

I'm looking forward to reading more by this author! The writing is so gripping and emotional.

"When you come back from the dead, you’re a spirit, you’re nothing, just some leftover intention, some unassociated memory."

12 year old Junior starts to try and sleepwalk on purpose after seeing his dead father. He starts to assume that his father has come back to help the family, especially his little brother Dino who has seizures. Once Junior realizes that might not be the case he does everything to protect his family and figures out maybe his father is better off dead.

I feel like this is a book that I will think about often and at random times. It's so captivating and intense. The subject is very diverse focusing on Natives and their culture how stories impact the way people deal with loosing loved ones. It has spiritual/paranormal undertones without being full blown horror. A very powerful piece of work and I can't wait to read more from SGJ.

Stephen Graham Jones just keeps hitting it out of the park like it's his hobby. Devastating exploration of grief and trauma and how it all coalesces into horror. Phenomenal read!!

This book is following a boy processing his grief after his father dies and how this grief manifests in unpredictable ways. There's a lot of supernatural elements to this book I really appreciated and felt they were used effectively to convey the grieving process. I'm a big fan of this authors writing style and grief horror is also one of my favorite sub genres so this one was definitely a win for me.

📐🏠📏Mapping The Interior📏🏠📐

This was heartbreaking horror...

"I was twelve the first time I saw my dead father cross from the kitchen doorway to the hall that led back to the utility room."

*CHILLS*

This is a short yet powerful novella by SGJ that I devour in one sitting. It delivered so much feeling, both emotionally damaging as well as the horrific kind all in under 120 pages.

We follow a single Mom of two, her sons Junior, 12 years old (this was especially gut-wrenching since that's my own child nickname) and Dino, about 8 years old, whom has been suffering from seizures as well as some developmental delays. They have moved out of the rez, and it seems that the neighborhood they're on is not as nice or safe as it seems to be, between a nightmare of a neighbor and being haunted/hunted by their Dead Father, Junior tries his best at being a good brother and son.

This book was so tense, creepy, and heartbreaking. The way they longed yet fear the Father apparition, the way that it was carefully portrayed to showcase the feelings of Junior, and it was done all in a novella. I can see SGJ is a household name and won so many awards. He has won me over again. Loved Night of the Mannequins novella, and now I look forward to reading all of his available work.

I would love to thank NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this e-book ARC.

I love SGJ! He brings such a unique perspective to horror. This story is short, but it has depth. It has good creepy vibes. It flips the typical creepy kid story and brings a wonderful cultural element.

As always, Stephen Graham Jones is brilliant with words. Even a short story like this one is written so well, I wouldn’t have minded it being a full story. The perspective is from a 12 year old boy, which makes the writing even more interesting and imaginative. You aren’t sure whether what’s going on is real, paranormal, or the imagination of a child, and maybe that’s part of the reason why it’s so scary too. Loved this!

I am so thankful to Tor Nightfire, Stephen Graham Jones, and Netgalley for granting me access to this one before publication day. I really enjoyed this piece and look forward to more from this creator.

Junior is 12 years old when he wakes up from sleepwalking to see his dead father walking across his house. His father died when he was 4 but somehow he recognizes him immediately. He assumes his father is back to help him and his family but maybe the dead are better off dead at the end of the day.

This book was so creepy and captivating! Overall a really fast read that I had a hard time putting down, and I know I’ll be thinking about it for the next week at least.

I did struggle a bit with the meanness of this book, and wouldn’t recommend it to people who don’t like reading about animal cruelty (or cruelty in general) because there’s a lot of vague references or implied ickiness.

This is a creepy and effective short story about a father that comes back years after drowning. His son tries to protect his brother and mom from this, all within the backdrop of Native culture. Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I have JUST started dabbling in SJG’s work and this was a perfect novella to binge in one sitting. I read this on a plane and landed filled with a sense of unreality.

Calling this book a fever dream doesn’t do it justice, as it has raw and real edges to it. I loved the character development and backstory in this one and can definitely see why people love this author so much.

While Mapping The Interior was originally published in 2017, I’m glad that this refresh put it on my radar. I’m looking forward to checking out The Only Good Indians next!

Check this one out if you love haunted houses, horror, and complicated family dynamics!

**Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the eARC of this haunting title!**

A great read. This was my introduction to Stephen Graham Jones and ignited a love affair with his work. The imagery and the emotion created a gripping read. A definite addition to the home library.

Thank you for the opportunity.

I have read this previously, but loved it at the time, and am so excited for the new cover and for it to hopefully reach new audiences! I am a sucker for a father/child story, and this one is creepy on top of that. SGJ really can't be beat.

Jones is a masterful story teller mixing Indigenous culture with horror.

This is a short novella about a boy and his dead father that he keeps seeing, it’s a poignant metaphor for generational trauma and healing from grief.

Jones really can convey a lot in so few words. Love seeing this get a reprint.

Stephen Graham Jones has such a unique writing style that I wasn’t surprised that I loved this book. It was so atmospheric and haunting.

𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: April 29, 2025
𝗔𝗥𝗖 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪:

I love a good hauntingly eerie and emotion read by SGJ. This book gave me paranormal/supernatural vibes and I loved all of it, a horror novella if you will. We follow our main character who is a very young boy, not a child but also not a teenager just yet and sees his father for the first time since….he died. We follow him as he tries to learn why he’s there and what for, he begins to question the truth about why and how his father died. There are so many surprises, turns and twists in this book, we weave through this book like a maze to the very end. This book gave me all the feelings. Nothing is ever as it seems. This needs to be on everybody’s TBR. 5/5 easy stars for me here. I will devour everything Stephen Graham Jones writes.

Huge thank you to our Author, NetGalley as well as Tor Publishing Group | Tor Nightfire

Excellent, terrible, what the hell

This is actually my first foray into a Stephen Graham Jones book and I can tell why people love his writing.

Some visuals and spatial things were a little tough for me, but I think that’s a personal taste thing. I loved the relationship between Junior and Dino, and I loved how real the characters and place felt. Everything had a texture I could reach out and touch.

Kinda just made me more excited to read his other books, to see what he can do with more space and time.

What a ghost story…

_Mapping the Interior_ by Stephen Graham Jones is a character-driven, fast-paced, and immersive horror novella. When twelve-year-old Junior sees his dad, who drowned years ago, late at night in their home, he thinks he has come back to be the father Junior and his brother need. But the more Junior sees him, the more he learns about his dead father and his motives. This enthralling novella will appeal to fans of supernatural horror.

Mapping the Interior is an ownvoices novella about a 12 year old boy who thinks he sees the ghost of his father walking around the house. This is a coming-of-age story about grief, family, and Native American culture and trauma. It has some great horror imagery. It really packs a punch in under 200 pages. I would highly recommend this to fans of Jones’ other works, but also to horror fans who are looking for a quick, hard-hitting read.

I have to admit, for such a short story, this one seemed to drag. The first quarter was very interesting. I loved following the story as the MC started to see his father. However, as the story progressed, it got very convoluted and unclear. I can’t say I loved the end, and I am certain the majority of readers won’t follow the story. I understand SGJ is becoming more popular, but this story wasn’t his best.