Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

SGJ - how dare you end a story like that, you evil genius! Real talk, Stephen Graham Jones is one of the best horror authors out there. The way he intertwines grief and trauma and love and fear is unmatched. There is a pervasive sense of anticipation that sits on your shoulders when you read his work, keeping you on edge just to see how deeply human the characters will be. Junior is the perfect example. We see him dealing with his father, then dealing with his son, and the two are almost impossible to reconcile. He will do anything for Dino, and then he will do anything for his son. It's baffling and horrific and poetic and... wow.

[ Huge thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC! ]

I went into this read not really knowing what kind of horror to expect and ended up being sucker punched right in the gut. This was such a raw story. I honestly have no idea how Stephen Graham Jones packed so much emotion into such a short page count. I was thoroughly compelled by the characters and really feeling for this family in just a few short pages. The storytelling and character work was just incredible. I would def recommend to people who would enjoy a quieter horror with emotional depth.

More hauntings from SGJ please. Pacing and prose are exceptional and this works perfect as a read in one sitting novella that will give you plenty to talk and think about.

Mapping the Interior was published in 2017 and now published again. Jones does it again with this banger of a novel. Short novel. Perfer his longer works.

Mapping The Interior, Stephen Graham Jones, pub: April 2025

This is a shorter story and I devoured it in one sitting! The main character is a young man that has just lost his father. He lives in a small home with his mother and younger brother, who has mental health and/or developmental challenges. The young man believes his recently deceased father, is haunting their home, and maybe doing far worse.

Pros: Just great storytelling! No one writes kids as well as Stephen King and Graham Jones. Besides the ending, my favorite part is when the kid gets ran under the house, being chased by the neighbor mean dogs. We feel his fear and his plea that someone would come save him…and someone does.

Cons: Too short! Lol, this wraps up nicely but, there is nothing holding him back from revisiting these folks a couple years into the future.

This is a story where the ending will shock you so I cant say much! But, I thought it was great, surprising, worth the read. Lovers of The Only Good Indians, and  I Was A Teenage Slasher will enjoy this!

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for my pre-release copy of Mapping the Interior. Below is my honest review.

I am really enjoying getting to know the works of Stephen Graham Jones, and this novella was a gem. It built the horror up easily, tore it down, and built it back up again - over and over until the end came. It provided depth of both character and plot, and the setting was absolutely spot on.

Honestly, I'm very impressed with a novella with this much power and worldbuilding.

Definitely recommend this one for horror fans, but be warned there's some serious trigger warnings for family trauma.

This was a short story about a 12 year old dead father who came back to life. Yes, it is horror and the ending is most definitely creepy!

It’s very atmospheric, and engrossing.
This 12 year old boy is stuck between his grief from losing his father, protecting his special needs brother, and helping his mom as the “man of the house.”

I feel like I didn’t grasp all the symbolism in this, but I enjoyed it! Additionally, I think people will interpret this in their own way, which is the beauty of art. For me, this was an exploration of grief, generational trauma (and the repetition of trauma), and a reflection of one’s life choices.

I absolutely love the indigenous speech pattern used in this, it’s unique and true SGJs style, and I eat it up, despite being confused sometimes.

Great story telling. Themes of grief, hopelessness, and optimism thrown into one great story. I enjoyed a glimpse into a 13 year old boy who was thrown into a “man of the house” position he didn’t want, and the supernatural aspect of his dad returning

I have read several of Stephen Graham Jones’ novels and short stories, and while some resonate more strongly with me than others, his talent as a storyteller is undeniable. He is widely respected within the horror community, and his ability to craft compelling narratives rooted in Native American culture and history is truly distinctive. Regardless of personal preference, I always look forward to exploring his work. This particular novella falls somewhere in the upper-middle tier of his works that I’ve read.

This is a haunting and atmospheric tale, one that will likely evoke a wide range of emotions and interpretations from readers. At its core, it is a story about grief, loss, and the inescapable cycle of becoming our parents—even when we desperately hope to break free from that fate. It explores themes of identity and heritage, capturing the paradox of feeling both deeply connected to and distant from one's roots. More than anything, it is an unsettling meditation on the ways we cope with loss and the lengths we go to in order to hold on to those we love.

The novella follows a young boy who, late one night, believes he sees his long-dead father stepping through a doorway. Living with his mother and his mentally disabled brother, he is surrounded by the struggle to survive amidst ever-present violence. This is an easy read in a single sitting, and while it contains a few genuinely tense and unsettling moments, the narrative style occasionally took me out of the experience. I recognize that this stylistic choice was intentional, and my difficulty connecting with it is likely a matter of personal preference rather than a flaw in the writing itself.

Ultimately, this is a unique and thought-provoking story, and I would readily recommend it to any fan of Stephen Graham Jones.

Conceptually, I love when was going on here. Having the father come back to feed on his children is such an interesting and unique metaphor. I love Stephen Graham Jones’s writing style too. I feel like this could have benefited from being a slightly longer novel because something about it just doesn’t feel quite complete. The ending and its twist felt very abrupt and I feel like with maybe just a little more build up it could’ve been something more.

Mapping the Interior is written in Stephen Graham Jones’ conversational style from the POV of a boy who sees the figure of his long-dead father in his house one night. The novels packs a lot into its short length: generational cycles, cultural dissonance, coming of age worldview shifts, a haunting, police brutality, bullying, the intricacies of memory, and more. The fact that SGJ can accomplish such a feat in roughly 100 pages is why he’s one of the current Greats of horror, and one of my personal favorite authors.

This novella was originally published in 2017, but is coming out on April 29th with new cover art so I was lucky enough to get a NetGalley eARC and work on my goal to read the SGJ backlog at the same time. My review is entirely my own opinion.

I loved the family dynamics presented here - we have a single mother who has left the reservation and her entire community behind to raise her two children away from the past. 12-year old Junior has a lot of questions about that past, especially when his deceased father starts turning up in full regalia at night. Is he there to help his disabled little brother get better? Is he there at all? Does he have a completely different agenda? Junior, as man of the house, decides to find out, by intricately mapping the house and his mind.

I love coming-of-age stories and the gift of character development inherent to good ones. Junior isn’t a completely reliable narrator due to his age and understanding, his sleepwalking, his grief, and the fallibility of memory, which gets so interwoven with hopes and fears. Memory is basically fiction disguised as fact.

I thought it was really interesting that Junior was the most likely to see his father in the liminal space between sleeping and waking, and could mimic the conditions by making his feet numb. As Junior experiences more of these visitations, he has to confront everything he believes. The ending left me a bit shocked and uncomfortable, but that’s what horror is often about - exploring the dark in a safe setting.

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An atmospheric read that I believe will really resonate with readers. A story about grief and what we as individuals will do to cope with the loss of a loved one. This might be a tough read for someone who has felt that grief. I personally was brought to tears multiplie times. This novella really packs a punch!

terrifying and unique ! a fast read and oh so worth it, If you are a fan , you have to dive in to this unsettling short story.

After losing his father at a young age, twelve-year-old Junior feels responsible as the “man of the house” to protect his younger brother Dino.

That pressure only intensifies when Junior sees visions of his deceased father creeping through the home dressed as a traditional Indian fancydancer.

Mapping the Interior is a ghost story about generational trauma and the grey areas that exist on the path to seek justice.

While I found the premise to be intriguing, the storytelling felt clunky. Conclusions Junior comes to about the nature of the supernatural element in the story felt a bit forced and sporadic, making it difficult to follow at times.

Thank you to Tor Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I'd like to start by saying thank you to netgalley and Tor publishing group for the ARC.

This was an interesting read, it felt very dream-like and choppy in the sense of being from a child's perspective. This book was more emotional and sad rather than horror to me. It seemed as though the 'horror' and 'creepy' aspects of this book weren't investigated more, which generally did not make the weird happenings stand out to me. I had a hard time getting invested or connected into the story since a lot of it just did not seem to flow or make much sense. This book was less about him living in a 'haunted' house and more about the trauma, abuse, and troubles of living close to or in poverty. This book might be for some people but for me it fell flat, I'm glad it was a novella because I'm not sure if I would have kept going if it was a full length novel.

This is one of those books that sounds absolutely amazing and you know everyone will love it but it just didn’t hit for you. There’s just something about SGJ writing that I just don’t mesh with.

This short novel is very haunting, eerie and dark. It made me feel sad and heartbroken throughout the book. I will have to say, this short story is very unique. I have never read a book quite like it.

This is about a boy that walks through his house during the nighttime and comes across this figure. Furthermore, this figure reminds him of his Dad; who is no longer alive. The story gets more in depth of the Family’s lifestyle, traditions, and what really happened to his Dad. It’s very thought provoking and mysterious.

This short novel has a lot of trigger warnings. Some of them include grief, bullying, and abuse. Be sure to read the full content warnings before reading this short story. I give this novel a 3 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review!

This is a very short novella and was able to finish this in one sitting. I did have a couple tense moments, and enjoyed the idea behind it. I never read books that explore Native American culture, The story is about grief, and loss, and things we will do to cope with losing the people we love. I did enjoy this short novella although it wasn't my favorite but I will be continuing on reading from this author.


Thank you NetGalley for the copy!

Twelve-year-old Junior just saw his dead father walk from the living room to the utility room. He doesn’t know what to make of that. What he does know is he needs to figure out how to help him return to the living world…because he’s his dad, right?

An absolutely spine-tingling novella from the inimitable Stephen Graham Jones, Mapping the Interior will leave you creeped out, confused, and just a little angry – exactly how I like my horror novels!

I read this ~110 page novella in one sitting and of course it was after midnight when I finished and OF COURSE I was alone…in the dark…with Stephen’s thoughts. You really don’t want to do that. Be alone with Stephen’s thoughts.

This novella is also a poignant glimpse into the everyday lives of our Indigenous neighbors; their hardships, their struggles, but also their joy. Stephen has taught me more about Indigenous culture than anything I could learn from a textbook (obviously) or the History channel.

Stephen blends an intimate portrait of a family having survived trauma, with supernatural terror and creeping dread. I highly recommend you pre-order it! Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for the early review copy.