“I'm all right," I told her. This is a lie, when you're twelve. And all the other years, too.”
― Stephen Graham Jones, Mapping the Interior

“You never tell your mom anything that might worry her. Moms have enough to worry about already.”
― Stephen Graham Jones, Mapping the Interior

Updated for a new edition coming from Tor.com
This book is the first book by Stephen Graham Jones that I read and it will forever stand as my favorite. It cemented Jones as a favorite author. If you're new to reading his work, this is quintessential reading and if I had it my way, this would be every reader's introduction. It perfectly captures the essence of who he is as a storyteller.

I'm going to attempt to write this review after *just* finishing this story but just know, it killed me. I'm dead.
This is what I like to lovingly call a "gut punch".
SGJ pulls you into this 12-year-old boy's head space effortlessly. Being an avid reader of the horror genre, my particular sweet spot is for stories narrated by young boys on the cusp of manhood. There's a layer of emotional investment for me.
Junior is being raised by his mother, a widow, who lives outside of the Indian reservation to "save her boys from drowning"<--- just read it to get that. Junior's brother, Dino, has special needs.
I mean, KILL ME NOW.
I was already in tears by the time the story got rolling 20ish pages into this short novella.
The world stopped at least twice while I was reading and I don't think I was breathing.
Now that it's over and I'm digesting everything I just read, I can still feel SGJ pulling on my heartstrings and it HURTS.
It hurts BAAAAD.
I loved these 50-some-odd pages as much as I love just about anything. It's full of everything that makes me tick as a reader. Symbolism, foreshadowing, suspense, tension, fear, concern, and an emotional tidal wave that sucks you out to sea and spits you out.
I'm thankful for my little journey today, even though I'm a little worse for wear. And I'm *really* thankful for the ending. That redemption was hoped for.

Engaging, entertaining, and nicely dark. A recommended purchases for collections where horror is popular.

I'm a Stephen Graham Jones fan, but had never read this earlier work. Mapping the Interior is a novella about a 12-year-old boy coming to terms with the loss of his father. I wasn't sure how a horror novel could touch on grief in such a moving way, but as I read, I was often reminded of Pet Sematary by Stephen King.

For such a short novel, the characters and emotions are all deeply felt. This is compelling, memorable piece that will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for a digital ARC of this novella. All opinions are my own.

5 stars

I’m not sure that Jones can write a bad story. This feels slightly softer, but still packs a punch. Another incredible story, with a perfect mix of grief and horror.

Thank you for granting me access to this ARC, NetGalley!

This is a complex story that would be excellent for literature students to deconstruct. I can feel the grief and strife of a young boy heading into his teenage years and trying to find his adulthood. The protection he feels for his little brother is palpable, as is the ache he feels for his father. Junior’s search for control over his sleepwalking, his brother’s seizures, and his life as a boy growing up without his father is poignantly expressed here. SGJ masterfully dances on the line between the hard, cold world of reality and whatever’s on the other side.

This is an exceptional title for those who think SGJ is just slasher horror and haven’t yet come to understand the depth of his characters and scenarios. Fantastic read; I’m thrilled it’s being reprinted so more people can access his beautiful writing.

Tor is reprinting Mapping the Interior, which was the 2017 winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Long Fiction. Netgalley sent me an email about it today and of course I dropped everything to read it.

I'm seeing a lot of reviews saying that this is a softer side to Stephen Graham Jones, that there's less fear here than there is grief. I disagree. Sure, this story is about a 12 year old boy grieving his father, a family trying to succeed outside their reservation, and about the life cycles of fathers and sons, but don't let that distract you from the fact that there is some seriously dark stuff happening here. Children are getting bullied. People are getting murdered by children. Dogs - AGAIN, SGJ? - are getting torn to pieces. I can't even tell you what's going on with the poor brother without spoiling the whole thing.

I have the same problem with this story as I have with the Indian Lake Trilogy - it gets too metaphysical and I have to go back and read again and again to figure out what's happening. However, that's more forgivable in a short story so it doesn't affect my rating. Just know that this is sad and scary and everything you've come to expect from SGJ. Children, animals, nobody's safe.

Really lovely, lush stuff. A unique, arresting haunting story. Jones never disappoints. I would happily read more from/of this character.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was beautifully written and told, and it had a great balance between horror and sadness.

Jones returns with another creepy tale about some of the spooky stuff going down on the reservation. A young boy witnesses someone walk through a doorway in his home, and he has the strange feeling that it’s his father that seeing. The only problem with that is that his father is dead. The boy begins a nightmare journey through his home, which suddenly seems much larger and contains rooms he never knew were there. This book is a nightmare come to life, read it with the lights on!