Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones
Junior is 12 years old, living in a trailer with his hard-working mom and his brother Dino, who’s been having some health issues and trouble with bullies at school. It’s been just the three of them since Junior and Dino’s dad drowned eight years ago. Was it a tragic accident? Did someone intentionally harm him? It’s unclear, but ultimately, the results are the same. Junior has lost his father, and Dino doesn’t even remember having a father.
Then one night Junior awakens to find his father standing there, dressed in full Native American Fancy Dance regalia, something Junior’s father didn’t even wear back when they lived on the reservation. But maybe this is a new version of his father—one that is ready to be there for his family. Maybe this one will be able to help Junior protect Dino from the outside world. Maybe this one will be there to support his mother.
Desperate to have his father back in his life and to find out the truth about the strange vision he saw in the night, Junior begins hunting him throughout the house, leaving no corner of their space unexamined. But is his father truly back to protect him? Or does he want to take something from them?
The thing that draws me back to horror novels again and again is their relentless examination of grief and loss and the emptiness that death can leave behind. It’s the kind of emptiness that will have you desperately grasping for any kind of sign—no matter how big or how small—that everything will be okay again. I felt the desperation in this novella so acutely on every page. This grief felt real and intense. It only took a few pages to feel deep sympathy and understanding for all of these characters, and I did cry for them.
Mapping the Interior has easily become one of my favorite Stephen Graham Jones books. If you’re a fan of this author and you haven’t picked this one up yet, this novella has everything you love about him: beautiful and deliberate prose, emotional depth, moments of real terror, and yes, moments of humor too. If you’ve never read Stephen Graham Jones, this would be an excellent introduction to his work. And even if you’ve read Mapping the Interior before, this new edition is your opportunity to read the story again with fresh eyes. It even includes a new note from the author.