Book Review: MAPPING THE INTERIOR by Stephen Graham Jones

MAPPING THE INTERIOR by Stephen Graham Jones (Tor Nightfire, April 29, 2025) Paperback, 112 pages. ISBN # 9781240306026 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

Walking through his own house at night, a fifteen-year-old thinks he sees another person stepping through a doorway. Instead of the people who could be there, his mother or his brother, the figure reminds him of his long-gone father, who died mysteriously before his family left the reservation. When he follows it he discovers his house is bigger and deeper than he knew.

The house is the kind of wrong place where you can lose yourself and find things you'd rather not have. Over the course of a few nights, the boy tries to map out his house in an effort that puts his little brother in the worst danger, and puts him in the position to save them . . . at terrible cost.

My Five-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

I believe this is one of those books that you try to recommend without giving too many details . MAPPING THE INTERIOR is best experienced in an innocent state. Just let it carry you away. 

This one stayed with me and played around inside my head long after I finished reading. Disturbing. Creepy. Vivid. Chilling. 

It also provides a slice-of-life, coming-of-age story of a young 12-year old fatherless Native American boy growing up in a low-income modular home rental off the reservation. His mother is struggling. His younger brother suffers from a mental ailment, and requires his older brother's protection. I believe Jones pulled from his own experience in writing this, and it feels authentic.

MAPPING THE INTERIOR is also a ghost story like no other I have read. Told from the point-of-view of the 12-year old Junior, and narrated by him. A traumatic experience that would leave physical and mental scars on almost any one who would live through it. I also felt the he was sharing this experience/confession to lend clarity to what he does as an adult male.

Book Review: WITHOUT CONSENT by Sarah Weinman

WITHOUT CONSENT: A LANDMARK TRIAL AND THE DECADES-LONG STRUGGLE TO MAKE SPOUSAL RAPE A CRIME by Sarah Weinman (Ecco, November 11, 2025) Paperback, 320 pages. ISBN #9780063480766

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

From Sarah Weinman, author of Scoundrel and The Real Lolita, comes an eye-opening story about the first major spousal rape trial in America and urgent questions about women’s rights that would reverberate for decades.

In 1978, Greta Rideout was the first woman in United States history to accuse her husband of rape, at a time when the idea of “marital rape” seemed ludicrous to many Americans and was a crime in only four states. After a quick and conservative trial acquitted John Rideout and a defense lawyer lambasted that “maybe rape is the risk of being married,” Greta was ridiculed and scorned from public life, while John went on to be a repeat offender. Thrust into the national spotlight, Greta and her story would become a national sensation, a symbol of a country’s unrelenting and targeted hate toward women and a court system designed to fail them at every turn.

A now little-remembered trial deserving of close, wide, and lasting attention, Sarah Weinman turns her signature intelligence and journalistic rigor to the enduring impact of this case. Oregon v. Rideout directly inspired feminist activists, who fought state by state for marital rape laws, a battle that was not won in all fifty until as recently as 1993. Mixing archival research and new reporting involving Greta, those who successfully pressed charges against John in later years, as well as the activists battling the courts in parallel, Without Consent embodies vociferous debates about gender, sexuality, and power, while highlighting the damaging and inherent misogyny of American culture then and still now.

My Five-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

A compelling read about an important and too-long overlooked issue: marital rape. Weinman does an admirable job of investigation, detailing the long struggle to have courts designate this a crime.

With excerpts from news accounts as well as interviews, Weinman shows how progress was finally made with some landmark court decisions, and highlights how much work still needs to be done.

She devotes chapters to the decisive (and sometimes undecisive) court cases, most notably the multiple hearings regarding Greta and John Rideout, as well as the Bobbitt case. 

Spotlighted are general long-held beliefs that wives are property and thus husbands can't be convicted of raping their wives. Consent is always assumed. It took an especially long time to change public and judicial opinion on this matter, and Weinman also designates the trailblazers for marital rights, including Laura X and others.

What disgusted me and seems obvious is how despicable a person John Rideout is, and how he was able to evade conviction across several decades. 

One of the better true crime books I have recently read. I received a copy through a Goodreads giveaway. Thanks to the author and publisher for an advanced review copy, without obligation. My review is completely voluntary.

MY WEEK IN COMICS - - - NOVEMBER 23, 2025

 #689-#694 =  THE HEXILES #1-#6 by Cullen Bunn and Joe Bocardo (Mad Cave Studios, November 2024-April 2025)

This is what I said about Issue #1 when it was released . . .

     SYNOPSIS by Mad Cave: Jamison Kreel is dead. Six of his children from six mothers are attending the funeral of a father they never met. Each of the children possesses a different infernal power. These powers, though, come at a terrible price...a price Jamison Kreel has placed upon the heads of his offspring. And the demonic debtors have come to collect.

   That is a very succinct summary, and gives an indication of what kind of story this might be without giving too much away. Bunn knows how to layer on the suspense and dread, and the art is just so creepy that it adds shivers to the proceedings. There are actually seven children when the story begins, but only six when the issue ends.  That’s not a good sign - -  not for the characters, but for those who enjoy edgy horror it might be a sign of more to come. FOUR STARS.

  That favorable impression of Issue #1 prompted me to pre-order the rest of the series, which I just now finished reading in its’ entirety. (FYI,the trade paperback was published in June.) This was definitely worth my investment, and if you’re a fan of the edgy, supernatural, mystical, and magical in your horror comics (calling all fan of JOHN CONSTANTINE/HELLBLAZER) - - you may like this as much as I do. 

    The six strangers (until now) who all share a common and absentee father realize the trap that they have been lured into and escape during the events of Issue #2. Then, after being called together for a meeting, they realize they can’t stay on the run forever and decide to work together and take the battle right to the source of the hellish demons after them  - - a remote castle/estate in the Black Forest of Germany.  They are welcomed and lured into a false sense of security by the matron of the estate, who has her own cross purposes and plans for them.

  There is a criticism of Bunn’s vast diversity of work that I don’t totally disagree with - - and that is that while he comes up with inventive concepts he doesn’t always know how to finish a story properly and the final issues of a series often disappoint.  While that could also be said of the conclusion of THE HEXILES - - I’m okay with it, because there is a resolution/reprieve, just not the final resolution.

    Why not?  Well, I think Bunn wisely left an opening for a second series - and this story deserves it. These six issues were extremely fast-paced and there wasn’t enough opportunity to fully flesh out these intriguing characters. The one that stands out to me, and my favorite, is Britton. She contains a mini-demon/monster inside her - The Servitor of Xerxriuz - who is not only useful in a monster fight but also has knowledge of the demons to share with the group. 

    All the members of the group have interesting powers inherited from their father. Kreel’s backstory is interesting, and makes him a truly unique character - as there is not a single reason to empathize with him or what he’s done.

 I’d also like to see a return to this series and learn more about the underground society that Bunn has developed here. Lastly, if they can retain the art team - I wholly recommend that. 

Joe Bocardo’s art is suitably grisly, and fascinating to look at. His style reminds me of the gothic art of Edward Gorey and darkly humorous art of Charles Addams. FOUR STARS OVERALL.

CROWNSVILLE #1 of 5 BY Rodney Barnes and Elia Bonetti (Oni Press, November 2025) 

Writer Rodney Barnes utilizes the dark background story of Crownsville Hospital and crafts historical fiction that is a skillful blend of true crime, thriller, and horror. The art by Elia Bonetti is expressive and photo-realistic. Bonetti’s coloring puts a deathlike pallor over the art with earth tones and gray shadings, giving the overall appearance of old-time early 20th Century monochrome photographs. Story and art combine to relate a horrifying tale of the secretive history of Crownsville. Then Barnes adds the suspense and horror elements, and this is shaping up to be a phenomenal series. FOUR STARS.

Synopsis from the Oni Press website . . . . Founded at the turn of the 20th century the Crownsville Hospital was a notoriously segregated, all-Black psychiatric institute.  After decades of overcrowding and neglect - alongside darker, more persistent rumors of patient abuse and illegal medical experiments - it was finally closed. Today, it stands condemned - a crumbling testament to a legacy of all-too-real terror inflicted on a marginalized and vulnerable community. 

But even as a ruin of its former self, Crownsville still casts a long shadow . . .  When an unexplained death inside the abandoned hospital is ruled a suicide, Annapolis police detective Mike Simms and journalist Paul Blairare are compelled to dig deeper, only to discover the reality of the horror that once took place there . . . and the powerful connection they share to the anguished spirits of the dead that are still locked within its walls. 

 

Eddington | Official Trailer HD | A24

EDDINGTON on HBO Max:

Written and directed by Ari Aster and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Luke Grimes, Deirdre O'Connell, Micheal Ward, with Austin Butler and Emma Stone

It wasn't until I was thinking about this off-kilter film the next day that I realized the directormay have intended this to be a satiric comedy. As interesting as this is, with some great performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, that message didn't really come across - leaving me to ponder what was the director's intention?

Worth watching, but be forewarned the subject matter is divisive: Covid 19 restrictions, white supremacy, BLM protests, a nasty political race for mayor, mental illness, conspiracy theories, corporate greed/manipulation - - all set in the backdrop of a low population town in the New Mexico desert in 2020.

Timely, topical, and disturbing - with some surprises along the way. The last act plays out at 3X the pace of the first two. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.

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