Night of the Mannequins

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Night of the Mannequins
Night of the Mannequins.jpg
First edition trade paperback
Author Stephen Graham Jones
Audio read byGary Tiedemann
LanguageEnglish
GenreHorror, slasher
Set inEast Texas
Publisher Tor.com
Publication date
September 1, 2020
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (trade paperback), ebook, audiobook
Pages132 pp.
ISBN 9781250752079
(paperback 1st edition)
OCLC 1190905015
813.54
LC Class PS3560.O5395 N54 2020

Night of the Mannequins is a 2020 novella by Native American author Stephen Graham Jones. The book was released through Tor.com and was awarded the 2020 Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction and the 2021 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novella.

Contents

Synopsis

Per the publisher's synopsis: [1]

We thought we'd play a fun prank on her, and now most of us are dead.

One last laugh for the summer as it winds down. One last prank just to scare a friend. Bringing a mannequin into a theater is just some harmless fun, right? Until it wakes up. Until it starts killing.

Luckily, Sawyer has a plan. He’ll be a hero. He'll save everyone to the best of his ability. He'll do whatever he needs to so he can save the day. That's the thing about heroes—sometimes you have to become a monster first.

Development

While developing the story, Stephen Graham Jones wanted to write a "short slasher, but a different kind." He chose to have the plot's action start as the result of a prank. He finds "When you’re writing a slasher, they always start with a prank, crime, or trespass to open the cycle of injustice." Jones wrote the story with Sawyer as the central character and narrator to explore the concept of the villain being "the hero of his own story," as Jones wanted to know what it would be like from their point of view. [2]

Release

Night of the Mannequins was first published in paperback and ebook formats in the United States on September 1, 2020, through Tor.com. [3] An audiobook adaptation narrated by Gary Tiedermann was published through Tantor Audio on February 23, 2021. [4]

Reception

Critical reception for Night of the Mannequins has been favorable. Common elements of praise centered upon the character Sawyer, [5] who Paula Guran of Locus felt was a "convincing and endearing protagonist." [6] Reviewing for Booklist , Emily Whitmore noted that the book was "a fever dream of a horror novella, where the reader is never quite sure what is happening or whom to trust." [7] The book was also reviewed for Transmotion by Gage Karahkwí:io Diabo, who compared the work to Stephen Graham Jones's The Only Good Indians , noting that "whereas The Only Good Indians signalled its ties to coloniality and Indigenous kinship principles right from the title, Mannequins, which does not identify its characters as Indigenous or otherwise, takes an approach that is perhaps easier to miss." [8]

Awards

YearAwardCategoryResultRef.
2020 Bram Stoker Award Long Fiction Won [9] [10]
Shirley Jackson Award Novella Won [11] [12]

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References

  1. ↑ Jones, Stephen Graham (2023). Don't Fear the Reaper. Simon & Schuster. ISBN   978-1982186593.
  2. ↑ Mercurio, Marisa (September 17, 2020). "Stephen Graham Jones: 'If I don't get scared then I'm not playing with the right kind of fire'". Sublime Horror. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  3. ↑ Publishing, Tor com. "Night of the Mannequins". Tordotcom Publishing. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  4. ↑ Jones, Stephen Graham (2020). Night of the Mannequins. Tordotcom. ISBN   9781705282427.
  5. ↑ Gilliand, Blu (June 26, 2020). "Review: Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones". Cemetery Dance Online. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Paula Guran Reviews Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones". Locus Online. July 10, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  7. ↑ Whitmore, Emily (2020). "Night of the Mannequins (review)". Booklist.
  8. ↑ Diabo, Gage Karahkwiio (January 29, 2023). "Review Essay: Little Books, Big Horror". Transmotion. 8 (2): 164–171 Pages. doi:10.22024/UNIKENT/03/TM.1073.
  9. ↑ Templeton, Molly (June 1, 2021). "Announcing the 2020 Bram Stoker Awards Winners". Tor.com . Archived from the original on July 7, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  10. ↑ "2020 Stoker Awards Winners". Locus Online . May 24, 2021. Archived from the original on August 11, 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Shirley Jackson Awards Winners". Locus Online . August 16, 2021. Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
  12. ↑ Liptak, Andrew (August 16, 2021). "Announcing the Winners of the 2020 Shirley Jackson Awards!". Tor.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2022. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
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