North American Lake Monsters

Stories

By: Nathan Ballingrud

Narrated by: Travis Young

In this striking and bleak, yet luminous debut collection, Nathan Ballingrud, winner of the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award, uses the trappings of the Gothic and the uncanny to investigate a distinctly American landscape: The loneliest and darkest corners of contemporary life.

Ballingrud’s stories are love stories. They’re also monster stories. Sometimes the monsters collected here are vampires or werewolves. Sometimes they wear the faces of parents, lovers, brothers, or ex-wives, and sometimes they wear the faces we see in our mirrors. The people in these stories - ex-cons, single parents, unemployed laborers, kids seduced by extremism - are stranded by life, driven to desperate acts by love and a longing for connection. Sometimes they’re ruined; sometimes redeemed. They are always recognizably, wonderfully, and terrifyingly human. Even at their most monstrous.

©2013 Nathan Ballingrud (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Interesting

Some of the stories were hard to follow and I was a bit lost if they were psychological or physically happening. Sometimes I fell a little out of interest. It was pretty eerie though. With that being said, the narrator practically brings every character to life with his acting, barely a dull moment while he reads, his accent is really good too!

Great potential. Uneven quality.

First and last are good. Stories in between seem a little sophomoric. I don't think they made the right choice of narrator. His homespun accident did not suit some of the stories. Sometimes it felt like I was listening to a narration by comedian, Ron White., and it would take me out of the story.

Not for Everyone

This book of short stories to me is something special. I really enjoy the literary style of the author, his descriptions and metaphots are stirring. A lot of people will say all the stories ended just as they got interesting, but I think it's an achievement that I want a novel for each of them, yet I'm also satisfied in the mystery of what comes next. I think he really captures humanities many responses to horror, especially masculinity since they're all mostly from a male perspective.

I rated the performance poorly, but that's yet again Audibles producers or engineers fault. The bayou drawl of the narrator fits most every story and the matter of fact delivery reminds you of getting an interesting story from a stranger in some bar. There are just a bunch of weird redone lines insterted 10dbs louder and with more bass. It's jarring and takes you out of the story. I can't imagine what they had to redo was any worse than the awful solution they came up with. Audible really needs to step up their game.

it just feels unfinished

many of the stories stop at points that I suppose are meant to feel mysterious, but they just feel lazy and unresolved. Also some of the dialogue is hard to follow the way its written when read aloud. The narrator did the best he could.

Superb Writing, Bleak Horror, Fantastic Narration

I agree with one review that this collection may not be for everyone, but if you are drawn to multilayered atmospheric horror with dark new twists on classic tropes, then these stories are for you. They can be bleak, but also tense and disturbing. The narrator is a perfect husky baritone who reads the tales flawlessly. I wish all this author's collections were read by the same narrator.

Simply Brilliant

I had the opportunity to meet Nathan in November of 2019 and have him as a guest on my podcast in April of 2020. In between those times, I read his newest collection, Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell, and fell in love with not only the terror that oozed from the pages but the way the stories themselves take hold of your psyche and settle in the back of your mind for the days and weeks to come.

North American Lake Monsters was an obvious choice to pick up and let me tell you, it not only builds on the deep, unsettling darkness I experienced in Wounds, but heaps on layers of sadness and lost hope mixed with supernatural creatures that are just beyond the periphery. If this doesn't seal him as one of the finest short story writers ever, what more could you ask for?

This collection is simply brilliant and not for the faint of heart. These stories carry a weight that will crush you if you aren't careful.

Excellent performance of riveting and tragic horror tales

Any of these stories would be gold if only for the tragic circumstances and actions of their protagonists, and THEN the horror sets in. Ballingrud’s prose rings poetic in the vein of Cormac McCarthy. These are heartbreaking stories illuminated by horror. Travis Young’s strong Georgia accent lends credence to the socially and morally impoverished characters. Ignore the handful of audio hiccups where the sound is momentarily louder on a re-recorded sentence. The performance of these riveting stories will command your attention.

Great book, great performance

Uncommonly great horror book with extremely skillful handling and inclusion of surrealism. The narrator’s performance is one of the better ones I’ve ever heard and added to the experience palpably.

Great writing - lots of pain

I begin listen around 11:30 and finished the third story by about 2:00 a.m. The writing is great; the narration is great. (Nathan has a thing for all kinds of light, stars, luminosity, as you will see). But, man, these are characters in pain. I love the stories, but they're painful, and I don't expect to listen to three in a row again.

Fantastic

great writing and tone. these stories stick with you. not so much gore but something deeper. solid