The Strange

By: Nathan Ballingrud

Narrated by: Sophie Amoss

A Locus Award Finalist
“Stretches the boundaries of the genre.” —The New York Times

1931, New Galveston, Mars: Fourteen-year-old Anabelle Crisp sets off through the wastelands of the Strange to find Silas Mundt’s gang who have stolen her mother’s voice, destroyed her father, and left her solely with a need for vengeance in this “page-turner” (Rebecca Roanhorse, New York Times bestselling author of Black Sun) from Nathan Ballingrud.

Since Anabelle’s mother left for Earth to care for her own ailing mother, her days in New Galveston have been spent at school and her nights at her laconic father’s diner with Watson, the family Kitchen Engine and dishwasher, as her only companion. When the Silence came, and communication and shipments from Earth to its colonies on Mars stopped, life seemed stuck in foreboding stasis until the night Silas Mundt and his gang attacked.

At once evoking the dreams of an America explored in Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles and the harsher realities of frontier life in Charles Portis True Grit, Ballingrud’s “brilliant” (Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of The Cabin at the End of the World) novel is haunting in its evocation of Annabelle’s quest for revenge amidst a spent and angry world accompanied by a domestic Engine, a drunken space pilot, and the toughest woman on Mars.

Nathan Ballingrud’s stories have been adapted into the film Wounds and the Hulu series Monsterland, The Strange is his first novel.

©2023 Nathan Ballingrud. All rights reserved. (P)2023 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“The most enjoyable novel I’ve read in years, no contest. Before The Strange, I never realized I wanted to be marooned on the dustbowl of Mars, joining an epic quest through ghost towns haunted by the living. Ballingrud is already a master of literary horror, his short stories consistently brilliant. But in his page-turner of a debut novel, that talent radiates brighter than ever before.” —Mat Johnson, author of Invisible Things and Pym

“Ballingrud’s brilliant fiction brims with imagination, integrity (I do not use that term lightly), and an authentic world-weary dread that bores directly into your heart.” —Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of The Cabin at the End of the World and The Pallbearers Club

“Ballingrud is one of my favorite contemporary authors. His work is elegant and troublingly, wonderfully disturbing. —Victor LaValle, award-winning author of The Changeling and Lone Women

Unique and engaging

I’ve never read anything like this. A whole new world with gritty and flawed heroes, mysterious dangers, and enchanting descriptions. The narrator was fantastic and I found myself taking the long way home so I could hear what came next. Sally is my favorite person now. ❤️

All killer, no filler.

Far and away the best book I've read in years, with a narrator performance to match.

Brilliant

This book will be stuck in my head for a long time. The wonderful prose and eerie, haunted setting evoke constant feelings of wonder, sorrow, and dread. Excellent narration that only adds to the story.

Hey, Siri weird story

It was a very strange story, but well worth the read. The narrator was perfect for this type of book. The timeframe was just so unusual. It was hard to keep up sometimes.

The Texas accent.

Story was hard to envision, how did they have these Texan accents? What exactly was this ship?

Original, Strange, Enjoyable

A really cool setting and atmosphere for this book. Sophie Amos has a great voice for this kind of novel.

Fabulous

I don’t write very many reviews because not very many books really knock my socks off, but this one did. Great story. The book dragged a little bit in the middle but after the middle I couldn’t stop listening.
The reader was fabulous. Not overly dramatic - just spot on. 
Five stars for story, and five stars for reader!

Took Me By Surprise

I was put off at first by the odd choice of time (1930's) and setting (Mars), but the quality of the writing, storyline, and narration allowed me to suspend disbelief. I suppose nearly all Sci Fi, requires that but this novel required double that. Worth the time and the credit.

A struggle

I struggled through to the end. Well written, fantastic narration, lousy story. Sorry. Wish I’d passed.

Loved the space aspect

I felt this was way more of a sci-fi than horror which I was not upset about. I adored our little robots in this. It was a good read. The narrator really set the tone / vibe for the book as well. She did a great job.