Reviews
“This short, surreal novella feels like a slice of a much larger story in the best way. A thoughtful meditation on personhood, judgment, and trauma. Not for the arachnophobic among us.” —Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of the Alchemical Journeys series
“A wicked, pulpy, hideously gorgeous phantasmagoria that will leave you helplessly twitching in its grand web. Nathan Ballingrud once again demonstrates that he’s one of our finest writers.” —Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts
“Crypt of the Moon Spider is a Gothic fantasy where madness nests within madness of emotional vistas that are as bleak as bleached bones. Ballingrud’s immense talent shines, cold and furious.” —Laird Barron, author of Not a Speck of Light (Stories)
“Crypt of the Moon Spider is a superb and unnerving work of science fiction.” —Owen King, author of The Curator
“Nathan Ballingrud is one of our best and most original writers….Crypt of the Moon Spider is psychologically rich, nightmarishly vivid, and deeply scary.” —Dan Chaon, author of Sleepwalk
Additional Praise for Nathan Ballingrud
North American Lake Monsters was a World Fantasy, British Fantasy, and Bram Stoker award finalist!
“Nathan Ballingrud is one of my favorite short fiction writers.” —Jeff VanderMeer, Nebula Award-winning author of Annihilation, on North American Lake Monsters
“Stretch[es] the boundaries of the genre by employing these grand, horrific worlds. “The Butcher’s Table” reminds me of the first time I read Clive Barker’s “In the Hills, the Cities.” It’s horrifying, but there’s beauty.” —The New York Times, on Wounds
“Nathan Ballingrud is one of my favorite contemporary authors and any time he’s got a new book out I run to the front of the line. His work is elegant and troublingly, wonderfully disturbing.” —Victor LaValle, award-winning author of The Changeling, on Wounds
“Nathan 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. With Wounds you’ll gladly follow Nathan to Hell and (maybe) back.” —Paul Tremblay, award-winning author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts
“What Nathan Ballingrud does in North American Lake Monsters is to reinvigorate the horror tradition.” —John Langan, Los Angeles Review of Books
“For those willing to go down the dark road that’s laid out here, and those willing to feel complex patterns of sympathy, disgust, and horror for (often bad) people, this is an interesting collection. Uncomfortable a read as it is, it has the tinge of reality to it: a reality that often we’d rather not look at.” —Lee Mandelo, author of Summer Sons, on North American Lake Monsters
“Each one of these nine stories has the capacity to seduce and terrify you like any of the most heavyweight horror authors out there.” —Andrew Liptak, io9, on North American Lake Monsters
“Matched to his original ideas and refreshing refurbishments of genre set pieces, Ballingrud’s writing makes North American Lake Monsters one of the best collections of short fiction for the year.” —Locus
“Ballingrud’s work isn’t like any other. …Ballingrud is an expert at teasing out every delicious shade and nuance, every fine gradation of misery and pain.” —Cory Doctorow on North American Lake Monsters