Lie there and hope for morning. ( Log Out /  North American Lake Monsters • (2008) 1. To be writing and planning and about to enter this 90 Day vortex of the soul. Richard Davis), Elizabeth Fancett – “When Morning Comes” (1969). Welcome to Monsterland Wiki, Hulu 's horror anthology series created by Mary Laws. Taking place in a Lovecraftian Antarctic, where an underground stairway seems to promise wonders, the story follows a post-war medic on an expedition. Sunbleached • (2011) A group of men camp out in an under-construction housing development which has been subject to thefts and vandalism. The shade-less, storm-ravaged environs of Louisiana is the perfect foil for Ballingrud’s sense of place. Please click the link to check him out. His wife Amy blames him, and their marriage has deteriorated to the point where she no longer hides the fact that she’s having an affair. They find the decaying corpse of a lake monster nearby, the stench and unwashable stickiness of which mirrors his own bitterness and toxicity, particularly about his daughter’s maturation into adulthood. North American Lake Monsters: Stories - Kindle edition by Ballingrud, Nathan. Pulpier than the other stories in the collection, this is kind of a gloss on “At the Mountains of Madness” but with more of a concern with concurrent historical events – our protagonist was a medic in the war who later lost his wife to the flu pandemic (“God’s judgment on a world gone mad”), and he’s now in a semi-suicidal state. Here you'll find occasional blog… What sets this collection of short stories apart is the way the supernatural, magical and horrific are utilized like a light source, illuminating dark places while casting even deeper shadows. Said intrusions tend toward the tropes of traditional, mainstream horror (werewolves, vampires, zombies) but Ballingrud uses this traditionalism as a base to examine trauma and survivor’s guilt and masculinity (toxic or otherwise) and fractured families – these are stories generally more interested in what happens after the scare than the scare itself. and Denis Johnson… Norma howled in frustration. Nathan Ballingrud's Shirley Jackson Award winning debut collection is a shattering and luminous experience not to be missed by those who love to explore the darker parts of the human psyche. I picked this up around the time that it came out because I was in Asheville and had enjoyed Ballingrud’s story (co-written with Dale Bailey) “The Crevasse,” and promptly added it to my monstrous to-read pile, where it languished for about three years. North American Lake Monsters “…a dozen vegetable christs.” …but this seemed like a quieter tale, even if still full of a controlled rage at being in prison for six years, his teenage daughter now grown up, dating and spiked-pinned by fashion like this book’s earlier Trixie with her tattoos — and with his problematically stoic acceptance of his wife’s short affair with another man while he was away… No time to explain, because fact is I only have two hours before…, Due to a confluence of circumstance, I taught every day and every night this week, either live or online. A teenager struggles to reconcile his love for and duty toward his wheelchair-bound (single) mother with the expectations of his neo-Nazi girlfriend. And Diana Spiotta’s Innocents and Others. How to write a novel in 90 days? and Denis Johnson''s Jesus'' Son. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. 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