Monsterland / North American Lake Monsters: Stories

Monsterland / North American Lake Monsters: Stories (2013). Winner of the Shirley Jackson Award, this collection blends Southern Gothic horror, fantasy, and literary fiction to examine the lives of working-class Southerners confronting monsters both literal and metaphorical. Known for its bleak realism and emotionally intense characters, the stories use supernatural elements to reflect human suffering, violence, and isolation. This title was adapted into the Hulu series Monsterland.

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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. Monsters, real and imagined, external and internal, are the subject. They are us and we are them and Ballingrud’s intense focus makes these stories incredibly intense and irresistible.

These are love stories. And also monster stories. Sometimes these are monsters in their traditional guises, sometimes they wear the faces of parents, lovers, or ourselves. The often working-class people in these stories are driven to extremes by love. Sometimes, they are ruined; sometimes redeemed. All are faced with the loneliest corners of themselves and strive to find an escape.

Nathan Ballingrud was born in Massachusetts but has spent most of his life in the South. He worked as a bartender in New Orleans and New York City and a cook on offshore oil rigs. His story “The Monsters of Heaven” won the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with his daughter.