Cathedral of the Drowned - (Lunar Gothic Trilogy) by Nathan Ballingrud (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The sequel to Crypt of the Moon Spider, Cathedral of the Drowned is an oozing, squirming, scuttling tale of altered bodies and minds.

There are two halves of Charlie Duchamp's brain. One is in a jar stranded on Jupiter's jungle moon, Io, who just wants to go home to the woman he loves. The other half is still locked in his body, hanging from a wall in Barrowfield Home on Earth's own moon, host to the eggs of the Moon Spider and filled with a murderous rage.

On Io, deep in the flooded remains of a crashed Cathedral ship, lives a giant centipede called the Bishop, who has taken control of the drowned astronaut-clergy inside. Both Charlies converge here, stalking each other in the haunted ruins, while more Moon Spiders prepare to be born.

Review Quotes

"Beautiful, violent, accomplished; Nathan Ballingrud is spinning some of the most delicious sentences currently being written in or out of whatever the f**k genre this mad, mad book is part of." --Christopher Buehlman, author of Between Two Fires

"Cathedral of the Drowned has the vibes of Dark City and the grace of Nosferatu. An elegiac, deeply strange, wildly compelling sci-fantasy wonder dripping with gore and tenderness." --Cassandra Khaw, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Breakable Things

"The soaring, lurid, gothic feast that is the Cathedral of the Drowned will take over your nightmares." --Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and The Cabin at the End of the World

"Ballingrud once again proves himself one of the most fearless, fun, and original writers at work in horror today." --Dan Chaon, author of One of Us

"Cathedral of the Drowned is an unforgettable and shockingly original work that combines gothic cosmic horror, sci-fi and noir.... No one, and I mean no one, does it like Ballingrud. I personally wouldn't even attempt it." --Jason Pargin, author of John Dies at the End

"Insightful, mordant, and fully realized, Cathedral of the Drownedjoins the conversation great modern sci-fi is having about humanity's future, and it does so with Ballingrud's hallmark wit and empathy. I was utterly transfixed." --Sarah Langan, author of Good Neighbors and A Better World

Beautifully absurd and wonderfully strange, Cathedral of the Drowned is surreal SF horror at its absolute pitch-dark best." --Brian Evenson, author of Good Night, Sleep Tight

"Nathan Ballingrud is one of my favorite writers of this era and Cathedral of the Drownedprovides further evidence of his genius." --Mat Johnson, author of Invisible Things and Pym

"Cathedral of the Drowned continues Ballingrud's bizarre, fevered, surreal sci-fi/gothic noir hybrid, while massively upping the ante this time around in gruesomeness and terror. I've never read anything like it, and probably won't again. Absolutely surreal and enthralling work." --Keith Rosson, author of Fever House

"Thrilling and haunting in equal measure. Cathedral of the Drowned is a noir-tinged phantasmagoria. Ballingrud writes with purposeful lyricism: a hybrid that is at once gothic and period piece. The result is a Stygian black reinvention of the genre that, when it waxes into its power as a period piece, is where it truly shines." --Sofia Ajram, author of the Bram Stoker Award-nominated novella, Coup de Grâce

"If you can stomach it, this sequel will be one of your most memorable reads of 2025." --Grimdark Magazine

"A master at mixing horror and sci-fi motifs, Ballingrud leaps with ease from gritty noir and squirmy cosmic body horror into the Gothic sublime." --Julia Elliott, author of Hellions and The New and Improved Romie Futch

"Nathan Ballingrud weaves together a wondrously cosmic cobweb that captures the likes of Georges Méliès, Harlan Ellison and Edgar Rice Burroughs, just to name a beautiful few, then absorbs the very life force from these fabulists to nurture his own ungodly offspring in Cathedral of the Drowned. What hatches out from these pages will haunt you for days." --Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes

"Nathan Ballingrud has skillfully redefined the literary possibilities of science-fiction/fantasy and horror with this remarkably ambitious and blistering work. This marvelous creation somehow feels impossibly ageless as well as penetratingly precise at the same time with its pulpy, nightmarish energy. A demented bacchanalia written at an intense fever pitch, Cathedral of the Drowned is sumptuous, grotesque, and utterly ravishing." --Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

Praise for Crypt of the Moon Spider

"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

"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

"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

"Unhesitatingly violent and wildly fantastical, Ballingrud's fever dream of a novel will reward daring readers with something they haven't seen before." --Publishers Weekly

"A truly creepy, utterly riveting story." --Library Journal

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 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

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