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 a dripping, squirming, scuttling tale of altered bodies and minds.

There are two halves of Charlie Duchamp. One is a brain in a jar, stranded on Jupiter's jungle moon, Io, who just wants to go home. The other is hanging on the wall of 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 astronauts inside. Both Charlies converge here, stalking each other in the haunted ruins, while a new Moon Spider prepares to hatch.

Review Quotes

"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

"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

"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

"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

About the Author