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Sarah Langan

Goodreads Author

Born

in Mineola, The United States

Website

http://www.sarahlangan.com/index.html

Genre

Horror, Fiction

Influences

Shirley Jackson, Stephen King, W. Somerset Maugham, Joyce Carol Oates

Member Since

October 2015

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Sarah grew up on Long Island and went to college in Waterville, Maine, where she published her first story, "Sick People." She got her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

In addition to writing novels, she also has a Master's in Environmental Health Science/Toxicology from New York University.

Bram Stoker award winner for outstanding novel in 2007 - The Missing. Bram Stoker award winner for outstanding short story in 2008 - The Lost. Bram Stoker award winner for outstanding novel in 2009 - Audrey's Door.

International Horror Guild Nominee, 2007

Dark Scribe Editor's Choice for Outstanding Novel, 2007

American Library Association award winner, 2007

New York Times' Book Review Editor's Choice ...more

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What are you currently working on?

Sarah Langan I’ve just finished a new novel called THE CLINIC and I’m really excited about it. It’s very much in the same vein as my previous books, but I’ve grown…moreI’ve just finished a new novel called THE CLINIC and I’m really excited about it. It’s very much in the same vein as my previous books, but I’ve grown a lot and I think gotten more sophisticated as a storyteller.

I started the book about three years ago, having no idea why I’d abandoned two other novels to work on it. I only knew that something felt uneasy in my life as a new mother for the second time, and in my marriage, too. I’d become obsessed with Mad Men, and in retrospect, for good reason. The show isn’t about the 60s; it’s about now. Just as our own parents grew up getting more rod than carrot, we grew up in a world where dads (and I’m talking about the subset, here, of middle and upper middle class families that stayed together) were the boss and moms did the laundry. In theory the laundry, caring for extended families, cooking, and helping with homework were just as important as taking the train into on office, but in reality, no way. I grew up thinking what my mom did was stupid. Frankly, I grew up thinking women were less important. I was less important.

And then our generation of women was supposed to grow up and be equal with our partners, which is easy when you don’t have kids, and pretty impossible once you do. Who does those stupid jobs, like running the house and the schedule? And hey, wait, they’re not actually stupid jobs, are they? They’re pretty vital, it turns out. They’re just not valued financially, though, in fact, they do have a real financial value. They’re also very lonely jobs.

I don’t think I’m alone in my utter bewilderment, trying to figure out my place in all that. I think it’s generational. We’re the talking generation. Which is what makes me think we’ll do a good job at resolving it.

All that aside, the story’s about a struggling family whose son is sick. He’s got cancer. But it turns out, what he has isn’t really cancer. And the hospital that’s treating him isn’t really out to help him. The corporation that owns the hospital is killing senators and presidents to acquire global water rights. They’re treating the water with anti-malarial chemicals. Except, the chemicals don’t just kill malaria.

It’s the first book in what I hope will be a three book series called INVISIBLE MONSTERS.
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The keeper series is in my opion one of the best written horror in years, and I was wondering how did you come up with the incredibly bleak and dark setting? I mean, is it something you based on personal experience or did it just come to you? :)

Sarah Langan Dear David,

Thanks for writing!

I wrote The Keeper when I was still in my twenties. In fact, I started it when I was 21 and finished it at 29. I bring…moreDear David,

Thanks for writing!

I wrote The Keeper when I was still in my twenties. In fact, I started it when I was 21 and finished it at 29. I bring this up because those are intense years. It reminds me of this quote from Lawrence of Arabia:

“Young men make wars, and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men. Courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace. And the vices of peace are the vices of old men. Mistrust and caution. It must be so.”

I was basically a hot head, waging war against an inherently unfair world. The town of Bedford loosely resembles Waterville, where I went to college, and also Old Town, just outside Bangor. Both are in Maine. Paper mills are the focal points of a town because of their giant smoke stacks. Even when they’re closed down, you can’t take your eye off them.

My characters were invented. One of my grad school teachers could never remember that Susan wasn’t based on someone real. She called me “Susan” instead of Sarah. Another teacher was sure I’d had an affair with a professor in high school. Nope. But I let him believe I had because he was so pleased that he’d had the insight.

On the other hand, my characters in many ways are very true, but they’re not based on other people. Like most writers, they’re aspects of me. Susan is an embodiment of all the rage I had back in those days, for reasons both phantom and tangible. Poor Liz was my low self-esteem. Paul was the narcissist every writer needs to be. Georgia had a head on her shoulders, mostly.

I think, ultimately, Keeper is as bleak as it is because I was so young. An older, wiser person might see the light at the end of the tunnel. An older, bitter person wouldn’t be able to tell the story at all. I could never write that story again, but I’m so glad that I did. It speaks to people. Maybe it calls to that hot-head kid we all used to be, and still are. It’s the hot-heads who act. Everybody else stays on schedule.

The Missing had a different impetus. I was having fun. How cool to start a vampire-zombie origin story. I loved writing that—it was hard, of course, but most of it just flowed. Fenstad and Meg were such a fun couple, and their daughter Maddie was so funny. I fact, I found the whole thing funny. It was a comment on current events, particularly the war in Iraq, but it was also pretty gleeful. Or at least, I thought it was gleeful. Then again, Kafka thought Metamorphosis was so funny he couldn’t read it without bursting in laughter. So, to each his own!
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Sarah Langan’s books

Average rating: 3.76 · 13,884 ratings · 1,525 reviews · 37 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Keeper (Keeper, #1) 3.32 avg rating — 1,962 ratings — published 2006 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Audrey's Door 3.40 avg rating — 1,371 ratings — published 2009 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Missing (Keeper, #2) 3.61 avg rating — 1,367 ratings — published 2007 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Lost 4.14 avg rating — 22 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Brave New Worlds by John Joseph Adams (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Cory Doctorow , Paolo Bacigalupi (Goodreads Author) 4.06 avg rating — 2,292 ratings — published 2010 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hellbound Hearts by Paul Kane (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Marie O'Regan (Editor) , Jeffrey J. Mariotte (Goodreads Author) 4.13 avg rating — 1,227 ratings — published 2009 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The End Has Come (The Apocalypse Triptych, #3) by John Joseph Adams (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Hugh Howey (Goodreads Author) , Charlie Jane Anders (Goodreads Author) 3.88 avg rating — 1,035 ratings — published 2015 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The End is Nigh (The Apocalypse Triptych, #1) by John Joseph Adams (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Hugh Howey (Goodreads Author) (Editor) , Ben H. Winters (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 3.89 avg rating — 2,503 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lightspeed Magazine, December 2012 by John Joseph Adams (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Ted Chiang (Contributor) , Ken Liu (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 4.08 avg rating — 92 ratings — published 2012	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lightspeed: Year One by John Joseph Adams (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Catherynne M. Valente (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) , Tananarive Due (Goodreads Author) (Contributor) 3.94 avg rating — 335 ratings — published 2011 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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The Rules of Fiction

I blogged about them on Fresh Fiction.com today. Be one of the first to comment, and win![image error]

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Series by Sarah Langan

Keeper (2 books)
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Sarah Langan (Goodreads Author)

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Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1)

by William Gibson

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Slade House

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The Fisherman

by John Langan

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Sarah Langan has read Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1) by Jeff VanderMeer (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Nov 02, 2018 11:53PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Sarah Langan rated a book it was amazing All's Faire in Middle School by Victoria Jamieson	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Sarah Langan rated a book it was amazing The Fever by Megan Abbott (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
She's ridiculously good. Her characters and worlds are awe inspiring. My one thing is that her character motivations seem to revolve around single events-- suppressed post trauma. But I don't think peoples' motivations are that linear. But this is a ...more
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Sarah Langan rated a book liked it Castle of Water by Dane Huckelbridge (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A good first effort.
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Quotes by Sarah Langan

“The sight of her made him understand why he'd lost his faith in God.”
― Sarah Langan, The Keeper

tags: atheism, fiction, god, horror, human-cruelty, humor, novel, religion

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“She’d had sex with a boy she wasn’t going to marry. She’d fallen in love with him, knowing that it would never work. Right now the pain seemed worth it because she was in his arms.”
― Sarah Langan, The Missing

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Polls

Which halloween themed book do you want to read in October?

The Woman in Black A Ghost Story by Susan Hill

10 votes, 52.6%

The Shining by Stephen King

5 votes, 26.3%

The Keeper by Sarah Langan

4 votes, 21.1%

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The Seasonal Read...: 50.1 - Butterflycager's task: Let's Build a Haunted House!	120	166	Nov 24, 2011 10:31AM
Challenge: 50 Books: Vicki's 2011 Books	13	59	Dec 10, 2011 06:01AM
2018-2019 Reading...: September's Industry Challenge	168	105	Oct 01, 2012 03:47PM
The Lost Challenges: Quarterly Back to School Challenge	101	130	Nov 21, 2012 02:13PM

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