The Lake

by Tananarive Due

A free short story taken straight from the pages of THE MONSTER’S CORNER, an all original anthology from some of today’s hottest supernatural writers, featuring stories from the monster’s point of view.

In THE LAKE, Abbie LeFleur, a lifetime Bostonian, has relocated to Graceville to start her life anew when she sets her eyes on a young student in her English class.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Supernatural, Ebooks

20 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 17, 2011

About the author

TANANARIVE DUE (tah-nah-nah-REEVE doo) is the award-winning author of The Wishing Pool & Other Stories and the upcoming The Reformatory ("A masterpiece"--Library Journal). She and her husband, Steven Barnes, co-wrote the Black Horror graphic novel The Keeper, illustrated by Marco Finnegan. Due and Barnes co-host a podcast, "Lifewriting: Write for Your Life!"

A leading voice in Black speculative fiction for more than 20 years, Due has won an American Book Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a British Fantasy Award, and her writing has been included in best-of-the-year anthologies. Her books include Ghost Summer: Stories, My Soul to Keep, and The Good House. She and her late mother, civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due, co-authored Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights. She and her husband live with their son, Jason.

Reviews

[Esta · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if the biggest threat isn’t what lies beneath, but what rises to the surface? The Lake by Tananarive Due is dark, poetic and sinister. The kind of horror that sneaks up on you—not with jumpscares, but with a slow, eerie walk into the uncanny, with layers of allegory. 3.5 stars rounded up.

This made me even more eager to read The Reformatory, one of the author's full-length books which has been on my TBR list for years. (In 2025, I'm going to slow down on the arcs.)

Tip: Skip the italicised intro blurb on Reactor Mag and just dive straight into the story—the blurb there is kinda spoilery. This story would have been more impactful if I went in blindfolded.

Did this help my slump? I’m cautiously optimistic.

You can dive in (metaphorically, of course) and read it for free here.

🔹🔹🔹

Slump city over here, but hoping a short story by Tananarive Due who’s been on my TBR for way too long revives me.

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 3 out of 5]

What lurks beneath the surface of the water, hidden from view, perhaps swimming along right beside us? Tananarive Due delivers an unnerving slow burn in her story The Lake, one where monsters may lurk just beneath a calm surface of a body of water. Or the calm demeanor of a human body… It’s a slow-burn of a story that creeps through the heat of a Florida summer as Florida newcomer Abbie LaFleur makes the quiet town her new home taking up a teaching job unaware of the whispered rumors about the lake. Though as the story progresses we see how whispered rumors of Abbie could begin to swirl like sharks as she employs a teenage boy for services around her home. Due teases dread and danger in a way that really propels the story, which you can read HERE.

‘Am I truly awake, or is this a dream?’

This is a monster story but often in unexpected ways. There is the slow reveal of the lake and its effects on Abbie, but Due also hints at other possible indiscretions that keep you guessing what the monstrous act will be. ‘Young adults had to make decisions for themselves, especially boys, or how would they learn to be men?’ she thinks at one point adding, ‘that was what she and Mary Kay had always believed. Anyone who thought differently was just being politically correct.’ It is then we can assume the Mary Kay of the story—and the briefly alluded to “trial” that is likely more literal than the metaphorical trial against public opinion Abbie references—is none other than Mary Kay Letourneau who had a sexual relationship with her 12 year old student when she was 34 and later married him after prison. I would have likely missed this but the new film May December about her has been all over the media lately. Yet with the creeping unease over the focus on this sort of predator, the changes of Abbie’s body and obsession with the lake almost seem secondary. Until it might be too late…

A decent little read and thanks to Hope for recommending it. Certainly unsettling and propelled by some excellent writing that makes me realize I need to finally read much more Tananarive Due.

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!

boilerplate mission statement intro:

for the past two years, i’ve set december’s project aside to do my own version of a short story advent calendar. it’s not a true advent calendar since i choose all the stories myself, but what it lacks in the ‘element of surprise’ department it more than makes up for in hassle, as i try to cram even MORE reading into a life already overcrammed with impossible personal goals (live up to your potential! find meaningful work! learn to knit!) merry merry wheee!

since i am already well behind in my *regular* reviewing, when it comes to these stories, whatever i poop out as far as reflections or impressions are going to be superficial and perfunctory at best. please do not weep for the great big hole my absented, much-vaunted critical insights are gonna leave in these daily review-spaces (and your hearts); i’ll try to drop shiny insights elsewhere in other reviews, and here, i will at least drop links to where you can read the stories yourselves for free, which - let’s be honest - is gonna serve you better anyway.

HAPPY READING, BOOKNERDS!

links to all stories read in previous years' calendars can be found at the end of these reviews, in case you are a person who likes to read stories for free:

2016: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
2017: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

scroll down for links to this year’s stories which i will update as we go, and if you have any suggestions, send 'em my way! the only rules are: it must be available free online (links greatly appreciated), and it must be here on gr as its own thing so i can review it. thank you in advance!

DECEMBER 1



In her dream, she wasn’t afraid of the alligator; she’d sensed instead (smelled instead?) that the alligator was afraid of her.

what a good way to start off the project! reprinted from the anthology The Monster's Corner: Stories Through Inhuman Eyes, due's narrator falls squarely into santa's "naughty" column in a story blurring the line between the literal and the figurative monstrous. it's a clever conceit, the descriptions and atmosphere are strong, and i love how she tosses out these little half-reveals, details that snag on the reader's brain but are ultimately unexplored teases (oh, DO tell more about mary kay and whether "trial" has two meanings in this sentence...)

it also makes me want to check out that anthology, so obviously the strategy of giving the first taste free and making 'em beg for more is working on me.

i'm glad i didn't start this project off on a stinker. fingers crossed for the rest of the month!

read it for yourself here:

https://www.tor.com/2011/09/13/the-lake/

(be advised, some of the formatting is a little janky)

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come to my blog!

[LTJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Lake” by Tananarive Due is a brief short story that will ensure you will never look at a lake the same way again. I’ve been a massive fan of Due’s work ever since I read her masterpiece novel “The Good House.” She’s a phenomenal horror author, and I recently got a book haul of most of her books, which included this short story.

Her writing style is fantastic, and in just 20 pages, she wrote a memorable piece with some freaky body horror. I made a few weird faces while reading those parts. No spoilers here, but let’s just say it’ll make you look at specific body parts twice to make sure you’re good.

You can read this book in no time at all, and for the most part, I loved it. Due’s brilliant writing, especially during reality and dream sequences, was fantastic. I just wish there was a bit more horror with another killer plot twist, especially with how this book ended, to give me a perfect reading experience. This was solid, but just needed something else to seal the deal. Either way, this was a memorable read that further solidifies my love and appreciation for her work.

I give “The Lake” by Tananarive Due a 4/5 for being a short, sweet, and straight-to-the-point horror story. If you love horror that revolves around a lake and what could go wrong when you swim in it, give this book a whirl. It’s creepy, and at least for me, I will never swim in a lake ever again.

[Althea Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gracetown is a rural Florida location, just over the Georgia border; a hot and sticky, sleepy town - with a chilling dark undercurrent of supernatural influences - which boil to the surface in the summer.
In 'The Lake' we meet a schoolteacher who's decided to take a job in Gracetown, sight unseen. We're not told exactly why she left her last position, but it's hinted right from the beginning that she might have some rather unprofessional plans concerning some of the teenage boys in her class. But things don't culminate in the way the reader might expect. The teacher is strongly drawn to the lake in back of her new house, and although she's always been a bit timid of the water, finds herself spending more and more time swimming in the murk...
A very strong horror story - it would've been a full 5 stars from me if not for the off-stage 'appearance' of Mary Kay Letourneau, which I felt weakened the effect considerably. I also felt that I had quite a bit more sympathy for the main character than the author did.

[Anshika · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not going to swim on a lake again!

The Lake by Tananarive Due is taken from the Anthology THE MONSTER'S CORNER. It follows the story of Abbie LeFleur, a teacher who has recently arrived at Graceville. Her new house is all big and good, a bonus, it has a lake. But no one tells her not to swim there in summer. But she does (because she happened to be a horror-short-story character).

This didn't stop here; she saw changes in her body, which she thought were because of the new place.

"New job, new house, new feet."
(because getting webbed feet is sooo common!)

Overall, the story was good, but it was not for me. The blurb at the beginning spoiled everything. But, I guess I might give the author another try, but only for a longer book.

[Charles van Buren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imaginative story

A well written short story which foreshadows doom from the beginning. The questions are what form will it take and who will be the victims.

[Daren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A free short story from tor.com - here

Abbie LeFleur is a school teacher who leaves Boston to the backwater of Graceville, where she buys a large house on a private lake front. No one thinks to warn her not to swim in the lake during summer:
No one had told her, not the realtor, not the elderly widow she’d only met once when they signed the paperwork at the lawyer’s office downtown, not Graceville Prep’s cheerful headmistress. Even a random first-grader at the grocery store could have told her that one must never, ever go swimming in Graceville’s lakes during the summer. The man-made lakes were fine, but the natural lakes that had once been swampland were to be avoided by children in particular. And women of childbearing age which Abbie LaFleur still was at thirty-six, albeit barely. And men who were prone to quick tempers or alcohol binges.

As so she did, and there were consequences - like webbed feet, scales and gills!

A fun short read - the only negative being the formatting errors - there are a lot of words which run together without spaces, which is just distracting.

4 short story stars

[destiny ♡ howling libraries · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad this wasn't my introduction to Due's writing, because it was a bit weak.

[Amy Biggart · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wish there had been an epilogue with the full internal memo from the prep school would’ve made this even better

[Nadine in NY Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Day 16 in my 24 Days of Shorts

She did not hesitate. She did not wade. She dove like an eel, swimming with an eel’s ease. Am I truly awake, or is this a dream?

I’ve been wanting to read Due for a while now, but I’m not a big horror fan so I hadn’t gotten to it yet. This was okay. The writing was good, so I do want to read more from the author. I might have liked it better if the blurb (both here on GR and at the top of the page on the Tor site) did not give away the entire plot. Nothing much interesting happens other than the bits clearly broadcast in the blurb.


read it for yourself here:
https://www.tor.com/2011/09/13/the-lake/


My 24 Days of Shorts
1. File N°002 by Sylvain Neuvel
2. File N°247 by Sylvain Neuvel
3. Skinner Box by Carole Johnstone
4. The Weight of Memories by Liu Cixin
5. A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers by Alyssa Wong
6. If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again by Zen Cho
7. Meat And Salt And Sparks by Rich Larson
8. Seven Birthdays by Ken Liu
9. Where Would You Be Now? by Carrie Vaughn
10. Old Media by Annalee Newitz
11. Nine Last Days on Planet Earth by Daryl Gregory
12. Sweetlings by Lucy Taylor
13. An Unexpected Honor by Ursula Vernon
14. Hell is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang
15. A Love Story by Samantha Hunt
16. The Lake by Tananarive Due
17. Ghost Hedgehog by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
18. Finnegan's Field by Angela Slatter
19. Among the Thorns by Veronica Schanoes
20. Rag and Bone by Priya Sharma
21. The Mothers of Voorhisville by Mary Rickert
22. As Good as New by Charlie Jane Anders
23. Twixt Firelight and Water by Juliet Marillier
24. The Christmas Show by Pat Cadigan

[Melissa Chung · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a super quick short story that I got for free from Amazon. The short can be found in the anthology 'The Monster's Corner'. I gave this short story 2.5 stars.

Abbie Lafleur is newly divorced and decides to make a change with her life. Not only does she give up red meat but moves from Boston to Florida. She hastily buys a new house and has a new teaching job at the local prep school in Graceville.

Abbie isn't much of a swimmer, but the lake that came with the new house calls to her. In this town, there is a superstition that all people must stay out of the lake in the summer, but know ones tells Abbie this.

Abbie sees changes in her dream patterns and physically with her body since she has moved in. Once something she feared and worried about. At the end of that summer Abbie wasnt thinking much about anything, but her lake.

I gave this short story 2.5 stars because it just didn't have enough info for me. However I did enjoy what I read. I just wished it was more fleshed out. I also had some questions about Abbie's motivation when it came to selecting help to help restore her new house.

All in all it was okay. Nice little monster story.

[Char · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this short story because a friend recommended I check out this author.

The Lake is a good short story, but a bit predictable. As others have already described the plot, I will leave it be. Though not very scary this short story would've made an excellent Twilight Zone episode. The changes which the main character undergoes throughout the story would have been even more powerful in a visual medium. Overall, I thought this was a good, well written story. As it is currently free, you really can't go wrong.

[M.E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t swim in the lake in the summer

The description for this story is annoying in that gives away part of the mystery of the story, but the story itself is a fun, light read about why it’s not safe to swim in the lake in the summer.

[Gef · Rating 5 out of 5]

A horror story set in Florida ... I know, right?

All kidding aside, this one just had creepy vibes going from the get-go. Really enjoyed it and a great payoff to go with a great build.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those stories with an evil undertone you don't quite notice until you're in deep......don't swim in the lake in Summertime.....

[Badseedgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good little All Hallows Read tale.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictable. No suspense and no attempt to explain what was happening to the main character. Polished writing style but not much else to sell this story. I liked Jeff Strand's "Specimen 313", which comes out of the same anthology, better--also free on Kindle.

I think this story isn't really about a lake monster. See spoiler below.

I think that this is an allegory and that the teacher in this story is a "predator" of a different type. Her choice of the boy to work on her house (and she clearly wants only one boy---the most attractive boy in the class) is quite creepy and the sexual tension is obvious. She is cautious to determine the age of the boy and wishes that his less attractive cousin didn't come along. There are quite a few references to people from a small town being less concerned about apparent improprieties than they were in Boston, where she came from, and she makes reference to some trouble that she had gotten into at her prior school.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Lake Excellent short. The only thing that I don't like is it leaves me wanting more!! I wish this was a full novel and not just a short. I am definitely going to be looking for more of Tananarive Due's work. Maybe I can fit something else of hers into one of the Halloween Bingo squares.
 

 
Another square down! I'm still all over the board. LOL  I think I see a direction though.  

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good short story that left me wanting to read more about Abbie and The Lake.

[Constance Burris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great hook

Beautiful and well crafted. I wanted to read more of the book!
I am going to buy the rest of the stories.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Creepy and ratchets the tension, but I didn't care for the ending.

Don't ruin it for yourself by reading the blurb on GR - totally spoils the whole thing! Unbelievable.

[Lydia Schoch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every town has its own unique way of doing things.

Abbie’s character development was well done, especially given the short length of this piece. I loved picking out new clues about how she was changing as she adjusted to her new job and home. Sometimes they were subtle, but they always made sense given who she’d been in the beginning.

There was one small thing I never understood about this story, and it had to do with the way the citizens of Graceville reacted to a new person moving there. In my experience, secrets are nearly always quickly exposed in small towns whether they belong to the newcomer or those who were born there. It didn’t make sense to me that Abbie could have lived there for as long as she did without anyone stopping by to welcome her and give her advice. Whether or not this character would heed their warning was an entirely different manner, but I struggled to understand why it was never given in the first place.

The ending made me shudder. While this was firmly rooted in the horror genre, but it wasn’t bloody or gory at all. Instead, the author relied on hints about what might happen next to frighten her audience. I love this sort of horror and had a wonderful time imagining what a sequel might be like. If the author ever writes it, I’ll read it for sure!

The Lake is a solid summer read for anyone who enjoys psychological horror.

[Netanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the Tor.com website:
“The Lake” by Tananarive Due, tells the story of Abbie LeFleur, a lifetime Bostonian who hides her scales, webbed feet, and an incredible hunger for people. She’s relocated to Graceville to start her life anew when she sets her eyes on a young student in her English class.

First Free Jim has the Innsmouth look. Now Abbie's peddling around the backwoods of Florida with webbed feet and scales. Methinks there's a little of ol' H.P. coming out in Due's works. I would be stoked if she pulled out a larger Mythos story like Victor LaValle!

Spooky, and recommended.

[Jaffa Kintigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tale adeptly wields a horror-tinged urban legend to show a delusional sexual predator justify her actions as she submits to her baser desires.

Teacher, Abbie LeFleur, relocates from Boston to swampy Gracetown, Florida for a life-overhaul likely spurred by her divorce of 2 years prior. She buys a remote, lake-side fixer-upper and immediately lays plans to solicit cheap labor in the form of teenaged male students. Her sizing up of the potential candidates is chilling despite Abbie's own plausible deniability.

Interestingly, the tale includes an element of dysmorphia akin to Lovecraft's Innsmouth lore. However, here the physical transformations work as metaphor for the horror mounting.

Appearing in Ghost Summer, this short story first appeared in The Monster's Corner: Stories Through Inhuman Eyes edited by Christopher Golden.

[Shara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm glad this was a short story because it was just ridiculous. I kept reading it thinking there would be some great big ending. When I reached the end, I was flabbergasted. I know its a great deal for someone to write a book and put it out there..but in my honest opinion I just felt that I waited a few hours and I could have read something better.

[dollmatic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too predictable, too disappointing. I mean, soon as the story became even minimally interesting, it cuts off. WTF. T. Due is a great sci-fi writer, but it just seems like she got lazy here.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad for a short story. Definitely leaves you wanting more.

[Anthony Puyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining.

A nice clean short story from a talented writer. I was entertained enough that I will look forward to more of her work.

[Alondra Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet. I wanted just a tad bit more; but I guess that is why it is a short story. :/