Ghost Lake

by Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler

In Ojibwe cosmology there are thirteen moons...

And in the pages of Ghost Lake are thirteen stories featuring an interrelated cast of characters and their brushes with the mysterious. Issa lives in fear of having her secret discovered, Aanzheyaawin haunts the roads seeking vengeance, Zaude searches for clues to her brother’s death, Garion wrestles with his sexual inclinations, Fanon struggles against an unexpected winter storm, Kylie fights to make it back to shore, Eadie and Mushkeg share a magical night, Tyner faces brutal violence, and Tyler, Clay, and Dare must make amends to the spirits before it’s too late. On the northern Ontario reserve of Ghost Lake the precolonial past is not so distant, and nothing is ever truly lost or destroyed. Because the land remembers.

Ghost Lake is a companion volume to Adler’s Indigenous horror novel, Wrist (2016, Kegedonce Press).

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Indigenous, Fiction, Ghosts, Thriller, Paranormal

320 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2020

About the author

Nathan Adler is the author of Wrist and Ghost Lake (Kegedonce Press), and co-editor of Bawaajigan ~ Stories of Power (Exile Editions), he has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC, is a first-place winner of the Aboriginal Writing Challenge, and a recipient of a Hnatyshyn Reveal award for Literature. He is Jewish and Anishinaabe, and a member of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation.

Reviews

[Daniel Grenier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Treize histoires de peur. Treize offrandes de la cosmogonie anishnaabek. Il y a des fossiles de dinosaures sous le sol de la réserve, il y a une famille de wendigo antédiluvienne, il y a des fantômes qui jouent à être des fantômes, des blancs becs qui ont la mauvaise idée d’aller chiller dans le vieux cimetière de Ghost Lake, des tueurs qui rôdent et des corbeaux qui crient au meurtre.

[Jade Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghost Lake, a set of interconnected short stories, is set in a fictional town, but it also occupies the wonderful realm of literary speculative fiction. These stories are moody, atmospheric, character-driven works that I will certainly be rereading in the future--I'll also be keeping an eye out for future work from this author!

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these stories. "chilling, mysterious tales of Anishinaabe culture and legend..."
Now, I'll track down the companion novel, Wrist, and read that too.
Stories of legend are some of my favourite.

[Cassy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling stories. I can see why this won awards

[Dina McPhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I now want to read everything Nathan Adler has ever written. Highly recommend!!

[emperorcupcake · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great collection of spooky, interconnected tales from the aptly-named Ghost Lake. I enjoyed all 13 stories. There's something about Indigenous horror stories that really appeal to (i.e., scare) me. Maybe it's the often-remote locations, where it seems like anything could happen. Maybe it's because they're based on actual legends so they feel like they could be real - maybe they are. They feel so present, they're in the land itself. They've always been there. That's the kind of story I like. Ancient, unknowable, yet weirdly familiar; the thing you see out of the corner of your eye when you get lost in the woods. That blur of movement, and then it's gone, and you wonder if it was really there or just your mind playing tricks. I like to think the woods and lakes and mountains are full of such things, even now. It makes our endless, homogenous suburban landscape a little more bearable, thinking of the hidden, magic corners of the world that will outlive every Starbucks and Babies-r-Us.

And shoutout to my absolute fave character, Euwen! It really would be cool to be a crow.