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Joren Falls: A Short Horror Story
For one retiree, the past can never be packed away."Joren Falls" by Laird Barron is one of 27 short horror stories in Nightfire's audio anthology. Come Join Us by the Fire Season 2 is the second installment of Nightfire's audio-only horror anthology, featuring a wide collection of short stories from emerging voices in the horror genre as well as longtime fan favorites. The collection showcases the breadth of talent writing in the horror genre today, with contributions from a wide range of genre luminaries including Laird Barron, Indrapramit Das, Shaun Hamill, Daniel M. Lavery, Matthew Lyons, T. Kingfisher, Seanan McGuire, Nibedita Sen, and Nightfire’s own Cassandra Khaw and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
21 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 15, 2020
18 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Laird Barron
175 books2,892 followersLaird Barron, an expat Alaskan, is the author of several books, including The Imago Sequence and Other Stories; Swift to Chase; and Blood Standard. Currently, Barron lives in the Rondout Valley of New York State and is at work on tales about the evil that men do.
Photo credit belongs to Ardi Alspach
Agent: Janet Reid of New Leaf Literary & Media
Photo credit belongs to Ardi Alspach
Agent: Janet Reid of New Leaf Literary & Media
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 10, 2024
When Roger Ascended into the Attic...
JOREN FALLS by Laird Barron
No spoilers. 5 stars. Retired couple Larry and Vonda are returning to their country roots by buying a farmhouse in rural western NY...
... the whole property shebang included cornfields, blackbirds, and winding back roads...
... a dream woke Larry early one morning... at 4 am while it was still dark... he couldn't recall what the dream was about...
... Later that afternoon, while staring at his computer monitor, Larry heard movement in the attic... Then scrabling and scratching...
Thinking it must be a squirrel, Larry grabbed a torch and stuck his head into the attic to have a look around...
In the torchlight, Larry saw an overturned box of mementos from his sales days in Japan...
He spotted a sign in Japanese warning against taking anything away from Joren Falls...
... a memento that his traveling companions had talked him into pilfering as a souvenir of their trip...
Seeing nothing more, except a squirrel, Larry left the attic and called his friend/handyman Roger to help him set some traps...
When Roger ascended into the attic to check the traps...
Wow! For such a short little story, this was intense. My only complaint is that it was too short. This was a dollar well spent!
JOREN FALLS by Laird Barron
No spoilers. 5 stars. Retired couple Larry and Vonda are returning to their country roots by buying a farmhouse in rural western NY...
... the whole property shebang included cornfields, blackbirds, and winding back roads...
... a dream woke Larry early one morning... at 4 am while it was still dark... he couldn't recall what the dream was about...
... Later that afternoon, while staring at his computer monitor, Larry heard movement in the attic... Then scrabling and scratching...
Thinking it must be a squirrel, Larry grabbed a torch and stuck his head into the attic to have a look around...
In the torchlight, Larry saw an overturned box of mementos from his sales days in Japan...
He spotted a sign in Japanese warning against taking anything away from Joren Falls...
... a memento that his traveling companions had talked him into pilfering as a souvenir of their trip...
Seeing nothing more, except a squirrel, Larry left the attic and called his friend/handyman Roger to help him set some traps...
When Roger ascended into the attic to check the traps...
Wow! For such a short little story, this was intense. My only complaint is that it was too short. This was a dollar well spent!
March 15, 2021
This short story is available to download as an ebook. I believe it was originally an audio exclusive story featured in an audio book anthology.
January 21, 2024
Quick and spooky!
October 8, 2025
Barron is an author I desperately want to like. The ideas for many of his works sound to my taste, but the execution never works for me, as is the case with Joren Falls. The ending is certainly chilling, but the lead up could have been stronger.
June 3, 2021
Great short story!! The author keeps you engaged and guessing whats going to happen next!
March 2, 2023
Short and creepy, just how I like it!
October 9, 2023
A very short story that packs a punch.
You can read it one sitting.
You can read it one sitting.
February 1, 2024
Maybe I just didn’t understand it, but for me, the story line was pretty thin and quite boring.
September 9, 2023
Book Review #5: Jōren Falls by Laird Barron
Heavy equipment salesman Larry and Vonda have retired to a rural farmhouse. There, they plan to live the rest of their lives. But Larry soon encounters a strange problem: there seems to be something scuttling in their attic. He is unable to determine or find out the cause. Is the disturbance related to a past misdemeanor done while on vacation in Japan? He hires his friend, Roger, to find out, and he soon will face the consequences of his actions.
This short story is a creepy masterwork and reminds me of another short Barron masterpiece "Occultation". Barron keeps the scares understated most of the time, dropping hints here and there. And if that ending does baffle, remember to read about the falls in question: Barron's allusions become clear.
Recommended. (And this is coming from someone who thinks Barron fails in delivering the fright in some of his stories)
Heavy equipment salesman Larry and Vonda have retired to a rural farmhouse. There, they plan to live the rest of their lives. But Larry soon encounters a strange problem: there seems to be something scuttling in their attic. He is unable to determine or find out the cause. Is the disturbance related to a past misdemeanor done while on vacation in Japan? He hires his friend, Roger, to find out, and he soon will face the consequences of his actions.
This short story is a creepy masterwork and reminds me of another short Barron masterpiece "Occultation". Barron keeps the scares understated most of the time, dropping hints here and there. And if that ending does baffle, remember to read about the falls in question: Barron's allusions become clear.
Recommended. (And this is coming from someone who thinks Barron fails in delivering the fright in some of his stories)
January 4, 2021
There’s a lot of build up to the punch in this one, with small details hinting at what is to come. Details which, given how much build up there is, might be easily missed especially when listening to the audio and not having words at ones fingertips. It’s only in the final punch that the relevance of these clues becomes evident, and it becomes scarier only after seeing the end and being able to put it all together.
In other words: don’t steal signs from Japan. The kami and spirits in general don’t mess around with thieves…
In other words: don’t steal signs from Japan. The kami and spirits in general don’t mess around with thieves…
August 21, 2023
Not bad, but still a very basic, bare-bones horror story that doesn't do anything interesting with the genre.
September 11, 2023
This story has a good build up to the finale - where you find out what's going on. You really shouldn't steal things from Japan. The spirits will make you and/or others pay for it.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews