Carnality: Dancing on Red Lake

By: Josiah Hesse

Narrated by: Josiah Hesse

Over the last four years, Jacob Sloan has lived naked and alone within an abandoned island hotel, smoking cannabis, eating squirrels, and swimming in a lake that contains a dark secret. As memory slowly begins to flower in his brain, Jacob recalls the traumatic events that lead him to the island, describing a childhood of evangelical Christian horror, constantly fearing bar codes, the Antichrist, and being abandoned in the ever-nearing rapture.

In addition to his tales of madness and murder on an Iowa farm, Jacob also recounts the true story of how California's acid-fueled hippies of the 1960s became the religious right of the 1980s.

Part historical fiction, part psychological horror, Carnality: Dancing on Red Lake is the first of a six-part series chronicling the con men, authoritarians, and sociopaths of America's evangelical movement, as remembered by a mentally ill boy who was once the biggest child star of the scene.

Read by the author.

Music by Esme Patterson and Adam Baumeister.

©2015 Josiah Hesse (P)2019 Josiah Hesse

A masterpiece stitched of terrifying loose threads

Horrors real or worse haunt our protagonist in a world we only dare to glimpse.

Great book!

This is a thought-provoking and entertaining story. The writing is unique, edgy, and vividly descriptive. On this humorous and sometimes distressing journey, the author does a beautiful job at capturing inner conflict surrounding morality, temptation, and confusion through the lens of a child overwhelmed by his changing environment and how he came to be. While many of the situations in this story are heavy, the author does a great job of adding levity and keeping the tone well balanced. Listening to him read this book on audible was a pleasure and I look forward to reading (or listening) to more of his books.