Lake of Earth

"The captivating stories in Lake of Earth are meticulously crafted and full of sure-handed description. William VanDenBerg writes so much story into so few lines that it's easy to get lost in these bright fictions." - Michael Kimball, author of Big Ray "VanDenBerg's close calls drain the morbid from the mundane, siphoning from even the puniest sideshow of anonymity a graphic identity. This is writing with muscle memory, a séance of stark, and narrative so seamlessly soldered it maintains body temperature bloodessly."  - Kim Gek Lin Short, author of China Cowboy  "'There is another world outside of this one,' VanDenBerg tells us, and that's a pretty good description of Lake of Earth: full of intense, stark prose, these seven stories portray a dream-like world of characters who struggle with visions and hope. I think it's a terrific and daring book."  - Brandon Hobson, author of Deep Ellum "William VanDenBerg has created a sleepy version of suspense. People shift between consciousness and un-, spaces appear and disappear, objects transubstantiate, and all the while people are trying to share and reconcile and concern all the realities with each other. The tension comes in determining how long the tether can hold between connection and confusion, recognition and division."  - Jac Jemc, author of My Only Wife "The stories in Lake of Earth take us deep into the dream's dark heart. Writing with a deranged lyricism that recalls Matt Bell and Ben Marcus, VanDenBerg is relentless in his depiction of the strange."   - Robert Kloss, author of The Alligators of Abraham Lake of Earth was the runner-up manuscript in the 2012 Caketrain Chapbook Competition, as judged by Michael Kimball.