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Gateways to Abomination  By  cover art

Gateways to Abomination

By: Matthew M. Bartlett
Narrated by: Jon Padgett
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Publisher's summary

Bizarre radio broadcasts luring dissolute souls into the dark woods of Western Massachusetts. Sinister old men in topcoats gathered at corners and in playgrounds. A long-dead sorcerer returning to obscene life in the form of an old buck goat.

Welcome to Leeds, Massachusetts, where the drowned walk, where winged leeches blast angry static, where black magic casts a shadow over a cringing populace. You've tuned in to WXXT. The fracture in the stanchion. The drop of blood in your morning milk. The viper in the veins of the Pioneer Valley.

©2014 Matthew M. Bartlett (P)2019 Matthew M. Bartlett

What listeners say about Gateways to Abomination

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Interesting

An interesting anthologies of the dark and twisted side of human thoughts and actions. You will not get bored as you listen to all the dark ways many think and are capable of.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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A Match Made in Leeds

Jon Padgett breathes new and grotesque life into Bartlett's modern classic collection/mosaic novel of whimsical nightmares. You will NOT be disappointed.

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  • Overall
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Crazy creative book

Loved the names of all the strange characters of WXXT but will have to read it again. Feels like this is abstract writing and it was super cool but it didn’t have much of a point i don’t think. Again, one more reading. Jon Padgett is one of the best readers I’ve ever heard! Definitely gonna find more books he’s narrated and listen. The dude is a pro!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Wild Ride

Fantastic story. I still have no idea what I listened to, but I loved every minute of it.

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1 person found this helpful

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Spectacular Weirdness

The nature of this story makes it perfect for audio. I read books more than I listen to them, so I always appreciate when I feel an audio production adds to the story and gives me a better experience than I would have had reading the book myself. This one fits that bill by virtue of both Padgett's reading and the novel centered around radio broadcasts.

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Nightmarish and Brilliant

Matthew Bartlett is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, hands down. His work has been on my radar for several years now, but it wasn't until this December that I read anything by him. Gateways to Abomination is the second book of his I've now read, and it perfectly describes the collection of short and flash fiction collected within. Each story is a gateway of sorts affording readers a glimpse, however brief, into horrific, abominable, and often grotesque horrors. Most of the stories in this collection are nightmarishly dreamlike, both in terms of the prose and the pacing, and Jon Padgett's narration is the perfect accompaniment that serves to elevate and embody the madness and hysteria of Bartlett's prose.

Bartlett's fiction is one of the most a compelling and original voices in weird horror fiction I've ever read. Listening to this audiobook made me feel as though I were experiencing a waking nightmare, and I loved every minute of it. His prose is often experimental and dense, but the payoff for a more difficult reading/listening experience is immense. I highly recommend reading this book, and especially listening to the audiobook. Padgett and Bartlett working together is a match made in Hell, and I wouldn't have it in any other way.

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6 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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The first Matthew M. Bartlett broadcast finally in audiobook format...

For the uninitiated, Matthew M. Bartlett arrived on the horror scene out of nowhere, and the madness imbued in each of these stories established this author as someone with an unmistakable & singular style — one much welcomed to the horror community. Within a year or so of its publication, this bizarre red book with its now-iconic red cover art had favored from a viral word-of-mouth contagion among many of today’s most reputable literary horror (and just downright horror) authors. A handful of other titles & chapbooks soon followed, and of course Gateways to Abomination is Bartlett’s second & most recent title. But this is where it all started in the mainstream sense.

And as for Jon Padgett — the narrator for audiobook — I could write for days on his merits & credibility as an author and literary critic/essayist/madman...but you can google him yourself and see for yourself how integral to the horror community he has become in recent years, just please know that his own fiction is nothing short of genius and he did the narration for his own debut collection of short fiction not long ago. (And yes, he is a damn fine narrator. He understands the material, his inflection is always on point, and he clearly had some fun with this opportunity. Enjoy!)

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4 people found this helpful

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Well I’ll tell you this much...

...a whole day later and I’m still thinking about it, even if I haven’t decided what I think yet. That’s worth the $10.

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9 people found this helpful

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uh...

...yeah I don't think I even really know what to say. I liked it, but why I couldn't tell you. the words were lovely, but combined to be horrible. I wish it was longer but I also was a time or two glad it was nearly over, simply because it was so overwhelming.

think of a children's book. soft, cozy, sweet details and nice lessons learned and friends made along the way.

this is the exact opposite of that.

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2 people found this helpful

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Beautifully Grotesque

Horror with disturbing eloquence , & without mercy. If you need Happy Endings. You won’t get them here. Appalling. Delicious. Sorrows abound. And laughs.

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1 person found this helpful