The Sea Beast Takes a Lover

By: Michael Andreasen

Narrated by: Various

Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

An astonishing fiction debut from a UC Irvine MFA graduate and recent contributor to The New Yorker.

Bewitching and playful, with its feet only slightly tethered to the world we know, The Sea Beast Takes a Lover explores hope, love, and loss across a series of surreal landscapes and wild metamorphoses.

Just because Jenny was born without a head doesn't mean she isn't still annoying to her older brother, and just because the Man of the Future's carefully planned extramarital affair ends in alien abduction and network fame doesn't mean he can't still pine for his absent wife. Romping through the fantastic with big-hearted ease, these stories cut to the core of what it means to navigate family, faith, and longing, whether in the form of a lovesick kraken slowly dragging a ship of sailors into the sea, a small town euthanizing its grandfathers in a time-honored ritual, or a third-grade field trip learning that time travel is even more wondrous - and more perilous - than they might imagine.

Andreasen's stories are simultaneously daring and deeply familiar, unfolding in wildly inventive worlds that convey our common yearning for connection and understanding. With a captivating new voice from an incredible author, The Sea Beast Takes a Lover uses the supernatural and extraordinary to expose us at our most human.

Audiobook Table of Contents:

• "Our Fathers at Sea", read by Peter Altschuler
• "Bodies in Space", read by PJ Ochlan
• "The Sea Beast Takes a Lover", read by Michael Crouch
• "The King’s Teacup at Rest", read by Mark Bramhall
• "He Is the Rainstorm and the Sandstorm, Hallelujah, Hallelujah", read by Emily Rankin
• "Rockabye, Rocketboy", read by Robbie Daymond
• "The Saints in the Parlor", read by Arthur Morey
• "Andy, Lord of Ruin", read by Michael Andreasen
• "Jenny", read by Kirby Heyborne
• "Rite of Baptism", read by Mark Bramhall, Cassandra Campbell, Robbie Daymond, Kirby Heyborne, Arthur Morey, PJ Ochlan, and Emily Rankin
• "Blunderbuss", read by John H. Mayer

©2018 Michael Andreasen (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A debut short story collection that treads the line between the speculative and the satirical with vivid prose, fatalist joie de vivre, and wild imaginative turns. Andreasen's style is reminiscent of George Saunders.... Energetic and engaging, these stories benefit from the sheer vigor of their telling.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Andreasen has the soul of a poet and the heart of a yarn spinner; he breathes new life into familiar tropes via the ingenuity of his storytelling and his tendency to color outside the lines. The 11 refreshing stories in this debut collection are full of delicious detours, and ultimately they’re the point.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Each [story] strikes the balance between fantasy as metaphor and fantasy in itself.... Highly recommended for both fans of literary speculative fiction and general readers.” (Booklist)