The Other Place

The Glass, Book 1

By: Nathan Hystad

Narrated by: R.C. Bray

Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

When a mysterious invisible barrier appears on a Montana ranch, no one knows what to think of it.

Drake, a retired police detective, receives a call in the dead of night from an alien-obsessed podcaster. He hastily departs for Montana the following morning.

The phenomenon continues all over the globe. What are they? What do they mean?

Britt is on assignment for a digital magazine when she encounters one of the Glass in a tragic boating accident, leaving her no choice but to follow the lead. Panic ensues as mysterious creatures are sighted.

Will has never left the relative safety of his small town, having begun to accept a life he doesn’t want. Now he must venture into the unknown with the girl of his dreams.

The Glass seem innocuous, until they start to glow…

Ransom, a washed-up Broadway actor and single father, tends bar in the Upper West Side. His daughter shares his knack for knowing things, and they head west as their intuition guides them to the source.

Together they must discover the truth behind the Glass, or risk losing their world forever.

The Other Place is an epic post-apocalyptic science fiction tale from the best-selling author of Lost Contact and First Life, brought to you in audio format by award-winning narrator R.C. Bray.

©2022 Nathan Hystad (P)2022 Podium Audio

Golden

Yet another work of art. Any great story can become legendary when you put sci-fi in the hands of R.C. Bray to narrate.

Thrilling, intriguing, – Masterful Sci-Fi!!

The Other Place follows multiple different characters as a new phenomena begins to appear across the planet which quickly becomes known as ‘Glass’. These phenomena are a strange, completely transparent, unbreakable barrier that is about 20 ft long. The first is found in Montana and sets in motion a chain of events. A reporter is tasked to go and investigate, Brit Kline for an Independent News Site “Urban Rural”. At the same time, Private Investigator Drake Astin and his loyal dog Sage are tasked by the mysterious Radio Host Cedric Bellows, to also head to Montana and check out the farm in Montana and investigate this ‘Glass’ phenomena.
As they start to make their way to Montana, we also get to meet Peggy and Will, two young adults, still stuck in their small town, both looking for a way to get out so they don’t end up like everyone else in the town, or like their parents.
Initially, they are with friends, and being hounded by the town’s local hoodlums, until something decides that the town’s local hoodlums would make a good meal. Because where they are, also has a Glass object, and something has come through it.
In New York, bartender Ransom is finishing up and feels a pull to Central Park. Ransom is ‘special’, he has always felt things, sensed things, had visions or premonitions. And he has had some about the Glass. He has a younger daughter, Chrissy, who is only around 10yrs, she is also special, able to see things. Together, Random and Chrissy have to make their way across country, a country that has changed.
This is a book that follows several major characters (and some minor ones), as they each come into contact with the Glass (or something else more sinister), and have to deal with it. Brit is first on scene when a boat crashes full speed into a Glass object appears in the middle of a river, right in the path of the boat, the boat, its occupants, and those it was towing, have a sudden stop.
I don’t want to say too much else, for fear of spoilers.
Hystad has again delivered a stunning character driven story that captivates you from the very first chapter, drawing you into his world, and engaging you with the lives of these people he has created. Drake is this ex-cop, struggling with a trauma from his past that he lost his job over, and is now a P.I. He and his dog Sage, travel from job to job, doing whatever is needed to make money to survive. When he is contacted by Cedric Bellows, the radio host of the Pod Cast ‘Gray Matters’, a show about UFO encounters on Earth, Drake is initially skeptical. Cedric is a fascinating character, mysterious, intriguing, with deeply guarded secrets and an obvious agenda.
He and Drake head to Montana to see what they can uncover there.
Brittany’s character is brilliant, although heading towards that dreaded 30, she is still young at heart, with a sharp mind, and a clever intellect. She is a keen investigator, which is what has made her such a great reporter. And those skills are what lead her to Montana, and run her into something she never would have expected.
Two of the best characters in the book are Will and Peggy. They are late teens, sick of their lives in the small town they live in. Whilst Peggy had been the popular girl at school, she now finds that after school, her life is not so great, and she wants out. Will doesn’t want to follow in his Father’s footsteps, and wants out to. They both move in the same small group of friends, with Will having a crush on Peggy, who is beautiful and intelligent.
The pair find themselves thrust together though, when their town is visited by not only the Glass, but something that has come from the Glass, something otherworldly, and not friendly to humans.
We follow the paths of each of these characters, Drake, Brit, Ransom, Chrissie, Cedric, Will, Peggy, as well as several others that they meet as the story unfolds. This is a story with some incredible world building, Hystad is brilliant at immersing us into this stunning worlds, of not only the places we know, but adding elements to them so that they become something captivating, revealing a new and fascinating place or portraying strange things that leave you in awe and leave you unable to put the book down. His descriptive work around the Glass and everything to do with it is intriguing, mysterious and thrilling, it grabs you from the first pages, and as with all of his books, it is just extraordinary.
This is an exceptional first book in what is going to be an outstanding series, one that is full of gritty, realistic characters, a thrilling and intriguing storyline that will captivate you from the start, and world building that is just stunning!!
The Other Place is an absolute must read, Hystad has created another Sci-Fi masterpiece!!
The Narration is done by R.C. Bray – really that should be enough said!
Mr Bray is arguably one of the best Voice Actors that is performing today, providing these amazing storytelling’s. He produces this wonderful array of character voices, both male and female, so that you know who each character is, and effortlessly tells the story, but with such emotion and realism for each of the characters, bringing them to life. It is such a wonderful way to listen to a story when R.C. Bray narrates a story, as he really brings the story to life like you are listening to a movie. If you are going to listen to a narrated book, then R.C. Bray is easily one of the best choices.
This was a brilliant audiobook – and it is one that you must listen to over reading, as Mr Bray adds so much to the story in his Narration, he is just extraordinary.

Good listen

With some books I would skip ahead, not this one. very original storyline! No Zombies, yeah... excellent narrator.

Not a zombie story, but…

I’m not a fan of zombie stories, and being fair this isn’t that. But darned, it’s damn close.
I liked R.C Brays reading, and the story was well built and written.
But, no. It’s to close to a zombie apocalypse story for my taste.

Loved it!

The Other Place reminded me of the ‘70s disaster movies, Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Aventure, etc., in which you meet all the main characters individually and they all end up together during the crisis.

Alien sci-fi is one of my top choices for listening. I also enjoyed the psychic and intuition aspects of this story, as well as the lack of explanation along with the description of the action. It kept me guessing and that is what kept me listening, foregoing my daily podcasts and livestreams.
I am also a fan of RC Bray. I first heard him and liked his narration in the Galaxy’s End(?) series. But thought he would be over-challenged to voice women and especially a little girl. But, between the dialog written and the character creation, he nailed it! Despite the thin-sketch descriptions and the appropriate dialogue, each of those characters were very much alive and real in my imagination.
I’ve picked up “The Hidden Place” and am about to start that.

S Kaye

Uniquely addictive! Mr Hystad, you are creative and I’m glad to have listened.
Will start on next this evening!
Thanks RC! Excellent of course!

The narrator has a nice voice

Well written. Very interesting. But too many characters to keep up with. With some, the voices did not change much. Became confusing. Overall, a good read!

An excellent adventure performed by R. C. Bray

Author Nathan Hystad has written another creepy adventure. There are parts that remind me of The Stand, only because people meet up with other people with a similar destination. Don't let that confuse you, it's nothing like The Stand.
As with other writings by this author, he will keep you reading. If you enjoy Audible books, The Other Place is performed by the great R. C. Bray.

Excellent srory

It starts a bit slow,but catches up after a while and keeps you listening. Well written and well performed.

Good plot, poorly written

I am disappointed with this book. Great plot idea, but the actual writing seemed rushed. The characters didn't develop emotionally and didn't seem to have what I considered the correct reactions to situations. There was very little emotion, good or bad. I felt like I was reading something written by a teenager for a class project.

RC Bray saved the book. If he wasn't reading, I may not have finished. That being said, this was his worst performance I have listened to. While listening to him normally, I may catch 1 or 2 mistakes, but this book had a bunch. Maybe it was the editors fault, I don't know.