The Other Place

The Glass, Book 1

De: Nathan Hystad

Narrado por: R.C. Bray

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

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.

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.

Good listen

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

Good first book for the series

I liked the story and the characters were really interesting. I don’t think there was enough development for some of the plot drivers like the caravan and its members or Trent’s group. The main characters of the story link up with both groups, but it was tough to care about the other individuals in either setting. There was no real backstory given to either group. They just appeared, it seems, to give the main characters something to do in the wider world.
I also found it difficult to stay “in world” when the group was in Monterey. I lived in Monterey, CA for years. The description of it being blisteringly hot at any time is wholly inaccurate, especially on 17 Mile Drive near the ocean or anywhere near the ocean. In the years I lived there it only got above 80 degrees four times and the mean temperature is in the 70s in the summer and the mid 50s to 60s in the winter, so when the characters are said to be “sweating in the blistering heat,” it’s just not accurate. There is also a TON of fog in Monterey. Especially in the early morning and the mid-to-late afternoon. You can actually observe it rolling in like a ghostly wave, which none of that was used in the story even though it would have been a fantastic plot device.
Another issue I had was the description of anyone, especially a small child, getting into the ocean anywhere near Monterey was not believable. It simply wouldn’t happen. The ocean is 55 degrees all year round. You can’t swim there without a dry suit because hypothermia sets in within minutes. It’s so cold it stings, so when Chrissy walks in almost up to her neck and the adults are up to their hips, that would be incredibly dangerous since the book describes them being in there for over half an hour. No one would ever stay in the water that long without protection. I gave four stars because of the lack of research and because of some mistakes that the narrator made (example “…that was her dream in my name”). When real money is being spent in order to listen to these books, it should be expected that the editing would be more thorough.
I’m going to listen to the other two books because I did enjoy the main plot and characters.

Engaging and a Great Listen

To be honest, my initial thoughts about this book was “Oh, it’s going to be a recycled ‘Under the Dome” — I was so wrong. While not a SciFi “Thinker” or Space Opera, the story really holds its own. I really enjoyed the pace and creativity. The characters are interesting and believable, The plot is easy to follow but not boring — spiced with just enough mystery to keep you interested. Great listen. Definitely one of my faves this year.

"Inclinations"

Repetitive use of the word "inclinations" and the worst is used wrong--used to mean instincts or gut feelings or premonitions. But inclinations means preferences. Really annoying and distracting in what otherwise is a fantastic story and performance. The author should have used a dictionary while writing...

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.

Silent segue, and the unrealized conclusion

Very similar to Stephen King‘s apocalyptic The Stand with the slight difference that you blended into one pair of characters from another. Then at some point, you realize you’ve missed the segue altogether, jumbling the character development in your mind and getting totally confused because you thought that RC was talking about the last two people of the storyline. That’s not Mr. Bray‘s fault I think that’s a production value issue. Then the conclusion of this first installment of the series was a blip of narration befitting the buildup that was all too gradual. How many times can the characters ask, “What is going on here?”, before you realize we are trying to hit some milestone of narration length. The low intensity buildup of the storyline did give me all the time in the world to come up with several different possible conclusions to the series. Some of which will probably exceed the actuality. I’m not sure I wanna find out.

multiple story lines coming together.

The storybis good for a casual read. buy if you want, the detail is there for an engrossing experience with multiple rwads.

Can’t wait for book 2

Great story. Loved the characters. RC Bray as usual did a great job. I’ll preorder book 2 for sure.