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Carnality: Dancing on Red Lake
Over the last four years Jacob Sloan has lived naked and alone within an abandoned island hotel, smoking cannabis, eating squirrels and swimming in a lake that contains a dark secret. As memory slowly begins to flower in his brain, Jacob recalls the traumatic events that lead him to the island, describing a childhood spent in fear of barcodes, the Antichrist, and being abandoned in the ever-nearing Rapture. In addition to his tales of madness and murder on an Iowa farm, Jacob also recounts the true story of how California's acid-fueled hippies of the 1960s became the religious-right of the 1980s. Part historical fiction, part psychological horror, Carnality: Dancing on Red Lake is the first of a six-part series chronicling the malicious mavens and pop-profiteers of America's Evangelical movement, as remembered by a mentally ill boy who was once the biggest child star of the scene.
219 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 12, 2015
9 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Josiah Hesse
6 books47 followersJosiah is a freelance journalist in Denver, Colorado. He writes about politics, marijuana and evangelical culture and theology, and is a regular contributor to the Guardian and Vice. He’s also had bylines in Esquire, Politico, High Times, and The Denver Post, and is the senior editor of the Denver arts and literature magazine Suspect Press.
An Iowa native and leading authority on 90s Christian rock, Josiah released his debut novel Carnality: Dancing On Red Lake in 2015. A psychological horror about growing up in an isolated farming community fueled by pentecostal Christianity and methamphetamine, the book was hailed as “one of the finest novels to come out of Denver’s burgeoning arts scene.”
Josiah just released his second book in the Carnality series, Carnality: Sebastian Phoenix and the Dark Star, which was written in part at Owl Farm in Woody Creek, Colorado – the longtime home of Hunter S. Thompson.
An Iowa native and leading authority on 90s Christian rock, Josiah released his debut novel Carnality: Dancing On Red Lake in 2015. A psychological horror about growing up in an isolated farming community fueled by pentecostal Christianity and methamphetamine, the book was hailed as “one of the finest novels to come out of Denver’s burgeoning arts scene.”
Josiah just released his second book in the Carnality series, Carnality: Sebastian Phoenix and the Dark Star, which was written in part at Owl Farm in Woody Creek, Colorado – the longtime home of Hunter S. Thompson.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 2, 2020
The first book in a planned series of six total, Carnality: Dancing on Red Lake serves as a fantastic introduction to the series and an astonishing debut from author Josiah Hesse. The novel unfolds under the narrative gaze of a young Jacob Sloan. The son of an alcoholic mother and a schizophrenic, evangelical father, Jacob's view of the world is unique, and Hesse is able to capture his voice pitch perfect.
The novel has a unique structure, with three distinct framing devices, all serving a grander familial narrative. When we first meet our narrator, Jacob is in his mid-twenties and leading a feral, almost pagan life, in a burned out hotel with his dog, Samson, and a bushel of homegrown marijuana. Jacob soon relates his childhood experiences growing up under the thumb of his overbearing, doomsday-prepping father. As he begins to tell of his experiences growing up on an Iowa farm, one can't help but feel just how far removed this character is from the one squatting in the hotel only pages before, and get a sense of just how much must have had to have occurred in order for him to end up in those circumstances.
While relaying the story of his childhood, Jacob can't help but need to take yet another divergence away from his story to tell the tale of his parents first meeting and their experiences growing up and falling in love during the hippy-era. It is a necessary aside that really gives a lot to characterize Jacob's parent's and helps you to understand their motives.
Overall, I found Carnality: Dancing on Red Lake to be a compelling, at times pulpy, at times horrifying narrative that I was hard pressed to put down. I will definitely be checking out the second book in the series while I wait with baited breath for Josiah's next entry to the series.
The novel has a unique structure, with three distinct framing devices, all serving a grander familial narrative. When we first meet our narrator, Jacob is in his mid-twenties and leading a feral, almost pagan life, in a burned out hotel with his dog, Samson, and a bushel of homegrown marijuana. Jacob soon relates his childhood experiences growing up under the thumb of his overbearing, doomsday-prepping father. As he begins to tell of his experiences growing up on an Iowa farm, one can't help but feel just how far removed this character is from the one squatting in the hotel only pages before, and get a sense of just how much must have had to have occurred in order for him to end up in those circumstances.
While relaying the story of his childhood, Jacob can't help but need to take yet another divergence away from his story to tell the tale of his parents first meeting and their experiences growing up and falling in love during the hippy-era. It is a necessary aside that really gives a lot to characterize Jacob's parent's and helps you to understand their motives.
Overall, I found Carnality: Dancing on Red Lake to be a compelling, at times pulpy, at times horrifying narrative that I was hard pressed to put down. I will definitely be checking out the second book in the series while I wait with baited breath for Josiah's next entry to the series.
September 23, 2021
I was cubing books at work and I absentmindedly read the author bio of the second book and was like ok I gotta put this on my hold shelf. The striking cover caught my eye (I dont know stuff about art, of course when I brought it home Kai is like "Ah, the witches sabbath!") and I let it sit on the shelf for five months.
I honestly did not know what to expect out of this, and while at first I was skeptical because there are so many typos and grammatical errors, I really was captivated. In a way it was like a nonfiction book explaining the way the hippie peace and love movement of the 60s morphed into the conservative Fundie mindset that persists today. I actually learned a lot about this process.
It reminded me a bit of the Glass Castle or Educated in that it reads like a memoir of a single-family sized cult where mental illness is the real ringleader. I also thought of Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. The ending portion reminded me of requiem for a dream (tv sequence). I am fascinated by Fundie evangelicals. I was raised so lightly evangelical and still had a lot of anger in my teen years about it. This was truly quite harrowing and educational even though it's a fictional story!
I honestly can't wait for the next one and am going to start it tomorrow. Again, an editor might have been a good idea but it is a pretty captivating story. I got genuinely scared at points and my heart really broke for the main character. I want to read the author's wiki but I am under the impression his is semi biographical so I do not want any spoilers.
The lone negative review for this book is so upsetting to me, it is like everything wrong with the way people respond to art wrapped into one. The review is mad at the homophobia of the characters and the fact that there's an assault scene. They want to read something written by their own identity group, which 1) saddens me that people can only consume things by their own identity, that is so limiting and 2) the author of this book mentions in his bio that he's also queer, so this book is by someone in the same identity group anyway! It is not surprising that a book about an isolated religious extremist group in rural Iowa with an intense focus on purity would feature homophobia, racism, or sexual abuse . The book is not in favor of any of this, in fact the entire book exists as a condemnation of the ways in which Evangelical doctrine created the conditions for all of the traumatic things that the main character endures. It would be sanitized and unrealistic to have characters mired in these conditions be perfectly PC. I read the book as an explicit condemnation of all of this and I did not think any of it was gratuitous, though the book as a whole is a batshit rollercoaster ride im not gonna lie.
I honestly did not know what to expect out of this, and while at first I was skeptical because there are so many typos and grammatical errors, I really was captivated. In a way it was like a nonfiction book explaining the way the hippie peace and love movement of the 60s morphed into the conservative Fundie mindset that persists today. I actually learned a lot about this process.
It reminded me a bit of the Glass Castle or Educated in that it reads like a memoir of a single-family sized cult where mental illness is the real ringleader. I also thought of Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. The ending portion reminded me of requiem for a dream (tv sequence). I am fascinated by Fundie evangelicals. I was raised so lightly evangelical and still had a lot of anger in my teen years about it. This was truly quite harrowing and educational even though it's a fictional story!
I honestly can't wait for the next one and am going to start it tomorrow. Again, an editor might have been a good idea but it is a pretty captivating story. I got genuinely scared at points and my heart really broke for the main character. I want to read the author's wiki but I am under the impression his is semi biographical so I do not want any spoilers.
The lone negative review for this book is so upsetting to me, it is like everything wrong with the way people respond to art wrapped into one. The review is mad at the homophobia of the characters and the fact that there's an assault scene. They want to read something written by their own identity group, which 1) saddens me that people can only consume things by their own identity, that is so limiting and 2) the author of this book mentions in his bio that he's also queer, so this book is by someone in the same identity group anyway! It is not surprising that a book about an isolated religious extremist group in rural Iowa with an intense focus on purity would feature homophobia, racism, or sexual abuse . The book is not in favor of any of this, in fact the entire book exists as a condemnation of the ways in which Evangelical doctrine created the conditions for all of the traumatic things that the main character endures. It would be sanitized and unrealistic to have characters mired in these conditions be perfectly PC. I read the book as an explicit condemnation of all of this and I did not think any of it was gratuitous, though the book as a whole is a batshit rollercoaster ride im not gonna lie.
January 8, 2019
Currently reading the book 2 of the Carnality series and I cannot believe I'm almost already finished.
Josiah Hesse's stories are visceral and captivating, taking the reader through bouts of humor, horror, and real sentiment. He speaks to a post-Christian generation in a way that is much needed, putting words to many of the wounds we still feel from being raised in a propped-up, manufactured spiritual world festering with abuse and dishonesty.
For all of the political and social relevancy of "Carnality", it's also just simply entertaining. Hesse's writing is untethered and his characters operate with few barriers, leaving always the possibility for the unexpected.
Josiah Hesse's stories are visceral and captivating, taking the reader through bouts of humor, horror, and real sentiment. He speaks to a post-Christian generation in a way that is much needed, putting words to many of the wounds we still feel from being raised in a propped-up, manufactured spiritual world festering with abuse and dishonesty.
For all of the political and social relevancy of "Carnality", it's also just simply entertaining. Hesse's writing is untethered and his characters operate with few barriers, leaving always the possibility for the unexpected.
June 29, 2019
Yikes. I bought this book at one of the Denver events (DiNK or Denver Zine Fest?) from the author. It was not at all as he advertised. If he had told me what was actually included, I would have passed.
I know what this was possibly going for, but constant casual racism, homophobia, and then on page 200 all of a sudden unexpected r*pe! I don't need to read the last 29 pages. I'm done.
I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt and see if the harm the unreliable narrator was doing to marginalized communities would be dismantled, but except for a character saying using the n-word was wrong, once, it didn't happen in 200 pages. I doubt it will in the last 29. I guess if you are curious about the harm that can happen to white cishet Evangelical country boys in the most extreme of circumstances and don't mind the entirety of the storytelling doing harm to actually marginalized communities, then you may like this book. If that's not your thing, best give it a pass. Now I have to quick find something written by someone from one of my identities as a palate cleanser.
I know what this was possibly going for, but constant casual racism, homophobia, and then on page 200 all of a sudden unexpected r*pe! I don't need to read the last 29 pages. I'm done.
I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt and see if the harm the unreliable narrator was doing to marginalized communities would be dismantled, but except for a character saying using the n-word was wrong, once, it didn't happen in 200 pages. I doubt it will in the last 29. I guess if you are curious about the harm that can happen to white cishet Evangelical country boys in the most extreme of circumstances and don't mind the entirety of the storytelling doing harm to actually marginalized communities, then you may like this book. If that's not your thing, best give it a pass. Now I have to quick find something written by someone from one of my identities as a palate cleanser.
August 7, 2019
I wasn't sure what to expect when I first started reading this book, I had only heard so little about the ex-evangelical community but upon reading this book I've learned so much and feel encouraged to hear more stories about others experiences. The book continues to surprise me and make me feel a range of emotions for the characters and the trauma that each endure. With this book you're constantly climbing the ladder to see who is to blame for another's pain and there seems to be no view of the top.
The novel is a lot to take in (and I'm currently still reading and unpacking it) but I would highly recommend the novel.
The novel is a lot to take in (and I'm currently still reading and unpacking it) but I would highly recommend the novel.
February 27, 2025
Hesse obviously has an axe to grind
Seeks to paint with the broadest brush imaginable, Christians as the most evil group of people one could imagine, willing to sacrifice, drug and torture their own children. Looking a little deeper into the author it all makes sense, a high school dropout now writing for rags such as vice and the guardian, praising all forms of modern degeneracy, while always doing his best to slander religion, we get it, you're an atheist who wants everyone smoking weed and having gay sex.
Seeks to paint with the broadest brush imaginable, Christians as the most evil group of people one could imagine, willing to sacrifice, drug and torture their own children. Looking a little deeper into the author it all makes sense, a high school dropout now writing for rags such as vice and the guardian, praising all forms of modern degeneracy, while always doing his best to slander religion, we get it, you're an atheist who wants everyone smoking weed and having gay sex.
July 1, 2019
So I got his book because my bf mentioned that he knew the author. At first when I started reading it, I didn't feel a connection to the protagonist, so I was slightly dismissive. Man was I wrong. I got so into the story! I think Josiah does a great job building characters and telling the story. He also does a great job jumping around with the timeline without making it confusing. This one is left with a huge cliffhanger so I HAVE to get the next one!
March 20, 2017
DISCLAIMER: Josiah is a friend and colleague. I interviewed him about this book some time before I read it. (That interview can be found here: http://www.westword.com/arts/josiah-h...)
Intriguing debut novel that blends a history of the evangelical movement in recent history with a slow-burning horror story. It's a strong opening, but definitely reads more like the opening quarter/third of a novel than a stand alone book. The good news is that it leaves you wanting the rest of the story, which is due out soon, conveniently.
Intriguing debut novel that blends a history of the evangelical movement in recent history with a slow-burning horror story. It's a strong opening, but definitely reads more like the opening quarter/third of a novel than a stand alone book. The good news is that it leaves you wanting the rest of the story, which is due out soon, conveniently.
September 28, 2023
Jumping right into book 2.
October 8, 2019
Carnality by Josiah Hesse is perhaps one the most immersive books to read in 2019. The concrete details and characters seem so real, while the plot/setting floats around in the strange world that is fiction. Hesse’s ability to keep the reader immersed stems from his use of extreme Evangelical ideals, bringing the narrator (Jacob Sloan) and his family to life. As the novel unfolds the narrator, who is self-diagnosed as unreliable, somehow becomes reliable, even as the world around him drifts into a nightmarish realm. Hesse shows maturity and patience as surgical plot reveals are sprinkled throughout the novel, forcing a constant progression of narrative momentum. The language is fresh and knowledgeable, packed with creative similes, making Carnality an easy read that leaves the reader wanting more (luckily there’s more installments to come!). Perhaps the most impressive feat is how Hesse manages to simultaneously reveal information while adding new layers of plot, without becoming expository or boring, giving Carnality Dancing on a Red Lake levels of maturity that are rarely found in debut novels. Hesse’s syntax effectively manages to push the first person POV to be both personal and cinematic. As the reader turns the last page they will be immersed in both Jacob Sloane’s mind and world. This is truly an exciting contemporary author/book, especially for those with religious upbringings or those who question controversial religious ideals. Buy this book and you will not be disappointed.
August 4, 2016
Despite a plethora of typos (nothing that couldn't be fixed with another editing pass), hitting way too close to home, and being so heartbreaking, I really enjoyed Carnality. A truly well done depiction of growing up in an Evangelical American family. Though the stories were sometimes very different from my own, they touched on many things from my own experience. I definitely recommend it for people who grew up in Evangelical families (cathartic), and for people who have no clue what that was like (educational).
April 4, 2020
I have never read a book like this before. It's very twisted and visceral at certain parts (which I do enjoy.) I felt like Jacob Sloan was like water meaning he flowed through existence. Whatever happened to him happened. This is a very interesting work of art.
October 19, 2016
Strange and compelling.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews