The Cipher

By: Kathe Koja

Narrated by: Joshua Saxon

Kathe Koja's classic, award-winning horror novel is finally available as an audiobook.

Nicholas, a would-be poet, and Nakota, his feral lover, discover a strange hole in the storage room floor down the hall - "Black. Pure black and the sense of pulsation, especially when you look at it too closely, the sense of something not living but alive." It begins with curiosity, a joke - the Funhole down the hall. But then the experiments begin. "Wouldn't it be wild to go down there?" says Nakota. Nicholas says "We're not." But they're not in control, not from the first moment, as those experiments lead to obsession, violence, and a very final transformation for everyone who gets too close to the Funhole.

THE CIPHER was the winner of the 1991 Bram Stoker Award, and was recently named one of io9.com's Top 10 Debut Science Fiction Novels That Took the World by Storm. Long out-of-print and much sought-after, it is finally available as an audiobook, with a new foreword by the author.

©2012 Kathe Koja (P)2020 David N. Wilson

Critic reviews

"An ethereal rollercoaster ride from start to finish." (The Detroit Free Press)

"Combines intensely poetic language and lavish grotesqueries." (BoingBoing)

"This powerful first novel is as thought-provoking as it is horrifying." (Publishers Weekly)

A narration on spaghettification

The performance was fantastic, the story was a dreadful descent into madness. Would absolutely recommend it, but I have no idea how to describe it.

Worth listening to - for the narrator if nothing else.

The story is gripping and doesn't get boring throughout the entirety of the book. The narrator REALLY MAKES IT. I found the book to be lackluster but it wasn't a waste of time. If you are looking for something for casual listening, I'd recommend it

meh

performance was pretty good, Story somewhat interesting, but it can be dull at times. definitly day dreamed or stopped listening time to time. like a rollercoaster with you on the edge to the top, but then its slow on the way down with few turns or hills till it grinds to a dull halt

Started Strong

Started strong but dragged towards the end. Still worth a listen. The narrator was great.

Excellent story / excellent narration

Everything about this book is top-notch. Loved the story, and it was narrated quite well. I've been waiting so long for this to come out in audiobook, so I put everything on hold and jumped right on it. Trust me, if you haven't read this one, do it now. You won't be disappointed. Thanks so much to Crossroads Press for putting this back out.