About the Book
The Faster Redder Road is a career-spanning collection of fiction by Stephen Graham Jones, pulling from across his novels and short stories, including some pieces that hadn't appeared in book form before this 2015 UNM Press release. It draws from works like The Last Final Girl, The Fast Red Road: A Plainsong, Not for Nothing, and The Gospel of Z, giving readers a broad cross-section of his range, horror, noir, literary fiction, and the territory in between.
Jones is a prolific writer with a distinctive voice, and the collection is partly curated as an introduction to his work, framed by an academic introduction from Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. that situates Jones in both American literature and genre fiction. If you're already a fan, the short stories, especially the previously uncollected ones, are the main draw. If you're new to Jones, this is a reasonable place to start, though jumping straight into one of his novels is also a valid entry point.
This is not a novel with a single through-line. It's a sampler, excerpts mixed with complete short stories. That structure affects the audio experience more than it would a print read.
Narration & Audio Performance
Shaun Taylor-Corbett handles a wide range of Jones's material here, and the biggest challenge is that a collection like this demands tonal flexibility. Jones writes across modes, darkly comic noir, horror-tinged literary fiction, gritty crime, and a narrator needs to shift registers without making each piece feel the same. Taylor-Corbett is a working audiobook narrator with a reasonably clear, measured delivery, but whether that style suits Jones's often off-kilter, rhythmically idiosyncratic prose is worth checking in the sample before committing.
The production is from UNM Press, an academic press not primarily known for audio production. There's no publicly available information on whether music or sound design is used, so this is likely a straightforward single-narrator reading. For a collection of this type, that's standard, the narration itself carries the weight. Given the variety of tones Jones employs across the excerpts and stories, listeners sensitive to flat or monotone delivery should sample carefully before using a paid credit.
The Audible Verdict
Jones's prose style is distinctive enough that the narrator either clicks or doesn't for a given listener. The collection format also means the audio experience is fragmented by nature, you're not being carried through a single narrative arc. Sample a few minutes of Taylor-Corbett's delivery before using a credit, particularly if you're already familiar with Jones's work on the page.
Listen on AudibleIs This Book a Good Fit for Audio?
Collections and anthologies are a mixed case for audio. Complete short stories translate reasonably well, each piece has its own arc and can be listened to in a single session. The excerpts from Jones's novels are a different matter. Pulled out of context, a novel excerpt can feel abrupt and unresolved, which is less noticeable on the page where you can flip back or forward, but more disorienting in audio where there's no visual cue that you're dropping into the middle of something larger.
Jones's prose also tends toward rhythmic, voice-driven writing, the kind that benefits from a narrator who can replicate that cadence. If the narration is well-matched to his style, audio can actually be a good format for his work. If it isn't, the friction between the writing's natural rhythm and the narrator's delivery becomes more noticeable than it would in print. That's the main uncertainty here, and it's why sampling first is the practical advice.
Popular Listener Questions
Is this a novel or a short story collection?
It's a mixed collection, both short stories (some previously uncollected) and excerpts from several of Jones's novels, including The Last Final Girl and The Gospel of Z. It reads more like a career sampler than a unified book.
Is this a good starting point for Stephen Graham Jones?
It works as an introduction to his range, but if you're new to Jones, jumping straight into a single novel like Mongrels or The Only Good Indians gives you a more coherent experience. This collection is better suited to readers who want to explore his earlier and more obscure work.
Is this author-narrated?
No. The audiobook is narrated by Shaun Taylor-Corbett, not Stephen Graham Jones.
Do the novel excerpts stand on their own in audio?
Partially. Some excerpts can be appreciated as standalone pieces of writing, but listeners unfamiliar with the source novels may find them unsatisfying without the surrounding context.
Similar Audiobooks
Mongrels
Jones's werewolf novel is one of his most accessible single-volume works and gives a cleaner audio narrative arc than this collection.
Jones's breakout horror novel, if this collection leaves you wanting more of his voice, this is the natural next listen.
Her Body and Other Parties
Carmen Maria Machado's short fiction collection occupies similar literary horror territory, worth comparing for fans of genre-crossing short fiction in audio.
Out There Screaming
An anthology of speculative fiction by Black authors, also drawing from the margins of genre, similar appeal for listeners interested in underrepresented voices in American fiction.
The Fast Red Road: A Plainsong
One of the novels excerpted in The Faster Redder Road, the full text is the natural companion listen for anyone who wants the complete version of that material.
Audiobook Details
| Title | The Faster Redder Road |
|---|---|
| Author | Stephen Graham Jones |
| Narrator | Shaun Taylor-Corbett |
| Genre | Literary Horror |
| Year | 2015 |
| Publisher | UNM Press |
| Abridged | Unabridged |
| Cast | Single narrator |
| Author-narrated | No |
Ready to listen?
The Faster Redder Road is available on Audible and is a reasonable candidate for a free trial credit, sample the narration first to make sure Taylor-Corbett's delivery suits Jones's style before spending a paid credit.
Open on Audible