Neon Lights Audiobook By Manuel Gonzales cover art

Neon Lights

A Short Story

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Neon Lights

By: Manuel Gonzales
Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
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About this listen

A cinematic parable about love, desire, and vengeance, Neon Lights is a thrilling short story by award-winning author Manuel Gonzales.

Nicole has wanted to own a haunted car her entire teenaged life, and when she finally finds one - a junker of a Chrysler Neon with its own tragic backstory - her best friend, Johnny, has some serious doubts. Would a demon even want to possess a Chrysler Neon? But when the two of them take it for a test drive, Johnny’s doubts begin to fade: The steering wheel burns hot, the car traps Johnny in the back seat, and is Nicole even driving? Or is the car driving itself? They soon find themselves forced to face the potential evil controlling the car, and possibly even themselves.

Please note: This audio contains strong language and descriptions of violence that some listeners may find upsetting. Discretion is advised.

©2021 Manuel Gonzales (P)2021 Audible Originals, LLC.
Anthologies & Short Stories Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Magical Realism Short Stories Magic Scary Horror Anthology

About the Creator

Manuel Gonzales is the author of The Miniature Wife and other stories, winner of the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction and the John Gardner Fiction Book Award, and the author of the novel The Regional Office Is Under Attack!, which received the Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association. He teaches literature and creative writing at Bennington College and is a core faculty member of the Bennington Writing Seminar MFA program.

About the Performer

Tim Pabon has narrated over 300 audiobooks on Audible and was honored with a 2015 SOVAS nomination (Nonfiction), a 2014 Earphones award (Ensemble Cast), and Earphones award in 2018, and an Audie nomination in 2020. He’s been seen on House of Cards seasons 3 - 6 as Mark, a White house press correspondent; as Reverend Phil on Ward 8, Jose Rivas in Born in the Game, and on The Wire. As a stage actor he has worked Off-Broadway and all over the East Coast. Tim is bilingual (English and Spanish); he is the proud father of two children, and a member of AFTRA/SAG and Actor’s Equity.

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So, the narrator’s rendition of Nicole is reminiscent of Jimmy Fallon’s portrayal of the girl with braces saying, “ew”. It was a little distracting and maybe slightly comical, but he tried. Fortunately the story was short while also managing to be a bit disjointed, the story line tried to piece together some historical aspects within the present time. The author was attempting to provide context but I’m not sure it was necessary.

Jimmy Fallon is that you?

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I especially liked the part where he said kicked him in the nutsack. Narration was good

Pretty good

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This honestly sounds like the end result of a 10th grade writing assignment, but from the worst student in the class with a tenuous grasp of the English language. Yes, it’s really that bad.

Really bad

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Set up and characters were interesting and had lots of potential but just tapered out at the end. A decent story that could have been really good if the author had just added five minutes or had a clear picture of where he was going with it.

Unresolved Story, Had Potential

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The story has potential but the narration didn’t reel me in. I didn’t even bother finishing .

First story I won’t waste time finishing

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Candles, car parts, child ghost, back seat, hot steering wheel, ghost car parts that kills all who added to their cars.

Ghost in the machine

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Hard to differentiate reality from dram/imagination in the story. I gad to listen to it twice to grasp everything.

It was...different...

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This seemed more like a draft of a work in progress than a finished piece ready for publication - ending needs some help, as well as the transitions between storyline, backstory, history...well, you get the point.

I also was not impressed by Pabon’s female character voice - sounded just like a man doing an impression of a teen girl, and not in a good way.

Erm, okay, I guess that’s it?

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Not the worst thing I’ve ever read/listened to but not the best by a long shot.

It was free and that was its saving grace. If you can get it for free, pick it up. Give it a listen. I wouldn’t pay for it though. The story isn’t great. The performance is what I would call “bad”.

I didn’t turn it off though and I suppose that’s saying something. While I didn’t really like it, maybe someone else will. Who knows…

Just Ehh…

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Haunted cars have always been a fascination of people. Regardless of the scary stories we’re told, we still find them so damn intriguing. So what would you do if you bought a car that turned out to be haunted? Are we responsible for the actions of the car? Would you keep it or sale it? The author did a wonderful job detailing this storyline. The images of blood splatter and sound of crushing metal is easy to bring to mind when listening to this book.

Very detailed

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