Hearing Voices...

[martinlivings]

I've just finished reading Voices, the hotel-based horror anthology from Morrigan Books, as edited by markdeniz and amandapillar. Like most of the books I'm reading at the moment (ie, contributor's copies!), it's tricky to review, because I'm in it.

But, what the hell, I can still give my opinions, can't I?

Maybe it's not entirely unbiased, but I'm really proud of the collections I've been in lately, and Voices is no exception. It's a great concept, well executed and tied together by Rob Hood's flash pieces between the book's sections. It does have the slight downside of being a little samey - difficult to avoid, when the stories are restricted to within the hotel rooms themselves - which at first is a mite offputting, but then the stories begin to have a cumulative effect. The fact is, hotel rooms are all the same, so that sense of familiarity, combined with the inevitable horrors that occur, becomes incredibly effective in generating an overall sense of doom.

Like Canterbury 2100, I'd have a hard time picking favourites from the collection. I really liked all the stories in it, though admittedly one or two were a little cliched and predictable to me. But they all worked together to bring the book home, like oarsmen in a longboat, with Mark and Amanda beating the drums.

Awesome stuff, huge fun to read. I can't wait to see more from these guys!

Comments

[markdeniz.livejournal.com]

Extremely pleased to hear that you enjoyed it and I love the beating the drums analogy too!

(although that's Amanda on the drums...)

[amandapillar.livejournal.com]

Thanks heaps for the review! Glad you finally finished it :P