{"id":1257,"date":"2008-09-05T15:59:42","date_gmt":"2008-09-05T05:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/2008\/09\/05\/new-voices\/"},"modified":"2008-09-12T16:07:08","modified_gmt":"2008-09-12T06:07:08","slug":"new-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/2008\/09\/05\/new-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"New: Voices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hotel rooms can be very creepy places and have occasionally been the setting for horror stories and films. The Stephen King-based ghost flick 1408<\/strong> (US-2007; dir. Mikael H\u00e5fstr\u00f6m) springs to mind.<\/p>\n

Now Morrigan Books<\/a> is about to release Voices<\/strong>, an anthology of horror tales edited by Mark S. Deniz and Amanda Pillar, where each of the stories is set in a hotel room.<\/p>\n

Every room has a story to tell \u2013 the question is: can you bear to listen? Can you bring yourself to hear the voices?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Voices<\/a><\/p>\n

A while back, the editors asked me if I’d be interested in writing a series of short pieces to fit into the book at intervals: a prologue, an epilogue, and four others to end each segment. I was, and, as usual, got carried away; each “flash” piece grew longer than was reasonable and, when read in sequence, formed an overarching story. This is a structure that I took a liking to while writing “Moments of Dying”, as published in Black<\/em> magazine No. 1 (2008) — five shorts that are thematically connected and reach a sort of climax in the final piece.<\/p>\n

In the case of “Remainders” (as the story sequence I wrote for Voices<\/em> is called), the stories are not only thematically connected, but form a single narrative as well — even though they are spread throughout the book and each one works as a separate story in itself. In fact, they are interwoven in several ways — narratively, with several recurrent characters; imagery that is repeated and developed further in each piece; thematic and content resonances taken from the anthology’s section headings; and chronologically, taking place at twenty-year intervals beginning in 1928.<\/p>\n

Oh, I should add that there is an excellent line-up of creepy stories that aren’t by me!<\/p>\n

Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prologue — Robert Hood
\nIllusions<\/em>
\nSanctuary — Carole Johnstone
\nThe Mirror — KV Taylor
\nHis Only Company, The Walls — Brad C. Hodson
\nRemainders: 1948 — Robert Hood
\nBy the Hand<\/em>
\nParis — Todd Edwards
\nJust Us — Pete Kempshall
\nA Picture of Death — Shane Jiraiya Cummings
\nRemainders: 1968 — Robert Hood
\nPossessions<\/em>
\nConstance Craving — Gary McMahon
\nBedbugs — Martin Livings
\nFaking It — Siobhan Byford
\nRemainders: 1988 — Robert Hood
\nEpiphanies<\/em>
\nThe Suicide Room — Paul Kane
\nSentinel — Sonia Marcon
\nThe Man Who Wasn’t There — Rodney J. Smith
\nRemainders: 2008 — Robert Hood
\nEpilogue — Robert Hood<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Voices<\/em> will be released at Conflux SF Convention<\/a> in Canberra, 3\u20136 October 2008.<\/p>\n