Author: Arthur Philip Haven

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2010-10-18

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1453560572

Voices introduces the character of Malcolm Winters and the question arises of whether to hate this amoral homeless alcoholic con artist with ADD incarcerated for several violent murders and a vicious bout of cannibalism or see him as a deeper representation of what our society regards as a repressed modern times version of Bigger Thomas of Richard Wright’s Native Son fame. While Voices could be labeled as a psychological thriller, it can also fit into the category of satirical science fiction, or even speculative horror. Lined with witticisms, gallows humor, bitter sarcasm and gorrific concepts meant to startle the mind at how easy things could unfold almost like a ‘how to’ for a sociopath. Voices, is intended to take the mind on a journey which guarantees heading in several unexpected directions not attempted before. When you first get into Malcolm’s head, his thoughts are immediately invaded by the other elements that control him, namely the voices. The voices are cryptic, they have a purpose and are all driven by a mutual goal to save the world from a future yet to come, a future vision Malcolm refuses to face. But Malcolm has a dark entity among the voices, hidden deep within. He is haunted by the understanding that these voices can continually take literal control over his body and do whatever they need to in order to achieve their goals. As Malcolm seeks to discern whether the voices belong to real people or are an extensive psychotic episode causing him to tap into unnatural human abilities as though he were a living video game character or an invincible super villain, he finds he must research the voices and follow their guidance always listening for more clues into the reality of the future that he has foreseen. Left without any foresight into the future world that he’s seen, Malcolm is too afraid to confront the nightmare. He let’s the voices take the helm and starts learning the nuances and characteristics of each voice and eventually learns their names and starts identifying them for when they occasionally take control in order to escape from a New Hampshire State mental asylum that he’d been placed in following a violent prison fight which one of the voices had intervened earlier in to save him. A Green Beret, an Escape Artist, a Pickup Artist, a Politician, a Writer, a Security Guard, a Scientist, a Martial Artist, and a DJ are the voices Malcolm discovers hide in his head taking control to get him through the various challenges that he’s faced with on his path of writing a book that tells the future by naming a dangerous chemical mutagen’s mercenary origins and of the various people that were going to survive its outbreak. The future being the chemical’s release into the atmosphere in the same fashion as the Cold War once feared and which causes a terrible mutation of everyone exposed, driving them mad and cannibalistic but not affecting their mental acumen. Can a man of pure flaws overcome adversity and defeat a greater evil than himself? Suspense, humor and an ending that no one could predict for the daring few to step into this non-formulaic journey.