Voice Of The Fire 104
| Voice Of The Fire | |
| author | Alan Moore |
| pages | 336 |
| publisher | Top Shelf Productions |
| rating | 8/10 |
| reviewer | Simoniker |
| ISBN | 1891830449 |
| summary | In a story full of lust, madness, and ecstasy, we meet twelve distinctive characters that lived in the same region of central England in the span of six thousand years. |
There's no question about it - this book is formidable. It is formidable in its complexity, formidable in the connective leaps it expects you to make between stories and eras, and most of all, it can be formidable in its prose. Before I even read Voice Of The Fire, I'd heard that the first chapter of the book is enough to put many casual readers off, and that's not far wrong. The story of a cave-boy called Hob -- confused, immature, possibly mentally deficient, and alone in a world of freedom, love, and, potentially, disaster -- is written in intentionally limited language that the less sharp members of mankind might be imagined to use in 4000 BC. It's not an easy read; this segment is a struggle to decode at times, but the rewards are significant, because the emotions are powerful, and the story strong.
The novel's twelve stories are woven together, but only loosely. Sometimes consecutive stories interact with each other by way of common locations, characters, or themes, as historical figures tell their stories in the first-person, one by one, from the aforementioned Hob to an inevitable conclusion in the present day. But generally, the stories don't actually interact. Some of the most memorable tales, such as the first-person tale of a severed head on a pike circa 1607, or the treacherous dealings of a lecherous court judge from centuries past, have absolutely nothing in common except for the general geographical location. But they share exceptional writing, a self-contained message, and an odd sense of foreboding hovering over the entire proceedings, like someone or something is watching over every single sin committed.
And, let it be said, there are a surfeit of sins -- violence, and senseless murder, and lust, and witchcraft, and plenty left over. But that's how real history is -- bloody. Or, at least, that's how Moore wants us to believe history is, and there's clearly been significant research into many of the real-life historical figures whose lives are embroidered and colorized in Voice of the Fire. There's no doubt that some passages are tricky to digest, particularly those with odd language such as 'The Sun Looks Pale Upon The Wall,' the haunting 1841-set meanderings of another poor citizen who's not quite there. However, if you can wade through the occasional story featuring difficult prose, dense layout and strange language, the rewards can be significant. Plus, the gorgeous new full-page color illustrations/photos, courtesy Jose Villarrubia, add a little visceral flavor to the mix no matter how dense the prose.
Comparisons in terms of genre or content are tricky, though, among the stories that make up this book. What Moore definitely shares with the writer of the introduction to this new version, Neil Gaiman, is a sense of myth, of half-remembered deities and supernatural forces existing in the real world, as Gaiman depicts in American Gods . But Moore's supernatural forces are much more shamanic, much darker, and largely less substantial, except for a truly scary vision unearthed from a medieval burial chamber.
As for Moore's previous work, in as much as Promethea is a set of musings on his faith in the mystical, Voice Of The Fire gives those mystical feelings a more sinister edge and spreads them out over centuries. And it might be said that From Hell contains some similar ideas about the mystical significance of geography. But Voice Of The Fire draws no easy comparison even to Moore's own work -- being in a different medium, and focusing on the place he's lived all his life, it's much more personal than much of his other material, almost as if the dark places of his home town's past are being passed down to him.
Moore spent five years writing this book, and even refers to that torturous stretch in the final chapter, which is written by him in the first-person, in which he ties his experiences of Northampton's history to the stories. A daring move, to be sure, and one that Moore himself admits puts him close to the edge, as he muses:
'There are some weak points on the borderlines of fact and fabrication, crossing where the veil between what is and what is not rends easily. ... Walk through the walls into the landscape of the words, become one more first-person character within the narrative's bizarre procession... Obviously, this is a course of action not without its dangers... always the risk of a surprise ending with the ticket to St. Andrew's Mental Hospital.'
But what is Voice Of The Fire really about? Well, the thirteenth character in the novel, and almost certainly the most important, is the town of Northampton itself, looming large over every single character's experience. This is something that Moore has dealt with before -- there's a moment in the massive, monochrome, mystical From Hell where there's an odd 'flash forward' moment - contemporary office buildings intruding on the goings-on of 19th Century London. The same idea of geography subsuming history is true for Voice Of The Fire -- that the people are not a permanent fixture; the location is the only sure thing. Time layers burial ground on murder site on shiny new office development until there's such an odd mixture of old, new, and indescribable that some kind of sinister magic is created.
[There's plenty more about Moore at the comprehensive Alan Moore Fan Site, and the Alan Moore Yahoo group is both knowledgeable and friendly.]
You can purchase Voice of the Fire from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Formidable? Hmm... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Graphic novel? (Score:5, Interesting)
After learning that I went back and reread watchmen and found that to be very true. Look at the time on the wall, look at the little things in the paynes and you will see a lot more to the story.
Interesting... (Score:5, Interesting)
Also by Moore (Score:5, Interesting)
- Supreme -- It's the disilation of everything "Superman", but with a distinctly self-aware narative and art.
- Top 10 -- Comics of done the multiverse thing to death, and it's the standard explanation for a world "just like ours", but with super-heroes. Moore speculates on what the extreme endpoint of this sort of fantasy story-telling is by describing a world where EVERYONE (and their pets) are supers. It then follows the pain that this causes for one particular metropolitan police dept.
- Tom Strong -- The 50s all over again. This is the sense-of-wonder storytelling you thought was dead.
- V for Vendetta -- Not to everyone's liking, but if you have never had anarchy as a political point of view explained to you, it suits as a starter. Don't try to take it as the ONLY viewpoint on anarchy however.
What he does best is re-interpret various aspects of the comics genre to write his own stories that feel new and interesting, even though you know all the players (in Watchmen, for example, he was simply pulling from golden age heroes that DC had just acquired rights for).Ellis [slashdot.org] does this same sort of thing in Authority and Planetary, and to a lesser extent in the non-super-heroic Transmetropolitan which is brilliant, and you should read it ASAP!
Re:Six Thousand Years!!..... (Score:3, Interesting)
Bad form to reply to one's own posts, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
With the exception of fire and "smoke heavy with human fat" that's how I felt when I finally broke away with the (fear of) God I had been brought up with.
What a relief it was to accept that there is no good or evil - just us human beings doing fucked up things to each other while the universe really does not care. Then, the void breathed hard on my heart, turning its illusions to ice, shattering them and it felt good to be free.
BUT... (Score:4, Interesting)
And I'd like to pipe in with Promethea. Its not everyone's cup of tea, being an extended look into Moore magical theories, but its very interesting, and has one of the best artists (JH Williams) in the business who continually astounds me with what he does with layouts and illustration and style switching...
Psychohistorical Geography...really! (Score:4, Interesting)
I think the Moore comic that best illustrates it is Snakes and Ladders, with Eddie Campbell (always mention the artist!) which is a comic version of a performance piece he did. From Hell's more mystical bits (namely, the long carriage ride through london history) is another great example of it, again with Eddie Campbell.
Anyone with interest in the Alan Moore should read the verbose extended version of his Onionavclub interview, where I almost understood it.
Re:Also by Moore (Score:5, Interesting)
Hey, don't forget Miracleman (aka Marvelman) [continuitypages.com]!
By the end of book three (Olympus) I was completely blown away, and realized that I would never again be able to suspend my disbelief regarding ordinary infinite-series superhero comics (X-Men, Superman, etc, which go on and on and on yet nothing important ever changes). How can a world possibly contain living, walking gods and not be changed irrevocably? Alan Moore likes to tell big stories [google.com] with endings, and for that I thank him.Re:Formidable Prose (Score:5, Interesting)
An important point, of course, is that a similar novel could be written for your town, for any town. We're admittedly lucky that we had Moore to write Northampton's. A good book, worth your time.
Re:Bad form to reply to one's own posts, but... (Score:2, Interesting)
House of Steel...you can't get cooler than that.
Re:Formidable Prose (Score:2, Interesting)
It's a good book, but not in the same class as, say, Neil Gaiman's writing.
Gaiman did fine graphic novels, but I've yet to read a non-comic book of his that wasn't as cliched as his interviews. Perhaps the cell format hides this. American Gods was alright, but Neverwhere... one of the worst books I have ever read. I like my masala dosa paper-thin, not my characters.
Moore is less (Score:3, Interesting)