Blind Voices is a 1978 science fiction novel by Tom Reamy. Reamy's only novel, it was published "posthumously in a complete but not final draft"Reamy, Tom, by Roz Kaveney; at The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction; edited by John Clute and John Grant; originally published June 1, 1997 in The Encyclopedia of Fantasy; retrieved June 23, 2018 by Berkley Books.
Synopsis
In the early 1930s, three young women in a small Kansas town discover Haverstock's Traveling Curiosus and Wonder Show, and find themselves attracted to its exhibits — some of whom are far more than they seem.
Reception
Blind Voices won the 1979 Balrog Award for best novel,Balrog Award, at The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction; published June 1997; archived online 1999; retrieved June 23, 2018 and was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novel of 1978Blind Voices at Science Fiction Writers of America; retrieved June 23, 2018 the 1979 Hugo Award for Best Novel,1979 Hugo Awards, at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved June 23, 2018 and the 1979 BSFA Award for Best Novel.British Science Fiction Association Award, archived at Worlds Without End; retrieved June 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews considered the novel to be "unsatisfying" and "disappointing", faulting Reamy's exposition as "plodding", and "at odds" with the "grotesqueness" of the subject matter.BLIND VOICES, reviewed at Kirkus Reviews; published September 5, 1978; retrieved June 23, 2018 Jo Walton, conversely, described it as "beautifully written" and "Bradburyesque".Hugo Nominees 1979, by Jo Walton, at Tor.com; published April 17. 2011; retrieved June 23, 2018
Roz Kaveney found its ending to be "slightly tentative and elegiac", and noted that Haverstock's creation of the freaks via rudimentary genetic engineering was a "pretext" for classifying the book as science fiction — one which "has little to do with the feel or plot." Algis Budrys called the novel "substantial" and "adventurous and suspenseful", lauding Reamy's depictions of characters and setting, and stating that if he were to — like Reamy — be found dead at his typewriter, he "wouldn't be ashamed if something like Blind Voices were in it."Books, by Algis Budrys, in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, published October 1978; archived in Benchmarks Continued: The F&SF "Books" columns (Volume 1: 1975-1982) (Ansible Editions, 2012)
References