Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: The Flame Alphabet

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that showcases upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm yearning for The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus.  Unfortunately, I'll have to play the waiting game until the book comes out this January.

Goodreads Summary:
From one of the most innovative and important writers of his generation: a brilliant, mesmerizingly dark new novel in which the speech of children is killing their parents.

At first it's just Jews--then everyone. People are leaving their families to survive. Sam's wife, Claire, is already stricken and near death. In a year or two, as she grows into adulthood, their daughter, Esther, too, will become a victim. Sam and Claire decide to leave Esther on her own, hoping a "cure" will miraculously appear. Sam's car is waved off the road at a government-run laboratory where horrific tests are being conducted to create non-lethal speech. Throngs bang on the doors to be subject volunteers; they're all carried out half-dead. When Sam realizes what's going on, he makes a desperate escape, vowing that if he dies it will be with his family, the only refuge of sanity and love.

Ben Marcus's nightmarish vision is both completely alien and frighteningly familiar.


Doesn't this sound amazing?!

4 comments:

  1. This is new to me! The cover is freaky! sounds pretty neat, though.

    Giselle
    Xpresso Reads

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  2. Interesting concept! I'm definitely intrigued by the idea of lethal and non-lethal speech. Awesome cover too! New follower.

    Here's mine: http://feministfairytalereviews.blogspot.com/2011/11/waiting-on-wednesday-6-every-other-day.html

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