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The Silver Voices
"I found the white cities just as they were in my dreams." - Joseph Roth
the country beyond the forest and land of the seven fortress towns. In The Silver Voices we encounter the previously unknown eighth Sternbergstadt. Now known as Steaua de Munte, it's one of those places where past and present continually meet, with no-one being entirely sure which has the upper hand. In Steaua de Munte history can never be said to be dead and buried; it plays too many tricks on the present and future for that.
the country beyond the forest and land of the seven fortress towns. In The Silver Voices we encounter the previously unknown eighth Sternbergstadt. Now known as Steaua de Munte, it's one of those places where past and present continually meet, with no-one being entirely sure which has the upper hand. In Steaua de Munte history can never be said to be dead and buried; it plays too many tricks on the present and future for that.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
184 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2010
2 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
John Howard
97 books82 followersJohn Howard was born in London. His fiction has appeared in several anthologies and the collections The Silver Voices (2010), Written by Daylight (2013), and Cities and Thrones and Powers (2013). The majority of his stories have central and eastern European settings; many are set in the fictional Romanian town of Steaua de Munte. The Defeat of Grief (2010) is a novella set in Steaua de Munte and the real Black Sea resort of Balcic; Numbered as Sand or the Stars (2012) attempts a 'secret history' of Hungary between the World Wars.
Between 2003 and 2007 John Howard collaborated on eight short stories with Mark Valentine, six of which featured Valentine’s long-running series character The Connoisseur, an occult detective whose real name is never revealed. All 23 tales of The Connoisseur, including the collaborations, were reprinted in The Collected Connoisseur (2010).
Secret Europe (2012) is a collection jointly written with Mark Valentine comprising 25 short stories set in a variety of real and fictional European locations. Ten of the stories are by Howard and fifteen by Valentine.
John Howard has written articles for numerous magazines including Book and Magazine Collector, Supernatural Tales, Wormwood, Studies in Australian Weird Fiction, and All Hallows. He contributed essays to the Fritz Leiber special issue of Fantasy Commentator (No. 57/58, 2004) and to the books Black Prometheus: A Critical Study of Karl Edward Wagner (2007), Fritz Leiber: Critical Essays (2008), and The Man Who Collected Psychos: Critical Essays on Robert Bloch (2009), all edited by Benjamin Szumskyj.
John Howard also wrote the introduction to the Ash-Tree Press edition of Francis Brett Young’s classic 1924 horror novel Cold Harbour (2007).
Between 2003 and 2007 John Howard collaborated on eight short stories with Mark Valentine, six of which featured Valentine’s long-running series character The Connoisseur, an occult detective whose real name is never revealed. All 23 tales of The Connoisseur, including the collaborations, were reprinted in The Collected Connoisseur (2010).
Secret Europe (2012) is a collection jointly written with Mark Valentine comprising 25 short stories set in a variety of real and fictional European locations. Ten of the stories are by Howard and fifteen by Valentine.
John Howard has written articles for numerous magazines including Book and Magazine Collector, Supernatural Tales, Wormwood, Studies in Australian Weird Fiction, and All Hallows. He contributed essays to the Fritz Leiber special issue of Fantasy Commentator (No. 57/58, 2004) and to the books Black Prometheus: A Critical Study of Karl Edward Wagner (2007), Fritz Leiber: Critical Essays (2008), and The Man Who Collected Psychos: Critical Essays on Robert Bloch (2009), all edited by Benjamin Szumskyj.
John Howard also wrote the introduction to the Ash-Tree Press edition of Francis Brett Young’s classic 1924 horror novel Cold Harbour (2007).
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 12, 2019
stories for that oft-disputed place, Transylvania. my Hungarian last name, my true one, hungers for its return to the fold; Romanians surely feel otherwise, especially those recalling Greater Romania. ask a Magyar or a Rumanian where Transylvania should belong and many may respond in the same vein: "With us."
the stories are not remotely supernatural, despite their setting in that storied place. nor - despite my nonsensical comments above - are they obsessed with what country Transylvania should be in. they are less about where and more about when, despite their precise sense of place, despite how deeply they are engaged with Romanian history. each, save one, is set mainly during different periods of time in the imaginary Romanian town of Sternbergstadt. they are all concerned with one overriding activity: imagining a time different than the current one. their characters rue the destruction of old things, they plan for a glittering and streamlined future, they long for a terrible past, they dream of a town and country that will take its rightful place as a forward-looking leader in the world. there is much dreaming in these stories - but the wakeful sort, waking dreams and daydreams and the dreams of plans to be made or dreams of trying to understand the past. but time can't be forced backwards or forwards and a place can only be what it is. or what it was, or what it will be. these disparate worlds may intersect and overlap, but never may the three be one.
John Howard is a careful and deliberate writer, somewhat chilly, parsimonious with confrontation or emotional displays. and yet emotions bubble and throb beneath these melancholy and ambiguous tales, and sometimes surface. his endings are particularly distinctive: there are no endings. these pieces close as if there are a number of chapters still left to be read, but why bother to include them - the point has been made and the particular longing under observation has been fully explored. and life goes on anyway, always. I wonder if this is a hallmark of his stories in general. they are ideal endings to these ruminations on nostalgia for times past and future.
the last and longest story "To Hope for a Caesar", set in Germany but featuring a character from Romania, is also concerned with a different time; in this case, the distant past, and an era where a bad man was once less so, or at least an era that is used as a rationale for why he became that bad man. alas, all his sins are remembered but not forgiven. this is the most riveting of the stories but also strangely the weakest. perhaps because it is the most straightforward in its narrative; perhaps because it actually has a distinct ending. it felt so finite after its intriguing predecessors, their doors left open.
the stories are not remotely supernatural, despite their setting in that storied place. nor - despite my nonsensical comments above - are they obsessed with what country Transylvania should be in. they are less about where and more about when, despite their precise sense of place, despite how deeply they are engaged with Romanian history. each, save one, is set mainly during different periods of time in the imaginary Romanian town of Sternbergstadt. they are all concerned with one overriding activity: imagining a time different than the current one. their characters rue the destruction of old things, they plan for a glittering and streamlined future, they long for a terrible past, they dream of a town and country that will take its rightful place as a forward-looking leader in the world. there is much dreaming in these stories - but the wakeful sort, waking dreams and daydreams and the dreams of plans to be made or dreams of trying to understand the past. but time can't be forced backwards or forwards and a place can only be what it is. or what it was, or what it will be. these disparate worlds may intersect and overlap, but never may the three be one.
John Howard is a careful and deliberate writer, somewhat chilly, parsimonious with confrontation or emotional displays. and yet emotions bubble and throb beneath these melancholy and ambiguous tales, and sometimes surface. his endings are particularly distinctive: there are no endings. these pieces close as if there are a number of chapters still left to be read, but why bother to include them - the point has been made and the particular longing under observation has been fully explored. and life goes on anyway, always. I wonder if this is a hallmark of his stories in general. they are ideal endings to these ruminations on nostalgia for times past and future.
the last and longest story "To Hope for a Caesar", set in Germany but featuring a character from Romania, is also concerned with a different time; in this case, the distant past, and an era where a bad man was once less so, or at least an era that is used as a rationale for why he became that bad man. alas, all his sins are remembered but not forgiven. this is the most riveting of the stories but also strangely the weakest. perhaps because it is the most straightforward in its narrative; perhaps because it actually has a distinct ending. it felt so finite after its intriguing predecessors, their doors left open.
March 30, 2020
I loved every story, every page and every paragraph of this book. Howard's prose is simple, to the point, discarded of any artificiality. At times it reminds me of M. John Harrison and in my book this is a very good thing. Some reviewers are saying that there are no ghosts within these pages. Maybe there are! If you acknowledging the past as a ghost always returning, in order to haunt us. Howard's fictional city Steaua de Munte is indeed a very special place!
October 2, 2011
Outside of Howard's collaboration with Mark Valentine on the various Connoisseur stories, I have never read John Howard before. I of course have enjoyed the Connoisseur stories and was eager to find out what Howard had to offer on his own. I was well rewarded for exploring this collection of short stories.
All of the stories were captivating and fully engaging for me. Similar to Valentine's NIGHTFARERS, Howard has quite the knack for transporting the reader to a different time and place, and really giving you a nice feel for those settings. The majority of these stories take place in or around a fictional Transylvanian town called "Sternbergstradt/Steaua de Munte". Howard paints such an incredibly vivid picture of this little city, including the quaintness of its old town that you can almost imagine walking along its streets as the characters (like the "Artiste") explore.
Honestly, I almost did not rate this as 5 stars. I was a little bit disappointed that the weird/uncanny/supernatural elements were so subdued (if not entirely non-existent) in these stories. But then I remembered how much I had enjoyed various short story collections from Stephen Millhauser and realized that I got the same level of enjoyment from these well written and interesting stories. I reference Millhauser because Howard's prose style and approach are similar. The two stories that reminded me most of Millhauser is the "Rise and Fall of the SSS" and the "Reluctant Visionary".
Both of the stories are wonderful. What struck me most (in terms of their similarities to Millhauser) is the similar level of enthusiasm, amazement, and wonderment for what the future holds in terms of technological advancement. In "Rise and Fall" that theme is symbolized by the building of a rocket. For the time period (early 20th century), a rocket was almost unfathomable. I chuckled a bit upon reading about the mayor and chief of police expressing their fears of the rocket. However, that fear is certainly understandable given their terrible experiences from WWI.
Howard is so effective in transporting us to that time and conveying to us how these characters truly felt. The scientists in this story could only feel enthusiasm and wonderment for the future and all the scientific breakthrough to be had. But, like any society, there will be those that fear those changes and what the future will bring.
In the "Reluctant Visionary", Howard continues to explore these themes of change and future wonders. In this story though, that dichotomy of fear and wonderment of the future is contained in the musings of a single character from the past. Through a series of old letters, we learn about a young Romanian man who is struggling with his own explorations of the future, since being captivated by an HG Wells story/movie. In fact as the story unfolds, this young man gets his own vision (terrifying at times) of how the future will turn out. Given the development of scientific advancements of war machines for WWII, I think those terrifying visions make plenty of sense for someone growing up during those times.
And here is where I am more than content with these stories not having any supernatural elements to fuel them. Howard is still able to convey through his characters, a similar level of excitement and wonder for those things that we can not know for certain. We really don't need those supernatural elements to further spice up these stories.
One other story that really jumped out at me was the final lengthier piece, "To Hope for a Ceasar." This one was a finely told story of historical fiction, through the eyes of an older character that had seen and did things that he may now regret. Many of the events covered involved the character's cynical involvement in WWII and future cynical involvement in the German secret police. This story had a similar feel (and brought a similar high level of enjoyment) as the story "Colonel Redl's Knife Sheath" written by another outstanding writer, George Berguno. In both the stories we are transported to another time and place and learn about a mystery involving elements of espionage and war.
I hope that Howard continues to write and publish and I eagerly look forward to future collections.
Highly recommended!!!!
All of the stories were captivating and fully engaging for me. Similar to Valentine's NIGHTFARERS, Howard has quite the knack for transporting the reader to a different time and place, and really giving you a nice feel for those settings. The majority of these stories take place in or around a fictional Transylvanian town called "Sternbergstradt/Steaua de Munte". Howard paints such an incredibly vivid picture of this little city, including the quaintness of its old town that you can almost imagine walking along its streets as the characters (like the "Artiste") explore.
Honestly, I almost did not rate this as 5 stars. I was a little bit disappointed that the weird/uncanny/supernatural elements were so subdued (if not entirely non-existent) in these stories. But then I remembered how much I had enjoyed various short story collections from Stephen Millhauser and realized that I got the same level of enjoyment from these well written and interesting stories. I reference Millhauser because Howard's prose style and approach are similar. The two stories that reminded me most of Millhauser is the "Rise and Fall of the SSS" and the "Reluctant Visionary".
Both of the stories are wonderful. What struck me most (in terms of their similarities to Millhauser) is the similar level of enthusiasm, amazement, and wonderment for what the future holds in terms of technological advancement. In "Rise and Fall" that theme is symbolized by the building of a rocket. For the time period (early 20th century), a rocket was almost unfathomable. I chuckled a bit upon reading about the mayor and chief of police expressing their fears of the rocket. However, that fear is certainly understandable given their terrible experiences from WWI.
Howard is so effective in transporting us to that time and conveying to us how these characters truly felt. The scientists in this story could only feel enthusiasm and wonderment for the future and all the scientific breakthrough to be had. But, like any society, there will be those that fear those changes and what the future will bring.
In the "Reluctant Visionary", Howard continues to explore these themes of change and future wonders. In this story though, that dichotomy of fear and wonderment of the future is contained in the musings of a single character from the past. Through a series of old letters, we learn about a young Romanian man who is struggling with his own explorations of the future, since being captivated by an HG Wells story/movie. In fact as the story unfolds, this young man gets his own vision (terrifying at times) of how the future will turn out. Given the development of scientific advancements of war machines for WWII, I think those terrifying visions make plenty of sense for someone growing up during those times.
And here is where I am more than content with these stories not having any supernatural elements to fuel them. Howard is still able to convey through his characters, a similar level of excitement and wonder for those things that we can not know for certain. We really don't need those supernatural elements to further spice up these stories.
One other story that really jumped out at me was the final lengthier piece, "To Hope for a Ceasar." This one was a finely told story of historical fiction, through the eyes of an older character that had seen and did things that he may now regret. Many of the events covered involved the character's cynical involvement in WWII and future cynical involvement in the German secret police. This story had a similar feel (and brought a similar high level of enjoyment) as the story "Colonel Redl's Knife Sheath" written by another outstanding writer, George Berguno. In both the stories we are transported to another time and place and learn about a mystery involving elements of espionage and war.
I hope that Howard continues to write and publish and I eagerly look forward to future collections.
Highly recommended!!!!
March 12, 2018
narratives intersect on the same small Romanian town, viewed from shifting temporal and cultural perspectives within the stories of this brilliant collection. This is less a work of fiction than a meditation on place, and our relationship with it. The instability of the seemingly solid is a frequent theme , as characters struggle with the encroachment of modernity , the shifting borders of nation under the shadow of war and political upheaval and their own identities as family secrets unfold. There are no overtly magical themes here, but this is a magical book, and absolutely wonderful from start to finish
January 13, 2021
This book ends, for me, with my soul soaring into an Art Deco Heaven. I have sipped upon a Silver Voice, not from the Holy Grail, but from the Golden Bowl.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
May 15, 2016
I finished this book over a week ago, and since then I've been debating with myself wether this collection deserved the 4-stars I gave it or 5-stars. Few collections stay on my mind as long and constantly as Howard's The Silver Voices, my first encounter with the author.
I don't think I have too much to add that hasn't been already said by the other review. John Howard is definitely one of the best authors I've come across in regards to setting, great little period pieces of Europe from the interwar period to the contemporary and the change it may, or not, bring to people and place.
The two stories mentioned in the other review were excellent, The Rise and Fall of the SSS and The Reluctant Visionary; two others I really like were In Strange Earth and The Silver Voices.
All said it probably does deserve a higher rating. Luckily he has a decent sized bibliography for me to work through - expensive, small books excluded. I look forward to checking out his stories in the three or four anthologies I have with his stories as well his other collection by Swan River Press Written By Daylight.
Quick note about the book, man it is gorgeous. From the simple gray cover to the painting on the boards and the size of the book, it is definitely one of the nicest I've come across.
I don't think I have too much to add that hasn't been already said by the other review. John Howard is definitely one of the best authors I've come across in regards to setting, great little period pieces of Europe from the interwar period to the contemporary and the change it may, or not, bring to people and place.
The two stories mentioned in the other review were excellent, The Rise and Fall of the SSS and The Reluctant Visionary; two others I really like were In Strange Earth and The Silver Voices.
All said it probably does deserve a higher rating. Luckily he has a decent sized bibliography for me to work through - expensive, small books excluded. I look forward to checking out his stories in the three or four anthologies I have with his stories as well his other collection by Swan River Press Written By Daylight.
Quick note about the book, man it is gorgeous. From the simple gray cover to the painting on the boards and the size of the book, it is definitely one of the nicest I've come across.
Want to read
July 22, 2015This is copy 14 of 100 signed books, Containing and inlaid envelope with a card signed by Mr. Howard.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews