Book SynopsisAll hardbacks in the first print run will be signed by the author.The story of genre fiction - horror, romantic fiction, science fiction, crime writing, and more - is also the story of Irish fiction. Irish writers have given the world Lemuel Gulliver, Dracula, and the world of Narnia. They have produced pioneering tales of detection, terrifying ghost stories and ground-breaking women's popular fiction. Now, for the first time, John Connolly's one volume presents the history of Irish genre writing and uses it to explore how we think about fiction itself.Deeply researched, and passionately argued, SHADOW VOICES takes the lives of more than sixty writers - by turns tragic, amusing, and adventurous, but always extraordinary - and sets them alongside the stories they have written, to create a new way of looking at genre and literature, both Irish and beyond. Here are vampires and monsters, murderers and cannibals. Here are female criminal masterminds and dogged detectives, star-crossed lovers and vengeful spouses. Here are the SHADOW VOICES.Trade ReviewAs a work of scholarship, Shadow Voices . . . assembled by crime-writing superstar John Connolly - is impeccable. As an act of artistic curation, it's comprehensive to the point of monumental. As a reading experience, pure and simple, it's terrific fun . . . [the biographies] are a fascinating history of Irish life and culture; as accompaniment to the stories, they're icing on the cake . . . full of fabulous stories . . . a treasure-trove, a literary odyssey - and a magnificent achievement by Connolly. He has done the state, and Irish writing, one hell of a service -- Darragh McManus * Irish Independent *Connolly deserves praise for considering all of Ireland's literature . . . He also has a great nose for women writers that more readers deserve to encounter . . . His core advocacy of genre fiction is stellar * Irish Times *A history in stories that makes Connolly's case for genre fiction in cast iron * RTE Guide *
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