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the closing chapters it is clear Moore believes we have
lost our way somewhere along the line in the name of
popular science. But Moore is not anti-scientific per
se; as he shrewdly points out, even scientists of this
century have not discounted the theories of subjective
realities. It is humanity’s blind faith and newfound passivity
which endangers us.
Moore questions what in our society has oppressed
those visions and fancies we once had, where people
centuries ago were pronounced dead by ‘Rising
Lights’, ‘the Purples’ or ‘Planet Shock’, and man built
grand follies to match his grand dreams. In Moore’s
own words:
“Everything grand we had, we tore it to bits. Our
castles, our emporiums, our witches and our glorious
poets. Smash it up, set fire to it and stick it in the fucking
madhouse. Jesus Christ.”
For these, and others, are the tales Moore recounts;
a beggar-woman turned nun who was flogged to death
for receiving visions from Wotan. A mad poet who
wrote beautiful verse and harmed none yet died in an
asylum, sentenced there by his frustrated wife and
son. Two Imp-summoning witches whose practices
were at once both reviled and sought after by the
BUY Alan Moore books online from and
same jealous, spiteful wives who eventually burned
them. Moore does not profess to understand these
self-destructive acts – can any of us? – but they are
told with such emotion, and such naturalism, that one
cannot help but feel sympathy for the narrators. Even
the travelling salesman.
Does he succeed? In a word, yes. In the manner of
his contemporary Neil Gaiman, Moore has the skill
to convey his passion and allow the reader to at least
glimpse through his eyes. Only the most jaded and
cold-hearted among men could read his account of
the dying Wise-Man, or the two witches, and not feel
sympathy, even outrage. Like so many good writers,
Moore is especially good at reminding us of what we
already know, but forget too easily in the onward rush
of survival; that we all love, we all feel pain, and we all
must die.
Paradoxically, within this dark and melancholy book
Moore inspires us to think again on the beauties of existence;
of how precious is our time; and how, if we can
just pause to remember the lessons we have learned and
the bounties we possess, we may yet revive the eternal
fires of history and learn from what they can tell us.
Voice Of The Fire is a damn fine novel. For a debut. �
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