The Voiceless

Book 0: A Mulholland / Strand Magazine Short

by Faye Kellerman

Genres: Mystery; Crime Fiction

Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Theory of Death comes a short story set in an imaged future where computers speak for humans.

This tale begins, "It was a time when the world, though filled with sound, was quiet." Technology has replaced the need to speak with texting, but when a virus spreads across the entire world, it leaves everyone blind. Doctors come together to fight the epidemic, but, as "The Voiceless" seek to answer, what does the ability to speak mean without the desire to do so?

"The Voiceless" by Faye Kellerman is one of 20 short stories within Mulholland Books's Strand Originals series, featuring thrilling stories by the biggest names in mystery from the Strand Magazine archives. View the full series list at mulhollandbooks.com and read them all!

Release date: April 19, 2016

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Print pages: 48

Sample

It was a time when the world, though filled with sound, was quiet.

Human ears continued to hear noise: birds still chirped, dogs barked, rain splattered on rooftops, and the wind rushed through the boughs of leafy trees. There were annoying drippy faucets, loud jackhammers, and emergency sirens wailing at warped pitch. There was plenty of clatter and shatter, lots of clunking and thumping, and clamor was everywhere. But there was simply no sound of the human voice because, over the centuries, it had disappeared.

People still had vocal cords, but the larynx had become little more than an atavistic appendage, something akin to an appendix. The voice box was part of the anatomy, but beyond a necessity for proper breathing, it sat silent. . .