Night Voices

by Rob Smith

Shrader Marks is having troubling dreams. When the scientific community acknowledges reports that the earth is in the path of an approaching meteor, he and Cathy Pearson set events into motion that dramatically change the course of their lives. As an anthropologist, Marks knows that Neolithic peoples lived on the edge of the Arctic Circle at the close of the last ice age. Pearson is a leader who engenders trust. Between the two of them, they manage to lead a flotilla of family sailors out the St. Lawrence Seaway to the coast of Labrador. As the world is thrown into the chaos of volcanic winter, this group finds its hope away from dependency on technology. Drawing on ancient ideas, the fleet follows the lead of Cathy and the intuition of Shrader, who is increasingly troubled by voices in the night.

340 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Rob Smith lives and writes on Ohio's north coast. He enjoys sailing, and when not working on his novels, he is refurbishing an 1850’s house which was built by a ship’s carpenter turned lighthouse keeper. In addition to his prose, he is also known for his poetry. In 2006 he won the Robert Frost Poetry Award from the Frost Foundation in Lawrence, MA. He holds an undergraduate degree from Westminster College in Pennsylvania and master and doctoral degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary.

To learn more about the author, visit his website at: SmithWrite.net

Reviews

[Rob Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the original novel which came out in 2006. When the sequel, Keelhouse, was about to be released, the publisher felt that the second story was so closely linked to the first that they had to be read in the proper order. The result is that "Night Voices" was reprinted as Book I in "Shrader Marks: Keelhouse."

My advice is to save $$$ and buy "Shrader Marks: Keelhouse" (which is really two books in one.)

Rob Smith

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book a few minutes ago. It was a compelling tale about a small group of people, all recreational sailors in Lake Ontario, and the trip that they take in an effort to save themselves from impending doom as a huge comet approaches earth. It was a little hard to get into right at the beginning, but it quickly warmed up and became an exciting story of a sort of post-apocalyptic sort, one of my favorite genres. I found the dialogue and interpersonal interactions to be less smooth and realistic than optimal, but this author seems very capable of growing more adept in that direction. The story itself and the tie in with the ancient cults of orca worshippers was interesting, and the trials and tribulations of the voyagers was believable. The author clearly has a strong grasp of boating and navigation. All in all, a really enjoyable read, and one I will be happy to pass on to another reader.

[Nancy Brady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on the dreams of Shrader Marks, a group of sailors sail from Lake Ontario to the St. Lawrence Seaway out to Labrador to escape an impending planetary disaster. The sailing is right on, and the group coalesces as Shrader becomes a shaman that listens to the voices in the night. I loved the sequences with the Whaleman and Muoshti, and found them to extremely poignant.