Barbie Wilde’s “Voices of the Damned” Review

Barbie Wilde’s recent anthology of stories “Voices of the Damned” might have been overheard in a demonic confessional in any circle of Hell. These are stories of people who’ve seen things and done things that have put them beyond our nightmares, and pulled through.

Published by SST – Short, Scary Tales Publications, these tales are gathered together in a fantastic volume of mostly unpublished and new material; some of these stories were previously published in magazines like Gorezone or anthologies like Hellbound Hearts and the Bestiarum Vocabulum, but they’re all a real treat if you like gore and splatter, as well as more cerebral horror, especially with the trilogy in this book that describes the story of Sister Cilice, a cenobite in Hell that some readers might connect with the Female Cenobite or Deepthroat of Hellraiser II.

There are some really good stories that would make even better movies, for example “Valeska”, where Barbie recreates the vampire story and turns it into something more attuned with the sensual nature of the vampire, showing us how predatory it can be as well. “Polyp” was another favorite of mine, a great little splatterpunk story that will definitely put a smile on your lips, if not some hearty laughs.

With stunning art by such talented artists like Clive Barker, Nick Percival, Steve McGinnis, Daniele Serra (who made the cover for Barbie’s previous novel “The Venus Complex”), Eric Gross (Followers of the Pandorics), Tara Bush, Vincent Sammy and Ben Baldwin, the book is profusely illustrated in full color, the illustrations related to each story, enhancing the text and in some cases, allowing you a better glimpse of the main character.

For more on this book and author, check out our episode #104: Barbie Wilde Returns for “Voices of the Damned” where we had a conversation with this author and talked about some of our favorite stories in this volume, hear about some of the genesis behind these tales and discuss other projects of Barbie’s.