Muted: short story (Review)

Title: Muted
Author: Jessica Bell
Publisher: Vine Leaves Press
Genres: Cyberpunk, Dystopian
Pages: 28
Goodreads
Buy: Amazon
Source: Author, for review
Publication Date: May 25th 2013
Synopsis:
It's illegal to wear clothes. In some streets, it's also illegal to sing. Concetta, a famous Italian a capella singer from before "the change," breaks these laws. As punishment, her vocal chords are brutally slashed, and her eardrums surgically perforated. Unable to cope living a life without song, she resolves to drown herself in the river, clothed in a dress stained with performance memories. But Concetta's suicide attempt is deterred, when she is distracted by a busking harpist with gold eyes and teeth. Will he show her how to sing again, or will the LEO on the prowl for another offender to detain, arrest her before she has the chance?

My opinion

I started to read this short story in the morning, I didn't knew it was that short. I really love the beginning, it tells us a piece of Concetta's harsh life.
The story is really, really short, that's why I can't tell you a lot about it.
It's written in verse, which I really loved because it was a different way for me to read a story, and it was amazingly written, I loved the words she used and the way she arranged them.

“What’s the fucking point?”

You have to admit that the plot is really original and tough. It's a dystopian world, and it's hard to live in it.
The beginning, as I said before, it's wonderful. It leaves you with your mouth opened and saying "Oh my God, what a shock".
The cover is pretty cool and I think it's perfect for the story. It really has a potential.
We don't get to know that much Concetta, but we get to know the important things about her and some of her ideas.
Also, we get to know somethings about the Queen and the LEO men. And of course, we get to know a bot of the harpist, and I think he's marvelous, the way the author describes this man is just… magnificent.
And finally, the whole scenario. The world where wearing clothes it's illegal and singing is too in some streets. The world where the singer can't talk or smile, just sing. That world it's original and really creepy. I wouldn't survive a day in that place, I guess the author really capture the scent of a futuristic, scary, awesome world. I'm really thrilled and I want to know more about that world, about the Queen, about Concetta, and of course, about the harpist.
Finally, I can't say much about this short story without spoiling it, so I'm just saying that I loved it and I really recommend it, it's very original and I think it's worth a try.
Beside, I will love to read a book about all this if Jessica decides to write it, it will be awesome.

About the author
If Jessica Bell could choose only one creative mentor, she’d give the role to Euterpe, the Greek muse of music and lyrics. This is not only because she currently resides in Athens, Greece, but because of her life as a thirty-something Australian-native contemporary fiction author, poet and singer/songwriter/guitarist, whose literary inspiration often stems from songs she’s written.
Being the daughter of a semi-famous rock ‘n’ roll duo from Melbourne, she grew up surrounded by song. For a while it seemed logical to travel the musician’s path, especially when her first band, spAnk, hit it off in the Melbourne indie music scene back in the late 90s. Although she spent her years writing and recording dozens of songs she decided she also had a love for the written word, and began to pursue a career as a writer.
She started as a poet, drawing from her musical background and etching her thoughts and feelings into verse. Those stanzas soon turned into sentences and paragraphs, and eventually into published books.
Web | Twitter | Blog | Goodreads

My Rating