Birthday Reviews: Marcos Donnelly’s “As a Still Small Voice”
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Cover by Peter Stallard
Marcos Donnelly was born on March 18, 1962. He has published a handful of short stories, mostly dealing with religious themes and three novels, Prophets for the End of Time, Letters from the Flesh, and The Mostly Weird Chronicles of Steffan McFessel, the last in collaboration with Ted Wenskus.
Donnelly’s debut story, “As a Still Small Voice,” appeared in 1989 in Full Spectrum 2, edited by Lou Aronica, Shawna McCarthy, Amy Stout, and Pat LoBrutto. It has never been reprinted.
Father Jim is a priest at a small seminary where the rumors that one of the students, Danny, actually hears God’s voice. Jim has mixed views about Danny’s gift and sees him as an innocent child who needs to be protected, particularly from one of the other students, Bob, an older man who has come to the seminary after servicing in the marines. Jim can only see Bob as a bad influence on Danny, although the reasons for Jim’s mistrust don’t seem to be fully justified by anything aside from Jim’s own biases.