Talley writes a classic cosmic horror set in space, that truly unsettles and would please any lover of the genre.

Set in space, we find a crew, all hiding their own secrets, come across a strange derelict. They are unprepared for what they discover…

It begins with Aiden Connor, who is found drifting in an escape pod after his ship’s warp core fails, killing everyone on board, except for him. He is handed a second chance, after not having a place to go given his “bad luck” to be the navigator for the Chronos and they set out for the very edge of explored space.

Space travel comes at a cost and it involves horridly vivid and semi-lucid dreams that can render the dreamer insane upon waking, but in order to keep Earth’s sparse colonies connected, its necessary. This also opens the door for some interesting, but also terrifying set pieces that the author uses to full effect. Dreams become a reflection that the reader stares into when attempting to draw out the various character’s motivations.

Talley does a pretty good job taking the cosmic horror of Lovecraft and making it, his own. He translates it into a sci-fi setting with all the trappings of an adventure, but there is a much more sinister tone. There are many more unsettling things that creep through the pages of The Void and for the most part it works. Talley knows how to keep a reader both enthralled, but nervous to turn the next page.

The pacing at times for this didn’t work for me, but by the ending, it all came together and gave a pleasant feeling of catharsis, which for a reader who doesn’t frequent horror novels, felt really nice.