William S. Burroughs famously said that “language is a virus.” Novelist Ben Marcus took Burrough's line as inspiration for The Flame Alphabet. In the book, the language of children has become literally poisonous to adults, and a married couple with a teenage daughter is faced ...

Ben Marcus talks about his novel The Flame Alphabet, about what happens when the sound of children’s speech becomes lethal and causes an epidemic. Parents across the country are struck down by illness at the sound of their children’s voices, and many flee, leaving their children to fend for themselves.