‘The Rising: Selected Scenes from the End of the World’ – Brian Keene (Delirium Books/Deadite Press)

So there I was, slightly panicking that I’m not reading quickly enough to post stuff on the blog and then I remembered that there is a literal pile of read books in my loft space, waiting for moments like this. And yep, I shouldn’t be worried about how quickly I’m reading; it’s just that I’m one day into November and it already feels like there isn’t enough month to get everything done that I need to. But anyway…

Before I put the blog on hiatus, I was working my way through all of Brian Keene’s books and that continued. I still need to (re)read ‘The Rising’ and ‘City of the Dead’ (I have the revised editions on Kindle but I want to read them in paperback and I don’t have these yet) but the stories from ‘Selected Scenes’ fit in across that timeline so it’s an easy book for me to pick up and get into. If you’re new to the series though, I’d say read the two main books first and get the whole picture. Anyway, let’s talk some ‘Selected Scenes from the End of the World’…

Best-selling author Brian Keene returns with an all-new short story collection set in the world of the award-winning novel The Rising. The Rising and its sequel, City of the Dead, revitalized the horror genre and gave zombie fans a new reason to celebrate. Since publication, many readers have hoped for a wider examination of The Rising universe. Now they have it. The Rising: Selected Scenes From The End Of The World contains thirty-two short stories based in the world of The Rising and City of the Dead. Now, fans can witness how the undead epidemic plays out across the globe-Australia, the United Kingdom, Norway, the United States-nowhere is safe from the zombie invasion. Meet new characters you'll come to love, re-discover old characters you thought were gone, and find out what happens after the fateful events of City of the Dead. If you're a fan of Keene's zombie mythos, you cannot miss this book!

On the face of it, ‘Selected Scenes from the End of the World’ is a very straightforward book. If you’ve read ‘The Rising’ and ‘City of the Dead’, you know the ultimate fate of this Earth and even if you haven’t, well… The clue is in the title 😉 So don’t expect a lot of plot then because that’s really not the point of this book (although I liked how there is a hopeful theme running through it). No, what we’re looking at more here is that when the battle has been lost, how do you make your last stand? Will you even get a chance to? How long can you keep going before you give up and let the world take you…? And that is where you realise that ‘Selected Scenes from the End of the World’ isn’t as straightforward as you thought.

Keene uses all the stories here to explore these questions and given that the subjects of each story are real people (who I believe paid to appear in what was originally a limited edition book), every story is completely different and very accessible. Even now (after several re-reads), I still want to get to know each character and follow their tale to its ending (and while that is not really in doubt, it’s the journey that enthrals). As far as that goes, variety is the name of the game. You would have thought there are only so many ways that you can die, in a zombie apocalypse, but the characters drive their tales and you realise that there are more ways to check out than you thought. It all makes reading the tales very easy and even easier to find yourself saying ‘just one more…’ over and over. I think fans, of the series, will get the most out of this book but it also stands on its own very well as a quick ‘zombie apocalypse aftermath’ read. If you’re already a fan of Keene’s work then I’m clearly preaching to the choir. If you’re picking his work up for the first time, definitely read Selected Scenes from the End of the World’ but read ‘The Rising’ and ‘City of the Dead’ first.