EXPLORING THE LABYRINTH 16: EARTHWORM GODS: SELECTED SCENES FROM THE END OF THE WORLD

In this series, I will be reading every Brian Keene fiction book that has been published (and is still available in print), and then producing an essay on it. With the exception of Girl On The Glider, these essays will be based upon a first read of the books concerned. The article will assume you’ve read the book, and you should expect MASSIVE spoilers.


I hope you enjoy my voyage of discovery.

Exploring The Labyrinth 16: Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes From the End of the World

Set in the drowning world of Earthworm Gods, and serving as a spiritual twin to The Rising: Selected Scenes From The End Of The World, this volume collects thirty 1000 word short stories that, via a series of vignettes, gives a further insight into, and context for, Keene’s watery  apocalypse.


As the end notes make clear, as with the prior collection set in the world of The Rising, most of the stories are based on real people (often the same people as in that collection) who paid to become part of Keene’s mythos. I’m again struck by the sheer chutzpah of this move, and by what it says about the author’s relationship with his audience. It’s clear that he’s spoken with each subject prior to writing the tale, and he sprinkles autobiographical details carefully into the stories to round out the ‘characters’.


Again, as with the prior volume, I am also struck by the economy of the storytelling; 1000 words is not a lot of space to tell a story, and yet none of the contained tales feel half told, nor does the volume suffer from repetition. Of course (spoilers, lol) most of the people we meet die, but that’s part of the game; we know that going in, and the pleasure is to be found in the why, and how.


Some of that variety is supplied by the subjects, of course; Keene has fans all over the globe, and he takes full advantage of this to paint the flood on a broader canvas than the more tightly focussed Earthworm Gods novel could manage, even with the mid-book perspective shift. That said, there’s still the feeling of an act of writing bravado in committing to thirty tales all with, essentially, the same ending for similar reasons, knowing you’ll be able to pull off something not merely readable but thoroughly enjoyable.


As noted above, part of the secret sauce comes from the characters. Keene’s always been good at efficient character portraits, and that talent goes into overdrive here, bringing this eclectic cast of strangers to life with a level of vivid realisation that I found deeply enviable. And, sure, in some cases, the characters and/or their settings/occupations will have naturally suggested grizzly fates (I’m thinking particularly of a certain telephone line repairman who found himself Up A Pole, and the family of On The Beach). Still, I found myself struck again and again, as I gulped down this irritatingly readable collection, by just how much room Keene was finding for variety within a pretty tough set of constraints.


The two tales I just mentioned give a good illustration of this point, actually; in Up A Pole, it’s clear from the opening line (really, the title) what the premise is, and, given the nature of the Worms, how it will play out. The pleasure/frisson comes from the contemplation of the hellish, nightmarish situation. Keene doesn’t exactly play it for laughs… but I suspect, like me, you’ll find a wolfish grin on your face as you read it. On The Beach, on the other hand, places a family on the seafront minutes before a tsunami hits, and the impact as I realised, just slightly before the characters, what the significance of the suddenly too-dry beach and stranded marine life meant was absolutely skin crawling. Not, to be clear, that Phil of Up A Pole was an unsympathetic character… but there’s a dark humour to his situation, whereas the Beach family moment invokes memories of real life disasters (though the 2018 tsunami hadn’t happened when the story was written, the familiarity of the coverage of that tragedy can’t help but haunt the reading of this story).


Elsewhere, we’re gifted with visits from fungus zombies, carnivorous fish, terrifying human/shark hybrids, a very famous ghost ship, and much, much more. As with The Rising collection, the apocalypse is also progressing in the background, meaning that dry land becomes more and more of a rare commodity as the stories progress. This helps bring a sense of narrative shape to the collection, as does the canny decision to have some of the stories intersect, in ways subtle and direct; it’s just enough glue to make the collection feel more than the sum of it’s already enjoyable parts.


In truth, I don’t have much more to say about this, but I don’t want you to mistake that for a lack of enjoyment; both this and The Rising collection I found thoroughly entertaining. My reader brain was fully engaged and entertained by the pacing, character work, and inventiveness, while my writer brain was frantically taking notes. Again, I want to make it clear how hard it is to consistently deliver such deep character work in such a low word count; it’s a pulp horror skill that I think is criminally underrated. In fairness, done badly, it can be part of the reason pulp genre fiction is held in low regard; an overreliance on… well, let’s be polite and call them tropes, shall we?


But done well (and Keene does it as well as anyone and better than most), it creates a kaleidoscope of memorable characters facing impossible situations against a backdrop of rising dread that also serves to join some dots in terms of the mythology of the novels. I am left, again, deeply impressed with both the scale of Keene’s imagination and his ability to mercilessly hone in on the small, the personal, the human.


Because, at the end of the day, the apocalypse is always personal.


Next up: Castaways.


KP
10/2/22

EARTHWORM GODS: SELECTED SCENES FROM THE END OF THE WORLD 
BY BRIAN KEENE 

 So began Brian Keene's Earthworm Gods, a novel that straddled the lines between the horror and bizarro genres. Fans have long marveled over that post-apocalyptic landscape-a flooded earth filled with strange and terrifying monsters. Readers returned to that world in Earthworm Gods II: Deluge. Now, it's time for one last trip.
Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes From the End of the World is a collection of short stories set in the world of Earthworm Gods and Earthworm Gods II: Deluge. From the first drop of rain to humanity's last waterlogged stand, these tales chronicle the fall of man against a horrifying, unstoppable evil. And as the waters rise over the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere-brand new monsters surface-along with some familiar old favorites, to wreak havoc on an already devastated mankind.
Deadite Press is proud to present this all-new, first time in paperback edition, including an all-new introduction and new story notes by the author.

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