 It’s easy to see why Keene was so frustrated by the original release of the novel, and why he’s worked so hard for so many years to get the rights back. And as an early tentpole release for his new publishing company, Manhattan On Mars, it’s a pretty powerful statement of intent. 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. 20: Terminal - Authors Preferred Text So. Breaking format a bit with this one. I originally covered Terminal in the third essay of this series, as that’s when the book was originally released. In the postscript for that essay, I noted that the book had been significantly altered by the editorial process, cutting a bunch of material around the child hostage, Benji; in particular, the revelation that Benji had been immaculately conceived and was in point of fact the second coming of Christ. Keene’s been on the record as saying the changes came about because of fears of a religious backlash by the publishers, and were effectively imposed on the book. He’d also been public about the fact that he didn’t hold the rights and hoped one day to regain them, in order to be able to publish the definitive version of the text. Well, that day has come. So while, strictly speaking, I should cover this text at the end, I figured I’d take the opportunity to celebrate hitting twenty essays by revisiting one of my favourites in the Keene canon, and see how the new material sits. And I guess we should start with how the story grew in my estimation following that initial essay. Revisiting what I had to say then, I can see that while I clearly had a good time, I was also clearly a little down on the second half of the novel, and in particular the siege situation. And yet when I’ve come to talk to other people about this essay project, at cons or in interviews, I found myself name dropping Terminal as one of my favourites, even before the preferred text announcement had been made. Part of the reason I decided to read a book ahead for this project - that’s to say, I finish reading the next book in the canon before I write the review of the previous one (meaning, yes, I just finished Clickers III) - is because I recognize that initial impressions can often deviate significantly from longer term appreciation. For me, the process of ‘mulching down’ - getting a little distance, letting the work sit, digest, even grow a little dim around the edges, I guess - often brings a greater clarity than the sit-down-right-now-and-tell-you-what-I-think approach. Your mileage may and probably does vary, of course; this isn’t meant as implied criticism of other approaches or self aggrandisement - I’m just talking about what I’ve found works best for me. All that said, maybe I didn’t leave enough space before writing the Terminal piece. Because while, having reread that essay in prep for this, I understand what I had to say, and could remember feeling it at the time, Terminal has absolutely gown in stature, for me; enough that, when the preferred text edition came out, I snapped it up eagerly, and was excited enough to read it that I was willing to break the format of this series in order to cover it reasonably close to initial release. And I’m very, very glad I did so. The gap was big enough that I couldn’t put my finger on where most of the additional 6,000 words landed. That said, I felt like Tommy and his crew were even more vividly realised; the dialogue and chemistry between them (a quality I remarked on in the previous essay) is an enormous strength of the piece, and it was a real joy to revisit. Similarly, Tommy’s own voice as the first person narrator crackles with energy. In the previous essay I spent some time wondering if Keene was conscious of the class dimensions to Tommy’s rage and situation, especially in the scene where his better-paid, better-insured boss discloses his own recent brush with cancer, and having read this version (and much more Keene in between) I feel like I owe him and you an apology for that - it’s clear Keene knew exactly what he was about in that part of the story. Similarly, Tommys speech in the church is still a highlight for me - of the novel, and of Keene’s writing in general. This time out, I could really picture it as a scene from a movie, the kind of monologue you’d get in a Mike Flannigan piece, if Mike Flannigan was monumentally pissed off with the world and done taking shit. I do still prefer the first half of the book to the back half; I suspect primarily if not entirely due to matters of taste (I still want that pure crime thriller from Keene, damnit). While the swerve into hostage drama obviously wasn’t a surprise this time, it does still feel abrupt and jarring; though with the benefit of a second read through I can see how it’s supposed to be that way. Similarly, I found the sense of building dread even more acute, this time out, thanks to having a clear sense of what Sherm was capable of (and indeed one of the pleasures of revisiting the story was in getting to track how Sherm’s nature was carefully seeded through the setup). That said, this is also where I noticed the biggest changes, at least in terms of impact on my enjoyment of the narrative. I’d had memories of not really enjoying the dialogue in the second half, the first time out; feeling like it was… well, a bit like it was a textbook case of Stockholm syndrome, my basic problem with that being that Stockholm syndrome has since been debunked as total bullshit. But now, of course, it turns out Benji isn’t just some mysterious kid with healing powers; he’s actually The Second Coming. And suddenly it all makes sense; how his very presence brings a sense of calm, encourages people to open up. It makes sense of Tommy’s openness, and even the old lady’s unpleasantness and Sherm’s escalation; it’s clear the presence of this kid draws people out, surfaces their true natures. One of the things I’ve found admirable about Keenes’ work is his willingness to take on perspectives other than his own, and really try and feel his way through them. Take The Long Way Home has a Jewish man living through the born-again rapture, Dead Sea stars a black gay man facing an old school zombie apocalypse; here, he really commits to the premise of the idea of the second coming; a being both fully divine and fully human. And then, this being a Keene novel, he has that being killed. I’m a strong enough Agnostic most would mistake it for Atheism, and I’m fine with that, but I have to say that these changes to Terminal really did give the climax and denouement of the novel a significant extra wallop I hadn’t been expecting. Because, now, it’s not just the end for Tommy, and the other people Benji cured; it’s clear that we’re in yet another Keene apocalypse, our doom as certain as it will be when the dead walk the earth or it starts raining one day and doesn’t stop. It gives extra weight to an already-heavy ending; not only are all the cured going to fall sick again, you get the impression that, absent Benji’s influence, the whole world may well have become terminal. It’s easy to see why Keene was so frustrated by the original release of the novel, and why he’s worked so hard for so many years to get the rights back. And as an early tentpole release for his new publishing company, Manhattan On Mars, it’s a pretty powerful statement of intent. But most importantly, it’s simply the best version of one of Keenes best novels, and I had a brilliant time with it. Again. KP 7/1/23 Next up - Clickers III Terminal: Author's Preferred Edition |
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