The Rising: Selected Scenes From The End Of The World

daughters, it immediately presented a challenge, and at first, I wasn’t sure what to do. See, I have no problem gleefully killing off your spouses and partners and extended family members in these stories. I’ll even slaughter your beloved pets. But your children? Nope. Can’t do it. I don’t mess with kids (if you think about it, I didn’t even truly mess with Danny in the novels). So what to write about? After several failed drafts, I had Roman ask his daughters what they’d do if the zombies invaded. These stories were their reply. Smart, tough kids—so all you zombies better beware.

“Last Chance For La Chance”

This was written at home, in my office; three drafts in three hours. A long time ago, the first draft of The Rising had a scene in which Frankie goes to the Baltimore-Washington International airport (after her escape from the zoo). The whole segment slowed the plot down, so I cut it. But the idea—I loved the idea. When Jamie told me I could place the story anywhere in the U.S., I was happy, because I finally got a chance to re-write that scene. Oh, and in this story, when Jamie decides to go to a friend’s house in Cockeysville? In real life, that’s my old apartment.

“Watching The World End”

I figured that by the sixth day of dead folks getting back up and eating the living, some people would start to lose their sanity. Unfortunately for William, he was my first victim. This was written in a posh hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia, during a rainy afternoon. I like the story much better than I liked the hotel. If you were paying attention, you’ll notice several references to events from The Rising and one from “Last Chance For La Chance.”

“The Fall Of Rome”

The first draft of this story was written during the World Horror Convention 2005 in New York City. At the time, I was hiding out in my hotel room because every time I went downstairs for a beer, people mobbed me. The second and final drafts were written in my backyard, under the stars one night, while listening to Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” (thus the usage in the story). Several months after writing this story, I met Eddie at Hypericon, a convention in Nashville. He said that I got the sniper part right. I said that was good. And then we partied till dawn, and bore witness to an orgy whose participants were dressed like Klingons and Jedi Knights. So there’s that.

“Walkabout Parts 1 and 2”

These are the second pair of two-part stories (the others being “As Above” and “So Below”). The first part was written in my office at home, and the second was started there and completed just before I went to the World Horror Convention in New York City (I finished it while riding in a car with authors John Skipp, Steven Shrewsbury, and James Sneddon). I bring this up because it was at WHC that I met Leigh and Penny—and was very pleased to learn that I’d pretty much gotten them right. If you look closely, you’ll find a reference to events from The Rising: Necrophobia (specifically, Brett McBean’s wonderful story, “The Beautiful Place,” which also took place in Australia).

“Hellhounds On My Trail”

When The Rising came out, my friend and fellow author Tim Lebbon gave me hell for not showing what was happening in England. Luckily, since Jason wanted his story to take place there, I finally had an opportunity to fix that. Even better—Jason is a big fan of the Blues, as am I. I love the Robert Johnson mythos, and his line about the hellhounds on his trail never, ever fails to give me chills. I was glad to work it into the story. I wrote this late one night in a hotel room in New York City during the World Horror Convention, while fellow authors John Skipp, Bev Vincent, and Steven L. Shrewsbury snored in the background.

“Spoilers”

This was written over a weekend in my backyard. Plenty of sunshine, ice tea, and bug spray. I actually had the basic idea long before I started work on this collection. The Siqqusim’s knowledge of our race is obtained only through the memories and experiences of their hosts. But they are curious to know more, even as they exterminate us. When Mike told me he was a big movie fan and bibliophile, I knew what I wanted to do. Alert readers will notice a tie-in to my novel The Rutting Season (and my now infamous alter-ego, Adam Senft). There is a reason for all these non-Rising tie-ins, but I’m not going to tell you what it is—yet.

“The Man Comes Around”

I wrote an early draft of this in hotel rooms across Tennessee and Kentucky, while on a book signing tour for City of the Dead and Terminal. The original story was called “Beer Run” and it sucked really badly. I mean really, really bad. So I scrapped it and wrote this version during a break in the tour, on the Fourth of July, while my wife was watching a Twilight Zone marathon. The title is from one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs. This is the first of three stories in this volume that deal with General Dunbar, a minor character from The Rising that I always wanted to do more with (the other two stories are “Where The Down Boys Go” and

“Through The Glass Darkly”).

“The Summoning”

This nasty little piece of work was written between midnight and five in the morning, at home, in my office. One of the things I tried to show in both The Rising and City of the Dead was that some of the still-living humans were just as bad as the zombies. I took the same approach with this tale. The zombies are secondary when compared to the heinous acts of the skinny man.

“Pocket Apocalypse”

This is the first of three stories written specifically for this edition. It replaces a tale called “Till Death Do Us Part” (which only appears in the previous volume). “Pocket Apocalypse” features a deeper look at Troll, who was one of the most popular secondary characters in The Rising. I still get emails from readers who want to know more about him. Hopefully, this will shed a little more light on his background, and what he was up to before he met Frankie.

“The Viking Plays Patty Cake”

I’ve always wanted to write a novel set in Detroit. Unfortunately, I only had 1,000 words to play with this time around. This story was written over the space of a month—not because I was having trouble with it, but because I was on the last leg of a book signing tour and was behind deadline on The Rutting Season. Mark and Paula told me a lot about themselves, but when they told me the story about Mark playing patty cake with his daughter on a park bench, the father in me (also known as the softie) immediately knew what he wanted to write about. I’d like to think that Mark’s family showed up eventually, and that they were reunited, no matter how briefly. Alert readers will notice references to General Dunbar, “Don’s Last Mosh,” and Colonel Schow’s renegade National Guard unit from The Rising.

“If You Can See The Mountain…”

This was written in two days, in my office, during Halloween week. Mean, a.k.a. Mike Nolan, gave me a lot of information on New Zealand (including Mount Egmont) when I wrote to him and asked for his background in reference to the story. I’m glad he did because until then, the only thing I knew about New Zealand was that they grew kiwis, and Lord of the Rings was filmed there. Mean was an excellent travel guide, and I fully intend to visit, based on his descriptions alone. There was one bit of trivia he gave me that, very regretfully, I didn’t have room to use. It’s very cool, but I just didn’t have room for it. So I’m including it here, because I’m positive the rest of you will think it’s cool, too. Mean wrote: We had an old single shot .22 rifle mainly for rabbits and opossums. Our opossums are not like your possums there in the States. Our opossums may make good zombie stoppers, as they don’t actually attack people—but when they get frightened, they consider people are like trees and climb them and wrap themselves around your head. They have very long sharp claws, prehensile tails, are incredibly strong, and don’t smell too good. Removal is a difficult process, to say the least. See what I mean? Is that not the coolest fucking thing you’ve ever heard? I’d love to do an entire novel about zombie opossums, but you guys will have to convince Delirium to publish it. Write to Shane now!

“You Only Live Twice”

This was written in my home office, in one day’s time—all three drafts. Truthfully, a lot of these are Jade’s own words. I just turned them into a story. I wanted to do something quiet and introspective, giving you readers (and myself) a momentary break from the violence and gore. I’m very happy with the results. Hopefully, it worked for you, too. I do feel badly for the Jade in this tale. I’d like to think that in an alternate universe, she and Anthony got married, she bought that Mustang she’d always wanted, and her cat didn’t turn into a zombie. And you know