“Two Suns In The Sunset”
This story, of course, chronicles the arrival of the fiery Teraphim—those who make up the third and final wave (spoken of in City of the Dead). The title comes from one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs (off The Final Cut). I wrote this, all three drafts, in one night, from midnight until six in the morning. Big R is a hard person to get a hold of, and despite numerous emails and phone calls; I never did touch base with him and find out what makes him tick. Therefore, writing this story presented a challenge. How was I supposed to write about a character whom I knew nothing about? All I had was his name, and the town he wanted the story to take place in. So I decided to make it about the town. Luckily, Oconto has a website, and all of the locations featured in the story were swiped from that. From what I saw on the site, Oconto looks very much like Auto, West Virginia, a place near and dear to my heart, and the basis for Punkin Center (from The Conqueror Worms, “Full of It,” and others). Personally, I think Big R made out pretty well with amnesia. If you’d survived successive plagues of zombie humans, animals, bugs, and plants, only to get burned into a crisp along with the rest of the planet, would you want to remember it all?
“Other Worlds than These”
Confused? Don’t be. All will be explained in time. Consider this an introduction to my planned thirteen-volume Labyrinth series (as I write this, I’m halfway through the first draft of the first book). As you read the story, you probably caught references to not only The Rising, but to The Conqueror Worms and many of my short stories. Don’t panic. There is a reason for this. The Labyrinth connects everything I’ve ever written, but I’ve been purposely subtle about it in my other novels and short stories. Why?
Because, truthfully—it won’t be for everybody. Many of my readers will prefer to read the novels and stories as stand-alone works, the way I intended them to be. And I’m fine with that. You shouldn’t need to know what happened in The Rising to enjoy Terminal, or who the characters were in City of the Dead to understand the stories in Fear of Gravity. But the hardcore fans; the fans who want a peek behind the curtains; the fans who love a vast, rich mythos; the fans who enjoyed epics like Marvel Comics’
Secret Wars crossover series or Stephen King’s Dark Tower; will probably enjoy that walk through the maze. Bob Lewis is one of those people, and I thought it appropriate to make his story, the final story in this book, the bridge between the two.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BRIAN KEENE is the best-selling author of many books, including Ghoul, Terminal, The Conqueror Worms, Dead Sea, The Rising, City of the Dead, and many more. Several of his short stories have been adapted into graphic novels and several of his novels are slated for film and video game adaptations. The winner of two Bram Stoker awards, Keene’s work has been praised in such diverse places as The New York Times, the History Channel, CNN.com, Fangoria, and Rue Morgue. Keene lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, Cassi, and his dog, Sam. He communicates with his readers online at: www.briankeene.com.