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Enter at Your Own Risk: The End Is the Beginning
Human beings—the undisputed top of the food chain, the long-standing masters of planet earth. Or are we? What may be crawling out of the sludge to take our place? What monsters have we created in our labs, factories, and our very own genetic code? In the fourth installment of Firbolg Publishing’s Enter at Your Own Risk series, which pairs Gothic masters such as Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, and H.P. Lovecraft with modern authors of the dark and macabre, the theme is environmental horror. As mankind’s tsunami wave of progress, industrialization, and technology reaches spectacular new heights, sinister things are churning beneath the surface. An unfamiliar stench on the wind. Waters a bit too murky. Soil a bit too red with blood. Progress at a price. A terrible, terrible price. Will we survive? What strange new worlds will emerge from the chaos? With an introduction from Holly Newstein, Enter at Your Own Risk: The End is the Beginning explores both the horror of the end and the hope of new beginnings for our planet and ourselves.
THE END IS THE BEGINNING may seem like a collection of horror and science fiction, but the frightening truth is, it might just be our generation's The Prophecies, predictions of what's to come if things don't change. Incurable diseases. Pollution. Out-of-control technologies. Climate change. Extinctions in the name of progress. The stories in this book range from chilling to terrifying, but all of them are thought-provoking in some way, opening our eyes to the dangers of disregarding our environment, of trying to play god. This is Frankenstein on a global scale, and we are the peasants suffering from the arrogance of those who would put greed and progress above common sense. I dare you to read this book before bed and not experience nightmares. Old masters of horror and new ones wait between these pages to open your eyes and infect your hearts with dread. Enjoy their tales, because afterwards you may never look at the world the same again. - JG Faherty, Bram Stoker Award®- and ITW Thriller Award-nominated author of more than 50 short stories and 10 novels/novellas, including CASTLE BY THE SEA, FATAL CONSEQUENCES, and CARNIVAL OF FEAR.
"A brilliant blend of the old and new, providing a diverse perspective on a modern problem..." Rob Smales, author of Dead of Winter
THE END IS THE BEGINNING may seem like a collection of horror and science fiction, but the frightening truth is, it might just be our generation's The Prophecies, predictions of what's to come if things don't change. Incurable diseases. Pollution. Out-of-control technologies. Climate change. Extinctions in the name of progress. The stories in this book range from chilling to terrifying, but all of them are thought-provoking in some way, opening our eyes to the dangers of disregarding our environment, of trying to play god. This is Frankenstein on a global scale, and we are the peasants suffering from the arrogance of those who would put greed and progress above common sense. I dare you to read this book before bed and not experience nightmares. Old masters of horror and new ones wait between these pages to open your eyes and infect your hearts with dread. Enjoy their tales, because afterwards you may never look at the world the same again. - JG Faherty, Bram Stoker Award®- and ITW Thriller Award-nominated author of more than 50 short stories and 10 novels/novellas, including CASTLE BY THE SEA, FATAL CONSEQUENCES, and CARNIVAL OF FEAR.
"A brilliant blend of the old and new, providing a diverse perspective on a modern problem..." Rob Smales, author of Dead of Winter
426 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2014
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 16, 2015
I received a PDF galley review edition of this book in October last year through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer giveaway, but have only just finished reading it.
Overall, a very good collection of 29 horror and "hard fantasy" stories the mixes those written by authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley with those from more recent authors. The overriding theme of this collection of stories - I only discovered last week that it is the third in a series using the title "Enter At Your Own Risk" - is environmental horror.
So we have stories about Mother Nature getting her own back for the abuse she has suffered at the hand of man, technological interference having unforeseen consequences, and just plain old strange things going bump in the night.
I have always maintained that it is much harder to write a good short story than to write a good novel. The novelist can waste copious pages outlining the backstory and the motivation of the main characters. The short story writer must be much more efficient and economical with words, and not let a single one go to waste. In this anthology, most of the stories work very well, a couple do not, there are also some that are excellent. "Sphere Music", "A Fine Day At The Zoo", "The Dreaded Hobblobs" and "The Eleventh Whale" for example.
The one thing I found detracting was the older stories written in "ye olde Englishe". With a novel you can get used the the slightly different styles and terminology before getting too far through the book, but in a collection of short stories where they are scattered throughout the book I found the stories almost over before I became accustomed to the style.
Overall though, highly recommended for readers interested in horror with a twist.
Overall, a very good collection of 29 horror and "hard fantasy" stories the mixes those written by authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, H. P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley with those from more recent authors. The overriding theme of this collection of stories - I only discovered last week that it is the third in a series using the title "Enter At Your Own Risk" - is environmental horror.
So we have stories about Mother Nature getting her own back for the abuse she has suffered at the hand of man, technological interference having unforeseen consequences, and just plain old strange things going bump in the night.
I have always maintained that it is much harder to write a good short story than to write a good novel. The novelist can waste copious pages outlining the backstory and the motivation of the main characters. The short story writer must be much more efficient and economical with words, and not let a single one go to waste. In this anthology, most of the stories work very well, a couple do not, there are also some that are excellent. "Sphere Music", "A Fine Day At The Zoo", "The Dreaded Hobblobs" and "The Eleventh Whale" for example.
The one thing I found detracting was the older stories written in "ye olde Englishe". With a novel you can get used the the slightly different styles and terminology before getting too far through the book, but in a collection of short stories where they are scattered throughout the book I found the stories almost over before I became accustomed to the style.
Overall though, highly recommended for readers interested in horror with a twist.
Displaying 1 of 1 review