The plan is to reread all of Brian Keene’s available works in roughly the order that they were published. I’m doing it because I’m an author in need of improvement and a reader who enjoys a storyteller willing to bleed out on the page in a powerful and interesting way. I’m a fan of Keene’s work. I think there is something to be learned through this process.

You can also go back to the Introductory Post: A Gathering of Books to read more about the how and the why of this or any of my other posts up through this one and beyond by checking out the Master List of all my #BrianKeeneRevisited posts.

Ob is at work, so let’s revisit The Rising …

“The dead scrabbled for an entrance to his grave.” Great first line.

Brian Keene was already doing masterful things with words even in what was technically his first novel with The Rising. Whatever groundwork he had done with practice novels that never saw publication or his short story writing in the era of xeroxed and stapled amateur zines, he had hit a storytelling and wordsmithing stride when he created this novel, a stride that most writers don’t achieve anywhere near as well in their first novels. There are a few remarkable exceptions I’ve encountered over the years and those are authors to watch. I would have never guessed this was a first novel back when I bought it and read it when the century was only a few years old.

For a long time, when I thought back to The Rising, my mind kept trying to place it in the late 90s. Somewhere in my mind, even before I reconfirmed the year of publication some time ago, I knew that late 90’s date wasn’t true because I distinctly remembered the mention of September 11^th in the early pages of the novel. I had created mental divides of who I was in the 80s, the early 90s, the late 90s, and into the 21^st century when my wife and I started having kids later than most of my friends. I didn’t realize how much of those first years of the first decade of the 21^st felt longer ago to me. Those years are closer to the 1990s than they are to today obviously. Back then, I was closer to and much more like the person I was in the 90’s than I was to the person I am now.

This first novel of Keene’s is a long time ago in my own evolution. By that metric, the first novel is a long time ago for any author who has built a career. I’m reawakening the spirits of an author and a reader from a distant past.

The pages of this Dorchester novel/ Leisure paperback, the same one I bought and read all those years ago, are spotted and discolored. The cover is glossy with the green-tinted hands reaching for me between the raised silver letters of the title and raised letters of the author’s name. It’s trying its best to come apart in my hands as I bend its spine again.

The cover is also covered with praise for the book. More quips of praise fill some early pages. Could any of those fine authors or the author the book itself have really known how much this book would mean to the readers, the genre, other authors, and Keene himself? How could they? Even if they suspected, how could they really?

I read the acknowledgement page and I recognize names now. I know some of those people personally and professionally. I count them as friends. I had no idea I’d ever transition from reader to author in my own time when I first picked up this book. Back then, I didn’t know anything. Maybe I only know a slight bit more than nothing now really.

There is a Lt. Gonzalez and a tattoo of Feo Amante among many other Easter eggs I’m sure I missed of Keene giving nod to his friends and fellow writers.

In The Rising timeline, a successful mission to Mars was completed prior to the zombie apocalypse. Even in destroying the world, Brian Keene has a streak of optimism in him. A few years ago, I was in a hotel bar one late night of a convention with him and a number of other authors of varying success. He told of a lifelong dream to pee on Mars even if the act killed him and possibly freeze-dried his junk. He was still intent on spelling his name in those red sands. He was quite determined to get word to Elon Musk to see if they could make this thing happen.

Stephen King writes brotherly relationships, especially between young brothers, better than maybe any other author I’ve read. In my opinion, Brian Keene excels above all other authors when writing father and son relationships. Even in cases where one or the other is absent, he still writes the relationship magnificently. That is demonstrated here in this novel. School’s Out comes to mind as well.

Keene’s new kind of “thinking zombie” challenged the notions of fans of the genre and subgenre. This was also during a time when zombies had not become ubiquitous upon book shelves and in the growing Amazon selections. These unique zombies inspired authors like Armand Rosamilia and others in their style of zombie stories.

There is good character work all around in this book. It is usually accomplished in the small spaces between action which makes these components of the story so strong. There is very good use made of the ensemble cast of characters.

“One for the road” Our poor character decides to have one last beer before heading out one way or the other. A very Keene sentiment.

Dragon Ball Z and Pickachu get shoutouts in this novel. Return of the Living Dead is referenced.

“Hang on, Squirt. Daddy’s coming.”

In the midst of the book, there is an ad to join the Leisure Horror Book Club. I’m tempted to mail the card in with the two dollars requested.

I remembered so much of this novel as I went back through it. The fish scene is brilliant and unique, but that is true of many scenes in this story.

The inclusion of the existence of God as a presumed fact among the monsters serves as a strong counterpoint and explanation for the existence of this ancient evil that leans heavily into Biblical narrative and other religious mythologies. God is notably absent from the action unless he is given credit for the bits that did go right for our characters along the way.

Martin the “preacher man” character is an interesting one in this regard. Aside from the sentient zombies’ references to God, this character brings a persistent discussion of faith and spirituality throughout the narrative. The ideas of serious explorations of faith and spirituality by Keene’s characters is prevalent through much of his work.

“More than infinity” used as a statement of love in one context and dark threat in another is brilliant. I know Keene originally wanted to use that as the title of this book and wanted it for the title of City of the Dead later. I think he made the right choice in changing the titles.

“There are other worlds than these.” Maybe all genre fiction hinges on this idea. As a reference, I’m guessing Keene pulled it from King’s Dark Tower series.

The climax of the novel arrived fast and then our surviving characters covered the final stretch. Then, the ending… that infamous ending.

There are several ads in the back of the book for Jack Ketchum books, Douglas Clegg, Edward Lee, and Melanie Tem. What an interesting time for horror this was. There was also a phone number to call Dorchester Books. Should I call it? Will I reach an operator in the ghostly past?

I found a few typos I didn’t recall when originally reading it. I started to think the level of typos were increasing in more recent years, but maybe it has been a thing all along. I think I’m hyper-sensitive to them now because I’ve struggled so much with typos through my own writing career both as a self-published author and with traditional publishers.

I want to make a point that I liked the ending. I liked it when I first read it and didn’t know there was going to be any sequels. I liked it before I knew there was any controversy over it or backlash from readers. I like it now as I kick off #BrianKeeneRevisited by reading it again.

My next post in this series will be Sympathy for the Devil #BrianKeeneRevisited which can be found on the Master List of all my #BrianKeeneRevisited posts. Note: The photo of Brian Keene used in the banner image of these blog posts was taken by John Urbancik and used by permission of both Keene and Urbancik.

Jay Wilburn

Jay Wilburn has a Masters Degree in Education that goes mostly unused since he quit teaching to write about zombies. Jay writes horror because he tends to find the light by facing down the darkness. His is doing well following a life saving kidney transplant. Jay is the author of Maidens of Zombie Kingdom a young adult fantasy trilogy, Lake Scatter Wood Tales adventure books for elementary and middle school readers, Vampire Christ a trilogy of political and religious satire, and The Dead Song Legend. He cowrote The Enemy Held Near, Yard Full of Bones, and The Hidden Truth with Armand Rosamilia. You can also find Jay's work in Best Horror of the Year volume 5. He is a staff writer with Dark Moon Digest, LitReactor, and the Still Water Bay series with Crystal Lake Publishing.

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