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The Rising: Selected Scenes From The End Of The World | 
| Author: Brian Keene
Publisher: Delirium Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $11.53
You Save: $5.42 (32%)
New (12) Used (5) Collectible (1) from $10.72
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 14652
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 220
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 1929653980
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781929653980
ASIN: 1929653980
Publication Date: June 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Best-selling author Brian Keene returns with an all-new short story collection set in the world of the award-winning novel The Rising. The Rising and its sequel, City of the Dead, revitalized the horror genre and gave zombie fans a new reason to celebrate. Since publication, many readers have hoped for a wider examination of The Rising universe. Now they have it. The Rising: Selected Scenes From The End Of The World contains thirty-two short stories based in the world of The Rising and City of the Dead. Now, fans can witness how the undead epidemic plays out across the globe-Australia, the United Kingdom, Norway, the United States-nowhere is safe from the zombie invasion. Meet new characters you'll come to love, re-discover old characters you thought were gone, and find out what happens after the fateful events of City of the Dead. If you're a fan of Keene's zombie mythos, you cannot miss this book!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
A great add on for The Rising and City of the Dead October 15, 2008
M. B Cole (Las Vegas, NV)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Sure, this book could be read without having read The Rising or City Of The Dead, but I don't recommend it. To better understand the type of zombies you are dealing with, and to recognize some faces, and to even understand some of the names that are called out such as Ob or the Siqqusim, it would be better to read the first two books...in my opinion.
Keene has written a book that many fans will devour with glee, but some will want to burn. I for one don't mind a book with closure...as long as it's done well. I also am a fan of a book that leaves us hanging with the end left for our imaginations. Keene actually did a really good job of closing this series. The Rising was ended with a nice cliff hanger that didn't need to be told...even though it was with City of the Dead. I am part of the group that enjoyed both books and welcomed City of the Dead with open arms. The ending to City of the Dead though, was just a brutal halt and left me wanting more. Mainly because I just felt like it was such a sad ending that that couldn't be the finality of the series. Luckily I came across 'Selected Scenes' and now I can be happy again with the series.
'Selected Scenes' is a short story book, but doesn't 100% feel like one. Mainly because there is a timeline going on in the book. On day 1 we see the outbreak just beginning in a 1-3 page story. The second story is Day 2 and the spread is just a tad bit more (mainly just someone seeing it on the news). Day 3..4..5...on and on til about day 28. I enjoyed most of, if not all, the stories that were presented. But reading almost the same formula over and over can get a little tedious. But around day 28 becomes the real fun. It really almost feels like a new book in the end. Keene begins to add on to his original stories by doing something that was only mentioned in the other books. The other brothers are finally released and they too begin to take over the earth. And in the final moments, Keene puts, what I think, is a great ending to his series. Or is it?...
In the VERY end, we find out that Keene has a new surprise for us. Keene is going to start writing a series of 7 books that intertwines everything he has written into one huge world connected by many closed doors.
I for one am pretty excited about this. Keene has definitely moved up into my 'Must Read' list almost every time he releases a new book. I'm also very happy that his writing style is becoming more polished. I also think he hired a new editor...hehe (something I could tell he needed in earlier installments of his books).
This book is a must if you've read The Rising and City of Dead. It's good, but probably a little confusing, if you haven't.
P.S. Be on the lookout for some familiar names/faces...such as Worm!
The Rising: Selected Scenes from the End of the World October 9, 2008
Jack82368 (South Coast, MA USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
It was a great read. If you're a zombie or Brian Keene fan you won't be disappointed.
 ICING ON THE CAKE. September 12, 2008
Eric Remington
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
One of the stories was very gripping and very disturbing, but it all rocked and the ending made me very happy. For those who are a fan on Keene, you will be very excited!!!! You ahve to read this is you've read the Rising series.
Addendum to The Rising and City of the Dead September 5, 2008
Patrick S. Dorazio (Cincinnati, Ohio)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
As the author states in the Introduction, this book is better understood if you have read The Rising and perhaps City of the Dead. It helps to understand the world he has created in those tales vs. going in cold. This is because Keene's vision of zombies is different than a lot of authors, with demons possessing your body at your death, not just some robotic imitation of you that craves flesh.
This book adds flavor to the two novels, giving us a more detailed world as it crumbles. The author mentioned another short story compilation called "The Rising: Necrophobia" that he also wrote and recommends that people read as well.
If you are looking for more stories of the same people that were in The Rising you will find a bit of that here but one thing that Keene mentions is that many of these stories are based on people he knows and people who actually paid Delirium Books for the priviledge of being a part of a collector's edition. I am not sure how I feel about that versus stories flowing from the author's own mind exclusively but it is pretty interesting. I never knew there were authors out there that I could pay to become a character in their book. I might actually be interested in doing that...
The book does lend insights into what happens after the events of The Rising and City of the Dead, both to the few remaining survivors and the entire planet. Keene opens the doors to a whole other series of books that he is concocting that have to do with alternate existences and realities, one of which is where The Rising takes place, another is where Dead Sea takes place, and there others still.
In that way it sort of reminded me of the Dark Tower from Stephen King (and the author does acknowledge that he is a fan of this work) in that he apparently is going to write a series of books that tie in all his different works, or at least a lot of them, like the Conquerer Worms (which I have not read) and others.
I will admit that I was never overly thrilled by this variation on the zombie that Brian Keene created. Others say he rejuvinated a tired and worn out genre and for them he probably did but for folks like me that was never the case. Zombies of all types intrigue me, including the old dumb slow moving types that can't speak or drive cars. Giving lots of credit where it is due is only fair though: Brian Keene has created not only a new variation on the zombie but a whole mythology with other demon forms and apparently alternate realities that all tie together. It takes a lot of creativity and a lot of writing style to pull this off.
Keene is a good writer, a guy who knows how to keep you interested in his stories. I guess perhaps my dislike of this zombie type is that there is literally no hope-you know the world is going to end and everything is gone. Except that in the end of this series of short stories we actually can see some infinite possibilites along the streams of time and space, alternate realities and other unique visions that the author has. I will admit it might draw me in further to the over arching story line that the author has created.
Killer Companion Stories For The Rising & City of The Dead. September 1, 2008
SpacegrassMan (Insane Land of Words & Music)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Brian Keene is like the Stephen King of zombie horror fiction right now, and with good reason: he took a tired out genre in the world of horror and added a few things, putting his own spin on the whole deal.
The Rising was like nothing I had ever read; it was scary and had intense storytelling blazing away on every page. The kind of good horror novel where you find yourself turning back and reading favorite scenes, even reading it slower than you are capable of, just to make it last longer. It was no fluke that it won the Bram Stoker Award.
City of The Dead, I thought, was a good sequel. Come on, I can't imagine how hard it must be to write a follow-up novel to The Rising. But if you wondered while reading those what was going on in other parts of Brian Keene's world during the zombie rising, then this collection of short stories is for you. Defintely.
You can read this as a stand alone book to get a taste of the kind of zombie horror Keene writes, but the coolest thing I liked about this, is that you can read these stories while you're reading The Rising or City of The Dead, almost like missing chapters about the carnage taking place in all the far off places around the world.
There are also a few stories that tell you what happens after the ending of City of The Dead. This is a must for any Brian Keene fan-and at a good price. A lot of his small press stuff is really priced high and with this one, any fan should be able to afford it.
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