Arthur Nightingale was known for his bestselling horror novels until recently. After his mother’s tragic death, he no longer saw himself as an author. Both his publisher and fans were breathing down his neck for the next Arthur Nightingale bestseller. He couldn’t bring himself to admit to his agent that he had already blown through the advance money for a book he couldn’t finish. Ending his book felt too permanent for him. Endings had become too painful in his world.
Arthur had to come up with something before his publisher discovered the truth and insisted on getting the money back. It had been a long time since he last published a collection of short stories. Maybe it was time to put another collection together to satisfy everyone. The question that consumed Arthur’s every thought was whether he could write The End.
B. D. West’s creative (and eerie!:) mind is on full display in her compilation of short stories in her book The End. She brings the reader into Arthur’s beleaguered world as he struggles with the demands of a publishing deadline and the writer’s block that keeps him from finishing any story he begins. The ensuing short stories will draw the reader in and leave them thinking long after finishing them. One of my favorites was Cryogenic. A woman wakes up after thinking she had died from cancer only to discover that her relatives had her body frozen until a cure for her disease was found. The world has changed in so many positive ways. There is no violence. There is no pollution. There is no crime. The woman has nothing to fear in her utopian surroundings. Then she meets another person who had also been frozen. The woman learns that she most definitely has something to fear. You will enjoy each of the stories and how Arthur ultimately solves his dilemma.
