Disclosure:
I received an Advance Reader copy of Blood Red Sky from the publisher in exchange for review consideration. They give me no money, nor do they in any way influence my thoughts – those are 100% my own for better or worse.
Note from 2023: It looks like this one has not yet made it out from under the rubble SSP left behind.
Edition:
Kindle e-ARC
Synopsis (Goodreads):
The world has changed. Ever since the night that sky, the blood red sky, appeared, and the adults were wiped out by what some of those who remain call the Trolls. Huge, hulking beasts that hunt the young survivors. One such group have tried to make a life for themselves, tried to create another family after losing their original ones—whilst at the same time planning a way to defeat the creatures who roam this new landscape. But that’s all about to change as well, when a couple of newcomers appear. Strangers who have their own story to tell… The latest post-apocalyptic tale from Paul Kane, the #1 bestselling and award-winning author of the Hooded Man novels, Pain Cages, Lunar, Before, The Rot, and Sherlock Homes and the Servants of Hell, this is a compelling coming of age novella unlike anything you’ve ever read.
My Thoughts:
I’m always game for a good ‘End of the World’ scenario, but in the last decade or so, the Apocalyptic offerings have been, oh, I don’t know…. 9 billion percent zombies? All zombies all the time?
Dammit, Blood Red Sky is refreshing! Not a zombie as far as the eye can see. I love it!
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love a good zombie story, but I need a little variety, you know? After what feels like a hundred million years of evrey apocalypse story trying to ape The Walking Dead, while those showrunners (can’t speak to the comic cuz I haven’t read it) are scrabbling to keep hold of some sort of semi-cohesive narrative, I feel like I just want a break from that. I need other end of the world fare. Give me war, drought, aliens, germs, whatever. Just cool it on the zombies for a second. Like, a few offerings a year is fine – it doesn’t have to be everything forever. But, I digress – shocking, I know.
So, back to Paul Kane’s fun, zombie-free take on the apocalypse. But strap in, cuz in pirate speak, thar be monsters. I don’t actually know if that’s pirates, or just old-timey maps, but…go with it, yeah?
See, the end of the world happens – all the adults are dead. Killed by monsters. And for reasons that aren’t immediately apparent, the monsters don’t screw with kids. They have to have to be nearing full maturity before they are at risk.
“It had dealt with the adults first, leaving behind the kids–divide and conquer–leaving people of Ethan’s age, of Becky’s age, alone…mostly…to begin with. They hadn’t been the priority, weren’t in charge. They’d all had to grow up pretty fast though, hadn’t they? Those invaders underestimated them massively, and now they fought back–when they could, when they weren’t fighting to stay alive.”
The central cast of characters are Becky, her brother Cam, Ethan, and his cousin Faith. They all feel surprisingly well fleshed out considering this is a novella, not a full-length novel. I feel like of the four, I left the story feeling like I knew the least about Becky and Ethan. Faith is a young genius, and is therefore invaluable in the fight against the monsters. She is always busy not only creating weapons, but also conducting experiments on the monsters using first dead tissue taken from them, and later from live samples. She’s clearly got the potential to be a lifeline for humanity at some point – if she can manage to stay alive, safe, and in a place that is conductive to her research–a tall order at the end of the world.
About the Author (via GoodReads):
Paul Kane has been writing professionally for almost fifteen years. His genre journalism has appeared in such magazines as Fangoria, SFX and Rue Morgue, and his non-fiction books are the critically acclaimed The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy and Voices in the Dark. His award-winning short fiction has appeared in magazines and anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic (as well as being broadcast on BBC Radio 2), and has been collected in Alone (In the Dark), Touching the Flame, FunnyBones, Peripheral Visions, Shadow Writer, The Butterfly Man and Other Stories, The Spaces Between and GHOSTS. His novella Signs of Life reached the shortlist of the British Fantasy Awards 2006, The Lazarus Condition was introduced by Mick Garris – creator of Masters of Horror – RED featured artwork from Dave (The Graveyard Book) McKean and Pain Cages was introduced by Stephen Volk (The Awakening).
As Special Publications Editor of the British Fantasy Society he worked with authors like Brian Aldiss, Ramsey Campbell, Muriel Gray and Robert Silverberg, he is the co-editor of Hellbound Hearts for Pocket Books (Simon and Schuster), an anthology of original stories inspired by Clive Barker’s mythos – featuring contributions from the likes of Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola, Kelley Armstrong and Richard Christian Matheson – The Mammoth Book of Body Horror (Constable & Robinson) – featuring Stephen King, James Herbert and Robert Bloch – and the Poe-inspired Beyond Rue Morgue (for Titan).
In 2008 his zombie story ‘Dead Time’ was turned into an episode of the Lionsgate/NBC TV series Fear Itself, adapted by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (SAW II-IV). He also scripted The Opportunity which premiered at Cannes in 2009, The Weeping Woman – starring Fright Night’s Stephen Jeffreys – and Wind Chimes (directed by Brad ‘7th Dimension’ Watson. He is the author of the novels Of Darkness and Light, The Gemini Factor and the bestselling Arrowhead trilogy (Arrowhead, Broken Arrow and Arrowland), a post-apocalyptic reworking of the Robin Hood mythology gathered together as the sell-out Hooded Man omnibus. His latest novels are Lunar (which is set to be turned into a feature film) and the short Y.A. book The Rainbow Man (as P.B. Kane). He currently lives in Derbyshire, UK, with his wife – the author Marie O’Regan – his family, and a black cat called Mina. You can find out more at his website www.shadow-writer.co.uk which has featured Guest Writers such as Neil Gaiman, Charlaine Harris, Dean Koontz, John Connolly and Guillermo del Toro.
Rating:
This is a good, quick, zombie-less take on the apocalypse. Kane’s writing is evocative and strong, but also completely accessible.
Want to buy this book? You can now do so using my Bookshop affiliate link.
Blood Red Sky By Paul Kane Silver Shamrock Publishing Horror ASIN: B0848PZ5HV Expected Publication: March 10, 2020 E-book, Paperback
