I shut off the engine and looked at Jess. Her face was wet and all of her make-up had smeared and run. I looked at her and she looked at me. Those people were picking it up at that point, really playing and carrying on as loud as they could, the tempo gathering steam. They were singing ‘bout the end, ‘bout stars exploding and fires raging, the cup finally running over. Singing ‘bout a reckoning as old as time itself. Jess and me sat there, listening. Something was going to happen, by God. Something had to happen.
–from the short story, “An End to All Things“
SHORT STORY COLLECTION HOLDS THE ANSWERS TO SURVIVING 2012 MAYAN PROPHECY
We all know that on December 21st of this year the world is going to end. Millions of Americans are in complete terror, wondering what they can do to survive and what types of environmental, socio-economic, and quasi-fantastical horrors may rain down on them.
What we can be sure of is that December 21st is, at the very least, the beginning of the end. There is some elbowroom for how long the end of the world is going to last, however, so it is safe to say that there will be at least enough time to read the two hundred and thirty-six pages of Jared Yates Sexton’s short story collection An End to all Things (Atticus Books, $14.95, December 21, 2012). Sexton’s collection magnifies the reactions and thought processes of average Americans teetering in a tension-filled balancing act between the American dream and chaos. This book holds the secrets to riding out the storm, zombie invasion, solar explosion, or hostile robot takeover—whichever it turns out to be.
An End to All Things Countdown:
32 DAYS
We have but a short time to prepare for the end. Procrastination is not recommended. That is why each week leading up to our collective doom we will post short excerpts from stories of An End to All Things that give knowledge of how to survive the Apocalypse–or at least how to make it a little more comfortable.
Still worried about the unknown? Watch the book trailer for An End to All Things and get in the zone–for survival.
An End to All Things by Jared Yates Sexton – Book Trailer from Jake Bottiglieri on Vimeo.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR An End To All Things
“The characters in Jared Yates Sexton’s stories are desperate. They are obsessed. They speak a language that is part barfight, part howl, part brokenhearted country song playing on a skipping vinyl loop. These are stories you want to listen to as much as read, full of fierce and searing and melancholy truths.”
– CHAD SIMPSON, author of Tell Everyone I Said Hi
“The stories in Jared Yates Sexton’s An End to All Things are, indeed, about ends—of relationships, of dreams, of innocence—but they also speak eloquently to the means of these ends. Laced through with booze and betrayal, and populated by half-witted quick wits and good eggs with bad karma, Sexton’s stories get under your skin, split your ribs, and worm their way heartward.”
– TOM NOYES, author of Spooky Action at a Distance