The End Is All We See [Dual Short Story Review]

Genre - Sci-Fi/Horror/Short Stories
Year Published - 2017
Length - 45 (digital) pages
Written by M. F. Wahl and A. J. Brown

Rating: 5 Skulls

Plot Summary:
From the minds of M. F. Wahl and A. J. Brown come two horrific tales of struggle and loss you won’t soon forget.

In “Purple Haze”, a crash landing on an uninhabited planet strands Adira and the surviving members of her crew. Surrounded by a quiet world of blue grass, and purple skies, danger lurks within the beauty. Without contact to Earth and light-years from home, they encounter a treacherous enemy that threatens to destroy them from the inside out.

“Run For The Flame” brings us into a world where an ice age has engulfed everything, driving life underground. The Sanctuary holds the last vestiges of humanity, but it's walls are cracking and the ice is slowly encroaching. In their last grasp at survival, the community is forced to send their boys on an all-important run to The Flame... None have returned.

Wahl, a #1 Wattpad featured horror author and Brown, whose stories have appeared in over 200 publications, use their easy styles to draw you in, and hold you close.

Welcome to their nightmares.

Review:
This is a unique book that is a set of novelettes. There are two versions - this one, 'The End Is All We See' by M. F. Wahl and the other version, 'All We See Is The End' by A. J. Brown. They are both the same, yet slightly different, as reflected by their titles and covers. Both stories are the exact same, just flipped depending on which version you get. (If this is confusing, the authors explain in an inside letter.)

I have a feeling that depending on which story you read first may just be the story you like best. (Kind of like when Stephen King released 'Desperation' right along side Bachman's 'The Regulators')

My version, 'The End is All We See' starts off with Wahl's story "Purple Haze". The story is well written and then, out of nowhere, it takes a totally unexpected turn. Definitely a story that will stick with you, long after you have finished reading it!

After "Purple Haze" is A. J. Brown's "Run for the Flame".  This is a unique story that will have you invested in the survival of the characters!

Both stories are about the struggle to survive circumstances beyond one's control. I will definitely be checking out more from both of these authors.

Jason