It’s the end of the world as we’ve never known it
In the opening moments of Peter Darbyshire’s zany new story, a mythological hero sips espresso and peers through his kitchen windows as burning angels fall from the sky. This kind of thing that happens when the world is coming to an end.
It’s hardly the strangest thing going on in the linked short stories brought together in this collection.
The plummeting celestial space junk is nothing compared to the regular goings on in the particular world(s) conjured up. From the suburban drudgery of dead-end day jobs and unsatisfactory sex to ferrying the dead to the underworld when they “ghost,” the book is a series of vignettes without an always clear connection. This kind of scattered narrative can be confusing.
But in the tradition of writers such as Neil Gaiman, Darbyshire knows how to keep the action moving so you can comfortably bounce around the story with no particular place to go, frequently laughing out loud at the descriptions. The end, it turns out, is meaningless.
Establishing the utter lack of cohesion in all things as the Apocalypse occurs makes sense really. It’s not likely going to go down according to schedule and all the assorted characters seem well aware of this fact as they resign themselves to the inevitable end of all things. Rather than panicking, most of the protagonists seem somewhat detached and occasionally even bored.
Many take on the title of the role they are performing rather than any given name as “names don’t really matter anymore.” Neither, it seems, do random acts of violence or kindness in the midst of inter-dimensional spaces and churches wired up for viral videos. One of the funniest moments is when an angel manifests itself inside a sex doll. Not only can’t it move, but it can’t escape the packaging. Its name is Amber. It’s what was written on the box.
Tough work all around. But nowhere during the Apocalypse is as active as the Department of Admissions and Exits, where all the sinners get processed. As assorted demons work overtime to process the arrivals, it’s clear that the chaos up above is wrecking havoc down below, too, as some souls wind up in the wrong queue. Right up to its closing sentences, Has the World Ended Yet? keeps on asking questions and throwing up impediments to understanding what’s going on.
That’s the point, too. — the End is random. You won’t get it.