Shriek: An Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer [Read extracts and deleted scenes]
—Publication by Pan Macmillan, January 2006
—Publication by Tor Books, August 2006
There came a night so terrible that no one ever dared to name it. There came a night so terrible that I could not. There came a night so terrible that no one could explain it. There came the most terrible of nights. No, that's not right, either. There came the most terrible of nights that could not be forgotten, or forgiven, or even named. That's closer, but sometimes I choose not to revise. Let it be raw and awkward splayed across the page, as it was in life.
Words would later be offered up like "atrocity," "massacre," and "madness," but I reject those words. They did not, could not, cannot contain what they need to contain.
Could we have known? Could we have wrenched our attention from our more immediate concerns long enough to understand the warning signs? Now, of course, it all seems clear enough. Duncan had said the war could not continue in the same way for long, and he was right.
(Full text review here.)
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