When speculative fiction writer Premee Mohamed was invited to contribute to The End of the World As We Know It, an anthology based on the events that take place in Stephen King’s 1978 novel The Stand, she was thrilled. There was only one problem: she was given a deadline of less than three weeks to write her story — the other contributors had months.
Mohamed was approached by the editor to participate after one of the initial contributors to the collection dropped out.
When she got the email, she was in Trinidad and Tobago for The Bocas Lit Fest — a long way from home. “While the other attendees were going to clubs and having fun on the beach,” recalls Mohamed, “I was hunched over writing in my hotel room.”
The tight deadline was one thing, but Mohamed also hadn’t read The Stand since high school, and now only had a few days to re-read the over 1,000-page-long book. Any spare moment she had was spent reading an e-book version from the Edmonton Public Library on her tiny phone screen.
Regardless of the rushed beginning, Mohamed produced a short story worthy of the collection — and with a unique Edmonton twist (the main character notably works on an oil and gas refinery). In The Stand a deadly influenza takes over the world, resulting in factions led by personifications of good or evil. The events of the novel take place in the U.S., yet when Mohamed was writing her story she thought about how the survivors up north would be surviving 20 years in the aftermath. She even integrated Alberta’s harsh winters into the story with a supernatural polar vortex — reminiscent of one she experienced in Banff last year on a writer’s retreat.
Mohamed’s chapter, “Hunted to Extinction,” follows Val, who while on a hunting trip discovers what she believes to be the last living child on Earth. She takes the little girl back to her community where a series of strange and supernatural events take place, including bloody maulings and strange otherworldly creatures. In the end, Val has to resist being lured into evil by supernatural forces.
Out of the 36 contributing authors in the anthology, Mohamed is the only one from Edmonton — and one of two from Canada. On the book’s August 19th release date, Mohamed, along with the other authors across the world, will host launch parties in their respective cities.
Here in Edmonton, the launch will take place at Audreys, where Mohamed will sign copies of the book, read her chapter and talk about the horror genre alongside Candas Jane Dorsey — an Edmonton-based poet and science fiction writer. The event will be casual and light-hearted — despite the dystopian subject matter.
Premee Mohamed’s launch of The End of the World As We Know It will take place at Audreys on August 19 at 7:00 p.m. The event is free to attend.
