There is a sweet little horror story that is only two sentences long: “The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door…”
- Opening line of Knock by Fredric Brown
I’ve been working so hard lately that I just realised that almost a month had gone by when I last read anything. Since I finally had a weekend off, I decided to pick up a short story that caught my attention a little while ago: Knock by Fredric Brown.
The story is very much short. I read it in approximately 10 minutes, but it is masterfully written. I found myself thinking and pondering on the story.
It may be a little hard to believe given the opening sentence, but the story is very much a sweet love story. Of sorts. I don’t know how to write about it without giving the story away. Suffice to say that the knocker was very much gladly received by the last man on earth.
The story made me think a little about being the last man on earth. He knew he was the last, but rather than feel sorry for himself, he made the best of the situation. But then again, he had a little help… but you’ll need to read the story to find out just what.
Apart from that aspect, I was also impressed by how different the short story is compared to a novel proper. It is a real art form to be able to convey your ideas, to build the characters, to flesh out the story in just a few short pages. Knock is a fantastic example of this medium. While there isn’t too much time to dwell with the characters, you can’t help but smile at the way the story ends…
p/s: You can find the text for Knock online. I’m not sure if it’s entirely legal so I’m not posting the link here, but, you know, Google.
