[Letters From the Labyrinth] Official Brian Keene Newsletter 7/30/17

My name is Brian Keene, and this is Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. If you're a new subscriber, previous issues are archived here.

This time last year, I was deep into the second leg of a nine-month cross-country book signing tour (which was turned into a book called END OF THE ROAD, which will be available in hardcover soon from Cemetery Dance). My plan for 2017 was to take it easy, but the last two weeks have turned into a bit of a mini-tour, regardless.

As I said in last week's newsletter, I was in Williamsburg, VA from July 19th to July 24th for the fourth annual Scares That Care Charity Weekend. As one of the conventions organizational board members, it was a working convention for me. I averaged four hours of sleep each night and clocked 12,000 average daily steps on my Fitbit. (My good buddy but Fitbit nemesis, Kasey Lansdale, was across the country at San Diego Comic Con, and I managed to outpace her -- but only just barely). So...as you can imagine, I needed some down time to recuperate after the convention.

On Monday, Mary and I drove from Virginia to West Virginia, and spent a delightful twenty-four hours with my grandmother, who is 92-years old and still lives in her home and still does for herself. Grandma greeted us with hugs and venison and a homemade blueberry pie. All three of these things have rejuvenative properties, and by Monday night, both Mary and I were recovered. More importantly, it was just a great, great visit. The three of us sat outside on the porch glider and talked and talked and watched the deer and talked some more. Mary heard many embarrassing stories from my childhood, including the tale of "How Four Year Old Brian Befriended A Hells Angels Chapter And Knew All Their Names".

On Tuesday, Mary and I came home, and then she headed off to New Jersey. Dungeonmaster (the public pseudonym my nine year old has chosen for himself) was happy to see me. Spent a few days with him, and catching up on work -- two more possible television things, edits on HOLE IN THE WORLD, packing up stuff for Lifetime Subscribers, writing THE MOTEL AT THE END OF THE EARTH -- but those days seemed to go quick, like sands speeding through the hourglass.

On Friday, John Urbancik and his partner got into town, heading south after two weeks spent driving north. We recorded a podcast Friday night, and talked about art and creativity and the difficulties -- or not difficulties -- of writing when on the road. That will air next Thursday.

Here's a selfie of John and I sitting out on my dock alongside the Susquehanna River, enjoying Bookers and Basil Hayden's bourbon and cigars.

I suck at taking selfies.

Saturday, I had to go to a Scares That Care board meeting, so John spent the day at author Geoff Cooper's house. When I got home, we visited filmmaker Mike Lombardo's pizza shop. Here's a photo of myself, Mike, and John.

Last night, we sat out by the river until after dark, listening to Johnny Cash and Sting and Queensryche and talking about all that's happened over the last twenty years, and where we go for the next twenty.

John and his partner are back on the road this morning. I have today to write. Will spend tomorrow and Tuesday with Dungeonmaster. Then Mary and I are off to the airport Wednesday morning to fly to Colorado for the Ghost Town Writers Retreat in Georgetown, CO, taking place August 3rd – 6th.

Here's something I found out. We're doing a book signing on Friday night and it is open to the public. So, if you live in or near Colorado and you are not attending the writer's retreat, you can still stop by Friday night and get your books signed by me and Mary. The signing takes place at the Georgetown Heritage Center 809 Taos Street from 5pm until...?

It feels like the last half of this month has been spent running. That's probably why Anthrax's cover of Journey's "Keep On Runnin'" has been in heavy rotation on my playlist these past two weeks.

Have you ever wondered “What would a Brian Keene Justice League or John Constantine comic be like?” Or perhaps, “I wonder what Edward Lee would do with Superman?” Or maybe, “I bet Mary SanGiovanni could rock the house on Wonder Woman.” Or, “Nick Cutter on Batman. Wouldn’t that be nuts?”

If so, please pre-order DC HOUSE OF HORROR #1, which will be in comic book stores on October 25th. It features work by myself, Edward Lee, Mary SanGiovanni, Bryan Smith, Nick Cutter, Wrath James White, Weston Ochse, and Ronald Malfi, paired with artists Rags Morales, Bilquis Evely, Howard Porter, Scott Kolins, and Dale Eaglesham. It also features the maniacal Keith Giffen riding herd over us all.

I cannot stress enough how important it is that you pre-order this comic from your local comic book store. Due to the distribution system in place, there is a 50/50 chance comic book sores will actually have a copy on the shelf release day UNLESS YOU PRE-ORDER IT FROM THEM. To do so, simply walk into your local comic book store and say, “Hello. I would like to pre-order DC HOUSE OF HORROR, and the order code is AUG170272.”

It’s that easy. And if you don’t have a local comic book store in your vicinity, you can order online from Mid-Town Comics and have it shipped directly to you.

DC editorial have told us that if the book sells well enough, this will become a regular, monthly thing. That means you’ll see HORROR return to DC Comics. If you want to make that happen, then please, please, please pre-order.

Thank you.

Sword and sorcery collides with horror once again in THRONE OF THE BASTARDS — the sequel to Brian Keene and Steven L. Shrewsbury’s award-winning KING OF THE BASTARDS.

Learning that his family are in danger, Rogan returns to his former kingdom, now under siege from foreign invaders and supernatural forces led by his bastard son. With time running out, the aging barbarian and his trusted companions, Javan and Akibeel, must forge an alliance of new friends and old foes, mustering an army to retake the kingdom. Surrounded by savages, soldiers, demons, and dark magic, it will take all of their cunning, skill, ruthlessness, and courage to survive the slaughter and determine once and for all who shall sit upon the THRONE OF THE BASTARDS.

Paperbacks and e-books are available for pre-order via the publisher, as well as Amazon, B&N, and wherever books are sold.

Cover art by Daniel Kamarudin.

ISBN TPB: 978-1-937009-60-1

Professor Michael Arnzen reports that THE RISING has been added to his class syllabus at Seton Hill University for this Fall. I am deeply and profoundly honored by this.

I'm also wondering if this means I can charge as much for THE RISING as your average college textbook now.

I sent Gabino Iglesias the unfinished manuscript for J.F. Gonzalez's THE CROSSROADS (which he also occasionally called EL PASO). Jesus had been working on this novel for a number of years, and it had gone through several starts and stops. He considered it to be very autobiographical in some ways, and it is. Unfortunately, he never got to complete it.

I thought about finishing it, but decided that -- even though he was my best friend -- I wasn't qualified to write about the unique experiences of a Mexican-American, or at least, not in such a personalized way. After much careful thought and discussion, we (the estate) decided that Gabino Iglesias is the best person for the job. As one of the next generation, Gabino looked up to Jesus for paving the way for writers like him. He is honored to do it, and we are honored to have him. He's got the partial manuscripts (multiple), the outline, and all of Jesus's various notes.

We'll let you see it when he's done.

Meanwhile, the signature sheets for CLICKERS FOREVER: A TRIBUTE TO J.F. GONZALEZ are making the rounds. A bunch of authors signed them at Scares That Care and NECON. There are five signature sheets. Each of them features artwork by the amazing Chris Enterline (a rapidly rising star). When all five sheets are viewed together, they tell a sequential mini-Clickers comic story.

Things are progressing very quickly now.

Keep on runnin...

That's it for this week. Reminders:

PATREON - Where I post new short stories, a serialized ongoing novel, and behind-the-scenes stuff. (In fact, a new short story went live there just this week).

TWITTER - The only social media outlet I still use regularly.

Take care. See you back here next Sunday, from Colorado.