[Letters From the Labyrinth] Official Brian Keene Newsletter 8/14/17
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 week, I'm trying an experiment. I'm going to send this newsletter without any images and see how that impacts its delivery rate.
Mary and I got home from Colorado last Monday.
On Tuesday evening, I was hiking through the woods behind my house (the edge of my property borders the Mason-Dixon trail) and I came across a herd of deer in the creek. Two of them were fawns, and one of the fawns still had its spots. The deer are used to me, and so, while skittish, they didn't run. I pulled out my phone to take a picture of the spotted fawn, and it would have been a wonderful photo, except that I'll never know because i dropped my phone in the creek.
As a result, my old iPhone 4 has been sitting in a bag of rice all week. Efforts to resuscitate it have proven unsuccessful. I suppose I will have to bite the bullet and buy a newer model -- but I am reluctant to do so.
Having no phone, I have gotten an amazing amount of work done this week. I worked on television projects 1 through 3 (and no, I can't tell you what any of them are, yet, as there's no guarantee any of them will 100% happen). I wrote a new short story called "Growlers" (which Camelot Books will publish as a chapbook to accompany their hardcover edition of HOLE IN THE WORLD). I wrote a new chapter of THE SEVEN and posted it to Patreon. I worked on edits for CLICKERS FOREVER. And I worked on THE MOTEL AT THE END OF THE WORLD.
It was nice, not having the phone ding every thirty seconds to alert me of a new text or ring every other minute with a new call (my ring tone is "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones, and I'll let you play with that irony for a bit).
I don't want to buy a new phone. I don't want to fix my old phone. But Mary and my sons all three insist I need one, so I guess I'll have to get one...under protest.
I wish everyone would just use Twitter...
Long-time readers know that I rarely discuss politics anymore. Long-time readers also know that I don't identify as either Left or Right, Liberal or Conservative, Democrat or Republican. Long-time readers know that I am absolutely a political Independent.
People on Twitter don't know this, however.
Yesterday evening, I Tweeted a suggestion that our current President's response to the events in Charlottesville could have been communicated better. Within the first five minutes or so, Stephen King, Bev Vincent, and Richard Chizmar re-Tweeted me (I'm not sure which of them did it first). After that, the Tweet went viral. I've been unable to keep up with the responses, but from the responses I did see, I was able to learn a few things:
*There were thoughtful or funny responses from folks who identify as being on the Left.
*There were thoughtful or funny response from folks who identify as being on the Right.
*There were stupid or hateful responses from folks who identify as being on the Left.
*There were stupid or hateful responses from folks who identify as being on the Right.
*But there were very few responses from my fellow Independents.
Which makes me wonder if, given the current political tenor in this country, and the anger on both sides of the aisle, my fellow Independents are refraining from speaking up, joining the conversation, and participating in the national discourse.
If so, that breaks my heart, because I believe our voices are needed right now, more than ever. If ANYONE is going to successfully build a bridge between these two groups, and get people to work together again, and overcome the hate and the anger that exists on both sides, it's us.
Yeah, I'm just a guy who writes horror and fantasy novels and comic books, and hosts an increasingly popular podcast. But I'm also an American. And a father. And a veteran. And I don't like where this country is going, and I haven't for a very long time.
So, I reckon I'll keep speaking up, when I think the situation calls for it.
Or...fuck it. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. I turn fifty next month. Maybe I'm just old.
Paperback and e-book editions of THRONE OF THE BASTARDS -- the sequel to the award-winning KING OF THE BASTARDS -- which I co-wrote with Steven L. Shrewsbury -- are available for pre-order.
Each collaboration is different for me. For example, J.F. Gonzalez and I wrote five books together (three CLICKERS novels, a short story collection, and the forthcoming FINAL RETREAT). In our case, we would stop mid-sentence and the other would take over. Our styles were so similar that this was a neat trick we could pull off. When Nick Mamatas and I wrote THE DAMNED HIGHWAY together, we used a very different approach, re-writing overtop each other until our very different voices melded together.
In the case of Steve and I, and the BASTARDS series... (we call it the Rogan series, but some tentatively interested suits are calling it "THE BASTARDS SERIES" and I suppose we should start thinking of it in those terms)... Steve writes the first draft. He created Rogan and most of the other characters and the pre-Biblical world they inhabit. So, he crafts the first draft. Then, he sends the rough manuscript to me, and I rework it, and cut things out, and add brand-new things to fill the empty spaces where I cut things out, and rework it some more, and blend our voices together. We've found that this method works best for us, and it's the method we're using right now for the tentatively titled CURSE OF THE BASTARDS.
(How's that for an exclusive?)
Ron Davis has started a public Facebook group called THE ASYLUM, which will "support small press horror authors, publishers, and fans." If you are one of those, why not head over and join? Ron's a good guy, and I endorse pretty much anything he's involved with.
Well, okay, if Ron suddenly took to boiling kittens or something, I couldn't support that. But he's not boiling kittens. He's doing his part, as a fan, to support the genre he loves, and the other fans who love it, and the authors who work in it. So, go check it out.
My new short story, “Duality”, appears in NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP — a charity anthology benefiting The Jimmy Fund / Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Edited by P.D. Caceck and Laura J. Hickman and featuring cover artwork by Cortney Skinner, this anthology contains contributions from Christopher Golden, Jack Ketchum, Thomas Tessier, Elizabeth Massie, John M. McIlveen, Jill Bauman, James A. Moore, Mark Morris, Bev Vincent, Izzy Lee, Charles L. Grant, and many more. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE.
Have you pre-ordered DC HOUSE OF HORROR #1 yet? It 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 stores 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.
CURRENTLY READING: The Oxford History of the American West by Milner, O'Connor, and Sandweiss
CURRENTLY WATCHING: Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy as background noise
CURRENTLY LISTENING: Various Neil Young and Howlin Wolf albums,
I'M DREAMING OF A WHITE DOOMSDAY -- the first feature length film from Director Mike Lombardo -- which I was very proud to serve as Executive Producer on, is finished. More on that next week, as well as that Paul Campion/Brian Keene film festival (we haven't forgot), and at least two surprise appearances for the end of this year.
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.