[Letters From the Labyrinth] Official Brian Keene Newsletter 9/2/17

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.

Usually, I send these out on Sunday. This week, I'm sending it on Saturday, because me and my youngest son and his mother are going to the Renaissance Faire tomorrow. That trip kind of happened by accident.

I had planned on spending the weekend in New Jersey with Mary (whose mother enjoys cooking for me and I enjoy when she cooks for me), but Mary is under deadline for her next Kensington novel, so she's sequestered in a room, poking her head out long enough to fool around on Facebook for a few minutes each day. If you see her, wish her luck. Or even better, buy her first two Kensington novels -- CHILLS and SAVAGE WOODS.

Anyway, since I was now free for the weekend, my son asked his Mom and I about the Ren Faire. We discussed it, checked both our budgets, and sadly agreed was out of our price range for the month. Then a loyal reader (who I'm going to keep anonymous here because I'm not sure if he wants his identity out there or not), mentioned online that he works at the Ren Faire, and can comp me tickets.

So now we've got three comped tickets and a very happy little boy. And you've got an early newsletter.

So...here's a little secret, just for the 952 of you who are subscribed to this newsletter.

You ready?

SCHOOL'S OUT is officially available on Kindle, Nook and Kobo. I haven't announced it anywhere else yet, and probably won't until next week. I thought it might be fun to give you guys an exclusive head start on it.

A paperback edition will follow in a few weeks (Lifetime Subscribers will see that included with this Fall's shipment).

Here is the official synopsis:

Eight-year-old Alan doesn’t like going to school, but when a global pandemic leaves him orphaned, cold, starving, and lonely, he has no choice but to set out on a dangerous quest to return to his third-grade classroom.

SCHOOL’S OUT, an all-new post-apocalyptic novella by Grandmaster Award winning author Brian Keene, was suggested to him by his son, marking their first official collaboration, and is suitable for all ages.

So, yes. It's a book for "all ages", meaning it can be read and enjoyed by adults, teens, and kids. However, it is dark and grim and bleak. You know your child's limits better than I do. If you think "dark and grim and bleak" might upset your child, then maybe you should read it first, and make the determination.

SCHOOL'S OUT -- available on Kindle, Nook and Kobo. Paperback forthcoming. I'll tell the rest of the world next week. But for now, it will be our little secret...

October Appearances (Pennsylvania and Massachusetts):

October 21
10am to 4:30pm
Haverhill Public Library
99 Main St
Haverhill, MA 01830
Brian Keene and Mary SanGiovanni. Books can be purchased at the event. You can also bring books from home to be signed at no additional charge. No charge for photos.

October 28
1pm to 3pm
Comix Connection
2150 White St
York, PA 17404
Brian Keene and Mary SanGiovanni, signing copies of DC HOUSE OF HORROR #1. You can also bring books from home to be signed, however, purchase of the comic book at the store is required. No charge for photos.

With television projects one through three now in that stage where it's up to other people, this week's workload focused heavily on THE MOTEL AT THE END OF THE WORLD. I also worked on a novelization of my long out of print novella WHITE FIRE, and prepped J.F. Gonzalez and Mike Oliveri's RESTORE FROM BACK-UP (which has also been long out of print) for submission to a publisher.

I also published two brand-new short stories on Patreon. The first story is called "The Delay". The second is called "Growlers". You can read them both here.

"Growlers" was originally going to be released as a chapbook in conjunction with Camelot Books' hardcover edition of HOLE IN THE WORLD. However, those plans have now changed, as Camelot have elected not to publish the book. There's nothing nefarious or secret about it. The novel just doesn't fit with what they publish, and doesn't fit with their current business plan. I have nothing but respect for them, and will work with them again. It just won't be this particular novel.

A different publisher will now be doing the hardcover (I can't say who until the contract is signed). The paperback and e-book will still come out from Apex in 2019 (which is a long time from now).

And if you have the means this month, check out Camelot's online store for lots of great books. They're good people, and deserve your business.

CURRENTLY READING: The Changeling by Victor LaValle
CURRENTLY LISTENING: The Best of Bread by Bread
CURRENTLY WATCHING: Narcos season 3

The first two seasons of Narcos were amazing television, ranked right up there with shows like The Shield, The Wire, and Breaking Bad. I wondered how season three would fare, given that it had now lost half its cast (the perils of depicting real life characters and events).

Happily, it fares very well. I'm only halfway through, but so far, I'm loving it. And I think it might even be more brutal than the first two seasons, if you can imagine such a thing.

Have you read KING OF THE BASTARDS and THRONE OF THE BASTARDS -- the two sword and sorcery novels I co-wrote with Steven L. Shrewsbury? If not, you should. One of them even won an award!

Apex has a pretty sweet combo deal on them both right now. You can get both books in e-book form for just $7.99 and both paperbacks together for just $25. Click here to take advantage of that.

And thus, we come to the end of another newsletter. A few 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. And enjoy SCHOOL'S OUT!