[Letters From the Labyrinth] Official Brian Keene Newsletter 9/30/17

Howdy. Welcome to the 59th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a newsletter for fans of my work. If you're a new subscriber, previous issues are archived here.

This was a crappy week.

My loyal, dependable old 1999 Jeep Cherokee finally died for good. My youngest son and I have used that Jeep countless times to go off-road for camping, stargazing, fishing, etc. That Jeep went all over the country on my last book tour (immortalized in the forthcoming END OF THE ROAD from Cemetery Dance) -- from Pennsylvania as far west as the Mississippi River, as far south as Florida, and as far north as Maine.

Each year, it's cost me more and more to keep it running, and I knew that this next time I had it inspected, I may have to consider getting rid of it. Except that I never got the chance. Last Tuesday, the Jeep died in the middle of an intersection in Red Lion, PA. The electrical system began fritzing about ten miles before that happened. I called my mechanic and was on my way to him when the head gasket blew in the middle of the intersection. I ended up calling the junkyard, who gave me a free tow and a check for $350 and then I signed the title over to them.

So, now I'm without wheels. Not a problem for those of you reading this in an urban or metropolitan area, but I live way out in the country. We don't have public transport here in the woods.

On Thursday, I went to a dealership to see about getting a loan to buy a new car. I found out that while I don't have bad credit, I also don't have any credit. Which I suppose is better than having bad credit. The financing guy said, "You're like a ghost, credit-wise. There's just no record of you. How have you managed to go this long off the credit grid?" I explained that for the last twenty years I've been self-employed as a writer, and that I pay cash for everything.

The bottom line -- they can finance me for a new car, but I need to come up with $5,000 for a down payment.

Now, that's not an expenditure I was planning for. Truth be told, money was already tight. A few weeks ago, I told you here that Camelot Books had opted not to publish HOLE IN THE WORLD because they felt it just didn't fit with their line. I bare them no ill will about this It was a pure business decision, and I still have nothing but respect and admiration for them. But because they were opting not to publish the novel, I have to pay them back the advance they paid me - because that's the right and also legal thing to do. I mailed them the first installment of that advance on Monday, emptying out my checking account in the process. The Jeep died on Tuesday. On Thursday, I was figuring out how to come up with the rest of the money to pay them back AS WELL AS the five grand for the down payment on a new vehicle.

Which is why I sat down Thursday night and tallied up how many short stories I've written that haven't appeared in ANY other collection, and then called Paul Goblirsch at Thunderstorm Books and asked, "Hey, do you want to publish a new short story collection by me before the end of the year, and also, can you send me an advance for it ASAP?"

And Paul said, "Sure. What broke this time?"

And I said "The Jeep."

The new collection is called GOOD THINGS FOR BAD PEOPLE. We'll put it up for pre-order soon.

The advance isn't enough to pay all my debts, but it's a start. Hopefully, lots of folks have been buying lots of books recently, and this month's royalty checks will make up the rest.

I hope you've enjoyed this fascinating look into the average week of a real-life full-time genre author.

On Monday, I signed the contract for a project that's been in development most of this year. Part of that contract involved a non-disclosure agreement, so I'm very limited in what I can say about it. For the time being, I'll call it OPERATION: CEREAL (and will disclose the real name once the press releases have gone out).

Basically, I'm acting as showrunner for Season Three of a popular series, but in prose form, rather than film. I start writing the series bible this week, and a team of writers will be hired to make up my writer's room, and then we'll all get to work.

The money from that would certainly finance a new vehicle. Unfortunately, it will be a little while until I get that.

But it's a cool ass gig and I can't wait for y'all to see it.

There's actually been a LOT of movie and television stuff happening recently. I'm only talking about OPERATION: CEREAL for now, because it's the only one where there's a signed contract in play. But I fully expect to be able to announce more things soon.

Speaking of announcing movies, I’M DREAMING OF A WHITE DOOMSDAY, a feature length film by Mike Lombardo, on which I served as Executive Producer, will have its World Premiere at 2pm on Friday, October 20th, at Nightmares Film Festival 17 in Columbus, OH.

It will debut as a double feature with THE NAUGHTY LIST, a short film by Paul Campion, based on my short story “The Siqqusim Who Stole Christmas”, has been taking the film festival circuit by storm this past year.

If you are anywhere near Columbus, please consider attending.

Here is the official cover and final line-up for CLICKERS FOREVER: A TRIBUTE TO J.F. GONZALEZ.

CLICKERS FOREVER: A Tribute to J.F. Gonzalez

Edited by Brian Keene
Illustrated by Hannah Gonzalez
Cover by Dave Kendall

Featuring:
Captivity – J.F. Gonzalez
That Goddamn Grin – Robert Ford
Vanilla Sunshine – Jonathan Janz
Books with Bite – Jonathan Maberry
Back from the Dead – Mike Lombardo
Bangers and Mash – Matt Hayward
Garage Clicker – John Urbancik
On the Contributions of J.F. Gonzalez to Horror Literature – Mary SanGiovanni
My Own Personal Jesus – Wayne Allen Sallee
Algorithms of the Heart – Mike Oliveri
Moist Air – Adam Cesare
On Clickers II – J.F. Gonzalez
Clickers vs. Mandibles: The Tale of an Unwritten Saga – Jeff Strand
Ten Secrets to Survival Clickers Don’t Want You to Know (They Really Hate Number Six) – Jeff Burk
A Birthday Party for Jenny Too Good – Gord Rollo
Belief – Lesley Conner
Shooting Schedule – J.F. Gonzalez
WWJD: Collaborating with J.F. Gonzalez – Wrath James White
Only One Way to Write the End of the Individual: J. F. Gonzalez’s The Corporation – Nick Mamatas
Gracias, hermano: a letter to a man I never met – Gabino Iglesias
Deep into That Dark One Peering – Stephen Kozeniewski
At the Corner of Flanders and Phillipsport – Michael T. Huyck Jr.
Surfing Is My Life: Fear and Loathing on the Northern California Coast – Gene O’Neill
The Folly of the Dead, or, I’m Pretty Sure My Buddy Is A Serial Killer – Geoff Cooper
The Survival of Horror: A Tribute to J.F. Gonzalez’s Survivor – Matt Serafini
For You, Anything – Wesley Southard
WonderClaws™ – Monica J. O’Rourke
Throwing Books – Dave Thomas
Clickbusters – Amber Fallon
Night Run – Kristopher Rufty
A Bad Influence – Robert Swartwood
Grab – Jay Wilburn
Ku Klux Clickers – Wile E. Young
My Own Private L.A. Gangsta – Weston Ochse
Jesus and the Splatterpunks: An Oral History – David J. Schow, John Skipp, and Brian Keene
Bleeding Through – Charles Rutledge
Mabel’s Recipes – J.F. Gonzalez
To the Bitter End – Kyle Lybeck
Complications Of – Kelli Owen

COMING SOON FROM THUNDERSTORM BOOKS…

Here are two new books that you might enjoy:

Mary SanGiovanni's first book for Kensington, CHILLS, was described as "True Detective meets H.P. Lovecraft." Cemetery Dance says that her latest collection, NIGHT MOVES, establishes her as “one of the finest purveyors of weird horror in the business”. NIGHT MOVES will appeal to fans of Thomas Ligotti and Laird Barron, and is available right now in paperback and Kindle.

Bryan Smith's extreme horror novel 68 KILL was a smash hit, and the film version is a critical hit, so this is the perfect time to release a sequel -- 68 KILL PART 2, available on Kindle right now, with a paperback to follow soon.

That's it for this week. A few reminders:

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

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

See you next Sunday!