Letters From the Labyrinth 85

Hi. I'm Brian Keene and this is Letters From the Labyrinth -- a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.
This was a horrifically busy week, and next week is going to be even worse. I have to write episodes 8 and 10 of THE DOOR, and those are top priority. I also have to finish my taxes.
I hate doing taxes.
But in between working on those things, I've been signing books for Lifetime Subscribers, recording an episode of The Horror Show (we skipped a week of Defenders Dialogue because Christopher Golden is equally horrifically busy), and working on stuff for both the telethon and the Scares That Care convention in August.
All the other writing-related things -- the final draft of "Running Free", the new Levi novel, the new RISING book -- all of it got pushed to the wayside, which is a bummer, because I've really been into them.
I do have some good news for you, though, regarding THE DOOR. But first, let's recap what you already know:
* THE DOOR is not the real name of the project.
* It is based on an existing horror anthology media property.
* My official title is Showrunner, and the Writers Room I oversee consists of Richard Chizmar, Stephen Kozeniewski, Michelle Garza and Melissa Lason.
* It will debut as a 10-episode serial from SerialBox (the HBO of prose fiction) in both prose and audio.
Well, here's a newsletter exclusive -- the official announcement and full details for THE DOOR will be revealed live during The Second Annual The Horror Show with Brian Keene Scares That Care Telethon, taking place May 11 and 12th. And Richard Chizmar and Stephen Kozeniewski will be live on the air with me to talk about it.
The telethon will be livestreamed on the Project Entertainment Network YouTube channel. Subscribe for free here, so you don't miss it
If you'd like to be at the telethon in person as part of our studio audience, click here and buy a ticket. We'll be broadcasting from the Courtyard Marriott 2799 Concord Road, York PA 17402.
Who else will be on hand, besides myself, Rich, and Stephen? Well, the entire Horror Show team for starters -- Dave Thomas, mary SanGiovanni, Geoff Cooper, Mike Lombardo, and Phoebe, of course. Director Lynne Hansen. Authors Jeff Strand, Scott Edelman, Dan Padavona, John Urbancik, Armand Rosamilia, Chuck Buda, Somer Canon, Ralph Bieber, and dozens more. Many more guests to be announced soon -- and many more beyond them that we'll keep as a surprise until we're live.
It's gonna be big...
Del Howison of Dark Delicacies -- one of my favorite bookstores -- asked me to contribute a few words to his Blog on the topic of the political polarization of America.
Click here to read my thoughts.
As always, your mileage may vary.
I've seen a lot of industry debate the past few weeks about horror anthologies and diversity. Predictably, the debate descended into the political talking points of Left/Right. Which is a shame, since it's not a Progressive or Conservative issue. It's a Human issue.
Here's a comment I made on author Chesya Burke's Facebook page. As someone who is neither Right or Left, I thought it might serve to help folks understand what the issue actually is, and what diversity really means. I'm re-posting it here in the newsletter for the same reason.
An example that might help clarify for those still having trouble understanding:
Last year, Paul Tremblay and I were thinking about editing an anthology that would ONLY spotlight new voices in horror. (It hasn't happened because when I shopped the idea around, the mainstream pubs wanted the old voices in horror, and the small presses couldn't pay what we'd need the authors to recieve, and the limited edition presses couldn't make it financially feasible).
This would have been an open call anthology. Being a 50-year old white dude I would have kept an eye on submissions as they came rolling in. If I noticed a trend such as "Hmmm, Paul, we're not getting many submissions from women" or "We've only gotten one sub from a member of the trans community" or "Damn it, the only people of color who submitted so far are Wrath James White and Gabino Iglesias, and Wrath's story is about the love between a man and a chicken and we can't publish that" -- then it would be clear to me that we need to do better outreach.
At that point, I'd go to folks like Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Chuck Wendig and Maurice Broaddus and Livia Llewellyn and Nick Mamatas and others who have a different social media reach/audience than me and ask them for a signal boost, because it would be apparent at that point that I'm not reaching everyone.
It's not about buying stories to fill a "quota". It's about making sure historically marginalized writers have an equal chance and equal footing. It's not an editor saying "I'm really glad you submitted. I'm buying your story because you have a vagina." It's an editor saying, "I'm really glad you submitted. I'm buying your story because it's fantastic." But the only way to get that fantastic story is to cast as wide a net as possible.

SHINING IN THE DARK is an anthology that contains fiction from myself, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Stewart O’Nan, Bev Vincent, and Ramsey Campbell, and many others.
You can get an English language hardcover edition right now by clicking here.
You can get an Italian language edition by clicking here.
Currently, there is a Kickstarter to finance a Swedish-language edition of 666 copies, with a new cover by the fantastic Vincent Chong and interior illustrations by Swedish artist Larz Kranz.
Click here to support the Swedish Kickstarter.
One of the books I'm most excited for this year is THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF EVERYTHING -- the new fiction collection from Nick Mamatas.
Table of contents:
Walking with a Ghost
Lab Rat
Arbeitskraft
North Shore Friday
The Great Armored Train
Tom Silex, Spirit-Smasher
Slice of Life
The People’s Republic of Everywhere and Everything
The Glottal Stop (original to this volume)
The Phylactery
A Howling Dog (first time in print)
The Spook School
We Never Sleep
Dreamer of the Day
Under My Roof (author's preferred text)
With an introduction by Jeffrey Ford
CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER THE EBOOK (All Formats)
CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER THE PAPERBACK FOR 31% OFF

A reminder that Camelot Books are also raising money for Scares That Care, offering a set of signed limited editions of Edward Lee’s HEADER 2 and HEADER 3 for just $50! That’s right! Two hardcover signed limited edition Edward Lee books for the price of one. Camelot Books will donate $20.00 from every set sold to Scares That Care. They have set aside 100 sets for this endeavour to reach a $2000 donation for this good cause.
Click here to purchase your set. And a very big thank you to Camelot Books!
For my peers who read this newsletter, on next week's The Horror Show with Brian Keene, we intend to do an episode on the perceived limbo of the literary estates of Ruby Jean Jensen, JN Williamson, David Silva and others whose vast body of work is now out of print and seemingly lost (except for digital pirates and used book stores).
In the case of Jensen and Williamson, I have only hearsay as to why their estates languished. I'd really like some hard data. If you know someone who can speak with authority on them, please have them contact me.
Thanks!
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That's it for this week. As always:
PATREON - Where I post new short stories, writing advice essays, a serialized ongoing novel, and behind-the-scenes stuff.
TWITTER - The only social media outlet I still use regularly.
See you back here next week.