[Letters From the Labyrinth] Brian Keene Newsletter 121

Welcome back to Letters From the Labyrinth -- a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. this is the 121st issue. Previous issues are archived here.

Paperback and e-book editions of HOLE IN THE WORLD - the third novel set in the world of THE LOST LEVEL - go up for pre-order this coming Tuesday, the 22nd. The book will be in stores in February.

This is the cover, and I love it.

If you haven't read THE LOST LEVEL or RETURN TO THE LOST LEVEL, that's okay because HOLE IN THE WORLD involves a different cast of characters.

For those of you who have read the entire series so far, we'll be returning to Aaron's adventures with BENEATH THE LOST LEVEL.

I apologize for you not getting a newsletter last Sunday. I was at BizarroCon and the time one difference caught up with me. When I remembered to send it, John Urbancik and I were about to attend a film festival curated by John Skipp. I thought, "I'll write one up and send it after this."

But that didn't happen. During the film festival, I got a text from author and editor Michael Bailey, informing me that Gak had passed away. I told John. Then I texted authors Geoff Cooper, Mike Oliveri, Michael T. Huyck Jr., Regina Garza Mitchell, and Kelly Laymon — because Gak had been part of our crew, back in the early days of “gangsta horror” (a label that I am forever grateful we quickly grew beyond). I meant to text some other people, but then my phone battery quit.

This was news that we’d been apprehensive of for some time. Although Gak was a very private person, there were a few of us who’d known he’d been sick for a while. But regardless… it’s still a blow. As author Ronald Kelly pointed out, we were all still stinging from J.F. Gonzalez, Tom Piccirilli, and Jack ‘Dallas Mayr’ Ketchum. And now this.

The first person I ever met in this business was Joe R. Lansdale. I’ve told that story on my podcast. But when I met him, I had only vague notions of becoming a writer. It was a desire, but I hadn’t yet taken the full leap.

About a decade later, after I’d taken that full leap, the first person I met in this business was Gak. His artwork was everywhere back then, in the last days of the horror zines, appearing in venues like Phantasm, Cabal Asylum, Scavenger’s Newsletter, The Sentinel, Welcome to Nod, Lathered in Crimson, Weird Times, etc. He’d also done some book covers for Necro Publications, Obsidian, etc. by then, if I remember correctly.

He’d illustrated a story of mine in one of those zines. Arriving at my very first World Horror Convention, I boarded an airport shuttle bus and started talking to the dude next to me. Turned out he was Gak, and he told me how much he dug the story and I told him how much I dug his artwork, and the rest, as they say, was history.

Over the last twenty years, Gak has illustrated more of my work than any other artist. His cover to 4X4 was integral to its success, and the original artwork is emblazoned across my back as a tattoo. His work on A Darker Dawning and A Darker Dawning 2 were as important as the stories. His covers to Sympathy For the Devil, Running With the Devil, The New Fear, and Leader of the Banned distilled the Hail Saten series in a way no other artist could have done. The original artwork for his illustrations for my short stories “Gratefully Dead”, “Full Of It”, “What Dreams May Come” and more hang in my office, as does the original painting for 4X4. And it continued throughout our careers. One of his later illustrations was for “The Last Things To Go”, a short story I co-wrote with Mary SanGiovanni, which appeared in the Library of the Dead anthology. For the same anthology, he also illustrated one of J.F. Gonzalez last written stories. I know that would have pleased Jesus immensely. He thought the world of Gak. And Gak of him.

Gak and I had been working, off and on for the last decade, on a project called The Wanderer. It was conceived by us as part prose novel, part illustrated novel, and part graphic novel. We stopped working on it when it looked like our mutual friend Dave Barnett at Necro might have to shut down. When that didn’t happen, and Dave continued to fight the good fight, we started on it again. But then Gak got sick, and we stopped working on it again. It will remain unfinished, because there is nobody else I would consider doing it with.

Last time I heard directly from Gak was right after Pic or Jesus died (I can’t remember which). It was a short message, via email or Facebook. But I didn’t talk to him these last few years. I knew he was sick, but he didn’t know that I knew he was sick, and I didn’t want to throw the person who told me under the bus. Like I said, Gak valued his privacy. I wish now, that I had reached out.

But I’ve got a lot of great memories, and a lot of him on my walls and on my shelves, and not just from my books. Anytime I reach for my favorites by Edward Lee or Gene O’Neill, for example, it will be Gak’s cover illustrations that greet me. And of course, I’ll carry him with me on my back until it’s my turn to join the others in that convention hotel bar on the other side, that way station where we all get together one last time before moving on to whatever comes after this. Personally, I believe we are reborn, but even if it is just oblivion, there will still be time for one last round, and one last toast.)

Take care, brother. Give my best to Jesus and Pic and Dick and Dallas and everyone else, and tell them I’ll be along shortly. I only have a few more things to finish up, and I’m getting slower in this middle section of middle-age, but I’ll get there in time.

This is a picture of Gak and I outside Dark Delicacies in 2001. It was the first time I ever signed there. Although I'm sure you've heard me talk about it before, Dark Delicacies is a horror bookstore located in California. For the past 25 years, they've served the genre in a way no other bookstore can even come close to.

Last summer, I was informed in confidence that they might have to close down -- not because business was bad (in fact, business is good) -- but because of climbing rents in the city of Burbank. (The same struggle that impacted Borderlands Books, another wonderful genre bookstore in San Francisco).

I was asked to sit on the news and not report it, in case they figured something out. And luckily they have figured something out. A great location with affordable rent just became available, but it's going to cost $20,000 for them to move there. They have started a GoFundMe to cover those costs. Please, please, please consider contributing to it, so that they can continue for another 25 years.

JOHN WAYNE COMUNALE - The Horror Show with Brian Keene - Ep 203

Author and musician John Wayne Comunale sits down with Brian for a revealing interview about growing up punk, bridging the gap between Horror and Bizarro fiction, his new book AS SEEN ON T.V. and more. Plus a remembrance of Gak, and Brian, Dave and Matt finally get a glimpse inside a Nocturnal Reader’s Box.

Listen for free on iTunes – YouTube – Spotify – Project Entertainment – iHeartRadio – Stitcher

I am pleased to announce that I have signed a five-book deal with Dolmen’s Plan B Publicaciones for the Spanish translations of DARK HOLLOW, EARTHWORM GODS, URBAN GOTHIC, DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN, and THE RISING. The latter will be published later this month.

Currently Reading: JIMBO YOJIMBO by David W. Barbee

Currently Listening: Various doom metal bands

Currently Watching: The Twilight Zone

In previous newsletters and on my podcast, I've talked about how my ten-year old and I have worked our way through all of the Universal monster films, the age-appropriate Hammer films, the Godzilla films, etc.

Last night, we started The Twilight Zone. He wanted to see my favorite episode, so we watched "Time Enough At Last", which he loved. This morning, when he woke up, instead of watching cartoons or YouTube streamers, he pulled up the series on Netflix, selected the first episode, and informed me this was what we are doing today.

I'm good with that.

When we are finished, it will then be time to introduce him to another of my favorites -- The Outer Limits.

That's it for this week. As always:

PATREON - Where I post new short stories, writing advice essays, two serialized ongoing novels, and behind-the-scenes stuff.

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

YOUTUBE - Where I'm posting free stuff each and every day.

I'll see you back here next week!