[Letters From the Labyrinth] Official Brian Keene Newsletter

Welcome back to Letters From the Labyrinth -- a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. This is the 124th issue. Previous issues are archived here.

By the time you're reading this, I will be on a train en route to New York City. I vastly prefer traveling by train to air travel. because I can actually get work done on the train.

I'll be in New York for a week as part of the writing staff on a new series. I'm limited in what I can say about the series, but I can tell you that it will debut later this year, and the characters are very popular in modern day pop culture, and part of one of the biggest libraries of corporate intellectual property in the world.

While I'm in the city, I'll also be getting interviewed one evening for a forthcoming documentary about Joe R. Lansdale.

You'd think that with a week in the city, I'd get to do more -- look up old friends for lunch and dinner and such, but that's rarely how writer's rooms work. Days and evenings will be spent in a huddle with the other writers on the series, hammering out all the things. The one bit of free time I do have will be spent being interviewed for the documentary.

Understand, I'm not complaining. The pay is excellent, and it will be cool to write two characters whom I've never had the opportunity to play with before. And they're putting me up in some fine lodging. And as for the documentary, I could talk about the works of Joe R. Lansdale for a solid week.

But there won't be a lot of free time, and there won't be a lot of work time. Which is why I'm looking forward to tomorrow's train ride.

Which, again, is the train ride I'm on right now, as you read this.

Poltergeist Press – a new publisher specializing in Russian mass-market paperback, trade hardcover, and digital translations of American horror – have revealed the cover for Темная Лощина – the Russian edition of DARK HOLLOW. This beautiful artwork below is done by Chris Enterline.

Темная Лощина goes on sale worldwide later this month. For more on Poltergeist Press, click here. For more on Chris Enterline, click here.

Wrath James White and Brian Keene, founders of the Splatterpunk Awards, which recognize superior achievement in the sub-genres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror, are pleased to announce the nominees for the second annual awards, honoring works published in 2018.

BEST NOVEL

A Gathering of Evil by Gil Valle (Comet Press)
Camp Slasher by Dan Padavona (Independently Published)
Full Brutal by Kristopher Triana (Grindhouse Press)
Last Day by Bryan Smith (Independently Published)
Rabid Heart by Jeremy Wagner (Riverdale Avenue Books)
Ring of Fire by David Agranoff (Deadite Press)

BEST NOVELLA

1000 Severed Dicks by Ryan Harding and Matt Shaw (Independently Published)
Cockblock by CV Hunt (Grindhouse Press)
Dead Stripper Storage by Bryan Smith (Grindhouse Press)
Kill For Satan by Bryan Smith (Grindhouse Press)
The Mongrel by Sean O’Connor (Matador)
The Writhing Skies by Betty Rocksteady (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing)

BEST SHORT STORY

Diabolicus Interruptus by Christine Morgan (Forbidden Futures #1)
Fistulas by Mame Bougouma Diene (Dark Moons Rising on a Starless Night)
Rebound by Brendan Vidito (Nightmares In Ecstasy)
The Seacreator by Ryan Harding (Splatterpunk Forever)
Seersucker Motherfucker by Jay Wilburn (Beautiful Darkness)
Virtue of Stagnant Waters by Monica J. O’Rourke (Splatterpunk Forever)

BEST COLLECTION

Dark Moons Rising on a Starless Night by Mame Bougouma Diene (Clash Books)
DJStories by David J. Schow (Subterranean Press)
Nightmares In Ecstasy by Brendan Vidito (Clash Books)
The Very Ineffective Haunted House by Jeff Burk (Clash Books)
Walking Alone: Short Stories by Bentley Little (Cemetery Dance Publications)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

The Black Room Manuscripts Volume 4 by J. R. Park and Tracy Fahey (Sinister Horror Company)
Monsters of Any Kind by Alessandro Manzetti and Daniele Bonfanti (Independent Legions Publishing)
Splatterpunk Forever by Jack Bantry and Kit Power (Splatterpunk zine)
Welcome to the Show by Doug Murano and Matt Hayward (Crystal Lake Publishing)
Year’s Best Hardcore Horror Volume 3 by Randy Chandler and Cheryl Mullenax (Red Room Press)

In addition to these nominees, publisher and author David G. Barnett will receive the J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the field.

The nominees were selected by readers, fans, professionals and the jurors. The final ballot will be voted on by this year’s jury: Regina Garza-Mitchell, Gabino Iglesias, Tod Clark, Gerard Houarner, Jason Cavallaro, and Garrett Cook.

The awards will be presented during a ceremony at the 2019 Killercon Convention, taking place August 16th through the 18th in Austin, Texas. For more information, click here.

Here's me with the rest of the Board of Directors for the Scares That Care charity. We had a fantastic meeting yesterday. The reason we aren't smiling is the sun was in our eyes.

But seriously, we've got some very cool surprises in store for this year. Lots of new ways of helping folks, and of course, another killer convention in August.

This Week's Podcasts:

CONFLUENCE - The Horror Show with Brian Keene - Episode 206

Spinning out of the BizarroCon and Deadite Press controversy and the fate of F. Paul Wilson’s REPAIRMAN JACK, Brian, Mary, Dave and Matt have a difficult, nuanced, honest discussion about censorship, art, ageism, obscenity, privilege, the new generation gap and what the coming year might hold for the industry. Plus Graham Masterton is honored by the HWA, the 2018 Splatterpunk Award nominees, and Stephen Kozeniewski’s efforts for Women In Horror month.

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


DEFENDERS DIALOGUE - Episode 55

The New Defenders spring into action against the New Secret Empire! Plus, Christopher Golden and Brian Keene discuss J.M. DeMatteis’s epic run on Ghost Rider.

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

Been listening to a lot of pop music from my youth this past week -- Madonna's "Borderline", various tracks by Cyndi Lauper, Tears For Fears first album, Prince's Purple Rain (which is not only the best pop album of the Eighties, but also the best rock album, funk album, and overall album of the Eighties, and don't argue with me on this because I will stab you).

Today, by the time you're reading this, I will have listened to Motorhead's "On The Road" and AC/DC's "It's A Long Way to The Top" -- because I listen to those every time I head out traveling for work.

Tomorrow, waking up in a hotel suite and getting ready to go to work, I suspect I'll have on Ace Frehley's "Back In The New York Groove" or maybe Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind".

You can tell a lot about where I'm at, and where my head is at, and what I'm planning by examining what I'm listening to at the time.

Unless I'm in a disco mood. i don't know what the hell that means...

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!