[Letters From the Labyrinth] 137
I'm Brian Keene, and this is the 137th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth -- a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.
Apologies for not sending a newsletter last week, but I had a 9 hour drive from the Bram Stoker Awards in Grand Rapids, Michigan back to Central Pennsylvania. It was a great weekend. I recapped it on last Thursday's episode of The Horror Show with Brian Keene, so if you want to hear my recap, I'll point you to that rather than retype it here.
But I will share some pics from the weekend, taken from various people's social media, as well as my own phone. I'll put them at the end of the newsletter so as to not overwhelm your browser with images.
When I was a kid, Arthur C. Clarke promised that by the year 2001, we'd have moon bases and space tourism and manned flights to Jupiter. None of that happened, but we did get HAL, the insane artificial intelligence.
Giant, our local grocery chain, introduced robots at all of their stores this year. Operated on A.I. and totally self-sufficient, the robots move about the stores cleaning up spills, checking shelve stock and watching for shoplifters.
Yesterday, one of them trundled up behind me and bellowed "ALERT! HAZARD DETECTED!"
There was no hazard. there was only me. So I told it to calm down and then I asked it to pose for a photograph.
As a kid, I was promised the world of 2001. Instead, I got the world of The Terminator series.
late. Say hello to our new overlords. We are hazards to them.
Remember when Raven Banner were going to make DARK HOLLOW into a movie and there was even a teaser trailer for it? Here is that teaser trailer if you don’t remember it.
Well, the movie never happened due to budgetary issues, but the statue that appears in the trailer (and in the book) sat in director Paul Campion’s workshop for years, until Paul moved back to New Zealand, at which point it had to find a new home. Originally, we’d hoped to auction it for charity, but the cost of shipping it internationally would have been prohibitive for any lucky buyer. So, instead, we decided to just bring the statue here, and after a long journey, it has finally arrived.
Here is a video documenting the statue’s arrival, and our difficulty fitting it into the studio, and our plans for it going forward. I should also note that this video is my first attempt at going beyond simply producing movies and trying my hand at editing, as well. Be kind. CLICK HERE TO WATCH.
My Most Recent Podcasts:
ALONE WITH THE HORRORS - The Horror Show with Brian Keene - Ep 218
Brian, Mary, Dave and Matt discuss Ramsey Campbell’s seminal retrospective short story collection, ALONE WITH THE HORRORS. Plus the 2018 Shirley Jackson Award nominees, the latest on Baker & Taylor, Lydia Shamah’s new job, and a Mo*Con report.
Listen for free on YouTube – iTunes – Spotify – Project Entertainment – iHeartRadio – Stitcher
JEREMY WAGNER - The Horror Show with Brian Keene - Ep 219
Author and Broken Hope guitarist Jeremy Wagner discusses his new novel RABID HEART, his musical and prose influences, and making the transition from founding and playing in a legacy death metal band to being a horror novelist. Plus complete coverage of the Bram Stoker Awards convention and winners, the nitwittery of Dean Klein, and the bells of justice toll for Keya Morgan.
Listen for free on YouTube – iTunes – Spotify – Project Entertainment – iHeartRadio – Stitcher
DEFENDERS DIALOGUE - Episode 64
In the shadow of the Mutant Registration Act, the Defenders face off against one of their own, possessed by the Dragon of the Moon, and Moondragon’s life hangs in the balance!
Plus, Christopher and Brian’s spoiler-free thoughts on Avengers: Endgame.
Listen for free on iTunes – YouTube – Project Entertainment – iHeartRadio – Stitcher
DEFENDERS DIALOGUE - Episode 65
It’s the Return of Johnny Blaze as Frog Boys at heart, Brian Keene & Christopher Golden, dig into New Defenders 145 & 146. All this while Brian awaits a special delivery and Christopher shows off a certain set of… singing skills?
Listen for free on iTunes – YouTube – Project Entertainment – iHeartRadio – Stitcher
There’s a new interview with me on Scott Edelman’s EATING THE FANTASTIC (one of my favorite podcasts). But I’m not the only guest! From the description:
Join us as Michael Bailey describes his novel inspired by a fire which turned his home to ashes in seven minutes, Geoffrey A. Landis shares about the Sherlock Holmes/Jack the Ripper horror story he published in the science fiction magazine Analog, Brian Keene explains why he chose last weekend to finally reappear at an HWA event, Wile E. Young tells why he thinks of the Road Runner whenever a story gets rejected, Anton Cancre reveals which guest that weekend earned most of his squee, and Wesley Southard offers his schtick for selling books when stuck behind a dealers table at a con.
Plus Erik T. Johnson gives an unexpected (but perfectly logical) answer when asked about one of the perks of StokerCon, Patrick Freivald looks back on how his horror career began via a collaboration with his twin brother, Josh Malerman recounts how he replaced readings with full blown Bird Box interactive performances and how an audience of 85-year-olds reacted, Asher Ellis shares how the Stonecoast MFA program made him a better writer, Kennikki Jones-Jones discusses her Final Frame award-winning short film Knock Knock, Eugene Johnson celebrates his Bram Stoker Award win that night for It’s Alive: Bringing Your Nightmares to Life, and much, much more!
CLICK HERE (and then scroll down) to listen!
I was also a guest on The Dark Energy Podcast. We did sort of a career retrospective interview, and I also got to talk about the forthcoming final novel in THE RISING series.
Click here to listen.
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! Here are those Stoker pics I promised.
A bunch of us had dinner Saturday night at Ruth's Chris Steak House, courtesy of author and Broken Hope guitarist Jeremy Wagner.
Scott Edelman and me.
Daniel Kraus, Stephen Graham Jones, myself, Becky Spratford, Sarah Read, and Grady hendrix on a panel for librarians.
Josh Malerman and Wile E. Young.
Krystal Hammond, Cynthia Pelayo, me, and Stephanie Wytovich on a panel about writing through personal tragedy.
Same group, post-panel with Mary Turzillo.
