[Letters From the Labyrinth] Official Brian Keene Newsletter

Hello. My name is Brian Keene and this is the fourth issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly email newsletter. Thank you for inviting me inside your computer. As this is my weekend with my youngest son, and as I have to work on edits for RETURN TO THE LOST LEVEL after I take him home this evening, this edition will be very short.

Maelstrom is my own imprint via Thunderstorm Books. Each year, we release one set consisting of a novel-length work by myself, a novella-length work by myself, and a novel-length work by an author whom I think deserves a wider audience among book collectors. In past years, that has included Livia Llewellyn, Chesya Burke, Amber Fallon, Rachel Autumn Deering, John Urbancik, Geoff Cooper, John Goodrich, and many more.

In a previous newsletter, I talked about how this year's Maelstrom line-up has been in a state of flux, owing to the fact that I really want to publish the never-before-seen uncut edition of TERMINAL (the only one of my novels for which I don't own the full rights). Unfortunately, due to uncertainty over whether or not I am allowed to do that, I had to pick something different. This is trickier than it sounds, since it basically meant that I was going to have to come up with a novel-length manuscript -- from scratch -- in the next month. Luckily, Steven Shrewsbury emailed me the manuscript for our sequel to KING OF THE BASTARDS, and it turns out he'd finished his part far earlier than either of us had anticipated.

Thus, here is this year's Maelstrom 2016 line-up:

THRONE OF THE BASTARDS by Steven L. Shrewsbury & Brian Keene – A horror/sword & sorcery sequel to KING OF THE BASTARDS.

SCHOOL’S OUT by Brian Keene – A post-apocalyptic novella told from the point-of-view of an eight-year-old (and pitched to me by my own eight-year-old son).

COME TO DUST by Bracken MacLeod – Bracken’s writing has been getting some mainstream notice and there’s a lot of buzz for his forthcoming novel, STRANDED, but readers among the book collecting subset aren’t yet familiar with him. That’s going to change this winter.

As always, we will give the public a minimum of two week’s notice before pre-orders begin, so that you can set money aside. THIS IS NOT THAT NOTICE. This is simply letting you know what this year’s books will be.

As you know, I've signed a multi-book deal with Crossroads Press to adapt all of my backlist into audiobook format. Their first release was the audiobook adaptation of THE COMPLEX, which you can purchase here.

In last week's newsletter, I promised you news on what the next few forthcoming audiobook releases would be. Here they are, in order:

DARK HOLLOW - read by Chet Williamson
GHOST WALK - read by Chet Williamson

And then, either URBAN GOTHIC, DEAD SEA, or ENTOMBED.

And at some point when we can find some free time in both our schedules, the entire EARTHWORM GODS trilogy, read by Scott Weinberg.

With THRONE OF THE BASTARDS coming out in hardcover from maelstrom this winter, and then paperback and e-book from Apex next year, now might be a good time to read KING OF THE BASTARDS if you haven't yet. It's available in paperback and e-book right here.

Like I said at the top, short one this week. Take care of yourself, and I'll see you again next week, universe willing. Also, please note, the best way to reach me is still Twitter, rather than replying to this email. My inbox currently has 3,012 unread messages.