Letters From the Labyrinth 160
Hey again. I'm Brian Keene and this is the 160th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.
As you heard in the last newsletter, I got zero writing done because I was working on the ChiZine Publications implosion story for The Horror Show with Brian Keene. (That episode is now live in all the usual places, including Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, etc.). The effort and time were worth it, in that we helped a lot of folks and thoroughly presented the news. But it also put me a full week behind on everything.
Now I am fully two weeks behind on everything, because I had jury duty this past week. I won't say much about the trial, except that it was a criminal case, and it was serious for all and upsetting for some, and that it took all week. I was Juror 67. I knew the other eleven jurors only by number. We didn't learn each other's names until the last day when one of the court staff was calling each of our names (at which point one fellow juror snapped her fingers and got very excited and said, "I thought you were Brian Keene!" Anyway, we all bonded despite our short time together, and I got an idea for a novella out of the experience.
If you ever get the opportunity to serve on a jury, I recommend it. Yes, it's a pain in the ass, but it's also one of the truest glimpses you'll ever get into how our government and legal system actually works. If you want to understand why things are the way they are, serve on a jury.
Yesterday should have been spent writing, but I needed a palette cleanser before jumping back in, so Mary and I spent the day with two of my old Navy buddies.
We all got out in 1988. I went first, then Lou Bugie, then JP Wood and Lee Miller, then Dan Blumenthal, and then Greg Ward and Andy McFarland. Jay Sharpes and Grant Riffle followed our departure in 1989. Sharpes died from leukemia last year. Ward, McFarland and Buige disappeared. ("ll come back to that in a moment).
Of everyone, I've kept in touch the most with Blumenthal over the years. We were in each other's wedding parties the first time around. (He's walking down the aisle for the third time this December). Originally from Trenton, New Jersey, he now lives out near Philly, so we can catch up in person when we want. We also stayed in touch with Miller, Wood, Riffle and Sharpes over the years. We had several ship reunions and such, and a memorial for Sharpes when he died (that I was unable to attend due to having the flu). But Bugie, Ward, and McFarland remained MIA.
Until recently when, at the age of 52, Bugie finally got a smart phone and joined Facebook and tracked us down. And here's where things get wild. Turns out that for the last decade, he's been living about 30 minutes away from me, and neither of us knew it. To put an even finer point on it, he lives a block away from J.F. Gonzalez's wife and daughter. So, every time I've been over at their house, helping with yard work or going through Jesus's estate or moving furniture or just visiting, I have been within a block of somebody I served with -- and neither of us knew about it.
Yesterday, Bugie and his partner Val hosted me, Mary and Blumenthal for the afternoon (Blumenthal's fiancee couldn't make it). There was a ton of laughs, some tight hugs, and just a few small tears.
It was absolutely worth missing writing for.
Here are some pics. That's Buige on the left of me, and Blumenthal on the right. He doesn't look it, but Blumenthal is who I based recurring character Don Bloom after (if you're a fan of "Babylon Falling", THE SEVEN, or SUBMERGED).
By now, I'm sure you've read BLOOD ON THE PAGE: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE VOL. 1 and ALL DARK, ALL THE TIME: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE VOL. 2.
If you haven't, they're available in paperback and for Kindle, Nook and Kobo. (I'm not going to link to Amazon here, because as Warren Ellis pointed out, if you include four links in a Mailchimp newsletter, you get flagged as spam and then half of you will miss this. You know how to type Brian Keene Dot Com into your web browser. You also know how to go to Amazon and search for the books).
Anyway, if you haven't read them, go do it now, because coming soon...
That's the cover, done by Kealan Patrick Burke (who did the covers for the previous volumes). Here's a sneak peek at the Table of Contents. The oldest story was published in 1997. The newest was published earlier this year. Robert Swartwood is working on layout right now. Lifetime subscribers should expect it with their next package (which I expect will ship after Christmas).
Introduction by Mary SanGiovanni
Foreword
An End To All Things
Growlers
Sheltered in Place
Purple Reign
Pages from a Notebook Found Inside a House in The Woods
The Fairy Princess
The King, in: YELLOW
The Eleventh Muse
Top Five Reasons Not To Get Another Cat
No Sleep in Brooklyn
Customer Service Letter Written by an Angry Old Man on Christmas Eve
Exit Strategies
A Delayed Exit
Greater Is He That Is In Me
Intersectionality
The Last Supper
Mr. Onion
The Sleepwalker
Perchance To Dream
Helpful Guidelines To Keep In Mind When Talking With Children About School Safety
Black Sunrise
All The World’s A Stage
Halloween In Cayuga Creek
Grammar Of The Dead
Through Mirrors Darkly
The Night I Met John Maitlin
Because You Asked
The Burn Barrel
Friday Night In Damascus
The Other
Down Under
Duality
The Ties That Bind
Running Free
A reminder that if you live in the U.K. and you'd like to watch my film THE NAUGHTY LIST in a theater rather than on YouTube, two screenings are taking place next month in the UK, courtesy of Indie Flicks.
Those showings are December 2 in Manchester and December 4 in Liverpool. For theater locations and to buy your tickets, click here.
Also a reminder that THE BIG BOOK OF BLASPHEMY is now available in paperback and e-book. Edited by Regina Garza Mitchell and David G. Barnett and featuring stories by: Brian Keene, Edward Lee, Charlee Jacob, Simon Clark, Wrath James White, Lucy Taylor, Kristopher Triana, Ryan Harding, Monica J. O’Rourke, John Urbancik, Gerard Houarner, Jeremy Wagner, Gabino Iglesias, Stephen Kozeniewski and many more.
That's it for this week. As always, go to Brian Keene Dot Com and from there you can find me on Patreon, Twitter and YouTube, which are the only social media I use these days (along with an occasional post to Instagram).
I'll see you back here next week!