Letters From the Labyrinth 162

Hey again. I'm Brian Keene and this is the 162nd issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.
There's so much to talk about this week, I'm not even sure where to begin. I had a really bad scare as a parent this past Friday, and I think I need to write that out of my mind, so I'll tell you about that in a moment. But before I do, I guess I'd be slacking if I didn't also mention that LOVE LETTERS FROM A NIHILIST: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE VOLUME 3 came out this week in paperback and for Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. Get yours here.
I'll tell you a bit more about the book later this issue, but as I said, I want to write about something else first, if only to get rid of the leftover psychic adrenaline.
So, my son always spends the Thanksgiving holiday with his mom and her extended family, and they celebrate his grandmother's birthday that week, as well. My son was super happy as we headed into the holiday, thanks to my friend Kasey Lansdale.
About a month ago, he suggested that Kasey should do a cover of Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (a song he has just discovered), and I told Kasey this, and she posted this video for him, and gave him a shout out and his own hashtag, and so I earned me some Cool Dad points. Of course, now he has a whole bunch of other songs he wants Kasey to do live in concert...
Anyway, he was with his mother's side of the family, no doubt showing them the video, and thus, having a long holiday weekend, Mary and I drove to her parents home in New Jersey on Tuesday night.
I spent a good part of Wednesday at the home of editor and horror scholar Hank Wagner, marveling at his book collection and comic book collection. We traded some books and comics and spent a delightful afternoon chatting about the works of everyone from Jack Ketchum to F. Paul Wilson, and about literary estates (I, of course, help with J.F. Gonzalez's literary estate, and Hank helps with Charles Grant's literary estate, and it's rare you find someone else who does that and who you can talk about it with). It was the best afternoon I've had with a peer in some while. When I got back to Mary's parent's Wednesday night, we all watched The Irishman, which we enjoyed.
Thursday was Thanksgiving, of course. I've written before about Mary's big Italian family's Thanksgiving extravaganza, so no need to recap that here again. We had a good time. the food was, as always, insanely excellent. I lost 22 pounds this year, due to diet and exercise, and I'm pretty sure I gained them all back Thursday.
On Friday morning, I got a call from my son's mom. He was suffering severe abdominal pains, and she was on her way to the doctor with him. I told her to keep me posted, and then took a quick shower and woke Mary up and informed her of what was going on. Our original plan had been to babysit Mary's niece and nephew Friday night, which is a fun job, because both are easily entertained. I give you this example.

If your newsletter is displaying correctly, that's a picture of me wearing a turkey hat. As I said, Mary's niece is easily entertained.
Anyway, our original plan had been to babysit the kids Friday, and then we'd come home Saturday (after a detour to drop Mary's son off at college). I told Mary we may need to come up with an alternative plan, and about the time I did that, my son's mom texted me from the doctor to tell me that they were sending him to the emergency room because they thought it was appendicitis.
We decided Mary and her son would take Amtrak home Saturday night. I pulled out of Mary's mother's driveway at 10:40am Friday morning. The drive to Central Pennsylvania is usually 3 and a half hours. I did it in two hours and seveneen minutes. Don't ask me how, because then I'll have to confess to driving at insane speeds and breaking many traffic laws.
The hospital did a number of tests -- ultrasounds, x-rays and the like -- and luckily, it turned out he did not have appendicitis. He had a virus that had caused the lymph nodes in his tummy to swell. He's on meds now, and he'll be fine, but it was scary, nevertheless, and a lot of things go through your mind during that two hour and seventeen minute drive, and you feel powerless, and that's a terrible feeling for any parent.
Then, Friday night, his dog also got sick, and both my son and his mother were at the end of their rope, so I took him to the vet for them. Which he was happy about because he likes the vet. Turns out he ate something in the backyard that he shouldn't have, and it made him sick. I suspect he did this on purpose just so he could go see the vet. Pictures tell all.

That's a happy pup.
So, anyway, the kid and the dog are both fine now, and Mary's son got safely back to college and Mary is home safe now.
And that was my Thanksgiving holiday.
I'd hoped to finish a collaboration I'm working on with Bev Vincent on Friday and Saturday, but instead, I'll be working on it today.
As I said above. LOVE LETTERS FROM A NIHILIST: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE VOLUME 3 is out now in paperback, and for Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. I posted the table of contents a few newsletters ago. The earliest published story in it is from 1997. The latest is from earlier this year. So it spans my career quite well. It has a wonderful Introduction by Mary SanGiovanni, and I'd appreciate it if you'd snag a copy.
For over a decade, SHADES -- a horror coming-of-age novel by Geoff Cooper and myself -- has only been available as an e-book or a long out-of-print limited edition hardcover. Poltergeist Press will be releasing SHADES in mass market paperback in January. You can pre-order it now by clicking here.
I posted a bunch of stuff to Patreon this past week, including an essay on how Movie Options work and a new chapter of SUBMERGED: THE LABYRINTH BOOK 2.
I would point out that for one dollar per month, you can now read THE SEVEN: THE LABYRINTH BOOK 1 and all current chapters of SUBMERGED: THE LABYRINTH BOOK 2 right now on Patreon. I think that's a very good deal.
Also, speaking of movie options, cross your fingers because I *hope* to be able to announce several things early next year...
This Week's Podcasts:
KENZIE JENNINGS AND JEFF STRAND - The Horror Show with Brian Keene - Ep 246
Brian sits down with Jeff Strand and Kenzie Jennings for a discussion on mentoring and growth, weird westerns, screenwriting and more. Then Brian, Mary and Matt are joined in studio by a surprise guest for a remembrance of Gahan Wilson and why Amanda Palmer's nonsense isn't newsworthy.
Listen for free on YouTube – iTunes – Spotify – Project Entertainment– iHeartRadio – Stitcher
DEFENDERS DIALOGUE - Ep 83
The Champions make a desperate last stand against the Sentinels, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and Rampage, as Christopher Golden and Brian Keene discuss Marvel's The Champions issue 17 and Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man issues 17 and 18.
Listen for free on iTunes – YouTube – Project Entertainment – iHeartRadio – Stitcher
Okay, 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!