Letters From the Labyrinth 171

Hi. I'm Brian Keene and this is the 170th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.

This past week was mostly spent at 100 miles per hour. On Monday I took a train to Boston. These days, I vastly prefer traveling by train whenever possible. Air travel has become an exercise in frustration and futility, and while I still enjoy driving long distances, my lower back does not. I opt for business class if it's available. If it's not, then I go sit in the cafe car. Both offer tables and electrical outlets, and thus, a chance to work while traveling. I find it impossible to write on airplanes, and while I've dictated various things while driving, it's a dangerous habit to get into.

(Fun fact: I dictated large portions of END OF THE ROAD while I was driving across America. Each night, I'd stop at a hotel and play it back and type it up).

I got in to Haverhill, MA on Monday evening and went to Christopher Golden's house. I adore Chris and his family. He and his wife have raised three remarkable young people. His youngest son, whose politics remind me of mine at that age, before the machine ground those hopes out of me, had never seen THEY LIVE, so we showed it to him, and reminded him of when it was made.

On Tuesday, Chris and I recorded an episode of Defenders Dialogue in the morning. He and I have been doing that show for three years now, but this is the first time we've done it together in the same room. Here's the YouTube link. It's also available on Spotify, Apple, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, etc.

When we were finished, we drove to Joe Hill's place in New Hampshire and hung out. My favorite thing to do when visiting a friend's house is to check out their library. Neither Chris nor Joe's disappoints. Both of them have enough cool books and comic books that I could have spent days browsing the shelves.

Eventually, we got around to recording The Horror Show with Brian Keene. Both Joe and Chris brought their A game for that, and I am so grateful to them both. Here is the YouTube link. It's also available on Spotify, Apple, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, etc.

Later that night, Chris put together a very small gathering of friends -- James A. Moore, Bracken MacLeod, and Tony Tremblay. It was great to see all of them, and particularly great to see Jim, who is continuing to kick cancer's ass.

Sure, this was a work trip. But it was really just an opportunity to hang out for a bit with friends and peers that I trust, and who trust me, and talk about things that bring us joy, and this business, and this weird thing that we all do for a living, and not have to worry about what the other person wants from us.

Thanks Chris, Joe, Jim, Bracken, and Tony, and to your families, as well.

Here are a few pics from the week.

While on the train, I finished my novella for the collaboration I'm doing with Bev Vincent (which I talked about in a previous newsletter). I'll be sending that to Bev this coming week. I also finished a brand new short story which features the return of Adam Senft. Yes, you read that right.

Adam Senft — the main character in the novels DARK HOLLOW and GHOST WALK, and the short story “The House of Ushers” — is back in a brand-new short story called “This Year’s Resolutions”, exclusively available on Patreon.

Also on Patreon this month is an essay about what to do when you’ve angered an Internet mob, a sneak peek at some movie stuff, and a new chapter of SUBMERGED: THE LABYRINTH Book 2 in which Frankie and Nelson LeHorn face-off against Leviathan’s hordes.

Click here to start reading now!

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I'm not going to copy and paste the rather long Blog entry I posted earlier this week. You can read it here.

Some folks are asking why I haven't named the person, and why Chris Golden, Mary SanGiovanni, Rachel Deering, Kelli Owen, Wile E. or anyone else involved haven't named the person. Well, that's because we're not out to ruin anybody's career. We just want the person in question to leave us alone. Period, point blank. Stop using our names as the reason for all your perceived ills and go enjoy being a writer.

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Here's something I said in a conversation I was having with authors Kealan Patrick Burke, CM Harris, and Alicia Hilton on Twitter in regards to Josh Malerman's Bird Box. I think it deserves repeating here: "Hopefully people don't think I'm being self-serving here, but I believe BIRD BOX will have just as much - if not more - of a generational impact as THE RISING did. Except that Josh is a way better writer and it's a way better book. But yeah, it's already essential genre history. What sets Josh apart for me, as a fan, is that not only is he an exceptional writer, but he has a deep knowledge of the genre, and all its nooks and crannies and sub-genres. That combo is rarer than you might think."

If you haven't read Bird Box yet, you really should. All of Josh's stuff has been great so far, but Bird Box is the one that has grabbed the public's consciousness.

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CURRENTLY WATCHING: Curb Your Enthusiasm

CURRENTLY LISTENING: Various albums by Mastodon

CURRENTLY READING: Salem's Lot

Stephen King's Salem's Lot is my second favorite King novel of all time (edged out only by The Stand). It has aged remarkably well.

I've often said that King is the new Dickens, in that, when you want to understand what life was like for folks back in the day, you read Charles Dickens. When people want to understand what life was like in the 20th Century, they'll read Stephen King. Salem's Lot demonstrates this fully. It captures 1970's rural Americana possibly better than any other novel I can think of. The vampires are simply a bonus.

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I'd like to leave you with this thought from director Mike Lombardo: "Sometimes you have to refill the creative well. Put down a project for a few months and just live your life. Watch movies, read books, play games, absorb as much art as you can and don't guilt yourself over the time you spend doing it. It's so easy to burn out and start to hate your project. Don't let that happen. Know when to step away and you'll be a better artist and yield a better project for it."

He's a good kid, Mike Lombardo, and I am immensely proud of the man and creator that he has become.

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That's it for this week. As always, a few reminders:

PATREON - Where I post new short stories, writing advice essays, two serialized ongoing novels, and behind-the-scenes stuff. I'll be posting a bunch of stuff there today and tomorrow, in fact.

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!