Letters From the Labyrinth 187 - Brian Keene
Hi. I'm Brian Keene and this is the 187th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.
Sending this one a little late today. Normally, I have these newsletters typed up by Saturday afternoon, and put them in the automated queue for Sunday delivery, but today I'm typing it on Sunday morning and then hitting send. Then, after that, I've got to do the same thing on Patreon.
You may remember that beginning June 1st, my Patreon will switch to daily content for a flat monthly fee of $5. That's 365 days of stories, essays, and serials for just five buck a month. I decided to start posting the daily content early, just to get myself in the habit of doing it, and I'm glad I did, because it's provided an extra boost in my productivity, helping me achieve word count levels that I haven't seen on a daily basis since entering my mid-forties. This past week, all supporters got a daily serialized novella called HOLLOW INSIDE, which serves as sort of an epilogue to my novels DARK HOLLOW and GHOST WALK. They also got an exclusive first look at an Introduction I wrote for Gabino Iglesias's forthcoming Thunderstorm Books edition of his novel Coyote Songs. Today and tomorrow, HOLLOW INSIDE will conclude. Next week, a few new installments of SUBMERGED, a few new writing essays... As I said, posting daily content has boosted my productivity for sure. And a reminder, all of the previously posted content is still there. So even if you haven't subscribed yet, you can do so now and then go back through and read everything you missed. Click here to become a supporter.
Anyway, that's not the reason I'm typing this newsletter late today. As I was talking about with Joe Lansdale last night, the reason I'm typing it late is because I've had a work week that involved manual labor, rather than writing. Joe and I both are no strangers to manual labor. We both have farmed in our lives. But the difference between us is that he got smart and buys his food at the supermarket, and I'm still out here hoeing the dirt and planting seeds and staking tomatoes and shooing the chickens off their eggs so I can collect them. Planting a sizable garden is hard work, and don't let anyone tell you different. I've worked in foundries and factories, I've done roofing, I've driven truck, and I was both a telemarketer and a day care instructor. All of those are hard jobs, in their individual ways, but none of them made my back hurt the way planting a garden does.
On top of all that. Mary and I began setting up our new offices this past week. Folks who have visited our home (and many of the writers, actors, artists, musicians, comedians and directors who read this have indeed been here) then you'll remember that my office and the podcast studio were located out in the garage, which I customized for that purpose, and Mary's office was either the living room or the kitchen, depending on the day. And you'll remember that the upper story of our house had a separate entrance and exit, and was occupied by a tenant. Well, that tenant has moved out and we decided it was time to turn that upstairs into offices, so I've been doing that this week, as well -- carrying bookshelves, desks, and boxes and boxes and boxes of books from the garage and across the yard and up the stairs to the second floor. I've been doing this by myself, not by choice, but by necessity. I had offers of help -- Matt Wildasin, Wesley Southard, Stephen Kozeniewski, Robert Ford and other local authors offered to lend a hand -- but I just can't see endangering anybody else simply to move furniture. I'm pretty sure I'm not infected but I'd rather not take the chance, you know?
Anyway, my back is one gigantic hot razor this morning, and the knuckles on both my hands are about twice their size. But it has all been good exercise this week, so yay me.
We took a break yesterday. Some 70 days into this self-imposed quarantine, the only people I've had daily physical interactions with have been Mary, my 12-year old son, and his mother. Yesterday, we had my parents come over for a visit. We knew they were safe because they've been self-quarantining as well, but we still took precautions. We stayed outside for most of the afternoon, and we sat about 12 feet away from them while we went through a tray of Mary's baked ziti and talked about all the things you talk about when you get together with family. My mom noticed that since the pandemic started my 12-year old has begun to get hair on his lip. He's quickly becoming a teenager and she's missed it because of the pandemic. I'm really glad they got to spend that time together. They wanted to see the new offices, so we all put on our masks and went inside and gave them the tour.
It was a nice afternoon and there was no ziti for leftovers. I might jot my impressions and thoughts down in Blog form later, if I get a chance.
So...that's what I've been doing this week, and that's why the newsletter is a few hours late. Finished reading Adam Cesare's Clown In A Cornfield and it is fantastic. Next up are forthcoming books from Jeremy Robert Johnson and Joe R. Lansdale & Keith Lansdale that I was privileged enough to get advance copies of.
Copies of THE TRIANGLE OF BELIEF showed up here for Lifetime Subscribers. I hope to get them signed this week and then in the mail for delivery to you.
Award-winning author Usman Malik was a guest on The Horror Show with Brian Keene last week, and joined me and Mary for a discussion of short story writing, subverting Lovecraftian tropes, the importance of writing workshops, and much more. Plus, Mary, Kelli, Matt, Dave, and I discussed this year's This Is Horror Award nominees. Listen wherever you listen to podcasts or via this link.
Meanwhile, over on Defenders Dialogue, Chris and I discussed Marvel's The Avengers issue 154 and Super-Villain Team-Up issue 9, in which Attuma launches his most insidious attack on the surface world yet. Can the combined might of the Avengers, Doctor Doom, the Sub-Mariner, the Shroud, and the agents of Hydrobase stop him? Find out by listening wherever you listen to podcasts, or via this link.
Finally, with the caveat that the pandemic has pushed everything off schedule for everyone (for example, the binder that Thunderstorm Books uses was shut down for seven weeks) here is the projected release road map for 2020 and early 2021.
NEW BOOKS
1. MAELSTROM 8 DELUXE EDITIONS: With the binder now allowed to go back to work, these should ship from Thunderstorm Books early next month.
2. END OF THE ROAD: Hardcover came out in February from Cemetery Dance. There are about two dozen copies left in stock. Trade paperback and e-book will be out late 2020.
3. THE TRIANGLE OF BELIEF: Hardcover came out in January. Trade paperback and ebook came out in March. Buy them here.
4. CURSE OF THE BASTARDS: Final novel in me and Steven L. Shrewsbury’s Bastards trilogy. Hardcover came out in January. Trade paperback and ebook will come out from Apex in late-2020/early-2021. Audiobook in 2021.
5. DISSONANT HARMONIES: A collaboration with Bev Vincent. Hardcover will come out from Another Ghost in August/September. Mass-market paperback and ebook will come out from Poltergeist Press in August, as well.
6. THE SEVEN: THE LABYRINTH, Book 1: Hardcover will come out from Thunderstorm Books second half of 2020. Trade paperback and ebook will come out in time for the 2020 holidays. You can read it in serialized form on Patreon right now.
7. SUBURBAN GOTHIC: A sequel to URBAN GOTHIC and a collaboration with Bryan Smith. Hardcover will come out from Thunderstorm Books second half of 2020. Paperback and ebook in early 2021.
8. NEMESAI: A collaboration between myself and John Urbancik. Hardcover from Thunderstorm Books second half of 2020. Trade paperback and ebook to follow in time for the 2020 holidays.
RE-RELEASES
9. THE DAMNED HIGHWAY: Collaboration with Nick Mamatas. New trade paperback, ebook and audiobook editions coming out from Crossroads Press second half of 2020.
10. EARTHWORM GODS II: DELUGE: New audiobook edition coming out from Crossroads Press second half of 2020.
11. THE GIRL ON THE GLIDER: New audiobook edition coming out from Crossroads Press second half of 2020.
12. URBAN GOTHIC: New audiobook edition coming out from Crossroads Press summer 2020.
13. SUNDANCING: New audiobook edition coming out from Crossroads Press late 2020.
14. TRIGGER WARNINGS: New trade paperback edition coming out summer 2020.
15. OTHER WORDS: New trade paperback and ebook editions coming out autumn 2020.
BECAUSE YOU’LL ASK
16. INVISIBLE MONSTERS and THE VALLEY OF THE YUNWI TSUNSDI: The first is the next Levi novel. The latter is a Levi novella. Working on both simultaneously. Now that SUBURBAN GOTHIC and DISSONANT HARMONIES are finished, they are my main daily priority. No release dates or info (other than Bad Moon Books has the rights to the novel hardcover).
17. THE FALL: The final novel in THE RISING series. I wrote a bit more about it here recently. There’s a goal over on my Patreon that we are currently at 57% of. When we hit that goal, I’ll begin posting chapters as a serial over there. Since I’m already at 40,000 words, that won’t be a problem.
18. BENEATH THE LOST LEVEL: I expect to finish this one by December, which means a summer 2021 release.
19. A LITTLE HELL FROM MY FRIENDS: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE Vol. 4: I’m sitting on this one because I want to wait and see how the pandemic impacts the releases of everything above. If I need to fill a hole, I’ll release it. If not, then look for it in early 2021.
And that's it for this week. Now I'm heading over to Patreon and posting there. I'll see you all back here next Sunday. be kind to each other, and be sure to tell the people in your life that you love them today.