Letters From the Labyrinth 198 - Brian Keene

Howdy. I'm Brian Keene and and this is the 198th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.

This week was all about SUBURBAN GOTHIC -- the sequel to URBAN GOTHIC that I'm co-writing with Bryan Smith. The way this worked was pretty standard at first. I wrote a partial first draft, and then after it had stalled for a long time, I admitted to myself that I was struggling with it. I knew what I wanted to do, but I just couldn't get my brain back into that extreme horror head-space. I don't know why that is. I still enjoy reading well-done extreme horror, but the older I get, the more trouble I have actually writing it.

So, Bryan and I set aside another novel we are working on together (titled FUCKED). I sent Bryan my partial first draft of SUBURBAN GOTHIC and some ideas about where I wanted to go. I think it read something like "If Urban Gothic was an extreme horror treatise on the plight of our inner cities and what happened when we abandoned them, then Suburban Gothic should be a similar commentary on the state of commercial real estate in the suburbs -- the death of all these giant shopping malls. And the mutants moving from the city to suburbia is an allegory for white flight."

See? I can play at being an academic sometimes.

Anyway, Bryan then took that partial first draft and my thoughts and finished a nearly 100,000-word second draft. I then took that and went back through and revised and re-wrote -- adding stuff and deleting stuff and changing some characters and plot points around. That should have been the third draft, at which point, we should have sent it to our pre-readers, and then incorporated their edits, and then sent it to the publishers (in this case that is Thunderstorm Books and Deadite Press, respectively).

But then something happened. In working on the final draft, it occurred to me that SUBURBAN GOTHIC takes place eleven years after URBAN GOTHIC. The first novel is very clearly set in time, given that it mentions President Obama as currently serving in the White House, the music the kids are listening to, and other things like that. So this sequel was set now, in 2020, and that meant we needed to include the COVID-19 pandemic.

And thus, this past week, when I had time to write, I was going back through the manuscript, starting at the beginning, and re-writing stuff like a restaurant scene to include social distancing and face-masks.

When I wrote URBAN GOTHIC, mobile phones were just starting to become prevalent in our society. One of my pre-readers commented "These characters are teenagers. Wouldn't they all have cellphones?" And that observation led to a fourth draft. And now, a decade later, another seismic societal shift has led to a fourth draft on the sequel.

I found that interesting.

Oh, I should also probably note that I finished that Levi and Bloom team-up novella and turned it in to the editors.

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I said above "when I had time to write". The other thing I've been ding all week is moving the contents of my ex-wife's three-acre, three bedroom, two bathroom house into my garage. As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, she and our 12-year old son have moved in with Mary and I. That's because she has sold their house (the closing is next week). However, the market is tight in rural PA right now, and she's having trouble finding a new home that fits their needs. So, rather than seeing them rent a temporary place, Mary and I suggested they move in here until she buys a house she wants. It has worked out very well. I think both of them like having someone to do "girl stuff" with (like making dollhouse decorations, and doing crafts, and looking at videos of bare-chested firemen dancing on TikTok). Which in turn frees me up to have more time to write. And my 12-year old says he's okay with it, too. His primary concern is probably the same as every other kid about to start the 7th grade -- namely, the pandemic and how it is impacting back-to-school efforts and socialization with his friends.

Today, he and I are going to do some crafts of our own. We're going to put together a model diorama of a giant scorpion attacking a city.

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This was also a week for contracts.

I signed a television thing, but I'm not allowed to tell you any more than that.

And something that has been in development since late last year -- a thing that (if it happens) will be the crown jewel of my career, a thing that would have made 12-year old Brian, 22-year old Brian and currently 52-year old Brian shout with excitement and joy and disbelief -- took some major steps forward this week. But again, I'm not allowed to tell you any more than that.

But I can tell you that I also signed a contract to allow my long-out-of-print collection A LITTLE SILVER BOOK OF STREETWISE STORIES by adapted as an audiobook.

And I can tell you that I signed a contract with Death's Head Press for a novella, which will be packaged with a novella by Matt Wildasin and published as a two-novella double book.

And speaking of two-novella double books, Bev Vincent and I have found a home for the previously orphaned DISSONANT HARMONIES. It will now be published by Cemetery Dance.

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So, yeah. Not a bad week, overall.

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The Lost Level series consists of THE LOST LEVEL, RETURN TO THE LOST LEVEL, and HOLE IN THE WORLD, all of which are available in paperback, audiobook, and e-book.

The fourth novel in the series, BENEATH THE LOST LEVEL, is now available in serialized form exclusively via my Patreon. Thanks to Apex Publications for giving me permission to release it in this manner. This serial is a true first draft. New installments will be posted as I write them. The first two chapters are live. The third and fourth will go up this week.

To access BENEATH THE LOST LEVEL, as well as all of the other material available on Patreon, click this index.

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The 2020 Splatterpunk Awards — honoring superior achievement in the literary sub-genres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror for works published in 2019 — were held online last weekend, and award founders Wrath James White and myself announced the year’s winners. They are as follows:

BEST NOVEL: Lakehouse Infernal by Christine Morgan (Deadite Press)
BEST NOVELLA: One For the Road by Wesley Southard (Deadite Press)
BEST SHORT STORY: “Angelbait” by Ryan Harding (from The Big Book of Blasphemy, Necro Publications)
BEST COLLECTION: Dirty Rotten Hippies and Other Stories by Bryan Smith (Grindhouse Press)
BEST ANTHOLOGY: And Hell Followed edited by by Jarod Barbee and Patrick C. Harrison III (Death’s Head Press).

In addition, author Edward Lee recieved this year’s J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors individuals who have contributed significantly to the sub-genres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror. Previous recipients are David J. Schow and David G. Barnett.

Wrath and I also announced that 2021’s J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award recipient will be author John Skipp.

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Thunderstorm Books has a new limited edition of Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias up for pre-order. I wrote the Introduction to it. The book is signed by us both, as well as the cover artist. You can reserve your copy here.

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Currently Watching: THE DARK (on Netflix)
Currently Reading: MERCILESS by Bryan Smith
Currently Listening: EVERYWHERE I'VE NEVER BEEN by Austin Hartley-Leonard

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This week on The Horror Show with Brian Keene, Phoebe's annual Horror Show tradition continued, as she interviewed me, Mary, Matt, Dave and Dungeonmaster 77.1 about life in quarantine.

Meanwhile, over on Defenders Dialogue, Chris Golden and I discussed Marvel's Adventure Into Fear issues 18 and 19, which includes the first appearance of Howard the Duck.

Both shows are available wherever you listen to podcasts, or via Brian Keene Radio.

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Thanks to your generosity, Scares That Care was able to cut checks for all three of our 2020 recipients, which means we are now looking for three more recipients. We are actively searching for an individual who has been severely burned; an individual receiving treatment for breast cancer, and a child who is sick or terminally ill. Email potential recipients to: help@scaresthatcare.org

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That's it for this week. Take care of yourselves, and the people you love. I'll see you all back here next week.