Letters From the Labyrinth 199 - Brian Keene

I'm Brian Keene and and this is the 199th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.

Mary (along with lot's of help from Katie Southard and Matt Wildasin) organized a two day online event for readers, librarians, and reviewers. It's called Buzz Book Expo and it is being streamed from my YouTube Channel. Various horror publishers -- both mainstream and small press -- talk about their upcoming releases. Yesterday's big news included the reveal that Crossroads Press will be publishing a brand-new edition of Richard Laymon's A WRITER'S TALE! So, who knows what news today's stream will bring? It starts at 11am, so after you finish reading this newsletter, have some coffee and mosey on over to my YouTube channel.

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I've talked before about my steadily depreciating laptop, which I spent over two grand for two years ago, and which was the best laptop I ever owned, except that over the last few months, the letter keys are beginning to crack. Right now, the O, N, and I keys are split, so that last sentence in the paragraph above looked like this: 's after yu fsh readg ths ewsletter, have sme cffee ad msey ver t my YuTube chael.' Then I had to go back in and manually hit those three keys again for each missing letter.

I can get the keyboard replaced, but to do that, I have to send it out. Nobody around here can fix it. They say there is a parts shortage. That's not the only shortage. I've been trying to buy a large chest freezer for several months. Now that my 12-year old and his mom are living with Mary and I, our freezers are very full, and I'd like a third freezer big enough to store a body in -- but really just to store extra meat. But they are sold out everywhere. Several of the stores around here have signs on the doors that say NO FREEZERS. My neighbor sells large commercial trucks (garbage trucks, dump trucks, and the like). He told me yesterday there's a parts shortage for those, as well. A friend of mine who works in waste management tells me there is a shortage of plastic trash cans for their customers right now. Another who works for a large grocery chain tells me they are seeing odd and random shelf shortages, as well -- and that unlike the shortages caused early in the pandemic by people hoarding toilet paper or cans of chicken soup, these shortages are at the manufacturer and distributor levels.

(A reminder to readers of my horror, fantasy and crime novels, and to readers of my comic books, and to listeners of my podcast that I also write non-political, non-partisan, non-fiction prepping articles for several magazines, and my readers from those venues seldom get any content directed at them in this newsletter, so I thought I'd include this little morsel today).

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Loyal reader Jo Adell is currently homeless. Jo worked as a petsitter, but the pandemic has impacted them due to social distancing. Jo also makes fine hand embroidery, designer and fashion jewelry and other art. Jo writes: "Please commission me. I will embroider anything you want. Anything. Or make you a sparkly thing. Or send you a hi-rez image to print." You can contact Jo on Twitter. And if you have no need for jewelry or embroidery, but would like to help Jo out by donating five bucks, you can do that here.

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Continued working on SUBURBAN GOTHIC this week. It was a tough week for both Bryan and I, behind the scenes. I totally missed my self-imposed deadline of getting this manuscript to the publishers and pre-readers by last Monday. But we are getting there. We're getting there. Another week and a half at the most...

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Thanks to the generosity of horror fans around the world, Scares That Care was able to cut checks for $10,000 for each of our 2020 recipients. Which means we are now looking for more recipients to help. We are 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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I am looking for a few super Joe R. Lansdale fans. Specifically, hardcore readers like myself who have an encyclopedic familiarity with his works, and would be willing to help me cross-reference a list of all Mud Creek appearances and mentions for an upcoming project. If you think you qualify, give me a shut! Thanks.

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Screenwriter and producer Jed Shepherd was our guest on last week's episode of The Horror Show with Brian Keene. We discussed the success of Shudder's HOST, making movies with friends, his upcoming Sam Raimi project and much more. Plus Mary, Dave and Matt and I unpacked the massive, industry-altering layoffs at DC Comics and what they mean for the future of comic books. You can listen wherever you get podcasts, including Spotify, Apple, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or this link.

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That's it for this week. Remember to pop over to my YouTube Channel and catch some of Day Two of Buzz Book Expo! I'll see you all back here next week.