Letters From the Labyrinth 214 - Brian Keene
Hi. I'm Brian Keene and this is the 214th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.
A note on images -- Christine Morgan tells me she couldn't see images in issue 213. If that happens to you, you can always click that archive link above and you should be able to see them. Unfortunately, I guess some email clients don't show images?
We skipped last Sunday, so this issue will be double content. You may remember, the reason we skipped is because I was helping my second ex-wife and my youngest son move into their new home. Because of COVID, she didn't hire movers. So, from Thursday to Saturday, I loaded the entire household onto a truck by myself, and then Saturday afternoon, my parents and Mary helped us unload it. Everyone was completely exhausted after that. I was talking about it with Joe Lansdale earlier this week. For a year in my twenties, I drove a big box truck like that, and loaded and unloaded it by myself all day, every day. Occasionally, I drove an eighteen-wheeler, but with those, there was usually somebody to help load or unload it. Regardless, that gig was a lot easier in my twenties than it is at age 53.
So, after we got them all moved in, Mary and I spent Sunday evening and Monday together. On Tuesday, she left for New Jersey to spend the holiday with her family. Because of the pandemic, I opted not to go along this year. Mary will come home in mid-January, and I will go stay at my ex-wife's for 14 days while Mary quarantines here at our house.
I really hope the vaccine becomes more readily available soon, because I'm tired of this crap. Now, you can think what you want of me in regards to how I've approached the pandemic. I know some folks think I've taken social distancing to the extreme. I know it's a topic of some amusement among some. But have you ever known me to care what other people think of me? Yes, I have taken this pandemic seriously. For the better part of a year, the only human beings I've had physical contact with have been my sons, my parents, Mary, and my second ex-wife. In addition, I've talked to my grandmother, Stephen Kozeniewski, Mike Lombardo, Wesley Southard, and Wes's wife Katie at a distance, and that's it. I'm militant about wearing a mask when I go out in public, and those public excursions are limited to a once-a-month trip to the grocery store, and four trips this year to my local comic store when there were no other customers inside.
For most of this year, getting out of the house has involved hiking. I've hiked every mile of woodland and forest and marsh around here. I've fished every inch of the river. I never thought a country by like myself would say this, but I'm sick of the outdoors. I'd like t go to a concert or a convention or a bookstore or even a shopping mall.
So yes, after all of that, I'm weary of social distancing and quarantine life. And I understand how others can be, too. But for those of you who have been following the guidance, let's follow it a little longer, okay?
Anyway, with Mary gone and my son and his mom moved, I've got the house to myself for the next month. I spent this first week of that writing. I've been laser-focused on two projects -- the aforementioned, mysterious PROJECT CASTLE (a codename I've given it) and WITH TEETH (a novella). I want to have them both finished before Mary comes home.
Other work this week involved signing off on galleys for STORIES FOR THE NEXT PANDEMIC, which is a forthcoming shot story collection that should be available in hardcover and paperback early next year.
And Chris Golden, Joe Lansdale and I worked on submissions for THE DRIVE-IN: MULTIPLEX which is shaping up nicely. But that won't be available for quite some time, so don't get excited yet.
Speaking of things that are available...I've got four -- yes FOUR -- new books to tell you about. (And this is where some images will follow).
NEMESAI by me and John Urbancik is now on sale in paperback and for Kindle!
It starts with the red dreams. Everyone has them every night. But they’re just a precursor, because something deep within the bowels of the earth has awakened—something we defeated and sent back thousands of years ago. First, there are scouts which decimate cities, and the armies of humanity find their weapons impotent. Enter Atiya Destine, professional adventurer and mercenary. She and her team will venture deep into the middle of China to follow the scouts back to where they came from: a hole in earth once protected by thousands of warriors awaiting the return of humanity’s Nemesai. Enter Jane, a survivor of the destruction of Shanghai. Enter Stefan, trying to put down the unstoppable Nemesai with his fists. They’ll enter the tomb of China’s first emperor, untouched for thousands of years, with rivers of mercury and pearls as stars in its sky hiding an underground city. Somewhere in that tomb, Atiya Destine hopes to find a way of driving back the rising army before it’s too late. Enter the Nemesai. They cannot be stopped.
Click here to purchase the paperback.
Click here to download to your Kindle.
Originally published over a decade ago as the fourteenth installment of Borderlands Press’s Little Book series, and long since out-of-print, my short story collection A LITTLE SILVER BOOK OF STREETWISE STORIES is back in print as a Kindle edition. Click here to download.
Table of Contents
Silver Bullets (an Introduction)
Burying Betsy
The Ties That Bind
Dust
Two-Headed Alien Love Child
Golden Boy
Bunnies In August
Take Me To The River
That Which Lingers
I Am An Exit
This Is Not An Exit
Without You
The Siqqusim Who Stole Christmas
Thirdly, the Italian language edition of THE RISING is now available as both a limited edition and for Kindle. (Paperback is forthcoming in January).
Click here to order the limited edition (ships worldwide).
Click here to download the Kindle edition.
And finally... by popular demand, my very first non-fiction book is coming back into print. Originally published in 2004 and long out of print (since 2010), SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL will be back in print for a new generation of readers on Christmas Day, and available in paperback, and for Kindle, Nook and Kobo e-readers.
Featuring the best of Brian Keene's legendary Hail Saten columns as well as material from the Bram Stoker Award winning Jobs In Hell, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL is a funny, poignant, unvarnished and deeply personal portrait of horror fiction at the start of the new century, and one of its most prominent practitioners.
The new cover is by Kealan Patrick Burke at Elderlemon Design. As far as the content goes, all of the original content is included. There's also a new Introduction written by me.
Again, look for it on Christmas Day!
Back on December 9th, I joined Cullen Bunn, Brian Quinn, Adam Cesare, Michael Patrick Hicks, and Heath Amodio — the authors of the shared world horror anthology CENTRALIA — for live panel discussion in which we talked about our characters, our stories, our Centralias, and what comes next! If you missed it, you can watch the entire thing for free via YouTube.
I still intend to do one-on-one interviews on my YouTube channel, and I even have some notes toward that for David J. Schow, Tim Waggoner, Gabino Iglesias, and Cynthia Pelyao (my first four guests). But I don't guess that will happen until the new year, because my muse is in overdrive right now, and writing comes first. Last thing I want to do is get into the trap I was in with The Horror Show with Brian Keene, where writing was being overtaken by podcast prep and recording.
People have asked if I run into the same problem with Defenders Dialogue, and in truth, I don't. Prep-wise, the podcasts are night and day. For The Horror Show with Brian Keene, I'd often spend weeks researching a guest, doing a deep dive to come up with the best questions that no one had ever asked before. Prep for Defenders Dialogue simply involves sitting down and reading comic books -- and that's something I do in my leisure time anyway.
Speaking of Defenders Dialogue, there are two new episodes available here or wherever else you listen to podcasts.
And speaking of The Horror Show with Brian Keene, listeners might remember that co-host Dave Thomas had to have his stomach removed due to cancer. As a result, there was a successful GoFundMe for him.
Well, now Dave has discovered that he has lung cancer, as well. His prognosis is good, but like before, he'll need the help of the community to get through it financially. His ex-wife has set up a new GoFundMe for him. You can find it here.
Just a reminder that I'M DREAMING OF A WHITE DOOMSDAY, written and directed by Mike Lombardo and Executive Produced by little old me, is available at all of the fine retail outlets listed in the above image.
CURRENTLY WATCHING: Battlestar Galactica (1970's series)
CURRENTLY READING: Just finished Burner by Robert Ford which is EXCELLENT! Best book of his career so far. On deck now is The Summer Comes Around by Glenn Rolfe and The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper.
CURRENTLY LISTENING: On My Own by Lera Lynn
And that's it for this week! As always, a few reminders:
PATREON - Where I post new short stories, writing advice essays, three serialized ongoing novels, and behind-the-scenes stuff EVERY SINGLE DAY.
TWITTER - The only social media outlet I still use regularly.
YOUTUBE - Where I'm posting free stuff each week.
I'll see you back here next week!