Letters From the Labyrinth 216 - Brian Keene

Happy New Year. I'm Brian Keene and this is the 216th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.

It is Saturday night as I type this, and I'm sitting here crying -- but don't worry, it's not a sad cry. It's a happy cry. I just got off the phone with an old Navy buddy whom none of us have heard from since 1989. He just sort of dropped off the grid, and when the Internet came along, and then social media, we were never able to find him on it. He was one of three guys we've never been able to track down. Last year, we found the first of those guys, and it turned out he'd been living 40 minutes away from me all that time. Of course, soon as we found that out, then Covid hit and I haven't been able to visit him since. The guy I talked to tonight is the second of those missing three. Another shipmate finally tracked him down over Christmas. So, that just leaves one f us who is still missing. I hope we can find him, as well. Nne of us are getting any younger, and a few of us have died already. I hope we can get everybody back together in time for the next reunion, which -- given how the pandemic is -- should take place when we are all in our Eighties.

Anyway, hi. I'm glad you're here. You might remember that last year, I scaled back my social media usage, relying only on Twitter and YouTube. This year, I intend to scale it back even more. This newsletter is going to become my primary means of communication. As such, I am grateful that you care enough to subscribe.

This was my last full week home alone. Mary will come back from visiting family on the 6th. She's going to quarantine here by herself for 14 days while I sleep on an air mattress in my youngest son and his mother's living room. Then I'll come back here on the 21st, after the danger of Mary infecting anyone has passed, and we'll finally open the Christmas presents we got each other. I'm looking forward to seeing her again, even if it is at a social distance and masked up out the wazoo for the next few weeks.

Anyway, I worked a lot this week, which is what I do with my alone time. Right now, I'm laser focused on three projects -- a vampire novella called WITH TEETH, the aforementioned PROJECT CASTLE (see previous newsletters), and the Patreon serialized version of SUBMERGED: THE LABYRINTH Book 2. Of those three, WITH TEETH will be finished this month, and the first draft of PROJECT CASTLE should be 75% finished this month.

After they are out of the way, 2021's projects are a mainstream western novel called THE LAST STAND, the final draft of INVISIBLE MONSTERS (the next Levi novel), and the second draft of DEAD AIR. Also, BENEATH THE LOST LEVEL and THE FALL (which is the final book in THE RISING series). All of those, except THE FALL, will be completed this year. Some of them are closer to completion than I've said publicly.

I'm also editing two anthologies. THE DRIVE-IN: MULTIPLEX is one I'm doing with Christopher Golden and Joe R. Lansdale. That's in the editing stages right now, as the stories come in. The other is a charity anthology for Scares That Care which I'd hoped to get out last year, but I really got behind on.

So, that was pretty much what I did all week. In the evenings, when my brain turned to mush and I couldn't write anymore, I rearranged my office, and brought my vinyl albums and my stereo system upstairs from the living room. I've decided that I'm going to listen to all of my albums in alphabetical order, starting on Monday. Because this is the sort of weird ideas I get when left alone too long.

And I rewatched The Sopranos in order to get ready for The Many Saints of Newark. And I played a little Fallout 76. (My X-Box gamer tag is either ObRules13 or ObRulz13 -- I can't remember which -- in case you play Fallout 76 and want to run the wasteland with me. My camp isn't hard to find. It's the one that has BRIAN KEENE DOT COM in neon letters on the outside).

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It wasn't all good news last week, though. If you pre-ordered SUBURBAN GOTHIC from Thunderstorm Books, then you should know that the owner of the company, Paul Goblirsch, has come down with Covid. In Paul's case, the symptoms have been pretty severe, but last I heard from him, a visit to the ER had him feeling a little better. Obviously, those books aren't going to ship until Paul is back on his feet. We thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter. Know that Paul took your patronage seriously enough that he'd made contingency plans to get you your books if the unthinkable happened. Fortunately, it looks like he won't need to put those plans into action, and for that we are all grateful. The absolute best thing you can do to support him right now is to leave him alone and let him rest and recuperate and spend time with his family.

BLUDGEON TOOLS is a new Splatterpunk anthology edited by K. Trap Jones. It features my new short story “Delivery”. It also features new stories from Matt Shaw, Wrath James White, Kristopher Triana, Christine Morgan, Dustin LaValley, Stephen Kozeniewski, Wile E. Young and many many more. It is available now in both paperback and for Kindle. Click here to get your copy.

And while you're shopping for books, just a gentle reminder that SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL by me and NEMESAI by me and John Urbancik are both out in paperback and for Kindle. For mre info on thse or any of my other books, visit my website.

A few newsletters ago, I mentioned the stray cat who was hanging around my house and whom I had been letting spend the night in my basement each evening. I named him Houdini since he managed to escape the basement several times despite the doors and windows being locked. He was a sweet cat -- very tame and very well-mannered, but he was also a boy, and not fixed, and I new if we brought him inside that he and Mary's cat would get in a literal pissing match (because that's what boy cats do).

This past week, I took Houdini to the Columbia Cat Shelter. What a marvelous place that is! It's a no-kill shelter, and they work very hard to find their adoptees new homes. It's clean and warm and well-lit and doesn't look or smell like any animal shelter I've ever been in. I took a socially distant, masked up tour of the place, and the cats were happy and living together in packs. Houdini is in good hands there, until they find him a permanent home. If you're so inclined, maybe consider donating a few bucks (link above). And tell them I sent you.

In addition to Houdini, there is a very fat possum who has decided to spend the winter denned up beneath my laundry room, which is really just a back porch with walls and windows. I've caught him coming out at night, trying to steal Houdini's food, and also food from the neighbor's deer feeder. So I've taken to tossing him a few apples and some leftover ham.

I suppose I'll have to find a name for him...

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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, although I'll be using it less in 2021.

YOUTUBE - Where I'm posting free stuff each week.

I'll see you back here next week!