[Letters From the Labyrinth] Official Brian Keene Newsletter 9/18/16
Hello. My name is Brian Keene and this is the seventh issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly email newsletter. While typing that last sentence, I happened to glance at the calendar and realized I'll be turning 49 later this week. Stephen King has a birthday this week, too. Save your money and just get us a cake.
I believe there are less than 20 copies remaining of the signed, collectors edition of my latest non-fiction collection, UNSAFE SPACES. It's in stock and shipping and would make a wonderful holiday present for the Keene fan in your life.Only 100 copies were produced. They are $95 each. You can get one here. Here's the publisher's official verbiage:
UNSAFE SPACES — Brian Keene’s brand-new non-fiction collection, in which nothing is sacred… or safe. Be it loving tributes to authors J.F. Gonzalez and Tom Piccirilli (and a heartfelt account of how their deaths impacted him), ruminations on middle-age, a rueful look at how publishing and writing have changed, sarcastic barbs at pop culture’s obsession with superhero movies, a hard look at both sides of the social justice war, or thoughtful examinations of the works of writers like Jack Ketchum and Mary SanGiovanni, Brian Keene once again offers an honest, no-holds-barred critique our lives, our culture, and our world, and proves that we are all inhabiting … UNSAFE SPACES.
100 signed, numbered copies. $95 CLICK HERE TO ORDER
Been a busy week. You'll notice I haven't been interacting much online. Part of that is because I'm trying to get some overdue things finished. Also had a family situation to tend to. And a third reason is because I've slowly begun transitioning away from social media. That last reason should not be a surprise to anyone who reads this newsletter or listens to my podcast or reads my weekly column for Cemetery Dance Online.
Yesterday, I interviewed filmmaker/author Kevin Strange and author/editor John Bruni for my podcast. Kevin said something I found very true -- social networking was about making friends and connections. Social media is about Facebook and Twitter selling advertisements.
In between those advertisements, there's a lot of ugliness -- and that ugliness seems to be spreading like cancer.
Online conversation is being replaced by online proselytizing -- sort of dovetailing into what I wrote here last week. And you know what the best part of what I wrote last week was? How a certain segment of the Internet immediately proved my point by reacting with intolerance, venom, hate, and threats simply because they disagreed with an opinion I'd politely expressed.
Now, if you're reading the above and saying, "You sound like a grumpy old man, Brian," well, guess what cupcake? I am a grumpy old man. All I know is that I was there when the Internet began. You've grown up with it in your life and don't remember a time when you didn't have it. But I've been here since the start, and I've seen it change and grow and transform into what it is now. Yes, there have always been trolls. Yes, there have always been assholes. But the tenor of things these days is something far, far different, and it's not a conversation I wish to participate in. I'm 49. Next year, I'll be 50. Id much rather talk to my children and my girlfriend and write books and be left the fuck alone and say "Hello" twice a week from my podcast and this newsletter.
But not quite yet. There's still a bit of road to travel first.
I'm back on the road next week, signing on Friday, September 23 at RiverRead Books 5 Court St Binghamton, NY 13901.
And I'll be a Guest of Honor October 7 – 9 at the Imaginarium convention, taking place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel 830 Phillips Ln. Louisville, KY 40209.
A brief writing update -- hope to finish re-writing the last 43 pages of THRONE OF THE BASTARDS (the sequel to KING OF THE BASTARDS) today and tomorrow. Then I'll send it off to my pre-readers.
While they work on that, I'll finish re-writing the second half of RETURN TO THE LOST LEVEL (the sequel to THE LOST LEVEL).
In between these, I'm working on the final draft of a short story set in the mythos of Gerard Houarner's PAINFREAK, a novella called SCHOOL'S OUT, and a novella called THE MOTEL AT THE END OF THE WORLD. How that works is...I spend most of the day working on the novel. In the evening, or when my brain needs a rest, I switch over and work on one of those other things.
I also make myself take a walk through the woods every day, and I'm eating salads and skinless chicken and fish and other things that are not delicious steak, but which i'm told are better for me. People in my life insist I drink more water than bourbon, too.
This is what you have to look forward to later in life. Enjoy it while you can.
Everybody loves Chet Williamson's narration for the audiobook adaptation of THE COMPLEX. He's in the studio now, hard at work on the audiobook adaptation of DARK HOLLOW. GHOST WALK will follow that. Then we'll be switching voice talents as Scott Weinberg narrates the EARTHWORM GODS trilogy.
Reading: Nothing because I'm too busy writing.
Listening: KING FOR A DAY, FOOL FOR A LIFETIME by Faith No More
Watching: BLAIR WITCH
Mary and I saw BLAIR WITCH last night. I loved the original movie, and I even enjoyed the much-maligned sequel. I had high hopes for this third film. Those hopes were dashed on a tree and left bleeding in the forest.
BLAIR WITCH is a film about what happens when stupidly written characters, horror movie stereotypes, and found footage cliches all go camping in the woods together for a weekend. The original film was groundbreaking -- a landmark for our genre, and it kicked off the found-footage sub-genre that has since brought us such excellent films as SINISTER, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, GRAVE ENCOUNTERS, and hundreds of imitators. But here's the thing -- if you're going to make a third Blair Witch film, then you need to expand beyond those things. You need to take found footage to the next level, reinvent those now stale tropes, and do something different. Instead, BLAIR WITCH merely relies on the same tired jump scares we've seen for the last nearly twenty years. It is not inventive or creative. it's not even scary. It's simply dull. The film offers up what could have been some intriguing new additions to the Blair Witch mythos -- and then abandons them for more of the same, leaving viewers with a muddled, confusing, and ultimately boring stew of time travel, insectile parasites, and characters whom you can't wait to see die.
I believe there are still interesting, groundbreaking, and innovative things that can be done with both the found footage sub-genre and the Blair Witch mythos. But BLAIR WITCH does neither, opting instead to treat its audience and fans as idiot consumer zombies. A pointless and futile movie-going experience. I can't remember the last time a horror film left me so infuriated and disappointed.
TEMPLE, the new novel by Robert Swartwood, is a novel for readers who enjoy the movies based off comic books, but don't read the comic books themselves. It's also a book for comic readers who eschew the Marvel and DC fare, and are looking for something to dive into until next month's offerings from Image or Oni hit the racks. The book is described as "WATCHMEN meets Jason Bourne" and it's a perfectly apt description. I know this because I'm the one who came up with that description, after I read the manuscript for the novel.
TEMPLE is a superhero story for adults, free from the still juvenile trappings of the Marvel and DC universes, where supposedly logical human beings still don colorful long underwear so that they can fight other supposedly logical human beings wearing similar colorful long underwear. Nobody is getting their powers from radiation here. There's no multi-issue crossover to contend with. This is a story grounded in reality and science. It's not a horror novel, but it does have some horrific moments.
You can pre-order it for your Kindle right here. I really enjoyed it. I suspect you might, too.
If you're still here, thanks for not unsubscribing. As always, please note, the best way to reach me is still Twitter, rather than replying to this email. My inbox currently has 1,002 unread messages. Take care of yourself, and I'll see you again next week, universe willing.