Letters From the Labyrinth 224 - Brian Keene

Hi. I'm Brian Keene and this is the 224th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.

I think we'll kick things off today with a big announcement. My new book, STORIES FOR THE NEXT PANDEMIC, is available pre-order from Thunderstorm Books. It is available as both an autographed paperback and an autographed hardcover. It is being accompanied by Mary SanGiovanni's new book THE SHAPES OF NIGHT, which is also available for pre-order as both a autographed paperback and an autographed hardcover.

Both books are being sold in a special set for one very low price. Seriously, it's almost a buy one, get one free given how low the price for the set is. $21 gets you both signed paperbacks. See what I mean? And for you collectors of signed, limited editions, $150 gets you both of the hardcovers.

"Okay, that's a really good bargain, but what are the books about, Brian?"

STORIES FOR THE NEXT PANDEMIC
by Brian Keene

Written during the 2020 Pandemic, the stories in this new collection from bestselling, award-winning author Brian Keene are an eclectic mix of quiet slow burn terror, extreme horror, splatterpunk, bizarro and weird fantasy. In a year of deep divisions among humankind, STORIES FOR THE NEXT PANDEMIC is an evocative, atmospheric, and frightening look at the fears that still unite us…and the end that awaits us all.

THE SHAPES OF NIGHT
by Mary SanGiovanni

Sometimes, in Bloomwood County, New Jersey, children go missing. Sometimes those children die. And sometimes, strange and alien shapes of night resurrect the bodies of those children for their own. When Tim Jenkins has a terrible vision of one of his former students, Charlie Bentner, being mangled to death, he seeks Charlie out and unknowingly entangles both of them in a battle against time and space itself, a race against the shapes to stop an evil from entering our world and changing its geometry forever.

And remember -- $21 for two signed paperbacks, or $150 for two signed, limited edition hardcovers! If you're a collector you won't find a much better deal than that. Convinced? Then head on over to Thunderstorm Books website and pre-order your copy while supplies last.

The following was first published on my Patreon this past Wednesday...

Publisher, editor, and author David G. Barnett passed away unexpectedly on Monday afternoon, due to the results of a car crash.

I say unexpectedly, but what I mean by that is -- it was an unexpected way for Dave to die.

Edward Lee wrote a beautiful remembrance of Dave, which has been posted to author Christine Morgan's Blog (because Lee doesn't do much on the internet or social media). I encourage you to read the whole thing, but the part I want to touch on is when Lee writes, "You have to admire a guy who kept on plugging for half a century, carrying an avalanche of serious health problems on his back. Dave lived on death’s doorstep for pretty much his whole life."

Because that sums Dave up in a nutshell. Dave was the same age as me, and yet he was never supposed to be. He was told throughout his life that he would never live to be that age. The medical establishment gave him countless pronouncements, and yet he kept beating the odds. So, for him to die like this... not because of his health problems, but because of the hairbrained carelessness and stupidity of another driver?

It pisses me off.

I spent most of yesterday commiserating with friends. Talked with Lee and John Urbancik via the phone. Other folks via text and private message. Many of them felt the same way. Sorrow that our friend is gone. Angry about the way it happened.

Dave was one of the very first people I ever interacted with in this industry. I contacted him via phone, after seeing an advertisement in a magazine (I think it was New Blood or Hellnotes or the then-new Cemetery Dance). He was selling books, and I was looking for a hard-to-find Brian Hodge paperback. Dave sold it to me, and when he sent it, he included a copy of Edward Lee's The Bighead, which he had just published. He also included a note telling me that if I had the Internet (because back in the late-Nineties, we weren't yet 'online'. We either 'had the Internet' (which came to our house via a CD from a company called AOL) or we didn't. Most people didn't. But I did. And now I've digressed far into incomplete sentences and ended up on a tangent about the early-Internet and right now, Dave is grumbling at me, "Shut the fuck up, Keene, and focus."

So, anyway, Dave says if I have the Internet, I should check out this website called Horrornet. So I do. And that was where I met many of the best friends I've ever had, and where I started my career, and where everything -- I mean everything -- happened for me. Had it not been for that website (which was one of four -- yes, only FOUR -- horror fiction websites on the World Wide Web at that time, I wouldn't be doing this for a living today. I'd still be working in a foundry or a radio station or driving truck or selling home electronics.

I owe all it to Dave.

And so do a lot of other folks. In Lee's remembrance, he talks about how Dave saved his career. And it's true. But he not only saved Lee's career (and the career of many others) -- Dave provided a place for what is today known as extreme horror to grow and flourish and find its sizeable audience. If you're an extreme horror fan, you have Dave to thank for it. It would not exist without him.

Dave started Necro Publications in 1993, and over the years, he published myself, Edward Lee, Joe R. Lansdale, Charlee Jacob, Ryan Harding, Gerard Houarner, Mehitobel Wilson, Jeffrey Thomas, Gak, Patrick Lestewka, K. Trap Jones, and hundreds more.

Necro Publications, alongside Cemetery Dance, Subterranean Press, and Gauntlet, provided a home for horror writers at a time when the genre was "dead". Authors were literally able to continue to write for a living because of the bulwark he provided.

He paved the way for more modern publishers like Deadite Press, Eraserhead Press, Death's Head Press, Grindhouse Press, Rooster Republic, Clash Books, Blood Bound Books, and so many more. Dozens of successful small presses and imprints who followed a trail blazed by Dave Barnett.

If you've read END OF THE ROAD, then you know that the very last chapter takes place in what I truly believe is the afterlife -- a hotel convention bar, in which all of us have gathered one last time.

Yesterday, author and editor Regina Garza-Mitchell said to me "That hotel convention bar is getting crowded." And she's right. It is. We've got so many good friends there already. Tom Piccirilli. J.F. Gonzalez. Gak. Jack Ketchum. Richard Laymon. Charlee Jacob. Rick Hautala. Phil Nutman. David Silva. And so very many more.

I like to think that Dave is there now, and all of them are saying thanks.

He deserves that thanks. I'm hard pressed to think of anyone more deserving of that thanks. Quite simply, if you enjoy horror fiction today -- particularly extreme horror -- Dave Barnett is one of the very limited handful of people who made that possible. He was bearing the standard and flying the flag and keeping the genre alive when it was hooked up to life support. We would not be where we are today without him.

If you would like to learn more about Dave, I encourage you to listen to this career-spanning interview I conducted with him a few years back.

Anyway...I love you, dude. Thanks for everything. Save me a seat and tell everybody else that I said "Hey". Keep Jesus out of the bourbon and tell Pic, Dick and Rick they better save me a cigar. I'll be along in time.

Pretty much a who's who of horror fiction circa 2001. That's John Urbancik, myself and Dave down front. You can also find Carlton Mellick III, Don D'auria, Michael Slade, Gak, Charlee Jacob, John Everson, Tom Piccirilli, Sephera Giron, Ann and Kelly Laymon, and many many more good folks.

Dave and I circa 2004.

This was taken during the Farewell (But Not Really) tour (as immortalized in END OF THE ROAD). That's me and Dave down front. Standing, left to right are John Urbancik, Jeff Strand, K Trap Jones, Edward Lee and Lynne Hansen.

Another one from END OF THE ROAD.

I found out about Dave late Monday night, just as I was falling asleep. Tuesday was a crap day for productivity and Wednesday wasn't much better. But I did manage this week to get some work done on THE DRIVE-IN: MULTIPLEX and reviewed the publisher's edits for WITH TEETH. Chris Golden and I recorded next week's DEFENDERS DIALOGUE on Friday (you'll hear it Tuesday).

On Tuesday, I took my youngest son's mother to get her first dose of the Covid vaccine (which was a 90 minute drive). Mary gets her first dose tomorrow (Monday) up in New Jersey (where she''ll be staying until her second dose because it doesn't make sense for her to drive back and forth between them). I'm still not having any luck getting the vaccine myself. I'm supposedly "on the list" for three different hospitals (each operated by a different medical group). I've also been trying to get "on the list" for Walgreens, Rite Aid and Weis Supermarkets, all of whom are giving them out in this area, but no luck yet. I got a line on black-market doses, but both Mary and my youngest son's mother have forbade me to get one of those. And both of my sons have forbade me t get an illicit black-market dose, as well. Indeed, my youngest son said, quote, "That's a really stupid idea, Dad."

So...I wait.

With Mary gone for three weeks, I intend to buckle down and do a writing marathon, so I suspect this coming week will be a lot more productive.

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Kealan Patrick Burke sent me an invite for Clubhouse. That's a new social media app you may have heard about. It's an audio-only thing. Basically a cross between Twitter and YouTube, but with audio rather than text or video. Or, as pre-reader Tod Clark called it, "It's like being on a conference call."

Clubhouse has potential for authors. It's perfect for live readings, Q&A's, panel discussions and the like. The problem is that right now, there aren't a lot of users. The app is in its Beta form, and the only way to sign up for it is to be invited by somebody else already on the platform. And each user only gets two invites to share with others. I did not know this, and figured I had plenty of invites, so I sent one to kaey Lansdale and another to my publisher Rose O'Keefe, and then I was out of invites and now everyone is mad at me for not sending them one. Including Mary. And it turns out Rose can't even use hers because the app is only available on Apple, and not for Droid.

So, yes...the potential is there, but the audience isn't. Right now, there's a good cross section of writers, filmmakers, comedians, actors, podcasters, musicians and the like. But there are very few actual fans. It's just creators talking to other creators, and that's fine if you're looking for networking opportunities, but it doesn't do much to help you build an audience of consumers who will buy your next book.

The interface is a bit confusing, and it also has zero accessibility for the deaf or hearing impaired. Which seems pretty exclusionary, as far as social media apps in 2021 go.

I'll be curious to see how it develops. Will it be the next Facebook or Twitter, or will it be cast in the bin with WhoSay and Google+?

If you are on of the people who has been lucky enough to score an invite, I'm on there as @BrianKeene.

Later this week (I think it's Thursday evening) Jed Shepherd, Barbara Crampton, myself and a few other horror professionals will be having a chat that you can listen in on if you can get an invite to get the app between now and then.

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Long-time reader Gabriel has a very sick pup who has spent a week in the doggy hospital and could use your help. Details here.

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Currently Watching: LOVE AND MoNSTERS, THE GREASY STRANGLER, and AN EVENING WITH BEVERLY LUFF LINN

Let's talk about LOVE AND MONSTERS first. It's quite simply the best post-apocalyptic giant monster popcorn movie I've seen in a very long time. It's genuinely funny, genuinely scary, and has so much heart and so much charm. The effects are fantastic, the sound is stellar. I'm going to rave about this one all year. Currently available to rent or buy on most streaming platforms. I watched it on Prime.

Now, let's talk about THE GREASY STRANGLER and AN EVENING WITH BEVERLY LUFF LINN. At first, I wasn't feeling these at all, but by the end of each, I was a 100% convert. If you like Bizarro fiction or absurdist surreal comedy like Tim & Eric then you'll like these. If you don't care for those things, then you won't.

Of the two, I vastly preferred THE GREASY STRANGLER. The other film is amusing, but the former is endlessly quotable. (And like I said, I hated it at first, but by the time the film was over, it had won my heart and soul).

Currently Reading: MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW by Stephen Graham Jones

I know we’re only two months into 2021, but this is an easy contender for Best of the Year. A love letter to (and an examination of) both the horror genre and the American West, it left me stunned and applauding. It will be on sale in August, but you can pre-order the Kindle edition.

Stephen is someone I've known quite a while, and on a personal note, it is really, really gratifying to see his career and brand blowing up, and a wide audience discovering his work. He's ne of the best we have. I felt the same way watching the same thing happen with Paul Tremblay, Maurice Broaddus and Sarah Pinborough these last few years. All of them have been doing this as long as I have, and all of them paid their dues in blood, sweat and more than enough tears. It is incredibly awesome when the good folks win, and it's also a lesson in perseverance and patience -- two things they don't teach in those How To Be A Writer classes, but two essential ingredients all the same.

Look, if I had my way, all of my friends would be doing live readings at Madison Square Garden.

Which reminds me of the time Jack Ketchum got a standing ovation at Madison Square Garden. We talked about this on The Horror Show with Brian Keene, so skip ahead if you've heard this one.

The Cliff Notes version -- Dallas, aka Jack Ketchum, was good friends with Lady Gaga's father. Dallas introduced me to him once. Nice guy. Gave me a free bourbon. Anyway, Dallas was Lady Gaga's tutor when she was a teenager, helping her with writing and reading. Fast forward to her growing up and becoming Lady gaga, and she's playing a hometown show at Madison Square Garden. They've got this special reserved seating area, and in it are all the VIPS, which include Sir Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga's parents, and Dallas. The big jumbotron flashes Paul McCartney's smiling face and everyone in the place stands up and gives thunderous applause. The standing ovation continues for Lady gaga's parents. The camera then zooms in on Dallas, and all of Madison Square Garden is giving Jack Ketchum a standing ovation.

He loved to tell that story. And God, do I miss him. And Jesus and Pic and Gak and Dick Laymon and everybody else. And now Dave is with them. Miss them all...

Anyway...

Currently Listening:

As you may remember, I decided to listen to my entire vinyl collection in alphabetical order. But I stopped listing the albums here because I didn't think anyone but myself (and possibly John Boden) would dig it. I was wrong. Many of you have asked that I continue it, so I will bring that back next week, and give an accounting of everything I listened to since the last inclusion in this newsletter, But not this week, because this is already running long and I'm sure you have other things to do today besides read the half crazed ramblings of a middle aged cult writer who is more and more at unease with the world with each passing day.

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This coming week on Patreon, MONSTERS OF SAIPAN by Weston Ochse and myself begins. Remember, you don't need to subscribe to both of us to read the novel. Each chapter will be featured on both of our pages.

Also on my Patreon, Women In Horror Month finished up today with a story by the Sisters of Slaughter. Here's a list of all the others, in case you missed one.

Watch Me by Meghan Arcuri
Dust to Dust by Linda D. Addison
What The Girls Are Doing by Hailey Piper
Sunday Morning by L. Marie Wood
Snake Hips by V. Castro
Yank by Somer Canon
The Last Dance by Erin Louis
Cradleland of Parasites: A Triptych by Sara Tantlinger
Blood Tribe by Michelle Renee Lane
I Baked Him A Cake by Samantha Kolesnik
Paper Dolls by Kenzie Jennings
Someone Has to Do It by Laurel Hightower

People seemed to really dig this, so I'm glad for that. The best way you can support these women is to buy their books, of course, and follow them on social media.

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I almost forgot to mention, END OF THE ROAD hit number one on Amazon's best-seller list again last week! Thank you for making that happen. It was a bright point in an otherwise crap week.

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And I think that just about does it for this edition. If you have the means and ability, please consider pre-ordering STORIES FOR THE NEXT PANDEMIC and THE SHAPES OF NIGHT. You get them both for one price, and Mary and I sure will appreciate it.

Until next Sunday, be good to each other, make sure your loved ones know how you feel about them, and hang tough.

-- Brian