Letters From the Labyrinth 229 - Brian Keene

I'm Brian Keene and this is the 229th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.
Got my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine last Thursday. Because of my reaction to the first dose (my blood pressure rising to critical, possible stroke territory), they put me on a gurney and strapped a blood pressure cuff to me, and monitored me the entire time. Things went better this time around. My blood pressure still went up instantly, but nowhere near the danger zone. The attending doctor said he's seen this in other vaccine recipients with hypertension, as well. Not a lot of us -- but enough that it's something he watches for. And I spoke to another author this week who had the same thing happen to him with his first dose, so...
Anyway, I'm glad to have it. Hopefully it will offer some protection for at least the next six months.
Joe Ripple, CEO of the Scares That Care charity, announced that we will be having a physical charity fundraising convention this year, taking place from July 30th thru August 1st in Williamsburg, VA. Truth -- as a board member, I was initially against this idea. I wanted us to hold a virtual fundraiser again this year. But after seeing the incredibly thorough plan of action that Joe has come up with, I'm convinced we can do this SAFELY. If you think back over the past year, how have I approached the pandemic? I have done so with an overabundance of caution. Indeed, I have been cautious to the point where I know that some peers and "friends" have made fun of me behind my back. Well, screw those people. I will decide how to keep my loved ones safe. Not them.
My point is...you know I've been taking the pandemic more seriously than most, so when I say that Joe has presented a plan that I believe will keep attendees safe, you can trust me on that. We're going to be 100% mask mandatory. If you can't wear a mask, don't come. If we have to repeatedly tell you to wear your mask, you'll be escorted out and not allowed to return. We'll be limiting attendees. We'll be spacing vendors and celebrities farther apart. And we've done away with a lot of the programming, including all author programming, simply because there is no way to safely social distance in those individual meeting rooms.
So, if you are an author or a fan who feels comfortable attending this year, know in advance that there are no readings, no panels, and no Q&As between authors and fans. You'll be limited to signing books or getting your books signed.
Given these safeguards, and given the fact that I am vaccinated, I will be attending the convention. I'll quarantine from my youngest son for 14 days after, unless of course they approve a vaccine for his age group between now and then.
I'm proud of Joe and my fellow board of directors members and our volunteers and state reps. I'm proud to continue to be involved with this charity. As I told my ex-wife last week, and as I shard with the board last night... I've got a lot of bad karma in my past. Scares That Care is one of the few things that gives me hope I'm somehow balancing the scales.
Two things of note: If you are an author who I talked to before this announcement, and you expressed your discomfort with attending this year, rest assured I have you down as a guest for next year. I totally support your decision, and I have your back.
Also, I had talked to a number of previous author attendees about doing a charity anthology. Since we are now holding a physical event, that charity anthology will no longer be required to raise funds. As such, all rights to all stories have reverted back to you.
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Signed a new movie option this past week. I am not allowed to tell you which book it is for or which production company optioned it, but I can tell you that it looks like it might get fast-tracked, and that Paul Campion is officially attached as director, which I am very happy about.
You may have seen his Nazi-horror film The Devil's Rock (available on most streaming services) which features a Easter Egg reference of Ob (from The Rising, etc). And you've probably seen THE NAUGHTY LIST -- his adaptation of my short story "The Siqqusim Who Stole Christmas". If you haven't seen the latter, watch it for free right here.
Anyway, we are both super excited. Will share details when we are able.
THE LAST ZOMBIE is also under consideration again as a series for one of the streaming services. What I find interesting about this is that another division at that same streaming service passed on THE LAST ZOMBIE last year. Now, a different division is expressing interest. Which makes me wonder just how big and labyrinthian these streaming giants are.
A friend of mine who had something appear on Netflix and something else appear on Hulu once related to me that Hulu sent him a nice fruit basket the weekend his show appeared there, while at Netflix, he wasn't even sure who was in charge of his show or who to talk to about it.
Which makes me think about the time Nick Mamatas, J.F. Gonzalez and I approached a Marvel rep at the Javits Center in New York, the week my first issue of DEAD OF NIGHT: DEVIL-SLAYER came out. The Marvel rep was showing off all of their latest comics, and when we inquired about mine, he insisted that a) Marvel didn't have a character named Devil-Slayer, and b) Brian Keene wasn't one of their writers.
I don't know what we can determine from all these anecdotes, except that maybe corporations are not people, no matter what the Supreme Court says?
The new From Beyond Weird Fiction Storybundle is now live! Ten books for fifteen bucks, including THE DAMNED HIGHWAY by myself and Nick Mamatas, THRALL by Mary SanGiovanni, and many more!
Weird fiction spent much of the twentieth century as an acquired taste for people with peculiar taste. Not quite horror, only a quasi-science fiction, fantasies without consolation—it was a hard sell. But as the world got weirder, the weird made its move to reclaim its territory from the genres it inspired.
This bundle goes far beyond the classic modes of Weird Fiction. Sure, there's Lovecraftian and Cthulhoid stuff, but it's remixed and detourned, injected into the modes of thriller, of slice-of-life realism, of New Journalism and the avant-garde. Other aspects of the weird, from European decadence to punk rock outsider art, are also well represented, and expanded upon until every genre boundary gives way and every brain cell bursts.
Read more about the TEN books in the bundle here.
Currently Watching: Greenland -- an excellent apocalyptic thriller about an impending asteroid strike. Well-acted, beautifully shot, and deeper than the normal fare.
Currently Reading: The Boats of the Glenn Carrig by William Hope Hodgson and Come With Me by Ronald Malfi.
Come With Me is Ronald Malfi's masterwork -- a haunting, heartbreaking novel about grief and secrets. Utterly engrossing and terrifying. Highly recommended!
Currently Listening: Various Rush albums.
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I was a guest on ConTinual and my friend L. Marie Wood interviewed me about pretty much my entire 20-year career. Watch it for free via Facebook or YouTube.
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Every Monday night at 9PM EST, I host a reading series exclusively on the Clubhouse app. An author Q&A always follows. I'm you are following me on Clubhouse and have your notifications turned on, you'll get a reminder when it goes live.
Today, I'll give away three more memberships to Clubhouse. The rules are very simple.
Rule 1: You MUST have an iPhone. No iPads. No Androids. iPhone ONLY. Why? Because the app is exclusive to iPhone only right now.
Rule 2: You must be willing to share your name and phone number with me, so I can text you an invite to the app.
Rule 3: You must be one of the first three people to correctly answer the trivia question below. To answer, simply reply to this email. If you win, I'll get in touch. If you don't hear from me, it means we already have three winners.
Trivia Question: Which one of my novels has had the most foreign translations -- A GATHERING OF GROWS, THE RISING, or TERMINAL?
Good luck!

This is Ben Baldwin's cover to the Thunderstorm Books signed limited hardcover edition of THE SEVEN: THE LABYRINTH Book 1. Please note, the book is not up for pre-order yet. I am simply teasing you with the cover.
What is it? Well, after twenty plus years, fifty plus books. two hundred plus short stories -- it has all been leading up to this. THE LABYRINTH series is admittedly my Crisis On Infinite Earths. My Nightworld. My The Dark Tower. My Secret Wars. It's characters from across my multiverse coming together in final battle against The Thirteen.
You can read the first draft of the novel right now on Patreon for five bucks.
The final draft will be published in hardcover by Thunderstorm Books in June. Pre-orders then.
Paperback and digital editions will be available in November.
Audiobooks next year.
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Speaking of audiobooks, production on CLICKERS is finished. Expect it to be available very soon!
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Reminder that DISSONANT HARMONIES is now out in paperback.
Inspired by specially curated mixtapes, Bev Vincent and Brian Keene present two new spine-chilling novellas...
As a blizzard descends upon the sleepy town of Bayport, Rhode Island, brothers Joey and Frank Shaw investigate the mysterious disappearances of several townsfolk. After the discovery of strange tunnels, tunnels that only Joey can see, the trio suspect something is lurking beneath the snowbound town. Something burrowing. Something hungry. And it looks like Joey might be next in The Dead of Winter.
Did you imagine the world vanishing to a flood or a comet, the hand of God or nuclear war? What if it started with something as innocuous as the Berenstain Bears, and something known as the Mandela Effect? Barricaded in a seedy motel room, one man makes sense of love, loss, and life as the end of the world looms. Do you see what he sees? Do you know what he knows in The Motel At the End of the World?
On Sale Now In Paperback!
Click here to order from Amazon or click here to order from the publisher.
Special Note for Readers:
There's a Spotify playlist featuring many of the songs that inspired this book. The first 24 tracks are the songs Bev Vincent gave to Brian Keene (plus his B-sides), although there are a few substitutions because not all the songs Bev Vincent picked are on Spotify. The last 16 tracks are the ones Brian Keene sent to Bev Vincent.
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And that's it for this week. Take care of yourselves, friends, and I'll see you back here next week.