Letters From the Labyrinth 233 - Brian Keene
Happy Mother's Day! I'm Brian Keene and this is the 233rd issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.
It is 3:03AM on Saturday as I write this. I've had a lot of these super early mornings this past week. I normally wake up around 5AM, but for whatever reason, I've been sleeping very lightly, and anything and everything -- from the cat jumping up onto the bed to Mary's elbow digging into my back -- seems to be waking me over the last few days. And then, once I'm awake, I can't go back to sleep.
So...I come upstairs to my office and I write instead.
Nightime on the river is a much different thing than it is during the daylight hours. On nights like this one, when the sky is overcast and there are no stars or moon, the darkness is impenetrable. You can't even see the flashing lights of the houseboats out on the water.
It's quiet. A car might drive past about once an hour. Nobody is out mowing their yards. At this time of night, even the coyotes in the forests behind the house are quiet. About the only reliable sound is that of the train, rumbling along the tracks across the river, heading north or south. Another one will come through about six this morning.
It's quiet here in my office, too. Usually when I work, I have music on in the background, or the TV is playing to my far right. But I don't want to wake Mary up downstairs, so instead, I work in silence, and the only sound is my fingers on the keyboard, and the occasional creak of my chair or my back. Or both. And sometimes my hermit crabs will tap the glass of their enclosure. Otherwise, it is completely still.
I got a lot done this past week. The dam finally broke open on this last half of PROJECT CASTLE and as a result, I wrote a ton of pages. Also worked on novel INVISIBLE MONSTERS and THE DRIVE-IN: MULTIPLEX anthology. The latter is almost done. Just waiting on stories from three people. Once we have those in house and contracts are signed, we'll announce the line-up.
Been debating whether or not to shave my beard and my head. I've enjoyed having a full head of hair again. (For people who are new to me -- I was bald from my mid-thirties until a few years ago, when I got burned in an accident. While the most extensive damage was to my left arm -- including being able to see the actual bones and joints in my elbow -- the second degree burns to my head succeeded in exfoliating my scalp, and I've since been able to regrow a full head of hair).
And I dig the beard. But it is a pain in the ass when it comes to eating anything, particularly peanut butter or soup. And there are times when my face hurts from the weight of the thing.
As for my head? When I forget to brush my hair -- which I often do because I'm not used to having it -- I look like Doc from Back To the Future (which you kids know as Rick from Rick and Morty). I look like a deranged scientist. Yesterday, my son and I ventured out to buy Mother's Day gifts, and I forgot to comb my hair, and he said, "I'm not going anywhere with you when you are looking like that!"
And he was right to do so.
I dunno. Haven't decided yet, but I'll probably revert back to the Bruce Willis thing here before too long. It's a good look for me, and I don't have to worry about remembering to comb, or picking peanut butter off my chin.
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Issue 724 of Locus Magazine (out now) contains my Appreciation of John Pelan. It’s available from most bookstores and newsstands, or digitally. You can also buy it via this link.
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On last week's DEFENDERS DIALOGUE, Christopher Golden and I continue our deep dive into Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Two-In-One with a senses-shattering cast of characters including Spider-Man, Human Torch, The Thing, Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner, Namorita, Annihilus, Wundarr, and the Frightful Four! Available for free wherever you listen to podcasts, and also right here.
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STORIES FOR THE NEXT PANDEMIC has shipped to all customers! It will not be reprinted, so if you missed out, I recommend eBay or the secondary market.
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Scares That Care, a 501c3 charity composed of horror fans and horror professionals, has two openings on our Board of Directors. Click here for more information on the positions, and if you think you are qualified, please email Joe.
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Got a question this week about the length of THE MOTEL AT THE END OF THE WORLD (my novella in DISSONANT HARMONIES).
These days, a novella is qualified as usually being between 10,000 to 40,000 words. THE MOTEL AT THE END OF THE WORLD is 11,980 words. Bev's novella is about 35,000 words. So mine looks much shorter in comparison. I wrote it to be read at a quick, frenetic pace, just like the narrator felt.
Conversely, you don't hear the term 'novelette' being used much these days. And people are using 'novella' to describe much shorter works, near the bottom of that 10,000 word scale.
The goalposts got moved on a lot of these things with the rise and prominence of Kindle. Writers and publishers could get paid the same amount of money for a shorter work as they could for a full length work. It's why you're seeing the overall length of what's considered "novels" get shorter and shorter each year. Particularly for novels by authors who primarily make their living self publishing. That's also why you see many literary awards using 'Long Fiction' as a category title, rather than Novella or Novelette. It's because the definitions and parameters keep changing.
I'll warn you folks in advance -- WITH TEETH is on the shorter side, too. Not as short as THE MOTEL AT THE END OF THE WORLD, but definitely not a full length novel, either. But INVISIBLE MONSTERS looks to be one of my longest, right around 95,000 words (a hair longer than CITY OF THE DEAD). And I tallied the word count on the first draft of SUBMERGED: THE LABYRINTH Book 2 this week, and was surprised to find it at just over 100,000 words.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to what the story requires. What is the best length to tell that particular story?
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Customers who pre-ordered the paperback or e-book editions of WITH TEETH directly from the publisher via this link will receive their books well before the Amazon release date of June 1st. Indeed, the ebooks are available now, and the paperbacks have begun shipping. If you don’t want to wait until June 1st, consider ordering direct from the publisher rather than via Amazon.
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Yesterday was J.F. Gonzalez's birthday. Most of his stuff is back in print now, with the rest slated to come out over the next 24 months. Everything that is back in print and available is listed here. If you've never read him, there are a lot to pick from. If you have read him, I'll bet there are one or two books there that you don't yet have.
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Okay, now it is 3:46AM and I'm going to try to go back to sleep for a few hours. Later today I want to get my tomato and cucumber plants into the ground (going to hold off a few more days on peas and beans, since I'm growing them from seed). I hope that all of you are doing well. I'll see you back here next Sunday!