[Letters From the Labyrinth] Brian Keene 11/27/2016
Hello. My name is Brian Keene and this is the seventeenth issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly email newsletter. If you're a new subscriber, previous issues are archived here.
Back in April, I ventured out onto the road for the 2016 Farewell (But Not Really) Tour. As of this morning, that tour has clocked 23,894 miles traveled.
Twenty-three thousand, eight hundred and ninety four miles.
I know this because I figured it out with a calculator. But even if I didn't have a calculator, I'd know, because I feel it in my bones and joints and head and waistline. That sort of grueling travel schedule takes a serious toll on the human body, and I see now why musicians and bands do less of it when they reach middle age.
When I was younger and starting out, I used to do tours like this all the time -- and they paid off. Leisure Books (a division of Dorchester Publishing) considered a paperback to be successful if it sold 7,000 to 10,000 copies. My first book with them, THE RISING, sold 70,000 that first year. Some of that was being lucky enough to anticipate the fact that, with the exception of Phil Nutman's WET WORK, the reading public hadn't had a zombie book in over a decade. But the rest of it was because of touring.
I toured for my next two books with Leisure, CITY OF THE DEAD and THE CONQUEROR WORMS. Same thing happened again. Now, you could say, "Oh, City of the Dead did well because it was a sequel to The Rising and had zombies in it." Yes, yes it was and yes it did. But THE CONQUEROR WORMS (which has now been reprinted as EARTHWORM GODS) was a novel about to geriatric protagonists fighting giant worms -- a far cry from the zombie zeitgeist that was then beginning to build. It's success was largely due to a spring and summer spent on the road, meeting readers an hand-selling books town by town -- building up a fan-base.
These days, I don't have to tour and promote. I'm incredibly lucky in that regard. But I'm glad I did it thisyear. This time, it wasn't about book sales or building a fan base. It was about saying thank you to that fan base and saying goodbye, just in case I don't get the chance to later.
Mission accomplished.
I'm almost done. A speaking engagement at a college in Frederick, Maryland next week, and a convention in Allentown, Pennsylvania on New Years Eve. And then I'm finished with this sort of thing for a long, long time. Maybe forever.
What happens next year? Well, I'll be at the fourth annual Scares That Care Charity Event, but I won't be signing. Instead, I'll be there as one of the board members for the convention. Yes, if you come up to me in the hall with books to sign, I'll sign them for you. I'm not an asshole. But I won't be sitting behind an autograph table all weekend. And at some point next year, three dear friends of mine -- inspired by the tour I'm almost finished with -- are going to do a signing tour of their own. I may join them for one or two appearances. But I am pretty confident there will never be another country-crossing, extensive production like this again.
In truth, I'm glad for that, and it ties in nicely with my overall retirement from the public eye (already in progress). Indeed, those who know me best suspect that everything I did this year -- the tour, the direction of the podcast, the reorganization of social media, etc. -- was by design, and all part of something called PROJECT: ENDGAME. They think it's called that because one of the big whiteboards in my office has PROJECT: ENDGAME scrawled across the top and has 3x5 index cards with things like "Give Young Authors The Tools To Fight Their Own Battles" and "Get Rights To Everything Back" and "Convince Insurgents To Revitalize HWA From Within By Becoming The Bad Guy" and "Wrap Up Mythos So Readers Aren't Left Hanging When I Die" scrawled across them.
Maybe there really is a PROJECT: ENDGAME, or maybe I just created that whiteboard to fuck with my friends. All I know is that this year has been spent setting things up so that I can get some peace and quiet. Next year is going to be spent on FINISHING all the things I have yet to finish -- things that remain unfinished for various reasons. HOLE IN THE WORLD, SUBURBAN GOTHIC, INVISIBLE MONSTERS, DEAD AIR, THE RISING V, and collaborations with Bryan Smith, Jack Ketchum, Bev Vincent, Wrath James White, and Mary SanGiovanni. Some of them got pushed back while I took care of J.F. Gonzalez's estate. Others got delayed because of the lack of peace and quiet. Now...
...now I'm almost in a place to finish what needs finished. And I am very much looking forward to it.
Signature sheets for this year's Maelstrom titles have been signed and sent to the printer. I suspect you'll see the books go on sale this week or the next. Keep an eye on Brian Keene dot com or the Thunderstorm Books Twitter feed so you don't miss out.
"Wrap Up Mythos So Readers Aren't Left Hanging When I Die" says one of the 3x5 index cards pinned to the PROJECT: ENDGAME whiteboard. And I have been.
THE SEVEN is the first book in a multi-book series called THE LABYRINTH. In it, various characters from my various books are teaming up not to save the world -- but to save existence itself. All of the Thirteen -- Ob, Nodens, Shtar, Behemoth, Leviathan, etc. -- are on hand, as are Frankie (from THE RISING series), Teddy (from the EARTHWORM GODS series), Tony and Livingston (from the CLICKERS series), The Exit (from THE COMPLEX), Nelson LeHorn (from DARK HOLLOW), Bloom (from "Babylon Falling") and many more.
I've been offering THE SEVEN as a monthly serial via Patreon. Basically, you pay one dollar a month and you get at least one new chapter a month. Click here, sign up, and start reading. All of the previous chapters are archived there, as well. Believe it or not, this first book in the series is more than halfway completed already.
Readers often ask if it will be available in any other format. Yes, eventually it will be published in hardcover, paperback, digital, etc. But for those who want to read it NOW, or those who like reading it AS IT IS BEING WRITTEN, you can't beat a dollar a month.
Currently Reading: JERUSALEM by Alan Moore
Currently Listening: BLACK RIBBONS by Shooter Jennings
Currently Watching: WESTWORLD.
I love concept albums. Pink Floyd's THE WALL, Queensryche's OPERATION: MINDCRIME, The Who's TOMMY. I've even got a soft spot for Styx's ill-conceived KILROY WAS HERE.
BLACK RIBBONS is a concept album by horror fan Shooter Jennings -- son of the legendary Waylon Jennings and a superb musician in his own right. Being a fan of outlaw country music, I like all of Shooter's catalog, but BLACK RIBBONS is special. Set in a dystopian near-future America where the New World Order has finally taken over, it tells the story of Hierophant, an outlawed rock and roll band, and Will o' Wisp, a radio station disc jockey who has been ordered by the government to shut down. The music is a departure from Shooter's normal sound -- think country music played by Rage Against The Machine and Nine Inch Nails -- and what follows is sonic ear candy -- a throwback to those albums we used to sit in our rooms and listen to with the headphones on.
If you're still not convinced, Stephen King voices the character of Will o' Wisp.
BLACK RIBBONS has been out for many years now, but an ultimate edition was just released on vinyl, which is why I'm talking about it here. Mine arrived early last week and it has been in heavy rotation on the turntable here at Casa Keene.
I first met Kyle Lybeck several years ago when he walked up to me at a signing and handed me a stack of books to autograph and introduced himself as a fan of my work. Later, I figured out that he was a freelance copy-editor for Thunderstorm Books and Eraserhead Press. What I didn't know, until he surprised me with it, was that Kyle also wanted to be a writer.
NIGHTMARE REALITY is Kyle's second book -- a short story collection that has gotten some sincere praise from some pretty big industry names, including myself. It's a dark fucking collection, offering little humor or happy endings. Sort of like my stuff, right? If that sounds like your cup of tea, then check it out. Available on Kindle for just 99 cents or in paperback for nine bucks. Click here to purchase.
It should also be noted that Kyle's wife, Justine, regularly kicks my ass on Fitbit, but not this week. Hi Justine!
If you're still here from last week, thanks for not unsubscribing. Take care of yourself, and I'll see you again next week, universe willing.