[Letters From the Labyrinth] 1/8/17

Hi. My name is Brian Keene and this is the 23rd issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly email newsletter. If you're a new subscriber, previous issues are archived here.

A big box full of my contributor copies for 2016's Maelstrom set arrived earlier this week.

I flipped through Bracken MacLeod's COME TO DUST. I had read the novel in manuscript format, but this was the first time I read the Afterword. It made me tear up a little. Then I flipped through THRONE OF THE BASTARDS by myself and Steven L. Shrewsbury. It came out looking great. Then I held SCHOOL'S OUT in my hands.

Here's a truth -- some authors get jaded after awhile. It's an exciting thing when you are signing signature sheets for the first time, or the fifth time. But the fiftieth time? It can be a drag. I know one author -- one who I will never name, even in private, who enlisted his children to sign his name on signature sheets once. I would never do that, but I will admit to groaning when it comes time to sign them. It's like homework. The first set of signature sheets I ever signed were for a book called 4X4, written by myself, Geoff Cooper, Michael T. Huyck and Mike Oliveri. When the sheets arrived, the four of us had a big party, and spent a night drinking and signing. When the signature sheets for this year's Maelstrom set arrived, I signed and drank alone. I drank, not for a party, but to numb the carpal tunnel and arthritis in my hand as I gripped that pen and signed my name over and over.

The excitement dies down after a time. I'm not sure exactly when it happened for me, but there came a time when, rather than getting giddy each time a new book arrived with my name on it, my reaction was more like, "Oh, that's nice." Instead of showing everyone -- thrusting it into their faces and shouting, "Look! I made this!" -- I just said, "I'd better make room for this on the shelf."

Do this for a living long enough, and be prolific long enough, and some of the magic starts to wear thin, kids. Oh, maybe not the magic of the writing process itself. At least, not for me. Not yet. The actual writing hasn't become a grind, and I pray it never will (although there are authors I look up to who have been doing this longer than I have and some of them have intimated that it will. They hiss it at me in a gravelly Yoda voice, like I'm about to go into a cave and face my biggest fears. "You will be...")

But I digress.

All of that jaded, numbed bullshit vanished this week when I showed my eight-year-old son a copy of SCHOOL'S OUT. This is my first all-ages book, which means he can read it. But more importantly, although his name isn't on the cover, he helped me write it. This book was a true collaboration between the two of us. As I wrote in the novella's Afterword: "Most of what you just read here were his ideas. The pandemic, the visit to his neighbor’s house, the intruders, the wild dog pack—all of that stemmed from his imagination, rather than mine. This was his story. I can’t stress that enough. This was his story. I just transcribed it, and added a few bits here and there—mostly the gross stuff, and the adult-themed parts, and the plot point of him eventually returning to school. My son insists that bit wouldn’t have happened, even in real life. Since we wrote this together, I decided it was only fitting that we make a book that could be enjoyed by both kids and their parents."

I studied the look on his face. The wide eyes. The shocked expression that changed to a big smile. The glee. It was the same expression I used to get, each and every time I received contributor copies of my latest book.

Watching that...? Well, I no longer felt jaded or numb.

He showed his mother, thrusting it into her face and shouting, "Look, I made this!" I suspect she was reminded of when I did that to her after THE RISING was published. She got a big smile.

Then, our son sat down in a recliner, and tuned us both out for an hour while he read the book, cover to cover.

This weekend, he's working on his next one.

***

SCHOOL'S OUT, THRONE OF THE BASTARDS, and COME TO DUST are on sale right now at http://www.thunderstormbooks.com. There are only about 50 copies of each left, so if you want one, I would hurry. If you don't get paid again until later this month, shoot them an email. They will happily reserve a set for you.

My weekly podcast, THE HORROR SHOW WITH BRIAN KEENE, reaches its milestone 100th episode later this month. To celebrate, we’ll be doing a live, 24-hour telethon from 12pm (EST) on Thursday, January 26th to 12pm (EST) on Friday, January 27th. During this live broadcast, we hope to raise $10,000 for Scares That Care — a 501C charity which you can learn more about here.

This live event will be streamed online worldwide via my YouTube Channel, and will feature an array of special guests, surprises, and all the usual stuff you’ve come to expect from the show over the last two years.

If you’d like to watch it in person and perhaps appear on the show yourself, you can come be a part of our live studio audience. We’ll be recording at Holiday Inn Express Hunt Valley, 11200 York Road, Cockeysville MD 21030.

We’ll be using the hashtag #HorrorShow100 on Twitter, mostly because that’s what the young people like.

I hope to see some of you in person at the event. For those who can’t make it, I hope you’ll tune in, listen, and donate to this very worthy cause.

Also, tomorrow is the last day to get a commemorative t-shirt to celebrate this occasion. A reminder that all of the proceeds from those sales also go to Scares That Care.

CURRENTLY WATCHING: Jericho
CURRENTLY LISTENING: Abba - The Album
CURRENTLY READING: The Wastelands, The Dark Tower III by Stephen King

I love JERICHO. It's one of my favorite shows. I re-watch it every other year or so. It was a clever bit of television writing for its time -- "Let's take everything that modern conspiracy theorists fear -- the New World Order, 9/11 was an inside job, United Nations troops on U.S. streets, gun control, false flag attacks, Halliburton and private mercenary armies, pandemics -- and make it all palatable and plausible to the average American viewer who still believes what CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News tells them, and just wants teen romance and television drama that can be resolved in an hour."

And they did just that. Masterfully. Wonderful writing and a very talented supporting cast make this show a joy to re-watch. If you've never seen it, check it out. It's on Netflix and elsewhere. It only lasted two seasons. You can binge watch the entire thing over a weekend.

Ron Davis, who runs the Brian Keene Fan Group on Facebook, wanted me to let you know they just topped 200 members, and are looking for more. I know there are several Facebook Fan Groups dedicated to my books, and it's not my intent to push one over the other -- I just happen to like Ron's set-up, and his enthusiasm, and I've met the guy, and he's cool. I am not involved with it, and I don't read the posts, so you can freely post whatever you want there and not worry about hurting my feelings.

Okay, that's it for this week. Be good to the people in your life. I'll see you back here next Sunday.