[Letters From the Labyrinth] Official Brian Keene Newsletter 2/19/17

Hi. My name is Brian Keene and this is the 29th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth. If you're a new subscriber, previous issues are archived here.

This is going to be a bit shorter than what you've grown used to. The reason for that is I am swamped this week. I have a four day weekend, and instead of spending it with family or spending it writing, I've been spending it converting an outside garage into an office and recording studio for myself.

The garage overlooks the Susquehanna River, offering a gorgeous view. The exterior is red brick, quite lovely and sturdy. But the interior has been home to generations now of mice and snakes. I'm not sure when the garage was last used (it had stood vacant even before I moved in here), but most of the debris I found in the ceiling and behind walls were from the late-Eighties -- cassette tapes, old skateboarder magazines, and the like.

Anyway, Mary and I have been converting it into an office and recording studio for me (so that my current office and recording studio can be used as her office on days and nights that she is here, rather than at home in New Jersey). I'm glad for her help. And also surprised. Mary and I have been dating... what, maybe five or six years now? That amount of time, and you think you've learned everything there is to know about your partner. But start a construction project with them and you will learn all new things. For example, she knows how to use a tape measure. I do not, and have always relied on the "eyeballing method" which usually leads to me buying more wood than I need, because half my initial cuts are wrong.

It's been fun, doing this project together. We still have a long way to go, however, and a lot of days ahead. I'd hoped to be finished by Monday evening. I reckon, given current progress, we'll be done by the end of the month.

With that going on, I'm also trying to set up a time to interview Richard Chizmar for next week's podcast. If you listened to last week's show, then you know that Rich promised us exclusive behind-the-scenes info on his new collaboration with Stephen King. We are trying to find a day this week that works for us both. This is made difficult because one of my family members will be undergoing major surgery on Wednesday, and I'll be at the hospital with them Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. (That family member does not want their business made public. Suffice to say, it is a serious operation, with a life-altering aftermath, and we suspect a long recovery period).

I haven't written anything since last Thursday. I'm getting edgy.

The only thing I'll write today is this newsletter. Soon as I'm done, it's back out to the garage to start work again.

I love manual labor. Always have. I've worked more than my fair share of manual labor jobs. I spent a summer as a roofer in New Mexico. Worked in foundries and loading docks and as a janitor and forklift operator. I even dug ditches (because yes, ditch digger is a real job). I like how I feel after a day of manual labor.

But my muse doesn't like it at all. My muse wants me to go back in the house, and sit at the kitchen table (which has been turned into a temporary office during this state of flux) and finish HOLE IN THE WORLD and THE MOTEL AT THE END OF THE WORLD.

It is quite possible that a few hours from now, when I discover that I bought 2x4s and what I needed were 3x8s, that I will agree.

My weekly column for Cemetery Dance, END OF THE ROAD, wrapped last Friday. You can read the not-quite-final entry here. I say not-quite-final because there are two epilogues, and they'll be published there over the next two weeks.

I've been continuously surprised by how popular these columns have been, especially given that they were often labeled 'To Be Continued' and made up one larger ongoing narrative. My thanks to Cemetery Dance for publishing them, and to editor Blu Gilliand for whipping them into shape every week. Blu had his work cut out for him. New entries ran every Friday morning, and I usually turned it in on Thursday evening. My thanks to you, as well, for reading them.

Many of you have said via social media that you're going to miss reading these. Well, like I said, there's two epilogues coming, so you've got two more weeks of columns. And I guess it's okay to announce, Cemetery Dance will indeed be publishing all of these as a book. It will include everything that ran on the website, as well as many columns that we never published (either because of time and length constraints, or because they didn't fit into the narrative flow of a weekly serial).

Look for that later this year.

That's it for this week. I'm heading back out to hammer nails and curse loudly. See you back here next week. And don't forget:

PATREON - Where I post new short stories, a serialized ongoing novel, and behind-the-scenes stuff.

TWITTER - The only social media outlet I still use regularly.