Letters From the Labyrinth 249
Hi again. I'm Brian Keene and this is the 249th issue of Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues are archived here.
I'm pondering migrating this newsletter from Mailchimp to Substack. From what I'm told, this shouldn't impact you -- the reader -- at all. The newsletter will remain free to you and sent out every Sunday. But Mailchimp is costing me about $50 a month, and Substack would cost me $0. And supposedly, Substack has a far better delivery rate than Mailchimp. I dunno, Pondering it. haven't decided anything for sure. Like I said, it won't impact you and you don't need to do anything.
Josey Wales and her six kittens are doing fine. I'll post a few of my favorite pics from this week below, but I won't inundate you with baby cat pics. If you want to see more, I've posted a ton of them to my Instagram.
The signed, limited edition hardcover of the Author’s Preferred Edition of TERMINAL is up for pre-order from Thunderstorm Books. Pre-orders will be open from now until October 1st.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR COPY
For over two decades, fans of Brian Keene's cult-classic novel Terminal have heard rumors of an uncut version that was never published. Now, for the first time anywhere, Thunderstorm Books is proud to present that version, as the author originally intended.
Tommy O’Brien once hoped to leave his run-down industrial hometown. But marriage and fatherhood have kept him running in place, working a job that doesn’t even pay the bills. And now he seems fated to stay for the rest of his life. Tommy has just learned he’s going to die young– and soon. But he refuses to leave his family with less than nothing–especially now that he has nothing to lose. Over a couple of beers with his best friends, John and Sherm, Tommy launches a bold scheme to provide for his family’s future. And though his plan will spin shockingly out of control, it will throw him together with a child whose touch can heal—and whose ultimate lesson is that there are far worse things than dying. Now, one man's war with God my impact us all.
“A powerful, unique novel with a fascinating plot and characters, and echoes of Stephen King’s working-class voice.” — Ed Gorman
“If Brian Keene's books were music, they would occupy a working class, hard-earned space between Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, and Johnny Cash.” — John Skipp
Listeners have probably noticed that is has been over a month since there was a new episode of DEFENDERS DIALOGUE — a popular podcast hosted by Christopher Golden and myself in which we reexamine the comic books we loved as children. That hiatus was not by design.
As the global situation rages on, the monthly economy is getting tougher for many full-time creators. Despite what you might think, Chris and I are not immune to that, and we’ve found ourselves taking on more work and buried in deadlines and obligations. DEFENDERS DIALOGUE is a fun side-project that we do — two friends chatting every week about things that bring us joy — but it is only that, and other obligations must come first. We cannot simultaneously serve our loved ones, our readers, and our listeners
Yesterday, we came to a mutual decision to end the show after episode 152. We both like the symbolism in that number, as the original run of The Defenders ended after issue 152. That means, when we come back from hiatus, we’ll have 12 episodes left. We intend to use those episodes to focus on comic books and characters that we loved, but didn’t get a chance to examine — Spider Woman, X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, the first appearances of Killraven nd Deathlok, Jack Kirby’s The Eternals, the 1980’s Moon Knight series, Tomb of Dracula, and more.
We would both like to thanks our listeners for their years of support. It has been our distinct pleasure to have you listen in every week while we find an hour of happiness and escape. We hope you will enjoy these final 12 episodes, as well.
CLICKERS NEVER DIE!The seminal horror series created by J.F. Gonzalez, Mark Williams, and Brian Keene reemerges from the depths with the weirdest, most brutal installment yet!Washed-up oceanographer Cameron Custer is hoping a mysterious living fossil discovered in the South Pacific could breathe new life into his career. Instead, Custer’s new specimen points him toward a heavily guarded secret — the truth behind the Guadalcanal Campaign. During World War II the U.S. Marine Corps had more than just the Imperial Japanese Army to contend with. They also had to wage a vicious battle against the amphibious Dark Ones and an onslaught of their deadliest servants.Now, an ocean heaving with blood and guts, a battlefield teeming with rage and terror, a man’s demented love affair with a fish monster, and a boy’s heartwarming friendship with a prehistoric crab monster will all combine to prove that… CLICKERS NEVER DIE!Splatterpunk Award nominated author Stephen Kozeniewski (THE HEMATOPHAGES, BILLY AND THE CLONEASAURUS) and Splatterpunk Award winning author Wile E. Young (THE MAGPIE COFFIN, CATFISH IN THE CRADLE) join forces for one of modern horror’s most anticipated reboots!CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR COPY! Comes with two bonus Clicker and Dark One figurines
I was a guest on Livid Comics’ Lair last night. We discussed comic books, WITH TEETH, SUBURBAN GOTHIC, THE SEVEN, the Author’s preferred Edition of TERMINAL, metaphysics, UFOs, and much more.
You can watch the entire 2-hour interview here.
You’ve asked us for many years. Now, it comes true…but with a twist.
A SECOND charity weekend in Williamsburg, VA.
“Scares That Care AuthorCon” April 1st - 3rd, 2022.
A three day convention centered solely on the literary community and written word. At this show you’ll find all the fantastic horror authors that have plagued your nightmares for years, along with horror publishers, artists, comic book and video game writers, and more. No television or film actors will be present, unless they are promoting a book.
Spearheaded by Brian Keene, we hope you’ll join us in this second charity weekend of giving back. Shop our vendors, (yes, the charity weekend is open to ALL vendors), get your books autographed, take in a panel discussion, enjoy a reading or participate in our classes and seminars for horror writers with topics ranging from beginner to advanced. And yes….enjoy the cool, mellow sounds of “Scaryoke,” and browse our silent auction or our STC store!
We hope you’ll join us April 1-3, 2022, Williamsburg, Virginia. Join us in fighting REAL monsters.
Author Guests of Honor will be announced soon.
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS. VENDOR TABLES, ETC
CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM (King beds are sold out. You’ll have to select Double Queen)
* * *
A Few Very Important Items Of Note For Readers and Creators:
In addition to those Guests of Honor, every single author, publisher, artist and other creator who purchase a vendor table will be listed on the website as ‘Also Appearing’ so that your fans know to find you there. This means that with your purchase of a vendor table, you will automatically be included in programming — panel discussions, readings, workshops, etc.As the Board Member spearheading this event, my personal goal here is simple — provide readers, fans, authors and publishers with the sort of experience the fabled and much-missed World Horror Convention (a huge annual horror convention that focused on the literary side of the genre, rather than film) used to provide, but in a much more affordable fashion, and further the charity’s goals of helping those in need.
My entire career -- hell, my entire life -- has been about taking chances.
I wrote a zombie novel at a time when zombies had become nonexistent in the genre. After the release of Romero's Day of the Dead and Phil Nutman's Wet Work, there was a serious drought of zombies in both film and literature. As I wrote my zombie novel, friends told me I was wasting my time. "Nobody does zombies anymore. Vampires are the hot ticket!" But I didn't care. I wrote a zombie novel because a zombie novel was what I wanted to write. I took a chance.
And...as it turned out, a lot of folks wanted to read a zombie novel, because The Rising hit the bestseller list and immediately went into multiple printings and has stayed in print for the last 18 years.
That was a chance that paid off for me.
About a year before his death, J.F. Gonzalez, myself, Dave Thomas and Geoff Cooper were sitting in Coop's kitchen, bullshitting with each other about horror novels and such. We got the idea that we should do a podcast based around a similar premise. At the time, podcasts were in their infancy, and not nearly as dominant as they are today. J.F. died before he could be a part of it, but when I launched The Horror Show with Brian Keene with Coop and Dave, people again told me that it was a waste of time. But I took a chance because it was something I wanted to do.
And...as it turned out, a lot of folks wanted to listen to that podcast, and it had a successful six year run, and I ended it while still on top.
Not every gamble or risk has been so successful, however. Many of you will remember the ill-fated Brian Keene Radio endeavor I launched about four years ago. I sank a considerable amount of time and money into that, but it never found an audience, and was a failure. And you all know about the initial failure of Terminal.
Scares That Care AuthorCon is something I've wanted to do for over a decade. Long-time readers who were active on the Brian Keene forum will remember our fantasizing about 'Keene Con' in which we'd get hundreds of awesome horror writers together and make attendance cheap for fans and readers so that they would show up to get their books signed, etc.
Well, next year, it's going to be a reality. I finally get a chance to take take this gamble. I believe in my heart it can be successful -- but I also acknowledge that its success is wholly contingent on getting fans and readers to pay $30 for a weekend ticket and actually attend. Otherwise, it's just going to be hundreds of authors staring at each other and getting mad at me. Worse, because this is a charity event, there are families in need who will be counting on it being successful. It's a big gamble. Possibly the biggest of my career. But I am confident it will pay off.
The Internet is full of Writing Advice, and social media is full of opinions -- both solicited and unsolicited. If you have an agent, they have opinions on what you're doing. So do your fellow writers. So do your readers.
At the end of the day, you only answer to yourself. If you want to write a novel about mutant avocados taking over the world, then take the chance. If you want to switch up from horror to crime, take the chance. You may succeed. You may fail. But in an industry where so much of everything we do is dependent on the ever-changing whims and tastes of the public and our publishers, isn't everything we do taking a chance in one way or another?
Write the book or story that you want to write. Take the chances that you want to take. If you fail, at least you can't say you didn't try. And if you succeed, then the payoff is always worth it.
And that's it for this week! Hard to believe that next Sunday will mark 250 issues of this newsletter. Thanks for allowing me into your home every Sunday. I appreciate it more than you know. See you back here next week!