Letters From the Labyrinth 252
It is difficult for me to walk now. From the moment I reach the top of the stairs until the moment I sit down at my desk, each step I take is hounded by three small beasts who mistake my gray bedroom slippers for cat toys and attack my feet. Each movement is ponderous and slow, because they refuse to get out from underfoot. It is particularly precarious when I’m carrying a mug of hot coffee or a can of cat food. When I use the toilet, they gather together around my ankles and fall asleep inside my pants, which maes standing up a tricky proposition. When I sit down to type, my toes get nibbled on and my legs are used as ladders.
Good morning. I’m Brian Keene and this is the 252nd issue of Letters From the Labyrinth — a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues can be found here on Substack. If you’re reading this via email, and you’d like to leave a comment, just click that link. I’m always happy to hear from you.
The indoor kittens are happy and healthy. Each has developed their own personality, which I find fascinating. Stripe likes to explore and lead. Dallas likes to cuddle, or sit on my shoulder while I write. He’s fascinated by television. Stripe is fascinated by anything he can bat across the floor. And the little tiger girl (whom I’m not naming because she’s going to her permanent home next week and I’m already too attached to her, so I just call her “little girl”) is fascinated by my hermit crabs.
(As always, you can find more pictures on my Twitter or Instagram)
Outside, Josie and the two remaining kittens are doing well. I managed to trap all three inside the house last week, but Josey then went completely defensive and started slamming against the glass in the door. I had to quickly open it so that she wouldn’t hurt herself, at which point she and the kittens ran out. She then turned and gave me a hiss. The kittens came right back up, wanting to play, and then she headbutted them away. The next day, she’d moved them over into the neighbor’s yard, where they are currently living under a hasta bush. The neighbor and I will work on getting them inside this coming week.
* * *
SILVERWOOD: THE DOOR was an audio series on which I served as the showrunner and co-wrote with Richard Chizmar, the Sisters of Slaughter, and Stephen Kozeniewski. It has been available for several years in audiobook and for Kindle. Now, it’s available for free as an episodic podcast, and you can find it wherever you listen to podcasts. Like Apple and Spotify for example.
* * *
VOYEUR - a long lost J.F. Gonzalez psychological suspense novel - came out this week!
When Christine first receives the videotape, she is disturbed and frightened. The footage suggests her mother, who was found brutally murdered two years ago, had been having an extra-marital affair. Then she gets another videotape... showing unbelievable bloodshed. Christine turns to Mel, a family friend who is suffering a loss of his own -- the recent nervous breakdown of his partner. Together, they are determined to find out exactly why Christine's mother was murdered and how these recent events tie together. What they aren't prepared for is the depravity they'll find themselves immersed in... or the betrayal they'll face.
Unavailable for over a decade, this long-lost J.F. Gonzalez thriller is back in print for a new generation of readers. Available now in paperback and for Kindle!
* * *
Mary and I watched all nine episodes of Squid Game on Netflix. I know the press is touting it as the goriest, most violent thing ever made. it’s not. It doesn’t even come close. But it is a lot of fun, and it kept us engrossed. It is certainly compulsive viewing. It’s sort of Battle Royale meets Saw. Mary loved it. I liked it up until the last twenty minutes of the final episode. Those last twenty minutes pissed me off.
I’ve also now watched The Many Saints of Newark five times since its release on Friday. If you know anything about me, then you know I'm an uber-fan of The Sopranos. It is constantly battling it out with Californication for the spot of my favorite television show of all time. And thus, I've been anxiously awaiting the film prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, since its initial announcement. It hit theaters and HBO Max Friday, and I woke up at 4AM Friday morning just to watch it.
I absolutely love the movie. However, I am also one of the biggest fans of The Sopranos on the planet. If you are a super-fan like myself -- someone who has memorized dialogue and knows character arcs like they know their own front yard and has a deep knowledge of even the most minor, deep cut show trivia -- then I can't imagine you won't feel the same way.
One of the things folks have been asking me on Twitter today is will the film appeal to casual viewers and viewers who have never seen the television show. In that aspect, I'm not sure. I think casual viewers of The Sopranos will find plenty to like about The Many Saints of Newark, but I also think if you might be left wanting more. Same thing goes if you have no familiarity with the show whatsoever. The film does indeed tell a complete story, but the ending of that story might be a big "So what" or a "Huh" or "That's it?" for someone who has never seen the movie. The narrative itself may also be rather disjointed for someone with no familiarity (or just a passing familiarity) with the show.
So, if you've only watched The Sopranos once, and you don't remember much of it, or if you've never seen The Sopranos -- I don't know. I loved the movie, but your mileage may vary. However, if you, like myself, are a big fan of the series, then The Many Saints of Newark is required viewing. You know those episodes when they'd flash back to Tony's youth, and Junior and Johnny-Boy took center stage? It's like a feature-length version of one of those. You do see younger versions of Sil, Paulie, Big Pussy, Jackie, Artie, baby Christopher, and even a short cameo of Carmela, but the main players are Christopher's father Dickie (whose presence loomed over the TV series despite never having appeared in it), with Junior, Johnny-Boy, Livia and teenage Tony filling out the supporting roles. There are also several new characters, including Harold, who used to work for Dickie but is now striking out on his own in the aftermath of the 1967 Newark riots and the rise of the Black Power movement.
It's neat to see Silvio, Paulie, and the rest of the gang in this context, but their characters aren't really given much to do, because as I said, the main players are the others. But for you super-fans, there are some surprising reveals, both big and small. I'll list some of those here without spoilers:
1. Since The Sopranos ended, fans have wondered "Did Tony lie to Christopher about who killed his father?"
While the movie doesn't answer Tony's perspective on that question, you will indeed find out who orchestrated the murder of Christopher's father, and it is a BIG surprise, and one that will hang over any rewatch of The Sopranos series.
2. Do we learn anything about the characters, post-series finale?
Well, one of the characters from the television series narrates this film. And David Chase has talked about how they had Edie Falco film a scene for the movie but that it was cut out. So, no, you don't really learn what, for example A.J. and Meadow have been up to, or who now runs the DiMeo Crime Family, but...
3...and I have to be careful how I type this because I don't want to give away spoilers, but the graveyard? When you watch the movie, you'll know what graveyard I'm talking about. Look in the background, just out of focus, over the narrator's "shoulder". That's a fresh grave being dug, and given the narration at the time, one might think that grave is being dug shortly after the ending to The Sopranos.
Anyway, those are my thoughts, as a Sopranos super-fan after three viewings of the film. Like I said, your mileage may vary, but it was everything I'd hoped for, and more.
* * *
My friend Bob Ford posted a new reading online. Now, I’ve said for years that bob is one of the best public readers in the business, right up there with Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale, and Thomas Monteleone. But if you’ve never had a chance to hear him read live, here’s the proof. Stellar production values from Mark Eaton and John Stapleton, as well.
* * *
I did a Q&A for the Goodreads Horror Aficionados group. You can read it for free here.
* * *
Mary, John Urbancik and I went to Centralia yesterday. Mary and I have visited there at least once or twice a year for nearly a decade now. Perhaps a little more than a decade.
Rendered a ghost town by a still-raging after forty-plus years underground coal mine fire, Centralia has always been a study in change. Over the years, we’ve watched as nature has slowly reclaimed the place where a town once stood. But now, that passage of time has been speeded up by several environmental reclamation projects.
Here is how the infamous graffiti highway looked the first time Mary and I visited there. (That’s us)
Here it is about five years later.
And here is what it looks like as of yesterday.
Quite a difference a decade makes.
There’s also an old wall that Mary and I used to take our picture in front of each year, with every visit, to mark the passage of time. Here is how it used to look just three years ago versus how it looks now. Same location.
Yes. Yes I have been losing weight. Thanks for noticing. ;-)
* * *
Okay, I guess that’s it for this week. A reminder that I’m not using social media much at all these days, except cat pictures on Instagram, and a few tweets per day to Twitter. The best way to stay up to date with me is this newsletter right here. So thanks for reading. have a great week and i’ll see you back here next Sunday.