Letters From the Labyrinth 254

Good morning. My name is Brian Keene and this is the 254th 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.

Unless I’m napping with my kittens, of course. Don’t bother me then. Mary crept upstairs to check on me yesterday, because I hadn’t been down for coffee in a while, and snapped this pic of me, Dallas, and Stripe.

All the kittens are now in their permanent homes, and as a result, Momma Josey is coming around less. This mean either she’s getting fed at other places, or she’s back in heat and on the prowl. I hope it’s the former but fear it’s the latter. Every time I arrange to take her to get spayed — that’s when she disappears.

Mary and I had planned on only keeping gray twins Stripe and Dallas. The last kitten that we had yet to find a home for was here with them. Our plan was to foster it until we found a permanent home. I had a few leads — a friend of Mary’s sister, a cousin of my friend Pam, the guy who mows our lawn, Tina the cashier at Tractor Supply, etc. — but no firm confirmation.

Well, then Mary’s niece, who is eight-years-old and has her Uncle Brian wrapped around her finger, named the final kitten Bubbles, and insisted that she and the cat had “formed a relationship” and if we kept it, then she could come visit it all the time. And then my teenaged son opined that he, too, really liked the third cat. And then Mary chimed in with “it’s just as easy to adopt three kittens as it is two”.

So, that’s what happened. Here’s Stripe, Dallas, and sister Bubbles enjoying the view from their permanent home.

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As usual, I’m typing this on Saturday. My 35 1/2 high school reunion is tonight. The half is because last year was our thirty-fifth anniversary, but then the pandemic happened. I hadn’t planned on going tonight. I have nothing against my former classmates. I like 99% of them well enough. But it’s in a bar, and we’re in a county with only a 48.8% vaccination rate, and none of the bars or restaurants have any sort of masking policy.

I’ve been out to a restaurant twice since getting vaccinated. John Urbancik and I went to a deli and sat outside on their patio. And John, Mary, Wesley Southard, and Wes’s wife Katie went to a Mexican restaurant. I was fine with the patio, but the other place made me nervous because it was indoors and there were a lot of people. Granted, I didn’t get Covid afterward, but it was still a roll of the die, you know?

This thing tonight seems like an even bigger roll of the dice, because that bar is small, and there are going to be a lot of people there. But I promised my old high school chum Tim that I’d go, and it will be nice to see everyone, so I’m going to wear my mask and pull it down to sip my bourbon, and if anybody gives me a hard time about wearing the mask, I’ll just punch them.

Or maybe buy a round of drinks for everyone, tell the bartender to put it on that person’s tab, excuse myself to go to the bathroom and then leave.

Yeah, probably that second one. That seems like the better option at age 54. Funnier, too.

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Christopher Golden and I began recording the final twelve episodes of DEFENDERS DIALOGUE last week. The first of those — episode 141 — is now live and available wherever you listen to podcasts. We discuss Spider-Man's first encounter with Killraven in the post-apocalyptic Marvel Universe, from Marvel Team-Up issue 45. Listen for free!

This coming week we’ll discuss X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, a mutual favorite of both our teenage years, and a very important and seminal storyline in the X-Men saga.

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My friend Jason Lenox is currently crowdfunding Volumes 1 and 2 of The Satanic Coloring Book. One of them is for adults, and the other one is for children. The project is already fully funded and now into the stretch goals. Jason has an excellent record of following through and fulfilling these type of projects, so if you know someone who might appreciate this as a holiday gift, I recommend you check out the Kickstarter.

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Currently Watching: South Park (season 10) and old Doctor Who serials (Seventh Doctor).

Currently Listening: Gino Vannelli’s Brother To Brother, various Blue Oyster Cult albums, Public Enemy’s Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black, and a live Rolling Stones bootleg, circa the Some Girls era.

Currently Reading: The Compendium of F, Volume 2 by F Paul Wilson and The World Lansdalean: The authorized Joe R. Lansdale Bibliography compiled by Fred Isajenko with extra material by Joe R. Lansdale and Owen King.

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This Past Week’s Work Updates:

I signed with my Italian publisher, Independant Legions, for Italian language editions of CLICKERS and CLICKERS II: THE NEXT WAVE.

I worked on compiling the next J.F. Gonzalez collection, tentatively titled MATERNAL INSTINCT AND OTHER BLOODY CUTS, which will collect much of his Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror stories.

The final half of INVISIBLE MONSTERS is now well underway. Those reading the serialized first draft on Patreon know that one of the members of the Illuminati/New World Order/Secret Masters has revealed himself to Simon, and that Dez has been captured, and that Levi is hospitalized and about to be captured. Now we enter the endgame. I’m writing several chapters ahead of what’s posted on Patreon, and the story is entering a phase in which there’s sort of a Grand Unification of all conspiracy theories (sort of like what F. Paul Wilson did in one of the Repairman Jack books). I’m going to have to slow down for that, so that it doesn’t turn into a massive, chapters-long information dump.

I wrote two non-fiction pieces for Patreon.

I proofed the galleys for the paperback edition of CURSE OF THE BASTARDS — the final book in me and Steven L. Shrewsbury’s trilogy.

I started on preparing THE SEVEN: THE LABYRINTH Book 1 for paperback and ebook release. My hope is to have it available in time for the holidays.

I posted a new chapter of ISLAND OF THE DEAD on Kindle Vella.

I reread some various Stephen King and Richard Chizmar stuff to prep for the final half of PROJECT CASTLE. Need to make sure my timeline is right and in canon. I’ll be going away for a secluded week in November to focus on getting that finished, and have promised the rest of the team my final draft by Thanksgiving.

I wrote first drafts of two more short stories set in the world of THE RISING (for people who contributed to Kristopher Triana’s fundraiser).

I worked on prep for Scares That Care AuthorCon and Scares That Care Weekend. AuthorCon Guest of Honor announcements coming next week!

And I waited for news on a pitch to one of the streaming services.

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Speaking of streaming, Mary and I figured out that we were spending way too much money on streaming, so we decided to cut back. We got rid of Paramount, Peacock, and Disney+ and kept Shudder, Netflix, Hulu and HBO Max. We also have Amazon Prime, but we didn’t count that in the tally since we primarily use that for the shipping discounts.

I suspect a lot of people are going to start making similar choices in the months ahead. We’ve gone from peak content to too much content.

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Picture courtesy of sometimes singer songwriter Gary Miller.

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And that’s it for this week. As you may have noticed, my social media usage is lessening a little bit more every week. that is by design, and I am healthier for it. this newsletter is quickly becoming my favorite form of communication, so I appreciate you allowing me into your home every Sunday morning. Be well, and stay safe, and I’ll see you back here next week.