Letters From the Labyrinth 273
What with World War III having kicked off this week, I figure we can all use a cat break. Here are Spike, Stripe, Bubbles and Dallas in one of their favorite spots. They often hop up here to watch the seagulls and geese over on the river, but in this pic, you’ll notice they are looking down. That’s because Josie, the outdoor cat who refuses to be tamed or come inside, is out there, right below the windowsill, flaunting her feral freedom.
(The assortment of junk in the background is actually a beehive that my father and I repurposed into a cat box for her, insulated both inside and outside with layers of blankets, foam, and cardboard. The bricks, red cooler, and the chairs are there to cut down on wind shear when it whips across the water and hits the porch. It is secure and safe and surprisingly warm and she uses it most nights. When I feed her in the morning, she emerges from the box and stretches lazily. Occasionally, she’ll allow me to skritch her ears or her back. But that’s as far as our relationship has come. She is still very wary and very feral, and probably always will be).
Good morning. I’m Brian Keene and this is the 273rd issue of Letters From the Labyrinth — a weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Previous issues can be found here.
I’ll warn you in advance, this is going to be one of the longest newsletters I’ve ever sent. So…let’s get on with it.
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I talked to Bob Ford and Christopher Golden on the day World War III broke out, and went over to Geoff Cooper’s to visit for a bit. All four of us agree that if China is going to make a play for Taiwan, it will be in the coming months.
The scenes out of Ukraine are gut-wrenching. I don’t really have any words of comfort or solace, other than to repeat what I said on Twitter earlier this week. It’s okay if you didn’t write today. But try to get back to it tomorrow, if you are able, because there are a lot of scared people right now, and it’s our job to give them make believe monsters so they forget about the real monsters for a while.
I always think of Joe R. Lansdale in situations like this. When the Challenger space shuttle exploded, pieces of the spacecraft came down right in his backyard. For a tragedy that impacted an entire nation, that’s about as immediate and personal as it gets. If I remember what he told me correctly (I’ve never been good with details and often confuse or conflate things so if I get this wrong, Joe, correct me) he went outside and made sure his kids didn’t pick any of the wreckage up. And then, after the government had come along and cleaned up the mess, he went back inside the house and went back to work, writing.
I wrote this week, as World War Three started, but I have sympathy and empathy for any of my peers who didn’t. That’s okay. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have written either, but I had a short story burning up inside of me that I had to get out — one that’s a fun tribute to not only my recently departed friend Dave Thomas, but also our other departed friend J.F. Gonzalez, and the aforementioned Coop. It deals with legacies and secrets and toxic friendships, and I think Dave and Jesus would have gotten a big kick out of it, and I think Coop will, too. I wrote it for a magazine who asked me for a story, but since I haven’t submitted it to them yet, I won’t say more about it for now.
Anyway, like I said, I don’t have any words of solace or comfort. I mean, if I tell you that my friends who are still active duty in the military or various government agencies all seem to agree that a nationwide hack of our critical systems or a hit to our power grid are both very real possibilities, that’s not going to be much comfort, right?
But perhaps there is a practical comfort in preparing for such an event. I find that there is, at least. Prepping is not a political thing. It’s not a right wing thing or a left wing thing. It’s a smart thing. Whether it’s a pandemic or a blizzard or a hurricane or the loss of the power grid, it helps to be prepared. My friend Jim Cobb — Editor-in-Chief of the very popular Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide magazines (which you’ve no doubt seen at your local convenience store, Wal Mart, newsstand, etc.), author of 10 books, and pretty much the expert in prepping — wrote this for my Patreon last week. I’m reprinting it here, in the newsletter, because I think it’s something ALL OF YOU can benefit from.
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Prepping 101 by Jim Cobb
With the news coming out of Ukraine, as well as world events in general as of late, more and more people are joining the prepper ranks. And an awful lot of them don’t know where to begin. Brian has been a prepper for ages, as have I, and when I approached him about doing a quick-n-dirty post about disaster readiness for his Patreon, he thought it was a great idea.
Before we dive in, let me clarify something. What follows is not the end all, be all when it comes to preparedness instruction. By necessity, this is just hitting some of the high points to get people started. Consider it sort of the Cliff’s Notes version.
The first priorities should be:
1) Financial security – Get out of debt and stay there. Build up an emergency fund. Do what you can to bring in extra cash you can put towards your goals. This takes time, but the sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll hit some of your goals.
2) Get in shape – The healthier you are, the easier you’ll be able to withstand extra stress, avoid illness, and just generally have an easier time of it. Work on cardio as well as weight training, within whatever limitations you may have. Talk to your doctor about any lingering health issues.
3) Figure out water – Nobody has ever come through a disaster or crisis and been upset at having too much potable water available. Store some and have a plan for acquiring more, along with being able to filter/purify it. One of the best filtration options is the Sawyer MINI, but both MSR and GRAYL have good ones as well. I don’t recommend Lifestraw, simply because it is limited to point of use, meaning if you wanted to filter water to use for cooking, you’re sucking it up into your mouth, then spitting it out into a container. One of the easiest ways to store water is by purchasing cases of bottled water. Locally, I can pick up a case of half-liter bottles for about $2.50 on sale. That’s a little over 3 gallons of water per case. Picking up a case or two when you find it on sale will add up quickly. Cases of bottled water generally stack fairly well and it also easy to stash them throughout closets and under beds.
Now, let’s talk a bit about stocking up on food and other essentials. Putting together a food pantry isn’t difficult, but doing it right involves a bit of planning. You do not need to order a pallet’s worth of specially packaged, and expensive, survival foods. Instead, you can amass a comprehensive supply of food just by buying things you normally get at the grocery store.
It makes very little sense to devote time, money, and energy into storing foods nobody in the house likes to eat. Not when you have a free and open choice as to what to purchase. When it comes to food, many people are reluctant to try new things when times are normal. Add in the stress and anxiety from the disaster at hand and most will much rather have something familiar on the dinner plate. It will provide a bit of normalcy in the crisis. In addition, sticking to foods you already consume will help you avoid allergic reactions if you have someone in your family who may be subject to them. You already know that XYZ brand of whatever is safe for everyone in the home.
The other half of the equation is that your food should be rotated on a regular basis. This means you’re regularly consuming and replacing items, rather than just sticking them on a shelf and forgetting about them. Doing so ensures that what you have stored is as fresh as can be at all times. Come up with a system that works for you, whether it is a computer spreadsheet or old-fashioned spiral notebook and a pen, to keep track of what goes in and out.
Don’t plan to buy everything at once. That’s just asking for trouble. Instead, shop like you normally do, just add a little bit extra to the cart at each visit. Take advantage of sales and use coupons when they make sense to do so. Add to your food pantry a little at a time and you’ll be surprised at how quickly it builds up.
Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from learning how to preserve food yourself. Canning food at home is a great skill to have. While it does require a small investment in equipment and supplies, it will allow you to not only have less food go to waste, such as canning excess garden produce, but you can take better advantage of sales at the grocery store. Let’s say they are running a great special on ground beef, but your freezer is packed full. You could still buy extra and can it, then store it on the shelf.
In addition to food, here’s a quick list of other things you should make sure you have on hand.
Prescription medications, if needed
OTC meds for common ailments (colds, nausea, diarrhea, etc.)
Feminine hygiene products
Toilet paper
Soap, shampoo, and other toiletries
Cleaning supplies
If you have pets, make sure to take them into account with your plans. Stock on food for them as well as any other essentials. They rely on us to provide for them, don’t let them down.
Above all, take to heart the advice given by Douglas Adams – Don’t panic! We’ll get through this. Use common sense, apply some basic logic, and make decisions based on facts rather than emotion.
I’m always available for questions. You can reach me via email to jim@survivalweekly.com or use the following links.
Sign up for my free weekly newsletter here -- http://eepurl.com/dB2F9L
Join my Real World Prepping group on Facebook here -- https://www.facebook.com/groups/realworldprepping
Find me on Amazon here -- https://amzn.to/3Hmm6Fr
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Thanks, Jim. There’s a bunch of great, practical advice there. I hope it helps some of you.
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Chris and I finally got back in the studio to record a new episode of DEFENDERS DIALOGUE. It will go live next Tuesday. We discuss issue 11 of Marvel’s Frankenstein’s Monster, and the series overall. After that, we’ll be discussing the 1980’s four-issue Falcon series.
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Jay Wilburn’s #BrianKeeneRevisited continues this week with his re-read of RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL.
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As you probably know, I’m a huge fan of The Midnight Pals — Bitter Karella’s loving, hilarious, whip-smart lampoon of horror writers (including myself on more than one occasion). I also wrote the Introduction for the first collected edition. Right now, Bitter is running a sale. All proceeds from this four book bundle go to the Transgender Education Network of Texas. As you might know (or might not know) this is an issue that is near and dear to my family, so I think it’s important. I hope it will be to you, as well.
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Gabino Iglesias interviewed a bunch of your favorite horror writers (including me) about our childhood fears and if we carried them over into our fiction. Check it out here.
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Thanks for all the kind words last week regarding Dave’s passing.
Something else I focused on this week was helping Deena and Mare with Dave’s things. Deena wanted Dave’s friends to have his Magic the Gathering cards, so I spent a few evenings dividing them up into equal boxes for Mary, John Urbancik, Coop, Bob Ford, Chris Enterline, Maurice Broaddus, Coop’s son, and both of my sons.
I also got his comic book collection sorted, and will begin getting dealer offers next week. (Ms. Muffintop — I’ll text you later this week).
Listeners to THE HORROR SHOW WITH BRIAN KEENE know that Dave’s basement flooded a few years back, right at the start of his health problems. While he did the best he could to clean up in the aftermath, he was already weakened and ill, and — unbeknownst to him or to any of us — he missed some spots.
I had to toss a box of comics because they’d become mildewed (and indeed, some had black mold growing on them). Luckily, the other boxes were unscathed. About half the collection was bagged and boarded. He’d intended to do the same for the rest, but then he got sick.
Less lucky were the books on the bottom shelves. We aren’t sure if this was from the initial flood, or if water got back into the basement later on (by then, Dave was too ill to go downstairs). I suspect it is a combination of both, since the comics were moved into the basement after the flood, but still had water damage.
Anyway, some of the books on the bottom shelves looked like this.
And that broke my heart, and that was when I finally cried for my friend. That was when it all finally hit me, sitting there in the basement, holding this in my hand and getting snot all over the inside of my facemask.
Dave loved those books and he loved Deena and he wanted the former to help the latter after he was gone, and it enrages me that the cancer ate him down to the point where this happened.
The good news is that it was limited to the books on the bottom shelves. All of the others are okay, and Deena will be okay. It will take some time to go through them all, but I’m confident.
But yeah, between this and World War Three… a pretty emotionally-draining week here at Casa Keengiovanni.
(P.S.: I already made the gallows humor “Fungi From Yuggoth” joke to Mary and Coop, so there’s no need for you to make it in the comments).
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Speaking of Dave, I found this online earlier in the week: a short video that reviewer Frank Errington took of Dave and I at the second THE HORROR SHOW WITH BRIAN KEENE charity telethon. Frank and Dave are both gone now, but it's pretty awesome to hear them both laughing in this.
And Scott Edelman posted another video from that same telethon. Both of these made me smile.
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I’d hoped to get together with my pal, director/producer Jed Shepherd this past week. He was in the area, all the way over from the United Kingdom. Sadly, we couldn’t get out schedules to sync up, so the poor guy had to hang out with Matt Blazi instead. (Love you, Matt). We agreed that we’ll hook up next time. It feels weird to say “next time” doesn’t it? That’s not something that’s been said much in the last two years. I guess the pandemic truly is waning. That feels good, despite everything else going on in the world.
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Currently Reading: Dark Things edited by August Derleth
Currently Listening: Holy Smoke by Peter Murphy and Whitey Ford Sings The Blues by Everlast
Currently Watching: Snowfall (Hulu), 1883 (Paramount+), and South Park (HBO Max)
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What follows is the PRELIMINARY Programming Schedule for Scares That Care AuthorCon. That means it is NOT final. Changes will be made to it, based upon the feedback from participants.
If you are an author attending AuthorCon, either as a Vendor or as a Guest of Honor, look over the Preliminary schedule, find your name, and let me know if you are NOT okay with where I have included you.
When putting together something like this, experience has proven that it is much more efficient to get input after a preliminary schedule has been assembled, rather than emailing each individual person and soliciting input beforehand.
If you are on a panel discussion, I have placed you there because I feel you’re qualified to discuss that topic and will have interesting insight and thoughts.
If you have been assigned a reading, and are new to Scares That Care, know that we pair two authors together for 45-minute time slots. If ten people show up to hear you and ten people show up to hear your partner, then you’ve both just doubled your audience (and potential readers). We recommend that each of you read something ten to twenty minutes in length, so that both of you have enough time to finish, and so that both of you can take questions from the audience at the end.
As I said, we are now ready for your input. Find your name on the schedule. Guests of Honor have more than one activity. All other participants have a minimum of one activity (sometimes more, if there was availability).
If you’re happy with your placement, you don’t need to do anything else.
If you are concerned with your placement — for example, if I have put you down for a reading and you suffer from social anxiety, or if I have you down for a panel and you’d rather do a reading, or if I have you scheduled for Sunday when you are already heading to the airport — please email me directly at briankeene@live.com. DON’T do it as a Twitter reply. DON’T leave it in the Facebook comments. EMAIL ME, so that it is not overlooked. Put ‘AuthorCon’ in the subject so that it goes to the top of my inbox. I will do my best to accommodate each and every question or concern.
If you do NOT see your name anywhere on the list, then my sincere apologies in advance. Email me and I will rectify that immediately, as well.
The deadline for feedback is Saturday, March 5th. If I have not heard from you by then, I will assume you are happy with your slated activity.
Thank you for you patience and participation. We’re looking forward to a great show, and doing great things for people who need help.
Again, read over the schedule. If you’re content, no further action is required. If you would like to request a change or have a concern, please email me at briankeene@live.com by Saturday, March 5th.
— Brian Keene
AuthorCon PRELIMINARY Programming
FRIDAY
Vendor Meeting – 4:00pm (Vendor Room): All vendors and Guests of Honor are encouraged to attend.
Vendor Room Hours – 5:00pm to 9:00pm
Silent Auction – 5:00pm to 9:00pm
Grady Hendrix’s PAPERBACKS FROM HELL (with Special Guest Will Bozarth) – 9:30pm (Auditorium) Note: This is a ticketed event.
READINGS (Rooms A & B)
5:15pm to 6:00pm: Todd Keisling and Justin Holley
6:15pm to 7:00pm: Russell James and Clay McLeod Chapman
7:15pm to 8:00pm: Josh Malerman and Jonathan Janz
8:15pm to 9:00pm: Mary SanGiovanni and Hailey Piper
PANELS (Rooms 2 & 3)
6:00pm to 7:00pm: CHILDHOOD NIGHTMARES – C.W. Briar, Tara Moeller, R.L. Parker, Ally Malinenko, Nicole Willson, Nathan McCullough, and Shawn Burgess discuss their childhood fears and whether or not those memories have influenced their fiction.
7:30pm to 9:00pm: SPLATTERPUNK STRONG – Splatterpunk Award co-founder Wrath James White, and Splatterpunk Award nominees C.V. Hunt, Kristopher Triana, Jeff Strand, Kristopher Rufty, Candace Nola, Wesley Southard, Stephen Kozeniewski, Wile E. Young, Carver Pike, Aron Beauregard, Daniel Volpe, Jay Wilburn, and Thomas R. Clark discuss the current state of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror.
WORKSHOPS (Center Lounge)
7:00pm to 8:00pm: WRITING THE BADGE – Former Police Officer and Detective Joe Ripple leads this free seminar/Q&A on the correct way to write police procedure, tactics, and operations.
SATURDAY
Vendor Room Hours – 10:00am to 6:00pm
Silent Auction – 10:00am to 4:45pm
Silent Auction Winners – 5:00pm
READINGS (Rooms A & B)
10:15am to 11:00am: Candace Nola and Holly Rae Garcia
11:15am to Noon: John Hornor Jacobs and John Urbancik
12:15pm to 1:00pm: Chet Williamson and David Niall Wilson
1:15pm to 2:00pm: F. Paul Wilson and Thomas F. Monteleone
2:15pm to 3:00pm: Maurice Broaddus and S.A. Cosby
3:15pm to 4:00pm: C.V. Hunt and Wrath James White
4:15pm to 5:00pm: Aron Beauregard and Daniel J. Volpe
5:15pm to 6:00pm: Andersen Prunty and Christoph Paul
6:15pm to 7:00pm: Sonora Taylor and Red Lagoe
7:15pm to 8:00pm: Glenn Rolfe and Donnie Goodman
8:15pm to 9:00pm: RJ Roles and Tim McWhorter
9:15pm to 11:00pm: CARNIVAL OF CHAOS – Jeff Strand, John Wayne Comunale, Kristopher Triana, Wesley Southard, Stephen Kozeniewski, and Wile E. Young present nearly two hours of mayhem and madness.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS (Rooms 2 and 3)
10:30am to 11:30am: WRITING RITUALS – Bryan Nowak, Daniel Braum, Dea Schofield, Kelly Martin, Dan Franklin, and Joseph Pesavento discuss their individual writing processes and practices, finding balance with day jobs and family obligations, and their tips for productivity and focus.
11:45am to 1:00pm: PUBLISHERPALOOZA – Join representatives from Apex Books, Apokrupha, Bleeding Edge Books, Castaigne Publishing, Clash Books, Crone Girls Press, Death’s Head Press, Grindhouse Press, Stygian Sky Media and Weirdpunk Books discuss the trials and tribulations of publishing, and what they’re looking for from authors and artists.
1:15pm to 2:15pm: THIS DYSTOPIAN OBSESSION – Mary SanGiovanni, Jonathan Janz, Adam J. Smith, Michael G. Williams, Anthony M. Strong, and Matt Wildasin discuss why dystopian and post-apocalyptic horror fiction are more popular now than ever.
2:30pm to 3:30pm: DEATH OF THE DEAD? – Night of the Living Dead and White Zombie. Day of the Dead and Wet Work. The Rising and 28 Days Later. The Walking Dead and World War Z. The popularity of zombies runs in cycles. Matt Blazi, Jay Wilburn, Kristopher Rufty, Jeremy Wagner, Thomas R. Clark, and Anton Cancre predict what’s next for the undead. Are we approaching a downturn, and if so, will they rise once more?
3:45pm to 4:45pm: WRITING SHORT STORIES – Desiree Byars, Katherine Silva, James Noll, Tony Evans, Michael Tyree, and Joseph Sullivan discuss the tips, tricks, and challenges of crafting the perfect short horror story.
5:00pm to 6:00pm: SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE – Josh Malerman, Maurice Broaddus, F. Paul Wilson, S.A. Cosby, Wrath James White, and Clay McLeod Chapman discuss the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of what happens when Hollywood comes knocking at your door.
6:30pm to 7:00pm: Placeholder
WORKSHOPS (Center Lounge)
Noon to 4:00pm: UPPING YOUR GAME: HOW TO DELIVER A MEMORABLE LIVE READING – Author Robert Ford, one of the best live readers in the business, leads this interactive workshop on ways to improve your own live reading. Attendees will participate with live readings of their own work (so please come prepared) and receive practical developmental feedback. Note: This is a ticketed event.
4:30pm to 8:30pm: WRITING FOR VIDEO GAMES: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW – Video game veteran Richard Dansky (Red Storm, Ubisoft) leads this highly interactive seminar on how to write for video game designers. Note: This is a ticketed event.
SUNDAY
Vendor Room Hours – 11:00am to 4:00pm
READINGS (Rooms A & B)
11:15pm to Noon: Rebecca Rowland and Douglas Ford
12:15pm to 1:00pm: Jacob Haddon and D. Alexander Ward
1:15pm to 2:00pm: Robert Ford and Richard Dansky
2:15pm to 3:00pm: Placeholder
PANEL DISCUSSIONS (Rooms 2 and 3)
11:30 to 12:30pm: BABY’S FIRST MONSTER – R.L. Stine. Stephen King. Leisure Books. Weird Tales. Different generations of horror fiction fans discover the genre in different ways. Hailey Piper, John Kelly, Jeremy Megargee, Matthew Mitchell, Mike Duke, and Kim Alexander discuss their introduction to horror.
12:45pm to 1:45pm: MY FAVORITE HORROR NOVEL – Andersen Prunty, Matt Blairstone, Rowland Bercy Jr., Elizabeth Blue, Chase Will and Pamela K. Kinney discuss their all-time favorite horror novel, and the impact it’s had on them.
2:00pm to 3:00pm: Placeholder
WORKSHOPS (Center Lounge)
2:00pm to 3:00pm: YELL AT BRIAN KEENE – What did you think of the first Scares That Care AuthorCon? The Board of Directors wants your honest feedback, so that we can improve the experience going forward. (Please don’t actually yell, though).
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Like I said — one of the longer issues of this weekly newsletter. Thank you for reading it to the end. I appreciate you, and I’m glad you’re here. I’ll see you next Sunday!
— Brian Keene