Letters From the Labyrinth 295
While Mary and I had Covid and the flu, my youngest son went to West Virginia with my parents to visit my grandmother (his great-grandmother) who is 96 this year, and still self-sufficient. This also gave him some one-on-one time with my dad (his Papaw). While exploring what’s left of an old smokehouse on the family homestead (an area I described in not-so-fictionalized detail in WITH TEETH), they found a box of old books that my cousin, who inherited the farm, had placed there in a box. In going through them, they discovered that these were textbooks my father and my aunts had owned when they were schoolchildren. Upon opening them, my son found this.
A segregation stamp from what seems like a long time ago in American history, but is — in fact — still in living memory. That handwritten “Frankford 1947” is the elementary school my father and his sisters attended. This book was issued to my aunt. My father and his sisters remember the days of segregation well. I can’t remember if I wrote about it in WITH TEETH or elsewhere, but I know that I’ve written about how my grandfather, one of the most successful moonshiners in the state during Prohibition (success being defined as he was able to feed his family and instead of getting caught, he paid off the cops and the judges who then allowed him to store his shine in the basement of the county courthouse), was the only white moonshiner we know of who regularly worked with the black population in Lewisburg — not simply supplying them, but working hand-in-hand with them in an equal partnership. My father accompanied him on some of his trips to the “black” part of town (because again, this was the era of segregation) which was how he learned that my grandfather was something of a Progressive for his time and place in the world.
Now, here we are, two generations later, and that part of American history should be just that — history. It should be nothing more than the stamp on a very old book found in an abandoned smokehouse. Instead, there are politicians and political action groups that are trying to bring it back again. It’s started with the banning of books from both public and school libraries, particularly in Texas and Iowa. We are regressing as a people and as a nation. And I fear what’s to come by the time my youngest son is my age.
Good morning. My name is Brian Keene and this is Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for friends, family and fans of my work.
My son got back from his trip last Monday, and he and I spent a much-needed week together. His mother was traveling for work, and Mary was knee-deep in grading school papers and editing Alien: Enemy of My Enemy, so we had a ‘boy’s week’. We talked about high school (which he starts tomorrow), and D&D, and girls, and politics, and video games, and the writing on Better Call Saul/Breaking Bad/El Camino. We watched movies (particularly 1408, which I selected because a) he wanted something really scary, and b) he wanted to know what a typical book signing was really like, and that film utterly nails it). He also built Lego renditions of Walter, Jesse, Mike, Gus, and Jimmy/Saul/Gene, including the RV, the super lab, and Saul’s office.
And we both wrote. Me — ISLAND OF THE DEAD and GWENDY’S BUTTON BOX, and notes toward PROJECT BROADSWORD and PROJECT MILEAGE. Him — an essay on Jane Eyre. Yes, we finished out buddy-read of Jane Eyre. Neither of us hated it, but neither of us particularly raved about it, either. It was a decent book, but not something I think either of us would choose to read again. He’s now cleansing his palate with Stephen King’s Different Seasons, and I’m cleansing mine with… well, let’s get into the rest of the newsletter.
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Currently Reading: The Prince of the Air by Mason Winfield and Mysteries of the Worm by Robert Bloch.
Currently Listening: Brian Keene Radio
Currently Watching: What We Do In The Shadows (Hulu) and the finale of Better Call Saul.
And what a finale that was. Without spoilers, Jimmy/Saul/Gene was more of a man than Walter White could ever be. We got resolution for Marie, Hank, and Gomez. We got a fitting ending for Jimmy/Saul/Gene. It was nice to see Mike one last time. We know that Huell got a happy ending back home in Louisiana. That episode was absolute perfection, and a perfect way to bring this entire three-show saga to an end.
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The pulpalooza classic is finally available in audiobook from Audible, narrated by Chet Williamson! (Apple audiobook forthcoming)
From best-selling authors J.F. Gonzalez and Brian Keene comes the wildest, pulpiest, most over-the-top installment in the Clickers series yet — a crossover with Keene's The Rising!
In the aftermath of a devastating tsunami and a series of undersea earthquakes, hordes of Clickers swarm onto the California coastline, slaughtering everything in their path. As the attacks spread to other parts of the world, humanity fights back, unaware that a second foe is about to emerge — Ob, the leader of a supernatural race of beings known as the Siqqusim, who have the ability to possess and reanimate the dead.
Now, Earth faces an invasion from not one, but two enemies — the mindless and hungry Clickers, and the evil and equally ravenous zombies. Both groups have only one goal in mind—the total extermination of the human race. But what happens when these two forces meet....
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Week 2 of my Reader Recession Relief program is underway.
This week, Kindle and Nook editions of SCRATCH are on sale for just 99 cents!
April showers bring May flowers. But as the rain-swollen creeks recede, the residents of one rural Pennsylvania town learn that April showers bring something far worse than destructive floods and property damage. This year, the April showers have brought a cryptozoological nightmare named Scratch, and only pain and terror follow in his wake.
Happy reading! Come back next week for a new discount!
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And I’m happy to see that some of my peers are also getting onboard with Reader Recession relief programs of their own. Here’s some other 99 cent deals:
All three sequels to Bryan Smith’s Depraved are just 99 cents on Kindle. My favorite series by Bryan.
Slaves To Gravity by Somer Canon and Wesley Southard is just 99 cents on Kindle. If you’ve been meaning to check either of them out, this is the perfect introductory read.
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Author Elizabeth Massie has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a blood cancer. Her treatments began in late July and will continue in the upcoming months. This includes chemotherapy and radiation, with PET scans every several treatments to monitor progress. The goal is to, of course, go into complete recovery and doctors are encouraged that that can happen. Scares That Care just wrote her a check for $1,000 to help with bills, but she and her husband artist Cortney Skinner, needs much more than that. If you have the means, please consider donating $5, $10 or $20 to her GoFundMe.
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Message from the brand-new HWA veterans committee from David Rose.
It is no secret many celebrated writers once wore a uniform. Tolkien’s service alone has resulted in books and conjectures over experience and its relationship with allegory (or lack thereof). Less known to the public perhaps is our wonderful dark vineyard, and the writers, dead and alive, who shaped the genre.
The mission of the HWA Veterans Committee will be to honor those who came before us, honor and promote our members who served, and provide insight into the relationship between veteran-hood and a passion for writing horror.
But who am I?
David Rose here. I’m a former Recon Marine and have been a member of the HWA since 2018. In 2004-05, I deployed to Iraq with 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion. Before, during, and after, I read prolifically; swayed mainly by a predilection for authors who are no longer with us. Due to the sage advice of a few seasoned writers at StokerCon 2019, the aforementioned culminated in my most recent publication, Lovecraft’s Iraq. I am honored to have made the 2022 HWA Bram Stoker Award® Reading List, and even more so to have been given this opportunity to start what the HWA foresees to be a wonderful addition to our already thriving association.
Now it is your turn to let all of us know about you. The HWA is going to be running a month-long Veterans in Horror Spotlight this November and we would love to include you. We are inviting any and all veteran members to join us. If you are a horror author, poet, or non-fiction horror writer (or writer of dark fantasy or other related genres) who is a military veteran (defined as a former service member of any uniformed, national military), or if you would like to nominate such an author, please send an email message to veterans@horror.org.
In the message, please include:
- The name of the author
- Email, or other contact info for the author so we can send them the interview questions.
Please note, we will not be vetting authors’ backgrounds by asking for their DD-214 (or equivalent paperwork for non-US veterans). We are working on the honor system and trust authors already know full well what could happen if misrepresentations are discovered by readers. A vetting exception may occur, however, if someone claims to be a former SEAL, sniper, and former fighter pilot all at once (these things happen).
Authors can and are encouraged to self-nominate.
Please note, you have to be an HWA member to participate in spotlight.
If interested, please send an email to veterans@horror.org
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Over on Twitch, MissyDaGreat is going to be hosting an EARTHWORM GODS read-along and discussion, tomorrow night at 7pm EST.
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Speaking of EARTHWORM GODS, we return to that world with SUBMERGED: THE LABYRINTH Book 2, and some of you have been asking about the release of that book, so let’s go over forthcoming releases. A caveat — most publishers are dealing with production bottlenecks and paper shortages right now. That includes Amazon’s KDP. (If you’re an author an you’ve tried to order copies of your books from KDP then you know there’s a longer wait time than usual). Bottom line — none of this is carved in stone.
SUBMERGED: THE LABYRINTH Book 2 — Hardcover from Thunderstorm Books before the end of the year. Paperback, ebook, and audiobook right around Christmas. (However, I will not release those three editions until after the hardcover has been released).
THE DRIVE-IN: MULTIPLEX — Should go up for pre-order soon. This is a signed limited edition, and as such, there are a lot of signature sheets making the rounds, so please be patient.
OTHER WORLDS: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE Vol. 4 — I hope to have the paperback and ebook of this available before Halloween. It’s in the editing phase now.
LEADER OF THE BANNED: THE BEST OF HAIL SATEN Vol. 4 — I hope to release the paperback and ebook before the end of the year or early next year. This will be the first time this book has been available in either of those formats.
THE RISING CHAPBOOKS — I have no idea. The stories were finished late last year and earlier this year (the last one being completed and turned in to the publisher in January), and Anthrax’s Charlie Benante has finished all the covers. They were originally supposed to be released this past April. Then I was told the earliest would be November. The latest update I got seems to put them into next year (I wasn’t given a date, that’s just a guess on my part).
If it’s not listed above, then you’re looking at a release next year. (INVISIBLE MONSTERS, ISLAND OF THE DEAD, etc.)
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And that does it for this week. Hope you are doing well, and keeping your head above water. As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read this. See you back here next week!
— Brian Keene
Saul's return to James McGill could not have been more perfect!