Letters From the Labyrinth 302

As you know, I rarely ever talk politics anymore, but I am today, because I always talk about my week, and this past weekend involved politics. Last Friday night, Mary and I were watching TV, and my phone rang. The caller was an official from PA Senate candidate John Fetterman’s campaign, wondering if I might be interested in filming some stuff with their digital team, and speaking to the press at Saturday’s rally in York. I said yes because — like John — York is my hometown, and because I support his candidacy, and because I’m always happy to have some attention.

I wrote a quick little speech/talking points thing Saturday morning (replicated below) and got to the stadium around 1pm. I recorded my speech for the digital team in three takes (my Bell’s Palsy still gives me particular trouble with F’s, and I put a lot of F’s in the speech with words like “Freedom” and “Fight”. Then I hung out for a while with York Mayor Mike Helfrich, who — like myself — is a political Independent. Really nice guy. Policy smart, but also street smart. Then I did some interviews with various local, state, and regional news outlets about why I’m voting for Fetterman, and why I think Independents and disaffected Republicans should consider voting for him, as well. And while I was doing that, Mayor Mike was dismantling mcConnell’s attack ads that have been running here in the state, which are basically just recycled plays from the Bush-Dukakis fight, and are provable bullshit to anyone with even basic knowledge of how to look something up on Google. And then I listened to some speeches and talked to various people in the crowd, and got advice and a business card from somebody who was very interested in my oft-expressed desire to run for Congress.

But all that talking left me pretty exhausted, and my Bell’s Palsy was really acting up — worse than it has in some time, so that by the time I got a pic of John, his wife Giselle, and I together, well… see for yourself.

And here’s one of my and Mayor Mike, taken about two hours before. So yeah, the Bell’s got worse throughout the afternoon.

Impressions? John Fetterman’s as blue-collar and as Pennsylvanian as they come. Oz is not. Fetterman is down to earth. And it is worth noting that while Fetterman was in Pennsylvania, talking to Pennsylvanians, Oz was in California, talking to some wealthy elites at a fundraiser. Fetterman’s also a fine public speaker. Post-stroke, he sounds better than I do, post-Bell’s. His campaign music consisted of Run-DMC, Metallica, ZZ Top and AC/DC. He was genuine with people afterward, and despite being exhausted, he listened to them.

Anyway, here’s the speech and talking points I wrote. My press junket answers were basically expanded versions of this, over and over again, where I got into specific freedoms that are endangered.

Like John Fetterman, I’ve lived in Pennsylvania all my life. Mehmet Oz has not. If he had, then he might have learned about Gettysburg, where Pennsylvanians from all walks of life once stood together against tyranny, and fought for the freedom of all Americans. Today, the people who finance Oz want to erase those freedoms. They want an America that benefits only the wealthy, the powerful, and the elite. And once again, Pennsylvania is a key battleground in that ongoing fight for freedom. I’ve been an Independent for most of my life, but this fight is too important to rely on partisan politics. And that’s my message to all of my fellow Pennsylvanians, regardless of your political identity. If you value freedom, if you value America, then stand with us. Join the fight, and vote for John Fetterman on November 8.   

And now, for the folks rolling their eyes and saying “I don’t come here for politics”, thank you for indulging me. Lets get back to talking about monsters and zombies and giant worms. Blessed be.

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Reader Recession Relief Week 9.

This week, my non-fiction collection TRIGGER WARNINGS is just 99 cents on Kindle and Nook.

Enjoy!

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Tim Lebbon, Mary SanGiovanni and myself were guests on David Agranoff’s Postcards From A Dying World podcast, in which we discussed John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There and John Carpenter’s The Thing. Listen free via YouTube or Apple.

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I am honored and happy to learn that SUBURBAN GOTHIC by myself and Bryan Smith has been nominated for a Wonderland book Award. Full details on all the nominees, how to vote, the awards themselves, etc. can be found here.

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A reminder that Richard Chizmar, Ronald Malfi and I will be signing next Saturday — October 15 — at Barnes and Noble 2516 Solomons Island Road, Annapolis, MD from noon until 4:00pm. Hope to see you there!

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Amazon is offering ISLAND OF THE DEAD free to readers until October 11th. Click here to access the serial. You’ll see that chapters 4 and beyond are locked, but if you click on them, you should be able to unlock them for free.

The novella is now finished. it came in at 51,000 words. It will remain up on Amazon for a while. Then, after I’m done editing the final draft of INVISIBLE MONSTERS, I’ll turn back to ISLAND OF THE DEAD and prep it for a physical release (I suspect that it would be available next Summer/Fall)

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Currently Reading: Bullet Country by Robert Swartwood and Playground by Aron Beauregard

Currently Watching: I Think We’re Alone Now (Prime), No Country For Old Men (HBO Max), Better Off Dead (Paramount +), One Crazy Summer (Prime), The Wedding Singer (Prime), The Rover (HBO Max), Say Anything (HBO Max)

Currently Listening: Brian Keene Radio

The Rover was supposed to be a thinking person’s Mad Max, but instead just comes across as terminally boring. Ended up not finishing it.

Not so I Think We’re Alone Now, which is one of the better post-apocalyptic films I’ve seen in a while. A long, slow, thoughtful burn that I really enjoyed. Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) is amazing in it. He carries the first 20 minutes or so on screen by himself, with no dialogue and conveys a lot just by expression and body language. I recommend it if you want something with not a lot of action, but a lot of depth.

With Playground, Aron Beauregard transcends himself, delivering a genuinely chilling, uncomfortable novel that will make even the most jaded horror fan squirm. A harrowing, relentless read that left me breathless.

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One of the final 8 kittens has been adopted out to a good home, and given her permanent name of “Daisy”. The other seven kittens and Josie have an appointment this Tuesday at the SPCA, All of them will get vaccinated, and spayed/neutered. Then Josie will come back here to live, and the babies will be adopted out to new homes. The lady who runs the SPCA assured me several times that she is absolutely positive they won’t have trouble finding homes for the babies, and that they will not end up euthanized, which was my main concern.

I will miss these little furballs. Despite my best efforts, I have grown attached. But we cannot keep them. And I won’t lie, it will be nice to have my office back. As will our own cats, who have ben confined to the first floor throughout this temporary situation. Dallas gets quite jealous whenever I go upstairs.

It’s still strange to go outside, and step onto my front porch and not see Josie out hunting rats along the river, or have eight kittens come bounding across the porch to say hi. But all I have to do is go upstairs and there they all are. I am sure it will be even stranger next week, after they are gone.

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That does it for this week. Mary and I and my oldest son are heading over to John Urbancik’s later today to lay cards. Hope that you enjoy your Sunday, as well. As always, thanks for reading. I’ll see you back here next week, with less politics.

— Brian Keene