Letters From the Labyrinth 335

StokerCon, Taylor Swift, and Secret Coffee

Hello from Pittsburgh, site of this year’s StokerCon and the Bram Stoker Awards. I’m in town for several reasons: 1, because they asked me to be a presenter again during the awards this year, and 2, because the HWA was kind enough to allow Scares That Care to hold a silent auction for the charity here, and I’m overseeing that, and 3, I needed to talk business with Gemma Amor, and 4, I wanted to help Wesley Southard, Stephen Kozeniewski, and Wesley Southard network a little bit.

It’s Friday morning as I write this. I spent most of yesterday at the Scares That Care table. Mary isn’t with me (she stayed home to beat a sudden comic book deadline that came her way). I had some quiet conversation with Paul Tremblay, Michael Alan Rose, and Danger Slater, did a bit of solitary work in my room, and then had a quiet dinner alone at a tiny Italian place with good baked ziti. Then I went back to my room to work some more, but then Ronald Malfi, Philip Fracassi, and Gemma Amor kidnapped me and poured whiskey and beer down my throat and forced me to come to the hotel bar and be sociable.

I believe there are pictures of this on the internet.

Anyway, good morning. I’m Brian Keene, and this is Letters From the Labyrinth — a weekly newsletter for fans, friends, and family.

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If you’ve always wanted me to sign a book for you, but have never lived close enough to any of the places I’ve gone on tour over the last twenty-five years, I have good news. Today sees the launch of the Manhattan On Mars online store.

(A note for new readers — Manhattan On Mars is an imprint I launched last year. The ultimate end goal is to have all of my books reprinted via this imprint, so that my sons and my daughter can benefit from my work long after I’m gone, and the rights to those works will stay in the family).

When you visit the store, you’ll see all of the current Manhattan On Mars titles available for purchase. You’ll also see an assortment of titles and comic books from other publishers. The latter is overstock that I take with me to signings and now wish to liquidate. In either case, you can purchase them directly from me now, rather than Amazon, etc. All books come signed by me. If you like, when you place your order, you can leave a note in the special instructions, like “Please personalize to Ted” or “This is for my daughter, Maria, so please sign it to her”.

If a title sells out, check back in a week and there should be more inventory.

For those of you placing orders internationally, yes, I understand that the foreign shipping costs are super high right now. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about that.

Everything should be working. If you run into an error or have a question, please let me know.

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By some time this coming week, all of the CLICKERS paperbacks should be back in print, except for CLICKERS FOREVER, which I am retooling at the request of the estate. In related news, SURVIVOR by J.F. Gonzalez will be back in print by the end of the summer — in an Ultimate Edition format.

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Currently Reading: Jewel of Tharn by Jeffrey Lord and Reincursion by Ryan Harding and Jason Taverner

Currently Listening: The Beatles rooftop concert

Currently Watching: The Golden Glove (Prime and Tubi) and Doctor Who (Max)

The Golden Glove is a disturbing extreme horror movie from Germany that is very much in the vein of Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door and J.F. Gonzalez’s Survivor, in that it doesn’t show you the gore. Like those books, the atrocities are filled in by your own mind, rather than anything you are actually shown. It relies a lot on sound and character reactions to get the point across, but the point is no less harrowing as a result. Sort of a modern day Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Not an easy watch, but worth it. Highly recommended if you are into extreme horror.

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Saturday morning now, as I write this. 4:30am. I am the only writer awake in the entire hotel, with the possible exceptions of Scott Edelman and Brian Hatcher, whom I have not seen, but whom I suspect are up and about, since they are both insane morning people like me.

I hate the little coffee pots they give you in hotel rooms. And I hate paying the ridiculous prices hotels charge for coffee in their cafes. I am currently enjoying a hot cup of very fresh high-test coffee. Long ago, I learned to befriend the overnight cleaning staff at whatever hotel I’m staying in. They always have a pot of fresh coffee on in some back room, and so, I am always able to get a fresh cup of good coffee — as opposed to the crap in the hotel room — before dawn.

This works for things other than coffee, as well. Basically, wherever you go or whatever the circumstances, make friends with the people who work behind the scenes — the janitors, housekeeping, maintenance, etc. Service industry folks always have access to what you need, and if you treat them with respect, they’ll share it with you.

The staff at this hotel have been overwhelmed this weekend. Their venue is at full capacity between a wedding, Taylor Swift fans, and a bunch of horror writers, editors, and publishers.

I have a theory about Taylor Swift (a theory which Stephen Kozeniewski has had the pleasure of hearing me expound multiple times this weekend). Bruce Springsteen was known for epic, 3 and 4 hour concerts during which an enormous amount of energy was traded between him and his audience. Taylor Swift is known for the same thing. And Billy Joel was known for writing his personal life into his songs. Every bad break up or new love, he’d have a song about it on the next album. Taylor Swift does the same thing.

Taylor Swift is the Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel of this generation. I respect that, and I respect her fights for creator’s rights. And from what I’ve seen, her fans seem a joyous bunch.

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Saturday morning still. Now on my second cup of coffee and it is 5:40 AM. I achieved 3 of the 4 goals I outlined for this weekend at the start of the newsletter. The final goal, presenting at the Bram Stoker Awards, will get done tonight. My 15-year old bought me a new shirt I’m going to wear for the occasion.

Did a panel on the current popularity of Splatterpunk, Extreme Horror, and Erotic Horror yesterday. It was beyond standing room only. Seriously one of the best attended panel discussions I’ve seen in a long time. Wrath James White and I are now officially the old guys on panel discussions, but it suited for this one. We can remember when such a discussion would have taken place in a broom closet. Now, a huge room full of librarians, booksellers, and fans show up to attend it. That felt nice — a real full-circle moment. He and I were also happy to have the chance to definitively define the difference between Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror for the audience. Thanks to fellow panelists Hailey Piper, Eric LaRocca, Wesley Southard, and CJ Leede for allowing us two old guys to prattle on about back in the day and wax nostalgic about the original Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror writers who meant so much to us.

Photo by Lila, HWA volunteer Coord.

And here are a few more pics from StokerCon.

Eric LaRocca and Wesley Southard get into a heated exchange while CJ Leede tries not to spill juice on them. (Not really). Photo by Lila

With Ronald Malfi and Philip Fracassi. Photo by Philip.

With John Langan, Michael Cisco, and Cynthia Pelayo’s oldest son, whom is now known as Little Brian Keene. Photo by Cynthia Pelayo.

It has been wonderful to see old friends like Michael, Danger, Paul, Wrath, Ron, John, snd Owl Goingback, and it has been great to meet new people, as well. But if I’m honest? These things just aren’t as much fun without my wife. When Mary and I were just friends, we hung out together at these events. When we were dating, we hung out together at these events. Now that we are married, it seems weird to not be hanging out together at these events. I’m glad she got the comic gig, and I know she’s hard at work on the script, but it will be good to get home to her tomorrow.

Anyway, that does it for this week. 6:37 AM now. I’;m gonna wander downstairs and look for Hatcher or Edelman and grab some breakfast. I hope that you are having a good weekend, wherever you are. Thanks for reading this, as always, and please do check out that new storefront if you are so inclined.

See you back here next Sunday!

— Brian Keene