11 Comments

I SO wish I lived closer to Pennsylvania! The kittens are lucky to have you looking after them. Congrats on all the new releases. I agree with you about The Vile Thing We Created: Rob's writing is stellar.

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I have a couple of Bluesky invites and I'm not getting any takers for them. Is there somewhere I can send the codes to you?

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Sure! briankeene at live dot com

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Sep 10, 2023Liked by Brian Keene

That "hustle or die" notion may explain a lot of my daily activity, too.

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I don't know how the hell you manage to keep File 770 updated every day, Mike. Doing The Horror Show once a week nearly killed me. I can't imagine having to wade through this stuff daily. <3

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Sep 11, 2023·edited Sep 11, 2023Liked by Brian Keene

Brian and others of the writing world have you had a chance to read this:

Book Publishing Has a Toys ‘R’ Us Problem

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/private-equity-simon-and-schuster/675261/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

I'd be the very first to admit I know nothing about publishing except what I have learned from Brian & from what I've read from a few other authors (TY also to Chuck Wendig) but this doesn't sound so good to me.

I am a self admitted book nerd. If I don't have a TBR stack next to me that has 8-10 books in it, I get jittery. That doesn't include eBooks. I need physical books too. Lately due to medical issues (& I have medicare) having real books has become a bit of a financial problem but there are many, many people who don't have proper food so trust me, I am NOT complaining.

I also have a couple of publishing things from Harpers that I've been saving to send to you

Books! The Podcast https://harpers.org/2023/02/books-the-podcast-simon-and-schuster-penguin-random-house/

By Christian Lorentzen,Violet Lucca on 2/28/2023 On the state of publishing and the failed merger of Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House... Book publishing,Random House (Firm),Simon and Schuster

I forgot this, of course: Subscribe to our podcast through iTunes, Google Podcasts, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Deezer, or Spotify.

And this PDF: At Random

by Christian Lorentzen

The business of books and the merger that wasn’t from March 2023

https://harpers.org/archive/2023/03/at-random-simon-and-schuster-bertelsmann-merger-trial-penguin-random-house

Everyone can read 2 free articles per month at Harpers. So you can go that route instead of waiting on me to send you the PDF Brian.

I'm sorry to be so late in offering these. I'm having some serious health issues - that's the Dr's words, not mine, and I'm behind in pretty much everything. I'm determined to prove the docs wrong. After all what does 8 years of school teach them about me that I haven't learned in 65 years?

In any case, as I said I know next to nothing about publishing but I think these are worth anyone's time who is considering publishing with any of these 'big' guys. I applaud you Brian for the way you are going, especially for Horror - Sci Fi - and any other genres that NEVER get enough attention.

Be well and please give my best to your household including the kittens.

Ila

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Yep, been following it closely. Wrote about it in Jobs In Hell last month. I suspect in the near term we won't see any changes or impact. But in the long term...? It'll depend on profits.

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Sep 11, 2023Liked by Brian Keene

They Live has the single best one on one fight scene in movie history. I said it!

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If you haven't seen it, look up the episode of South park where they recreate it shot for shot. Brilliant animation.

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Sep 11, 2023Liked by Brian Keene

Oh, I’m a SP fan and I have definitely seen it. Great stuff!

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I wish I could and lived closer--I'm in OH--but my family has unfortunately, limited me to four kitties. I do so love the little furballs though.

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