Letters From the Labyrinth 351

Are We There Yet?

Everyone is asking about OPERATION: WALKABOUT (the project that Christopher Golden and I are not allowed to talk about, but have been working on for many months now, and since I often use this space to talk about what I’m working on, I’ve given it the codename OPERATION: WALKABOUT so I can do that without telling you anything that would give it away). All I can tell you is it supposed to be officially announced… soon? I don’t know. I know that the press release was written, because I saw it and signed off on it Friday. I strongly suspect the announcement will drop next week. It is my hope that happens on Monday or Tuesday. It is also my hope that it doesn’t happen next Friday, since next Friday is both New York Comic Con and VoidCon (I’ll be a guest at the latter) and people will be engaged with those, rather than social media, and there will also be a ton of competing news announcements rolling out of the former. This announcement is big enough that I like to think it will stand out amongst the rest, but one can never be too sure, so… anxiety.

But other than the little multilayered teaser I posted across all my social media last Friday night, and the follow up that Chris posted, I can’t tell you anything else… except that it is going to blow your mind. Whenever it is finally announced.

Screenshot From Bluesky

Good morning. I’m Brian Keene and this is the 351st issue of Letters From the Labyrinth — a weekly newsletter for fans, friends, and family.

And as I mentioned above, VoidCon is next weekend! This is a first-year convention being held next Friday and Saturday in Huntington, West Virginia at the DoubleTree by Hilton Huntington 1001 3rd Ave. That’s very close to Kentucky and Ohio, so if you live in West Virginia, Ohio, or Kentucky — or if you live in another state but feel like taking a road trip — we hope we will see you there. Again, please note — that is next Friday and Saturday only. If you show up on Sunday, Mary and I will already be gone and on our way home (after a stop at the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant).

And then, in two weeks, on Saturday, October 21, we’ll be in Snowden Square in downtown Brownsville, Pennsylvania (right next to the library) from 3pm to 10pm for Brownsville Screams.

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Folk Horror is seeing a big resurgence right now. (For those who aren’t familiar with the term, think movies such as The Wicker Man and Midsommar or books and stories such as T.E.D. Klein’s The Ceremonies, my own Levi Stoltzfus novels and stories, Manly Wade Wellman’s Silver John, or Karl Edward Wagner’s “Sticks”).

Somer Canon’s latest novel, You’re Mine, came out last year, and won the Imadjinn Award for Best Horror Novel. It has also gotten rave endorsements from folks like Jonathan Janz and myself. But the Folk Horror enthusiasts seem to be unaware of it, so I’m boosting the signal to those people. If you’re into Folk Horror, and you haven’t yet read this book, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

You’re Mine is available in paperback and audiobook, as well as for Kindle. Somer is super talented, and deserves a much bigger reading audience, so let’s make that happen, okay? All of her stuff has been great so far, but this is an excellent one to start with.

Yes, the cover says Splatterpunk Award Nominated Author. And when Somer wants to write Splatterpunk, she does an admirable job. But this isn’t a Splatterpunk novel. It’s Folk Horror, and had she been born earlier, it would have fit so very well in Zebra’s stable right alongside Ronald Kelly and Ruby Jean Jensen on the paperback racks back in the day. (There are even echoes of Zebra in that cover, aren’t there?)

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Now… if you are in the mood for Splatterpunk rather than Folk Horror, then you should know that my dear friend and fellow Splatterpunk Award cofounder, Wrath james White, has a new collection available in paperback and for Kindle. The Ecstasy of Agony features “ten hard hitting new short stories and seven brutal epic poems exploring the darkest soul of humanity and the cruelty of life without pulling punches.”

I’m not going to put the cover here, because I’m uncertain whether or not it will trip the adult content filters on some email services.

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Currently Reading: Bloodtooth by D.W. Hitz, The Caves of Night by John Christopher, and Battle For the Planet of the Apes by David Gerrold

Currently Listening: Brian Keene Radio

Currently Watching: Survivor season 45 (Paramount Plus) and Family Guy (Hulu)

Currently Playing: Fallout 76 (XBox) and Clash of Clans

Survivor — we’re only two episodes in, so it’s still anyone’s game, but I’m liking Drew, Austin, and Sabiyah. They are my early favorites. Respect all three of their games. Emily and Brandon are some of the most annoying contestants to have ever played the game. Now, I know a dozen or so former contestants, as well as folks who have worked in production and crew during various seasons, so I know how much editing plays a role in that. But there’s no amount of editing in the world that can cast Emily as a likable person, or Brandon anything else than “What The Hell Were You Thinking? Did You Ever Even Watch An Episode?”

(Look, my days of trying to get onto the show are over. I came close a few times, but never made the final cut or got to attend the dance. Now, at age 56, I listen to my wife, and my sons, and their mothers, and my stepdaughter, who have presented a united front of “Stay home, Dad. You’re not thirty anymore” and so I armchair quarterback the game instead. Expect a lot of that, going forward).

(I still think that, if I had ever made the final cut, I would have either been the first person voted off that season, or I would have won the game. No in-betweens).

But I digress.

We finished watching Hunters on Amazon Prime, but it was a dutiful, joyless process. I don’t know how one manages to completely mess up a show about hunting nazis starring Al Pacino and produced by Jordan Peele, but Amazon certainly did. Easily the most disappointing TV series in recent memory for me. Starts out strong but quickly devolves into squandered opportunities, shoddy writing, and a disjointed narrative that can’t decide what kind of show it is.

We’ve dropped Disney+, Netflix, Max, Shudder, Peacock, and most other streaming services here at Casa Keengiovanni. Only ones we kept were Hulu, Paramount Plus and Prime. And honestly, the only reason we’ve kept Prime is because of the shipping discount. The movies and shows are an afterthought.

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Work this past week involved a lot of emails about OPERATION: WALKABOUT and also SILVERWOOD.

I was the showrunner and head writer on SILVERWOOD: THE DOOR, which served as a third season for that series. Richard Chizmar, the Sisters of Slaughter, and Stephen Kozeniewski made up the writing team, and I remain extremely proud of the work we did. I think it’s some of our best from any of us. SILVERWOOD: THE DOOR is available as a podcast on all platforms, an eBook for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple, and an audiobook on Audible and Apple.

Anyway, I’ve been cleared to return to the forests of SILVERWOOD, but it is still very early stages, so I can’t say anything else about it at this point, other than it’s prose.

Work also progressed on BENEATH THE LOST LEVEL, the adaptation of GWENDY’S BUTTON BOX, and AFTER WORD (my nonfiction sequel to END OF THE ROAD). And I finished final edits on SPLINTERED: THE LABYRINTH Book 3.

Thanks to Todd, Cathy, Ashley, Tia, and everyone else who came to the Ephrata library and showed support last Thursday. Was great to see my old friend Paul Melniczek again, as well. It had been way too long. After that appearance, I had a late-night phone call with Chris (concerning OPERATION: WALKABOUT), followed by a nice later-night dinner with Mary, John Urbancik, Stephen Kozeniewski, Wesley Southard, and Mike Lombardo. All in all, a wonderful evening of shop-talk and gossip and camaraderie and friendship.

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And that does it for this week. I’ve been a little under the weather the last two days, so I’m going to get this ready to go out to you, and then I’m going to take it easy for the rest of the day. Hope all is well with you. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you back here next Sunday. (And hope to see some of you in Huntington next weekend).

— Brian Keene