Letters From the Labyrinth 367

The Last Cat Update

Good morning. I’m Brian Keene and this is Letters From the Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans, friends, and family. It is 5:23 on Saturday morning as I type this. Once Mary and my almost 16-year old are awake (in about four hours from now would be my guess) we’ll head over to Vortex Books & Comics and meet up with Mike Lombardo for the final day of set-up. Robert Swartwood filmed an exclusive sneak peek tour of the store yesterday. You can view that here.

The store will be open for business Sunday at 10am. All that’s left to do is for Mike to finish Hylinus’s ear, after which we can move the glass display case which will hold the ashes of Dave Thomas and J. F. Gonzalez into place, and then steam clean the tiled floor. We also need to get the rare books and comics into their showcases, finish pricing and shelving the items on the stock cart, and finish the shipping and receiving area (which was finished before, but — based on initial online preorders — is going to be a very busy area and will need space for two employees to work with more room, so I decided we needed to reorganize it). We’ll also need to play with the cash register until we’re all confident with it. (I hooked it up yesterday while Justin Lutz installed our window decals, and while I’m not a man who suffers from anxiety, trying to figure the register out caused me a great deal of it).

Anyway, yes, as you read this on Sunday morning, we are open for business. If you’re local and don’t plan on watching the big sportsball event, why not stop by? And if you’re not local, remember that you can order select titles from us online — everything by Mary and myself, and books by authors who will be signing at the store. All the information you need for either one of those things can be found on our website. Check it out here.

Going forward, I won’t spend each Sunday talking about Vortex in this newsletter, because the store has a newsletter of its own. You can subscribe to that here.

Thank you one last time to everyone in our community and industry who donated to the fundraiser. Mary and I initially invested $20K of our own money. Between that and your contributions, we’ve got a good start on our retirement. Now it’s time to embrace and enjoy it.

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AN OCCURRENCE IN CRAZY BEAR VALLEY is back in print, via Manhattan On Mars.

Strap on your six-guns and saddle up for a shoot-out against a horde of angry Sasquatch!

The Old West has never been weirder or wilder than it has in the hands of master horror writer Brian Keene.

Morgan and his gang are on the run--from their pasts and from the posse riding hot on their heels, intent on seeing them hang. But when they take refuge in Crazy Bear Valley, their flight becomes a siege as they find themselves battling a legendary race of monstrous, bloodthirsty beings. Now, Morgan and his gang aren't worried about hanging. They just want to live to see the dawn.

This new edition of Brian Keene's An Occurrence in Crazy Bear Valley includes a brand-new Afterword written by the author.

On sale now in paperback and for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple.

(And yes, I’m aware that Crazy is spelled wrong in the Amazon listing. I’ve double-checked it on my end three times, and the error is on their end. A ticket has been opened to fix it)

Here’s the new cover by Chris Enterline.

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I recorded an appearance on This Is Horror last week. I believe it should be available to listen to in a week or two.

I was also a guest on Horror Makes Us Happy and talked about what got me interested in the genre, and what keeps me interested years later. Listen here.

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The Guests of Honor for AuthorCon III (a Scares That Care charity event, hosted by me) have been announced. They are:

Paul Tremblay
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Grady Hendrix
Aron Beauregard
Daniel J. Volpe
Carver Pike
Bryan Smith
Eric LaRocca
L. Marie Wood
Valancourt Books
John Langan
Michael Cisco
Kristopher Rufty
Chesya Burke
Clay McLeod Chapman
and RJ Benetti.

Come join me, them, and about 200 of your other favorite writers, artists, and publishers, as well as your fellow readers April 12 - 14th in Williamsburg, VA. Tickets are on sale now. Get them here.

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Note: The 2024 Splatterpunk Award nominees should be announced end of next week.

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Currently Watching: Skin (Max), The Leftovers season 3 (Max), and the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm (Max)

Currently Reading: Transcendental Mutilation by Ryan Harding and The Never Dead edited by Dan Henk

Currently Listening: “Where Is My Mind” by Pixies

I quit watching True Detective season 4, but Mary is sticking with it. I might go back and give it another try after all of the episodes are available. I suspect this season might work much better when binged. I enjoy a good slow burn, but the pace of this one seems glacial and ponderous, and I think having the entire series available may correct that.

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A final feral cat update, because many of you have asked:

Unfortunately, Bo disappeared about two weeks ago. I’ve tried tracking her (little known but true fact — I’m a pretty good tracker) but no signs. I’ve put food out, but it has sat uneaten. I fear the worst, and it’s the not knowing that kills me. I’m certain she wasn’t hit by a car because I have walked and searched the road for 4 miles in each direction. I suspect it was either a bigger predator (bald eagle, fox, or coyote) or that she ventured out onto the ice when the river was briefly frozen over. Both possibilities make my heart hurt.

But I remind myself that I saved a total of 32 other feral cats, including Josie Wales, who is peacefully napping at my side while I type this. And there’s always a possibility that bo simply moved on to somewhere else. But yes, my front porch seems very quiet and empty and lonely now.

I’ve been helping manage another feral colony in a neighboring town, so there’s plenty more work to be done, and in truth, I’ll be glad this summer when birds and rabbits and frogs can be found in our yard again, alive, rather than half eaten. But it was special while it lasted, having those ferals here. And yes, I know all about Tony Soprano and his ducks. The allusion and similarities are not lost on me, or Mary, or my therapist (when I was still going) so you don’t need to bring it up. I understand what the ducks symbolized for him and what the feral cats symbolized for me.

I’m just sad, is all. I desperately wish Bo would have complied with the trap, the way all the others did, but she always refused.

I just reached down and scratched Josie’s ears and she gave my knuckles a kiss and purred and let me know that it’s okay. So, I’m all good again now, for a bit.

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A reminder that I’m not doing social media much at all anymore (other than for promotion). I’ve chosen instead to make this newsletter and my Patreon my primary outlets for any real communication of substance. I mini-Blog each morning on Patreon — just a few brief paragraphs that serve as a mini-version of this newsletter. You don’t need to be a paid Patreon subscriber to read them. They are accessible to everyone who subscribes to my Patreon, paid or not.

And that does it for this week. Good to be back with you again. I’m going to slowly rouse the others and then we’ll head over to the store and get it ready. Thanks, as always, for spending some time with me this morning. I’ll see you every morning this coming week on Patreon, and see you back here again next Sunday.

— Brian Keene