Letters From the Labyrinth 378

An Update for The End of the World As We Know It

It’s 9:24am on a Saturday morning and I’m sitting here in my secondary office at Vortex Books & Comics, thinking about Captain Trips again. That’s been how I’ve spent my days for the last two weeks, as THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: STORIES FROM STEPHEN KING’S THE STAND speeds toward the finish line with the grace and beauty of Mother Abigail and the confident stride and swagger of the Walking Dude himself. Seriously. We can’t reveal the full table of contents yet, until after the book is turned in to the publisher and Steve, and both the publisher and Steve have had a chance to approve everything, but trust me when I tell you — soooooo many authors brought their A-game. Hell, they went beyond their A-game. I’d use a sports metaphor here, but I’m not much of a sports guy, except for boxing. Oh, I don’t mind playing sports. Little known fact — I was on the cross-country track team for a year in high school, until I got kicked off the team for disciplinary reasons. It turned out they frowned on me stopping for a smoke break halfway through a match, but I argued that I was way ahead of everybody else and had time.

So, no. I don’t mind engaging in sports. But when it comes to watching sports? Watching football or baseball or racing is the most boring thing in the world to me. I’ve always preferred watching the fighting sports — be it an old tape of Ali versus Foreman or Joe R. Lansdale accidentally beating up J.F. Gonzalez in a hotel lobby in Gettysburg, PA at one of the last Horrorfind conventions.

But I digress.

(It was all fine. See, what happened was this: Joe was demonstrating a quick take-down move he’d invented… and it occurs to me, halfway through writing this sentence, that this is something a lot of you younger readers probably don’t know about. Yes, Joe R. Lansdale is a living literary legend but did you also know that he is a member of both the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame and the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame? The man single-handedly invented his own martial arts form, called Shen Chuan).

But I digress again.

(Okay, but I have to finish the story. So, anyway, we’re all in Gettysburg and a bunch of us are in the lobby, talking with one another and our readers, and somebody asks Joe about a take down move, and Jesus volunteers to be part of the demonstration, and before I can blink, Jesus is on the floor, and he’s got this beatific smile on his face, and later that night, when it was just me and him, he says, “I got beat up by Joe Lansdale. how cool was that?” And I agreed that, until that point in our careers, it was indeed the coolest thing that had ever happened to either of us).

Okay, enough digressions. Back to the anthology.

The stories are so frigging good. That’s what I wanted to say. But this is a big, mainstream book and I must do things the way big mainstream publishers do things, and therefore, I’m limited in what I can tell you. But here’s a few snippets for you.

• It’s a very thick book. Almost as long as The Stand itself. There are 36 authors and 34 stories (two of the stories are collaborations).

• The book is broken into five sections. Part 1 is a sort of prologue that takes place before the events of the novel. Part 2 takes place during the spread of Captain Trips. Part 3 takes place between the migrations to Las Vegas and Nebraska/Denver and the Hand of God moment. Part 4 takes place after the end of the novel, showing what happened to humanity in the years and decades that followed. And Part 5? Well… part 5 takes place somewhere else along the Beam.

• We turn the manuscript in next week. Wednesday, to be exact. Between now and then, we will both be very busy.

• Many of you have been asking about formats and release dates and such, and I can’t get into that. The publisher will decide when to release all that information. But I will say this: it’s the very first shared world anthology set in Stephen King’s literary universe. I think you can safely assume there will be a trade edition and a paperback and an eBook and an audiobook and foreign translations. I’d be as shocked as you if there wasn’t.

I had to pause for a moment, and reread that sentence above: “it’s the very first shared world anthology set in Stephen King’s literary universe.” And then I had to lean back in my chair, take a swig of coffee, and grin that same grin Jesus had so long ago now. Because I made this happen. Me and Chris. Twice now. First, with THE DRIVE-IN: MULTIPLEX, which was the first shared world anthology set in Joe R. Lansdale’s literary universe, and now this one.

Remember, I came into this business as a fan. And I will always be a fan. My oft-stated goal over the last 25 years has been to give back to a genre that has given me so much. With these two books, I’ve done just that. I’m grateful to Chris for doing it with me. I’m grateful to Joe and Steve for trusting us with it. I just wish Jesus were here to see it, and to have been involved in both. I wish all of my friends were here to do the same. I’ve got a handle on my grief these days, at least in regards to Jesus and Pic and Weston and Dallas and Jay and both the Daves and Gak and… well, I’m not gonna list everybody here because that way lies absolute and certain madness, but days like this?

Days like this, before the store is open, I wander over to Jesus and Dave’s memorial here in the store, and I stare down at the little side-by-side urns containing their ashes, and I tell them all about it. And I tell them to tell the others about it, in that place of light.

And then I get back to work.

Good morning from somewhere along the banks of the Susquehanna River in Central Pennsylvania. I’m Brian Keene and this is Letters From The Labyrinth, a weekly newsletter for fans, friends, and family.

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Speaking of shared world anthologies set in other author’s literary universes, CLICKERS FOREVER will be back in print by the end of this year, with some new material not included in previous editions.

And speaking of THE DRIVE-IN: MULTIPLEX, I’m 95% certain I’ll be able to make it to the Bram Stoker Awards this year (since the anthology is nominated). My plan is to fly out Saturday, attend the awards, party afterward, and then fly back home on Sunday. Hope to see some of you there.

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And speaking of anthologies, here’s a video trailer for FRAGILE, a new anthology of new weird, bizarro, and horror fiction that I’ll be appearing in. It’s edited by Michael Allen Rose, and coming soon.

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And speaking of coming soon, signed limited editions of Mary’s new novel, The Everywhere House, are up for preorder from Thunderstorm Books. I say this in all sincerity — this is the best thing my wife has ever written. It’s like a cross between The Haunting of Hill House and Event Horizon and Brian Lumley’s House of Doors. Laird Barron liked it. Chris Golden liked it. John Urbancik liked it. Jamie LaChance liked it. Everyone who’s read the manuscript agrees that this is her masterpiece.

THE EVERYWHERE HOUSE
by Mary SanGiovanni

A group of paranormal investigators is bribed or extorted by a wealthy real estate holding company to investigate and neutralize their most sinister and powerful property — a mansion in a small suburb of Connecticut. However, Carrington House is not like other haunted houses; its ghosts are not like other ghosts. Death in Carrington House is inexorable and multifaceted… and only the beginning of the horrors that await in its halls. The team needs to find a way to stabilize the house and escape it, because the longer they stay, the less likely that they will ever find their way out again — in this universe, or in any other.

Signed by Mary SanGiovanni

Limited to 50 copies

Cover art by Vincent Chong

Expected Ship Date: May 2024

Click here to preorder.

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Next Wednesday, at 7 pm EST, I’ll be chatting live on Facebook with Robert Swartwood about Vortex Books & Comics. We’ll discuss everything that went into opening the store, what it’s like managing it day-to-day, and how I manage to juggle all that with writing. Since it’s live, you’ll be able to ask questions, as well. Click here.

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My pal, author Joe Nassise, is trying to save his daughter’s cat and needs to come up with five grand for the vet. They are soooo close to the goal. If you have the means, please consider chipping in ten bucks. Click here for details.

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Currently Watching: Survivor season 46 (Paramount+).

Currently Reading: Fear and Loathing On the Campaign Trail by Hunter S. Thompson (a reread) and Revenge Arc by Cat Voleur

Currently Listening: Still Sometimes Y by Yelawolf and Shooter Jennings

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Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the IndieGoGo campaign for our new movie — DEAD FORMAT — so far. As of this writing (Saturday morning) we are now 50% funded.

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And that does it for this Sunday. Thanks, as always, for reading. I’ll see you back here again next week.

— Brian Keene