Letters From the Labyrinth 389

Dream On

I have owned several cars in my life. My first car was a 1981 Mustang. My most reliable car was, believe it or not, an Aries K-car. Most recently, I owned a Mazda CX-30. But for the most part, I have always been a truck guy. Pick-up trucks, specifically, as we call them here in Appalachia (and I suppose they are called that elsewhere, as well). And in doing the math, I have owned far more trucks than I have cars. (I also briefly owned a box with wheels that J.F. Gonzalez affectionately called "the ice cream van"...)

My all-time favorite truck (and one I still miss daily) was a 1979 Jeep Honcho with lift kit, monstrously oversized tires, winch, and roll cage. It got terrible mileage and when I drove it on the highway, it rumbled and shook like a jet airliner coming apart at 30,000 feet. But my god, the fun I used to have in that thing -- camping, off-roading, driving into places that vehicles had no business driving into, let alone out of. Taking it out to the warm waters near Three Mile Island and the PPL dam and dropping the tailgate and catching catfish all night long. Plowing through snow and mud and fields afar.

My most reliable truck was an old Dodge. I didn't take it off-road, but on the streets and highways, it was a veritable tank. A tractor trailer took off the driver's side door and that truck just kept right on going, as if nothing had happened. I once plowed it into the exterior wall of a warehouse -- front end collision at about forty MPH (no airbags) and was still able to drive it home, albeit steaming and spewing.

My favorite time in a truck was when me and my dog, Sam, took off for a boy's weekend together, and camped along a deserted stretch of beach and played fetch in the surf and at night he napped by the campfire while I drank bourbon.

I stopped driving trucks when I had my sons. It's just way easier to put a car seat in a car than it is a truck. But with my youngest now 16 and driving a car of his own, I figured it was time I got myself a truck again, so that's what I did this week. A used Chevy Silverado in excellent condition. Full-sized, four door, camper top, Bluetooth, wonderful towing capacity, and perfect for making the trek between Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and for camping alongside beaches and forests and the river.

Now all I need is a dog to go with it, because I'll be damned if I'm taking five cats along camping with me.

Good morning. I’m Brian Keene and this is Letters From the Labyrinth — a long-running weekly email newsletter for fans, friends, and family. You can read previous issues here.

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Last week’s newsletter certainly lit a fire under many of you. I’m still not 100 percent committed, but yes, after seeing the responses, I’m definitely leaning toward bringing back The Horror Show with Brian Keene. Sounds like you could all use it, and I certainly have some new things to talk about.

Before I do, however, I want to get my other recently announced limited-series podcast — How To Survive 2025 — off the ground. I’m cohosting that with Jim Cobb and Dacia Arnold, and we record our first episode next week. Details coming soon.

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Next weekend, I’ll be attending KillerCon in Austin, Texas. I won’t have a table there, but if you bring books from home I will happily sign them for you.

I believe I’m scheduled for two panels, plus I’ll be co hosting the Splatterpunk Awards, of course.

The ballot for this year:

BEST NOVEL

-- The Night Mother by John Everson (Dark Arts Books)

-- Maeve Fly by C. J. Leede (Tor Nightfire)

-- Pedo Island Bloodbath by Duncan Ralston (Shadow Work Publishing)

-- Dead End House by Bryan Smith (Grindhouse Press)

-- Along the River of Flesh by Kristopher Triana (Bad Dream Books)

BEST NOVELLA

-- The Bighead’s Junk by Edward Lee (Evil Cookie Publishing)

-- Smokey Elvis and Danzick Battle Swamp Ass by Lance Loot (Independently Published)

-- Snow Angels by Lucas Mangum (D&T Publishing)

-- Sirens and Seaweed by Candace Nola (Uncomfortably Dark Horror)

-- Bowery by Matthew Vaughn (Independently Published)

BEST SHORT STORY

-- “My Octopus Master” by Stephen Kozeniewski (from Dead and Bloated, Evil Cookie Publishing)

-- “Unfound Footage” by Patrick Lacey (from Splatterpunk’s Basement of Horror, Splatterpunk Zine)

-- “Hide/Invert: A Saga In Ten Reels” by David J. Schow (from The Drive-In: Multiplex, Pandi Press)

-- “The Night People” by Bryan Smith (from The Gauntlet, Grindhouse Press)

-- “Blood Harmony” by Chet Williamson (from The Drive-In: Multiplex, Pandi Press)

BEST COLLECTION

-- Something Very Wrong, Jonathan Butcher (Independently Published)

-- Transcendental Mutilation by Ryan Harding (Death’s Head Press)

-- Woe To Those Who Dwell On Earth John Lynch (High Explosive Horror)

-- Gush: Tales of Vaginal Horror by Gina Ranalli (Madness Heart Press)

-- Beautiful Darkness by Jay Wilburn (Madness Heart Press)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

-- Splatterpunk’s Basement of Horror edited by Jack Bantry (Splatterpunk Zine)

-- We're Here: An Anthology of LGBTQ+ Horror edited by Angelique Jordonna and James G. Carlson (Gloom House Publishing)

-- Dark Disasters edited by Candace Nola (Uncomfortably Dark)

-- Dead and Bloated edited by K Trap Jones (Evil Cookie Publishing)

J. F. GONZALEZ LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

-- Craig Spector

-- Ray Garton

HALL OF LEGENDS INDUCTEES

-- Ray Garton

-- Weston Ochse

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Work this past week was dizzyingly busy. As I mentioned here last week, the manuscript for BENEATH THE LOST LEVEL is off to my prereaders for their edits and input.

While waiting on that, I worked on edits to INVISIBLE MONSTERS (A Novel) and wrote a brand-new authorized and very long story set in the Silverwood mythos. Silverwood was a series created by Tony Valenzuela and Blackbox TV. It ran two seasons. I served as the showrunner for the third season, SILVERWOOD: THE DOOR, which was an audio series (and later a prose series) from Realm Media. (That remains the most fun I’ve ever had as a writer). I ran my idea for this new installment by Tony and Realm, and they were down with it. You’ll see it soon. It takes place both before the series and during the series and after the series, and it may — just may — feature some crossover elements with a LeHorn’s Hollow and a certain intrepid newspaper reporter and her ex-Amish faith healer friend who moonlights as a magus.

I also approved the galleys for ISLAND OF THE DEAD, and the cover for THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: NEW TALES FROM STEPHEN KING’S THE STAND.

And I started something that seems to be my take on “The Most Dangerous Game” / The Running Man / etc.

Busy week.

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Currently Watching: Mayor of Kingstown season 3 (Paramount+), Narcos: Mexico season 2 (Netflix).

Currently Reading: A manuscript by Kasey Lansdale, a manuscript by Eric LaRocca, and two manuscripts by F. Paul Wilson.

Currently Listening: Brian Keene Radio

My pirate radio station (linked directly above) seems to be steadily picking up an audience of regular listeners from all around the globe. It’s always neat to log in and see that there’s an anonymous listener in Argentina or Alabama or Wales or Idaho or Qatar tuned in, and then see them listening the next day and the day after that.

Anyway, the station is free. It’s what is playing 24/7 in my home office and also playing at Vortex Books & Records when you visit the store. Give it a listen, if eclectic music is your thing.

Speaking of music, the news of the end of Aerosmith hit me much harder than I thought it would. I mean, not as hard as the deaths of Prince or Lemmy… but far more than just a passing “Oh gee, that’s too bad”.

I’ve been listening to Aerosmith most of my life. When I was in elementary school, the older high school kids turned me on to stuff like KISS and Old Milwaukee pounders and boobs and Aerosmith. KISS and Old Mil never impressed me much. They were okay in passing, but nothing you’d set the world on fire for. Boobs and Aerosmith, on the other hand — well I’ve been fond of both throughout my life.

“Dream On” was always my favorite Aerosmith song, enough so that there are instructions to play it at any memorial service for me after I’m gone. The band has recorded and played many, many, many versions of “Dream On” over the years. This one right here is the best of them. I mean, they’re all good, but that version right there is absolute perfection.

And as far as covers of “Dream On” go, nobody even comes close to Ronnie James Dio & Yngwie Malmsteen’s version. You can hear a high quality version here.

I recommend turning the volume to maximum for both of these.

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

You've got to lose to know how to win
Half my life's in books' written pages
Live and learn from fools and from sages
You know it's true, oh
All the things (you do) come back to you…

— Brian Keene