Letters From the Labyrinth 395

Dave Lives

Today is my birthday (as you are reading this), but I am typing it yesterday (Saturday). Thanks to the folks who came out to York County’s first Author Fair. Sounds like it’s going to be an annual event, so if you couldn’t make it, maybe we’ll see you next year. It was also nice to meet and talk shop with the very funny Lindsay Hameroff, whose debut novel you can find here.

My plan had been to head down to Baltimore Comic Con after the event was over, but I knew that Robert Swartwood, Wesley Southard, Somer Canon, and Mary would want to go eat afterward, so I didn’t think I’d make it to Baltimore until 5pm or so, and would then have to rush to find anything before the exhibitor floor closed. But I love my friends and my wiofe, because they all unanimously told me I wasn’t allowed to go to lunch with them, and should instead head to Baltimore Comic Con early, and have fun.

So, I did.

I tried to stay on the downlow, because I really only wanted to shop for comics, but I did stop and speak a little with the great Scott Edelman, Marvel’s Tom Brevoort (who has one of the best newsletters here on Substack), Chris from Comix Connection, and my friends from Hakes Auctions. But mostly, I just kept my head down and bought comic books and had a very enjoyable afternoon. Came home with a wonderful haul, pics of which are on my Instagram.

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Paperback and eBook editions of LOVE AND HATE IN THE TIME OF COVID: SELECTED NONFICTION 2015 to 2022 are on sale now!

Signed Paperback: Vortex Books

Paperback: Amazon

eBook: Kindle - Nook - Kobo - Apple

Bram Stoker Award winner and World Horror Grandmaster Brian Keene has long been celebrated for his novels, stories, and comic books, but readers know that some of his best works are his nonfiction. Now he’s back with an all-new collection of essays, articles, and observations spanning a dark time in world history – 2015 to 2022. Keene turns his focus, wit, earnestness, and insight to global events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the U.S. presidential elections, changes in publishing and horror fiction, societal movements and pop culture moments, the loss of friends, and, as always, himself. And as civilization seems to obliviously hurtle toward certain doom all around him, Keene struggles to make sense of it for both himself – and his readers. Does anyone get a happy ending, or are we all truly doomed? How do we process and express… LOVE AND HATE IN THE TIME OF COVID?

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EARTHWORM GODS: SELECTED SCENES FROM THE END OF THE WORLD — the third and final book in the EARTHWORM GODS trilogy — is now available in audiobook, read by Scott Weinberg.

Available via Audible - Apple

One day it started raining—and it never stopped...

So began Brian Keene's Earthworm Gods, a novel that straddled the lines between the horror and bizarro genres. Fans have long marveled over that post-apocalyptic landscape—a flooded earth filled with strange and terrifying monsters. Audiences returned to that world in Earthworm Gods II: Deluge. Now, it's time for one last trip.

Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes From the End of the World is a collection of short stories set in the world of Earthworm Gods and Earthworm Gods II: Deluge. From the first drop of rain to humanity's last waterlogged stand, these tales chronicle the fall of man against a horrifying, unstoppable evil. And as the waters rise over the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere—brand new monsters surface—along with some familiar old favorites, to wreak havoc on an already devastated mankind.

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THE BEST OF BRIAN KEENE will be published in 2025. It will be exclusive to Pandi Press, and the ONLY way to get it will be as part of their Pandi Pack book box. Click here for more details and to be alerted when it goes live.

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Currently Listening: The Unreal Never Lived and Our Raw Heart, both by YOB.

Currently Reading: Crossed volumes 1 through 6 by various, The Drawing of the Three and The Waste Lands by Stephen King.

Currently Watching: Nothing, because I’ve been a very voracious reader lately, like someone wandering through an illiterate desert who just now stumbled upon a library. Not sure what accounts for it, since I’m pretty much always a voracious reader, but recently, I find that nothing on television holds my interest, even old favorites. More and more I find myself going for the written word first.

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As you may remember, early this year, I took a rather large royalty check, some retirement savings, and a matching public fundraising campaign and opened a bookstore. When you visit Vortex Books & Comics, one of the things you’ll see is a memorial for J.F. Gonzalez and Dave Thomas. The memorial consists of a large glass showcase filled with memorabilia — both of their ashes in small urns, Dave’s first microphone, a first edition of Clickers, etc. The wall above it has photos of both Jesus and Dave. To the left of it is a bookshelf filled with books by Jesus that customers can purchase.

But, despite the fact that he was a writer and editor in addition to a musician, animator, and cohost of two podcasts — there are no books by Dave to accompany Jesus’s. That was because most of Dave’s writing was believed to have been destroyed when his basement flooded about two years before he died. That disaster took out the majority of his comic book collection, all of his magazines and fanzines, and several hundred books. He thought that his writings — essays and reviews and comedic rants he’d written for various venues — were also destroyed.

It turns out they might not have been.

Recently, in discussing it with Dave’s soulmate and partner Deena (known to listeners of THE HORROR SHOW WITH BRIAN KEENE as ‘Phoebe’) and his best friend and ex-wife Mare, we found out that at least one bit of writing had survived — a 10,000 word epic essay called The Top 90 CDs of The 90’s that regular listeners of the podcast might remember him talking about. Mare still had a copy of that, and she sent it to me this week. It’s pure Dave — irreverent, passionate, and insightful and full of that dry humor of his. Reading it to myself, I heard his voice, and it felt like he was right there in the room with me.

The best part? The physical copy that Mare sent me was printed out from a website, so the actual URL and other identifiers were present. Using those as a base, I’ve been able to track down a lot more of his writing. And we may possibly republish it. It won’t be as extensive an undertaking as being Jesus’s literary executor. Dave’s material comprises one book to the over two dozen that Jesus wrote. But Dave had always talked about collecting all of this some day. The flood stymied him. We know now, of course, that it wasn’t just the flood. It was the flood and the start of the cancer. And we also know that if he were still here, I’d tease him about his procrastinating ways, regardless of those factors. And we would have both laughed.

I’m not laughing as I type this, but I am indeed grinning broadly, and have been for the last thirty minutes or so, when I managed to track down a good bit of the rest of his writing. And I’m happy to finish the project.

If you, too, miss Dave’s voice, a reminder that the old episodes of THE HORROR SHOW WITH BRIAN KEENE are available for free on YouTube.

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And speaking of podcasts, episode five of my new podcast, HOW TO SURVIVE 2025, is live.

Water is vital for life. The team talks about finding, filtering, and purifying water. Plus helpful tips for how much to drink and how much to store. Don’t miss this essential episode on How to Survive 2025. 

Listen free via: Web Browser ~ Spotify ~ iHeartRadio ~ Apple ~ Amazon/Audible ~ YouTube ~ Podbean ~ Player FM

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

— Brian Keene