Letters From the Labyrinth 402

Decadal

It’s going to be okay.

* * *

“What do you need for self care on Sunday?” a friend asked me Friday night while we were drinking. The reason she asked is because today (November 10th) it has been ten years since J.F. Gonzalez (Jesus to his friends and Chuy to his wife and myself and he didn’t like it if anyone other than us called him that) passed away.

I paused, thinking about it, a process made a little slower by the amount of Sambuca I’d drank over the previous hour. And when I finally replied, I surprised myself with my answer.

“Nothing,” I said. “I’m alright.”

And I meant that sincerely. And I hadn’t realized it until that moment. I’ve been carrying that grief around for so long — including writing an entire book, END OF THE ROAD (available here), to process it — that I hadn’t even realized it had faded into the background. Sure, I still miss him every day, and if I tell you a story about him in person, there’s a 50/50 chance I might choke up a little, but that obsidian and overwhelming weight of grief and loss and despair was no longer there, and I’d gotten so used to shouldering it that I hadn’t even noticed it was gone. The same went for Pic and Dave and Jim and Weston. Sure, maybe I still carry them with me, but I’m no longer dragging them behind.

And after my friend finished off her bourbon and I finished off my Sambuca, and we’d hung up the phone, I sat there in stunned silence, realizing that somehow — some way — I’d finally made my peace with it all. Sure, the time bombs that I wrote about in last week’s newsletter still blow up in my face from time to time, but I’ve learned to shrug off those blasts. I’ve finally learned to move on. And I’m not sure how I did that. I wish I knew, so that I could counsel and advise others, but I don’t. I guess you’ve just got to give it time?

I thought that perhaps Jesus’s fans and readers would like an update on where things stand with his books, so here ya go. There’s only one final novel that needs reprinting — Conversion. That was his first published solo novel (came out the same year as Clickers) and it has been out of print for almost two decades. Jesus heavily revised it and had intended to put it back into print in 2014. But then, of course, he passed. When I first took over the literary estate, I decided that I’d save it for last. Doing so felt right to me. A full circle sort of thing. (With the caveat that CLICKERS FOREVER also needs to be reprinted, as do his three collaborations with Wrath, but I’m speaking above about solo works).

I’d hoped to have Conversion back into print last month, but that didn’t happen. I should, however, have it out in time for the holidays. I’m about halfway finished with the formatting, and then all it needs is a cover and an Introduction. After that, it will be out in paperback and eBook. I’m shooting for third week of December.

After that, there are four short story collections. One of them will gather the rest of his remaining cosmic horror and Lovecraftian tales that haven’t yet been collected. Another will do the same with his uncollected Splatterpunk and extreme horror tales (including reprinting the Maternal Instinct novella, which became the basis for Survivor). And the other two collections will serve to complete the task of bringing all of his short fiction back into permanent print.

There will also be one or two more nonfiction collections.

And two novels that he started writing but hadn’t finished — The Crossroads and Final Retreat.

And that’s it.

My plan is to get the short story collections out first — two next year and the other two in 2026. Then the two nonfiction collections in 2027, along with either The Crossroads or Final Retreat. But by 2028, there’ll be nothing left to publish. I mean, there’s other stuff in his archives. Screenplays that could be adapted. Juvenilia. Things of that sort. But his prose? We’re almost to the end.

I haven’t always done right in my life, but I have done right by my friend. His stuff is all either back in print or about to be back in print, and will be earning money for his daughter long after I’m gone, and will — hopefully — still be read long after all of us are gone.

If you’d like to read one of Jesus’s books today, they can all be found at this link.

Good morning. I’m Brian Keene and this is Letters From the Labyrinth, a long-running weekly newsletter for fans, friends, and family.

Jamie LaChance took that photo of us at a signing at a Barnes & Noble in Orange, California. We were on tour for CLICKERS II (available here). It was later used as the dust jacket photo for the first edition of CLICKERS III (available here).

There’s an alternate version of that photo that most of you have never seen. It always made us laugh, because Jesus and I look like we’re ready to murder jamie. Seriously. His expression is pretty obvious, but take a look at my eyes and the pen clutched in my hand. Mary says those are my “sociopath eyes” (which I guess is a strange term of endearment I’m unfamiliar with) and that I apparently get them if I think violence is about to break out. But I swear, I can’t remember why we would have looked this way.

Speaking of Mary, she’s back up in New Jersey again. This weekend was her parent’s 50th wedding anniversary, and the celebrations apparently started immediately after Halloween (which is itself a nine day celebration). That means I was running the store by myself this past week, so didn’t get much writing done, other than a few things on Patreon about the election, a poem that I fear only I understood, and some editing.

Leigh B. Haig visited from Australia, making him the new record setter for “Furthest Traveled To Visit Vortex Books & Comics”. The previous record holder was Gray Tan who visited from Taiwan.

I don’t talk a lot in this newsletter about Vortex, since the store has its own newsletter. Next February will be our one year anniversary, and so far, it is a profitable business venture. I expect, in the aftermath of last week’s election, that the economy will trend downward around next May, and I guess that will be the real test, but as I said, so far it’s been a profitable success. We have you to thank for that, so thank you!

Next weekend will be our last two signings of 2024. They’ll be happening simultaneously. At the store itself, Mary will oversee a signing with Royal Poff and Cassandra Celia from 1pm to 3pm, while I’ll be across the park at the Columbia Public Library overseeing a signing with Lucy and Madison Score from 2pm to 7pm. This marks our first partnership with the library, and it is a ticketed event (you can get your tickets here. They are limited to 150 and as of this writing there are only 44 left).

So, yeah — if you can, come to the store next Saturday at 1pm and help us celebrate the last signing of 2024 by supporting Royal and Cassandra. Then head across the street to the library, because libraries will need even more support in the days ahead.

* * *

The eleventh episode of HOW TO SURVIVE 2025 — the limited series podcast I host along with Dacia Arnold and Jim Cobb — is live. In this episode open the listener mailbag and answer all of your questions about preparedness in the days and months ahead.

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

* * *

CURRENTLY READING: Depraved Halloween by Bryan Smith, More Better Deals by Joe R. Lansdale (a reread), and Wizard and Glass: The Dark Tower Book 4 by Stephen King (a reread)

CURRENTLY LISTENING: Def Leppard teaming up with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a rendition of “Love Bites”

CURRENTLY WATCHING: One-Eyed Monster (Prime), Tulsa King season 2 (Paramount), Survivor season 47 (Paramount), and What We Do In The Shadows season 6 (Hulu)

One-Eyed Monster is ridiculous and glorious and way, wayyyy better than it had any right to be. The best horror-comedy I’ve seen in a long time, with wonderful dialogue and performances and a sweet undercurrent.

* * *

It’s been a minute since I gave you all a book recommendation, (last one was Laurel Hightower’s The Day of the Door), so this week I want to talk about The Better To Eat You With by Wesley Southard.

This is a collection of four novellas. One of them, “Threesome”, is quite simply the best thing Wes has written so far in his career, and is a very clear marker of a writer who now has full control and command of his voice, and can do anything with it. It’s also very clear that Wes is moving away from Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror and more into the territory of writers like Ronald Malfi and Richard Chizmar, which I think makes a nice bookend for this newsletter, since wanting to be known for something other than Extreme Horror was something Jesus struggled with throughout his career, as well. Indeed, if you’ve never read Wesley Southard because you thought “I don’t like Extreme Horror” then this collection is for you. It’s a wonderful showcase of what else he can do, and proves he’s a versatile writer regardless of genre. You can get signed copies for $15 from his website. It is also available, of course, on Amazon.

* * *

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

It’s going to be okay.

— Brian Keene