Letters From the Labyrinth 454

A Second Generation Splatterpunk At 58

Pre-reader Tod Clark said to me earlier this week, “I need to catch up on your newsletter!” And there is no harm or foul in that. Readership always drops off in the time between November and January, due to the influx of holidays, and people being busy with those. Add to that everything going on in the world…? Well, I get how the weekly ramblings of a past his prime cult writer might not be your top priority.

But if you haven’t been reading, and you want to get caught up on things like the first-leaking-and-then-collapsing warehouse roof, the Vortex move, John Langan, authors who don’t read books, or the thousand other things that happened in November and December, you can peruse previous newsletters here and you can read my daily blog (which is a daily version of this weekly newsletter) here.

I’m using social media very infrequently now, other than for promotional purposes. Mostly, I’m just in those two places, and much happier and healthier for it.

I’m happy to report that as of yesterday (Saturday), the warehouse is now completely empty, all of the online store’s stock is in its new home (although not yet listed on the website in its entirety), and the previous store building is 90% empty, save for a few more boxes for bulk buyers. Which means that — if all goes right today — I can ease back into writing full-time next week, something I haven’t been able to fully do these last two and a half years.

Which will be good, since I owe five short stories to five different venues in the early part of this year, and Chris and I are about to shift into drive with a new anthology, and Laurel and I need to focus on our novel, and FALLING ANGELS: THE LABYRINTH Book 4 needs to go off to pre-readers and then a final draft and then get published, and post-production on DEAD FORMAT will dominate spring and summer.

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The long-awaited eighth issue of The Obituaries is here, and I am the special guest author!

This paperback book contains all new stories by me, Kristopher Triana, Aron Beauregard, and Daniel J. Volpe, with cover art and interior illustrations by Nick Justus. It also features 4 all-new faux obituaries, including one I wrote about himself!

Each book comes with a collectible magnet and bookmark!

LIMITED to 300 copies. Each book comes SIGNED by me, Beauregard, Volpe, and Triana. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

Note: A portion of this issue’s sales will go directly to artist Nick Justus to help cover his late mother’s funeral expenses. Rest in Peace, Renee W. Smith.

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I was very honored to learn that THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: NEW TLES OF STEPHEN KING’S THE STAND won a Haunted Minds Book Club Award for Best Anthology! Thanks to all the voters and the jury. Definitely a heavy hitting slate of finalists there. Very proud to be among them.

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We are pleased to announce the 2026 Splatterpunk Award nominees, for works published in 2025. The awards honor superior achievement in the literary subgenres of Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror fiction, and are presented for the categories of Novel, Novella, Short Story, Collection, and Anthology.

In addition, the J. F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award honors individuals who have made a significant impact on the Splatterpunk and Extreme Horror fields.

The winners will be announced and the awards will be presented at KillerCon 2026, taking place November 6^th through November 8^th in Austin, Texas. The nominees are as follows:

BEST NOVEL

-- At Dark, I Become Loathsome by Eric LaRocca (Blackstone Publishing)

-- Janitors vs. The Living Dead by Sisters of Slaughter – Melissa Lason and Michelle Garza (Death’s Head Press)

-- Music To Sacrifice Virgins To by Kristopher Triana (Bad Dream Books)

-- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (Saga Press)

-- The Home by Judith Sonnet (Madness Heart Press)

BEST NOVELLA

-- Disco Rice by Robert Essig (Infected Voices Publishing)

-- Playground 2: Child of Divorce by Aron Beauregard (Bad Dream Books)

-- Runts by Daniel J. Volpe (Bad Dream Books)

-- Strange Stones by Edward Lee and Mary SanGiovanni (Clash Books)

-- The Freakshow: Rebirth in Drayton Falls by Bryan Smith (Grindhouse Press)

BEST SHORT STORY

-- “And She Was Made of Glass” by Lucas Milliron (from Full Throttle)

-- “Executive Decision” by Christine Morgan (from Full Throttle)

-- “Red Womb” by C.M. Guidroz (Independently Published)

-- “The Tripps” by Wrath James White (from The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand)

-- “Wrong Fucking Place, Wrong Fucking Time” by C. Robert Cargill (from The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand)

BEST COLLECTION

-- Let Not Your Sorrow Die by Bracken Macleod (Bad Hand Books)

-- Teenage Girls Can Be Demons by Hailey Piper (Titan Books)

-- The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale by Joe R. Lansdale (Tachyon Publications)

-- This Is Splatterpunk: The John Skipp Primer by John Skipp (Fungasm Press)

-- Violent Nights by Candace Nola (Uncomfortably Dark)

BEST ANTHOLOGY

-- Choices: An Anthology of Reproductive Horror edited by Dianna Gunn (Renaissance Press)

-- Full Throttle edited by Candace Nola (Uncomfortably Dark)

-- Splatterpunk’s She Dotted Her Eyes edited by Jack Bantry (Independently Published)

-- Stories From the Motel Sick edited by Michael Allen Rose (Roshambo Publishing)

-- The Rack II: More Stories Inspired by Vintage Horror Paperbacks edited by Tom Deady (Greymore Publishing)

J. F. GONZALEZ LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD*

-- Christine Morgan

-- Ryan Harding

* The previous J. F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award recipients are (in order) David J. Schow, David G. Barnett, Edward Lee, John Skipp, Clive Barker, Monica J. O’Rourke, Brian Keene, Wrath James White, Craig Spector, Ray Garton, Joe R, Lansdale, and Lucy Taylor.

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Now, before anyone runs their mouth… Wrath retired from KillerCon and the awards last year. He left KillerCon in the very capable hands of Shane, John, and Lisa, and he left the awards in my hands. What that means is that Wrath is indeed eligible for recommendations. In years before, if we received recommendations for something Wrath or I wrote, we immediately disqualified those recs. That is why, for example, you didn’t see THE DRIVE-IN: MULTIPLEX on 2024’s ballot. There were plenty of recs for it from fans and readers, but since I edited the book (in collaboration with Chris) it was disqualified. With Wrath no longer part of overseeing the awards, recs for his works will no longer be disqualified.

If you don’t like that, then go start your own awards. Or better yet, come tell me in person. I’ve got a lot of signings and convention appearances this year. Instead of running your mouth on Discord or social media, step your punk ass up and tell me to my face.

At 58, I am of a mind that this will probably be my last year overseeing the awards. I feel the time is right to follow Wrath’s lead and turn it over to the next generation. I would like to still oversee the J.F. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement Award portion. But since I haven’t really talked to Shane, John, and Lisa about any of it yet, this will be a surprise to them this morning.

(Right now, Baltisberger is texting McKenzie “Dude… Keene is dropping the awards in our laps and also challenging people to fight at KillerCon...”)

All joking around aside, though. I intend to start letting things go this year. Downsizing, as it were, so that I can enjoy the time I have left in this body and this era of consciousness.

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The 2026 Women’s Writing Symposium, sponsored by Scares That Care, takes place February 25 and 26th at the Doubletree 50 Kingsmill Road, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185.

The event is hosted by Mary SanGiovanni and the presenters are Lisa Kroger, Melanie R. Anderson, L. Marie Wood, Jennifer McMahon, and Sherrilyn Kenyon.

To purchase tickets and see the schedule of seminars, workshops, roundtables, etc, click here. Admission is $50 for the full two days.

I have been contacted by a benefactor who is willing to pay for three tickets for three women. Understand that you will still be responsible for your travel, lodging, etc. But this person will take care of the cost of your ticket. If this is something that would help you out, please contact Scares That Care’s Sonora Taylor, and she and I will get you taken care of.

This event is something the community asked for, so we hope the community will join us. All proceeds benefit the charity and our beneficiaries for this year.

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Currently Watching: Nobody Wants This season 2, Fallout season 2, Sisu, American Sasquatch, and Bugonia.

Currently Reading: Manuscripts by Todd Keisling and Bev Vincent, and “The Empire of the Necromancers” by Clark Ashton Smith (a reread).

Currently Listening: Live In Hollywood 1990 by Faith No More, Night Terrors by Ozzy Osbourne, I’m The Man by Anthrax, Flirting With Disaster by Molly Hatchet, and Yacht Rock Radio (channel 15 Sirius/XM).

Both my youngest son and Mike Lombardo have been raving about Bugonia. (Well, technically, Mike has been raving about Save The Green Planet, the South Korean film of which Bugonia is an English-remake). Anyway, I promised them both i’d watch it as soon as it was available on streaming, and since Peacock now has it for free, this was the time.

And my gosh, I shouldn’t have waited. Bugonia is jaw-droppingly great. However, the less you know about it, the better. Seriously. Don’t read spoilers, or watch YouTube dissections. Go in cold. Don’t even watch the trailer if you can help it. The less you know about the movie, the more impact it will have on you, I suspect.

And that does it for this week. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you every day this week on my Blog and back here next Sunday.