Letters From the Labyrinth 480
The following was first published earlier this week on Algorithm Zero.
Jeff Strand texted me last night with this bit of wisdom: ‘As years go by, there’s a lot less “What a tragic loss for the horror genre,” and a lot more “He was my friend!”
This was in relation to attorney, pre-reader, and horror super-fan Jamie LaChance, who passed away yesterday at 1:15am. Jamie’s passing was not entirely unexpected. He’d been fighting the same sort of brain cancer that took Tom Piccirilli, but he’d had the surgeries and treatments and we’d all hoped he’d pull through. Sadly, that didn’t happen.
Kelly Laymon shared with me last night that Jamie was one of the first fans at one of her father’s first signings at Aladdin Books back in the day. He was also one of the first fans at one of my first signings — third in line for 4X4 at Dark Delicacies, back in 2001. He was at all of our signings. Anytime any of us passed through California — myself, Strand, Jesus Gonzalez, Weston Ochse, Tom Piccirilli, Tim Lebbon, etc — we could count on at least Jamie showing up. He was one of those readers like Mark ‘Dezm’ Sylva, Paul ‘Noige’ Synuria, or Tod Clark who we became genuine friends with. Indeed, he’s embedded in our bibliographies and DNA in ways that aren’t immediately apparent to someone on the outside.
It was Jamie, for example, who took this infamous picture of then early thirty-somethings Keene and Lebbon at Poe’s grave.
And this hilarious “look how goofy we used to look” pic of myself, Weston Ochse, and bookseller Roy Robbins after Weston and signed at his store.
He did pre-reading and copyediting for a number of publishers, and had, up until he got sick a few months ago, had been helping me with INVISIBLE MONSTERS and some of Jesus’s unpublished works. We had hoped he’d get to work on FALLING ANGELS: THE LABYRINTH Book 4, but it wasn’t meant to be.
And though he practiced a different kind of law, when we drove a stake through Leisure Books and the midlist (thus leading to the rise of the indies) Jamie was super helpful to Jesus and myself, putting us in touch with colleagues who were specially suited to what we wanted to do, and offering some off the record observations over bourbon.
When I went to visit Jesus’s parents after his death, Jamie went with me (as recounted in END OF THE ROAD).
Here are two photos from that portion of the tour that did not get used in the book. The first one was taken at what would turn out to be the last time I signed at Dark Delicacies. The second one is Jamie with David J. Schow and Muggsy Parker Schow outside one of David’s favorite LA eateries.
The last time I saw Jamie was last year, when he flew out to Pennsylvania to visit Vortex. He spent the day hanging out with myself and Mary and Jesus’s wife, Cathy. I was particularly touched because he told Mary that the manuscript for her novel The Everywhere House was not only the best thing she’d ever written, but the best cosmic horror novel he’d ever read, possibly eclipsing even John Langan’s The Fisherman. (I remember teasing him that my pre-readers aren’t allowed to use multi-syllable words, and he said, “You mean possibly?” and I said, “No, I mean eclipsing.”). That meant a lot to Mary. Despite myself, Laird Barron, Paul Tremblay, Chris Golden, and others raving about the book, she’d been unable to sell it to any of the big five or any of the indies. The only edition that had seen print was a signed limited edition of 50 copies from Thunderstorm. )Camelot Books has a copy for sale here). It was Jamie’s praise that lifted her spirits and got the manuscript back into circulation, and I’m happy to report that The Everywhere House will get a big five mainstream release next year.
I wish Jamie could have stuck around to see it.
Anyway… see you at the end of the road, brother. Give my best to Jesus, the Daves, Weston, Pic, Gak, Dick, Dallas, H, Chris, and everyone else in that hotel convention bar in the sky.
Good morning. I’m Brian Keene and this is Letters From the Labyrinth — a long-running weekly newsletter for fans, friends, and family that comes out every Sunday.
This is being sent to you from the road. I am typing this from Lewisburg, West Virginia.
The event in Brooklyn went great. Thanks to everyone who came out, particularly readers Dustin, Steve, LTJ, Tuba, dude from Wilkes-Barre, dude from the axe-throwing bar, and Brandon who’s flight was delayed.
Was great to get to spend some actual time in conversation with old friends like Chris, Nick, John, and Tony, new friends like CJ, Clay, Nat, Tanya, and Nicky, and talk shop and sign books. Only person I didn’t get to catch up with much was Victor LaValle, who got there while I was already on a panel, and then his panel started while I was taking a leak, and then afterward we were all signing books, and then the bar was kicking us out, and the me and Mary’s Uber arrived. Anyway, Victor — good seeing you for all of five minutes.
All in all, it was a great launch for Chris Golden latest novel.
After that, we were back home for a day — long enough to take Dallas to a follow-up vet appointment. Then it was back out on the road again for me, while Mary stayed home. (She’ll be in New Jersey next week taking care of a family member post-surgery).
Yesterday, I stopped in Martinsburg, West Virginia and had lunch with Scott Edelman — one of the few creators of whom I can legitimately say “I was reading him when I was 10 years old.” We talked about his time in the Marvel Comic Bullpen of the 1970s, because I never get tired of hearing about that, and about why I think he should write an autobiography and why he thinks he shouldn’t, and we talked a lot of shop about the act and craft of writing, and about Hawaii and Easter Island. It’s always a great time, catching up with Scott. His podcast, Eating the Fantastic (available wherever you listen to podcasts) is up for a Hugo Award, if you are a voter and feel so inclined to give hm a mod.
Today, I’m doing some work around Grandma’s house — removing weeds and a yellowjacket nest, checking the structural integrity of the wood shed, etc. Then meeting up with my sister and one of my cousins for dinner tonight. Tomorrow and Tuesday I’ll be visiting Laurel Hightower and Frank Reardon in Kentucky. And then Wednesday I’ll head for GenCon in Indianapolis. My schedule for that is as follows:
Thursday 11am - Noon: Panel Discussion — How To Put Together An Anthology
Friday 11am - Noon: Panel Discussion — How To Build A Long Term Career
Saturday 10am - 11am — The Role of Nonfiction In Your Career
Saturday 1pm - 2pm — Signing
This week’s Women In Horror Year write-ups feature Evangeline Walton, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Cynthia Asquith, Mary SanGiovanni, Red Lagoe, and Shirley Jackson. You can read those, and all the other ones I’ve written so far, via the index for Women In Horror Year.
Currently Watching: The Last Ship (season 2)
Currently Reading: Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government’s Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis by Annie Jacobsen and Lost in The Dark and Other Excursions by John Langan
Currently Listening: Sirius/XM’s Classic Rewind, Ozzy’s Boneyard, Rock the Bells, and Howard 101.
My enjoyment of The Last Ship continues. As I told both Jim Cobb and Todd Keisling earlier this week, it fills a void that has remained unfilled for me since Jericho went off the air. In many ways, this series is a spiritual successor to Jericho. if you liked one, you’ll probably like the other.
And that does it for this week. Thanks for reading. See all of you back here next Sunday.
Loved hanging with you and Mary at the Brooklyn event!
Sorry for your loss with Jamie. After just losing my mother two weeks ago, I feel you. What a fun tribute, fun relic photos (I did the same rooting for pics to put together my mother's remembrance video) and what an epic shot of the crew in NY. Be well, man.