Letters From the Labyrinth 481
The Yellowstone Incident
Home again, after another long stint on the road. Red Sonja did admirably, taking me south and then west and then back east again. Will have my mechanic give her a thorough check over this week, along with a fluid change. She continues to be my favorite vehicle that I have ever owned.
Mary and I were home for two days after The Twisted Spine and Brooklyn Brewery signing. Then she went to New Jersey to help out after her father’s hip replacement surgery, and I headed south. First I was in Martinsburg, WV to visit with writer, editor, podcaster, and legend Scott Edelman. While there, we recorded a conversation for KEENEVERSATIONS, which you can listen to here.
From Martinsburg, I drove to Lewisburg, WV where I did some work around Grandma’s house and also got in a fight with not one, but two nests of bees (one was honeybees and the other was yellowjackets) who’d taken up residence around her shed and woodpile. The fight resulted in a total of seven stings. Luckily, having grown up with a father who was a beekeeper and being a beekeeper myself, I’m not allergic.
From there, I moved on to Lexington, KY, where I stayed for two days with Laurel Hightower. Her kid and I spent the days with backyard swimming pools and a visit to the flea market and building a pretty sweet fort out of pillows, blankets, a couch, a beanbag chair, and stuffed animals. Laurel’s boyfriend, poet Frank Reardon, made a kick-ass baked ziti which included heavy layers of pepperoni and sausage. At night, after the kiddo went to bed, all three of us got into the ziti, and Laurel and I got into the Jameson and Bookers, and there was lots of shop talk.
After that, I headed on to Indianapolis and GenCon, which must surely have been the second-biggest fan convention I have ever attended, second only to San Diego Comic Con. (I’ve heard DragonCon is big, but I can’t speak to that. I have never been to DragonCon, and I never will, because DragonCon founder Edward Kramer was a pedophile and a creep and benefitted from DragonCon for years after that became public knowledge, so f*ck that noise. The Sci-Fi and Fantasy community has always been troubling in that regard, and still are, to be honest. For example: Samuel Delany was a vocal supporter of NAMBLA, and the vast majority of sci-fi and fantasy just shrug it off or stare at their shoes about it. But I digress…)
I heard varying attendance numbers for GenCon — everything from 30,000 to 80,000 people. My guess it was somewhere between those two. To best describe it, GenCon is like if the entire population of Harrisburg, PA was turned into gamers, and then all of them were teleported into the Backrooms. The convention seemingly goes on forever, and every time you think you’ve seen everything there is to do there, you traverse another skywalk or reach the end of another hallway and suddenly there’s a fifth connected hotel or a second connected convention center with all-new exhibits. It is very much like Disney World for enthusiasts of boardgames, roleplaying games, and card games. The bars take advantage of this, by the way. With that many people in attendance, your chances of getting served without an hour-long wait are not good. Therefore, you don’t balk at paying $40 for a double Knob Creek on the rocks.
Speaking of the bars, Maurice Broaddus and I were talking over drinks on Friday night, when a young lady came over and plopped her Barbie cowgirl hat atop his head. We took a quick photo and he gave her the hat back and I posted the pic on social media with the caption “Congratulations to Maurice Broaddus on landing his new gig writing a Yellowstone spin-off.”
Just the latest installment in an almost thirty year tit-for-tat messing with each other that Maurice and I have engaged in pretty much since the moment we met. But I sometimes forget that Maurice and I have much bigger audiences now than we did back in the day, and not everyone is aware that we relentlessly prank and mess with each other. Maurice forgets that sometimes, too.
Which is why we both spent much of yesterday having to explain to people that he was not, in fact, writing a new spin-off for Yellowstone. I left GenCon early Saturday morning, because I had to get back home and and then back down to WV to do more for Grandma. During the drive, my phone kept buzzing as people called, texted, and emailed to ask if I could give them any more details on Maurice’s new gig. Meanwhile, at GenCon, Maurice awoke to a mob of people congratulating him. By the time I got home (after an 8 hour drive) writers for various fandom websites were getting into the act, so I posted a clarification online.
Anyway… my apologies to Maurice’s fans, and Yellowstone fans. (I have to wonder with some bemusement if Taylor Sheridan’s production team were suddenly fielding calls and emails from the fandom press and staring at each other in confusion and dismay all because some cult horror writer and one of the leading afrofuturist writers were goofing around. If so, then apologies to them, as well).
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.
A few more pics from the last week.
As mentioned above, I’ll be heading back down to WV to help Grandma. This month I also have a wedding to attend and am taking my youngest to college. Email and text messages will continue to be replied to on a sporadic basis.
Work Updates: Post-production on DEAD FORMAT continues. I have received Tod’s edits for FALLING ANGELS: THE LABYRINTH Book 4. Just waiting on Dezm’s, and then I’ll send it off to the publisher. I have one more commissioned LOST LEVEL story to finish and then I will mail all of the signed manuscripts. The stories will be collected in book form as THE LOST LEVEL: EXCURSIONS. Focus for this month is OPERATION LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK, me and Laurel’s collaborative novel, and finishing up a story for a project Michael Bailey is editing.
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.
Yesterday, Scares That Care delivered a check for $10,000 to our most recent burn survivor.
As STC board member Angel Hollman-Gastion writes: “Today was one of those moments that reminds you exactly why we do what we do. Standing beside an incredible burn survivor and presenting a $10,000 check wasn’t just about the donation—it was about hope, resilience, and a community that refuses to let people face their hardest days alone. Every person who attends an event, buys merchandise, volunteers, donates, or simply shares our mission helped make this possible. This moment belongs to all of you. This is what Scares That Care is all about—turning compassion into action and proving that even through unimaginable pain, kindness can help light the way forward. Thank you to everyone who continues to believe in our mission. Together, we’re changing lives, one donation at a time.”
To learn more about our charity, and how you can help support it, click here.
And that does it for this week. Thanks for reading. See all of you back here next Sunday.
It's always a pleasure seeing Scares That Care work its magic for the good of so many others.
Always love Sunday mornings with your newsletter. Gotta say, though, for 40 years I’ve been married to a first generation Sicilian-American woman who nearly threw me out of house when I mentioned pepperoni and sausage in baked ziti.