Brian Keene's Blog, page 138

Book Terminology 101

I’m often asked: “What’s the difference between a trade paperback and a mass market paperback? A limited edition hardcover and a lettered edition? Why does this copy cost $7 and this one $700?” So, via the power of YouTube, I answer these questions and more.

To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before

That’s me, age 19, somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.

I’ve been with a lot of women in my life, and by “been with” I think you all know what I mean, and by “a lot” I mean over a hundred. This is not something a man should be proud of, as I’ve tried to explain to my oldest son, in the hopes that he’ll do better. But it is a fact of my past, and one that informs my present, and makes up just another facet of who I am. 

Out of those numbers, there have been four women in my life who I’ve loved unconditionally — a total and complete surrender of myself, wanting nothing more than to see them happy, attempting to move Heaven and Earth and storm the Gates of Hell to make it so, and having the courage to open myself to them, flaws and all. None of these ended well. My fault, each and every time. My flaws overwhelmed one of them. Two of them had their own flaws that exacerbated mine. And one of them loved me so unconditionally that I jeopardized the relationship myself and fled in fear. But those are musings best left to private counseling sessions. My point is this — each of those four women left an indelible stamp on my heart that also informs who I am today. And I will always be grateful for that.

There was a fifth woman who I loved, as well.

The fifth woman — she wasn’t made of flesh and bone. She was made of steel and gunpowder. She was much older than I was, and as such, she taught me a lot of things about life. I met her when I was 18 and we dated until I was 21. I wasn’t her first and I certainly wouldn’t be her last, but I enjoyed our time together. She introduced me to some of the best friends I’d ever have in life — men who are my brothers, in every sense of the word. She and I, we saw the world together. Literally saw the world. And in doing so, she taught this blue-collar white boy from a small town in Pennsylvania that there were other ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, political systems, languages, cultures, and traditions. She gave me my first true glimpses of absolute poverty and absolute wealth, of true evil and pure goodness, and most importantly, that no matter how far you travel or how different the culture and people you meet — there are still common things that bind us all together as humans. There are still things we all feel and share and experience. I’m grateful to her for showing me that, because it’s informed everything I’ve written ever since. We had some good times together, she and I. We had some bad times, too. We didn’t always get along, and when we broke up, I thought I hated her, but time has a way of healing those things. You forget the bad and remember the good.

It’s been several decades since I saw her. Occasionally, my thoughts would turn to her, and I’d wonder how she was doing. I imagined she was in an exotic seaside port somewhere, perhaps in Israel or Spain or Italy. She’d always loved those places. But then I heard that she’d been sold for scrap. I felt a vague sort of disquiet at this news, but didn’t really comprehend it. Nobody would ever really scrap that old girl. Then, last Saturday night, I saw a picture of how she looks now, and my heart broke.

The U.S.S. Austin, then and now.

Goodbye, old girl. You will never know how many lives you impacted. You deserved better than this, in the end.

Week in Review 6-16-13

The big news this week was, of course, the paperback release of the uncut, Author’s Preferred Edition of THE RISING (which you can buy here). It contains over 30,000 words worth of material not included in previous editions, along with a lengthy brand-new introduction by me in which I talk about the novel’s creation, history, impact, and controversy. I’ve seen many critics saying that the introduction is worth the book in and of itself, and that makes me happy.

Kindle and Nook editions on sale later this Summer. A signed, limited edition hardcover will be published as part of this Fall’s Maelstrom series.

Also on sale this week was MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: THE ORIGIN OF HORDAK, which you can buy here. This is my latest comic, but most definitely not my last. It’s strange. With THE LAST ZOMBIE series coming to a conclusion, I’d thought I might be done with comics for a while. But at least part of last week’s business trip to New York was comics related, and though I can’t say anything more, expect to see a lot of them from me in 2014. A lot…

Something else that happened during last week’s business trip was an interesting conversation with the drummer for one of my absolute favorite bands of all-time. Going to be talking to him again later this week, and expect some exciting things to come from that.

So, yeah, basically I went to New York, which inspired me to write this essay about traveling and what to expect when you’re traveling in my line of work, but now I’m back home and I can’t tell you about anything that happened there — except that Thursday morning found my head so full of ideas that I was wandering Times Square at 3am, looking for coffee and a place to write, and snapping this photo. And don’t forget to check out my friend Joseph Scrimshaw’s Kickstarter! Details here.

 

Zedlacher’s 4th CCA and Scrimshaw’s FLAW FEST

You’ve probably heard me mention Joseph Scrimshaw and Pete Zedlacher before. Both are dear friends of mine, and both are excellent stand-up comics — comedians for our people — the people who watch zombie movies and read comic books and play too many video games and know that Han Solo shot first. Joe and Pete have always been supportive of me over the years, and I to them. I hope you’ll consider supporting them, too.

Pete has just been nominated AGAIN for Best Male Standup in the Canadian Comedy Awards. I’m told this is a record. He’s also up for a few other categories, including Best TV Show. Here’s how you can help him: Follow Pete on Facebook or Twitter. He’ll let you know there when it’s time to start voting.

Meanwhile, Joe is doing a Kickstarter for a double live album called Flaw Fest. I’m a backer, and I think you should be, too. With six days left to go, he’s halfway toward his goal. I’d really like to see this one happen. CLICK HERE to learn more about the project or to make your pledge.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: ORIGIN OF HORDAK

On sale today in all good comic stores – MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: ORIGIN OF HORDAK. Written by me and Keith Giffen. Illustrated by Keith  and Scott Koblish. Stand-alone, single issue. $2.99.

How does one go about becoming a demigod? And, what the heck is a demigod anyway? These questions and more will be answered in MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: THE ORIGIN OF HORDAK!

Travel to the distant past and learn how the old gods died and how Hordak went from being a conqueror of the cosmos to something very like a god.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

THE RISING: UNCUT – On Sale Now!

NOW IN PAPERBACK! (Digital forthcoming in August). The classic that helped start a pop culture phenomenon – back in print and UNCUT!

Since it’s 2003 debut, Brian Keene’s THE RISING is one of the best-selling zombie novels of all-time. It has been translated into over a dozen languages, inspired the works of other authors and filmmakers, and has become a cultural touchstone for an entire generation of horror fans.

THE RISING is the story of Jim Thurmond, a determined father battling his way across a post-apocalyptic zombie landscape, to find his young son. Accompanied by Martin, a preacher still holding to his faith, and Frankie, a recovering heroin addict with an indomitable will to survive, Jim travels from state to state and town to town, facing an endless onslaught of undead hordes, and the evils perpetrated by his fellow man.

This brand-new, author’s preferred edition, restores nearly 30,000 words of material that was cut from the original edition. These new chapters, which have never been seen by anyone before now, expand the original story, adding new depths to characters and more horrific situations.

You may think you’ve read THE RISING, but you haven’t read it all until you read this edition!

Deadite Press is proud to present this uncut, author’s preferred edition, which also includes a lengthy essay by the author about the novel’s genesis and history.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

On the House

By the time you read this, I’ll be on a train to New York City, where I’m taking part in a Creative Summit for a top-secret project that I can’t tell you about. Since I’ll be there four days, the publisher is putting me (and others) up in the Dream New York, a midtown Manhattan luxury hotel. (I’m registered under a pseudonym, so please don’t plan on dropping by). I’ve never stayed there before, but judging by their website, it’s quite posh. Which is all very nice, but the only thing I care about is that my itinerary says my hotel room will have a ‘Stocked Private Bar’.

A lifetime spent on the road will do that to you.

I’ve lost count of how many hotel rooms I’ve stayed in, how many conventions I’ve been a guest at, how many speaking engagements I’ve delivered, how many book signings I’ve done, and how many business trips I’ve taken. They all blur together after a while. I’ve stayed in dives and I’ve slept in luxury. My former assistant and I, in the midst of a book tour, once stayed in a motel room in upstate New York that didn’t even have sheets on the bed. Instead, the mattress was covered in a dusting of dried out dead cockroaches. Once at a convention in Virginia, the organizers forgot to reserve my room, and a friend and I had to stay at a flea bag motel down the road whose only other tenants were a motorcycle gang. (We spent more time hanging out with the bikers than we did at the con).

I’m happy with just a clean hotel room, and I’ve gotten that more than not. Once in a while, the publisher or film studio or convention organizer puts me up in a penthouse suite or something similar, and that’s nice, too. But no matter how high up your room is, you can always look out the penthouse window and see the roach motel just down the road.

Sometimes I’ve paid for my meals. Other times they’ve been on the house. I remember very early in my career — a movie producer flew me out to Hollywood and took me to dinner to discuss optioning one of my books for film. We went to a nice steak joint and I had a slab of meat that cost as much as an entire cow would have cost back home. I also drank most of a bottle of Basil Hayden’s because, hey, the producer was paying. It seemed silly to me that they’d spent all that money when we could have just negotiated over the phone or email. What I didn’t know at the time was that the only money I’d ever see out of that deal was the air fare to and from Los Angeles, the steak, and the whiskey. The day I checked out of the hotel room, I took all the little complimentary bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and put them in my suitcase, because I was barely existing above the poverty level, and hey, the producer was paying.

These days (some fifteen plus years later) I tend to stay in nicer hotels, and I don’t go to conventions as a guest unless the convention pays for my trip, and I’ve learned enough about business to avoid wasting my time with those who would waste my time. But there are still months when the royalties are few and far between, and thus, I still take all the little complimentary bottles of toiletries, and I still get delighted when I see the words ‘Stocked Private Bar’ on my itinerary.

Success and money are transitional, fleeting things, and they tend to run in cycles. My advice to writers just starting to go full time is to never get too comfortable. No matter how successful you become, never forget what it’s like to eat Ramen Noodles and peanut butter sandwiches six days a week, because chances are, you’ll go back to doing that off and on in your career. I know that I have. And that’s okay, because at the end of the day, it’s worth it if you’ve touched someone with something you wrote, or made their day a little better, or entertained them for a while.

People in this business promise things all the time. Sometimes, they even deliver on those promises. But in the end, the only guarantee you have are those little bottles of free shampoo.

And if you’re really lucky, someone will temporarily give you a stocked private bar…

Week in Review 6-8-13

This week saw two new releases to the digital platform. The first was EARTHWORM GODS II: DELUGE. Previously only available in hardcover and paperback, it is now also available on Kindle and Nook, as well. This means that the entire Worms Trilogy is now available in both paperback and digital.

Deadite Press have done a remarkable job of making my former out of print titles available again, and with this publication, there are now only three left to go — THE RISING, CITY OF THE DEAD, and THE RISING: SELECTED SCENES FROM THE END OF THE WORLD (the first of which will be out in paperback in a few weeks).

The second book released digitally this week was BLOOD ON THE PAGE: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE, Volume 1. It’s currently available on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. Paperback editions are forthcoming.

This marks my fourth foray into self-publishing, following on the heels of ALONE, SCRATCH, and THE GIRL ON THE GLIDER. As you can tell by the title (and the book’s foreword) this is just the first volume in a series. As of right now, there are enough short stories for three more volumes. Unless I die, I imagine there will be one or two volumes more after those. And ‘complete’ means just that — it is my intent to collect all of them, even the bad ones and early ones. But only because you demanded it. The second volume in the series, OTHER WORLDS, will be published this Fall.

This week also gave us a great deal from Al Sarrantonio on PORTENTS, which features my short story “Johnstown” as well as stories by many other great authors. $20 for a limited edition hardcover. Hard to turn that down. Copies are going fast!

Earlier in the week, I got my Mark Twain groove on while musing about my youngest son’s pre-school graduation. Thanks to all of you for the nice comments. It’s always a good feeling when something you wrote touches others.

We took a look at an essay and two new books from Sarah Pinborough, Tim Waggoner, and Nick Mamatas.

MTV Geek has a free five-page preview of me and Keith Giffen’s   MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: THE ORIGIN OF HORDAK, which is in comic shops next Wednesday. Yes, that’s one week later than originally announced. My buds over at The Outhousers have a theory about all this.

Some new pics were posted to my Instagram and WhoSay pages, including what happened when my 5-year old and I set up his Thomas the Tank Engine wooden railway set and then decided to have Galactus and Godzilla drop by for the greatest fan fiction story plot ever.

I’ll be in New York City for most of this forthcoming week, taking part in a Creative Summit, followed by a special Thursday morning screening of Man of Steel. But expect a new essay on Monday, and the release of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: THE ORIGIN OF HORDAK on Wednesday. And at some point in-between them, a new video on my YouTube Channel.

As always, you can communicate with me via the forum, Twitter, Facebook, or right here.

MOTU: HORDAK Preview

MTV Geek has a free 5-page preview of me and Keith Giffen’s MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: THE ORIGIN OF HORDAK right here. The comic is in stores next Wednesday. And my buds over at The Outhousers have a theory about that.

Waggoner’s Whispers, Pinborough’s 16, and Mamatas is Fucked Up

This week’s plugs. 

I want to start things off with this free essay by Sarah Pinborough (writing under her pen name Sarah Silverwood). It’s a letter she wrote to her 16-year old self, and it is the most beautiful, haunting, and touching thing I’ve read on the Internet in many months. You owe it to yourself to read it.

My The Damned Highway co-writer, Nick Mamatas, has a new novel up for pre-order that will appeal to fans of Aleister Crowley. Love Is The Law is the tale of punk-rock girl “Golden” Dawn, who has crafted an outsider’s life combining the philosophies of Communism and Aleister Crowley’s black magic. One fateful day she finds the dead body of her mentor in both politics and magick shot in the head, seemingly a suicide. But Dawn knows there’s more going on than the Long Island cops could ever hope to uncover. In setting out to find the murderer herself, she will encounter dark and twisted truths for which no book, study, or basement show could have prepared her. Warren Ellis says the book is “Absolutely, perversely brilliant…a fucked-up piece of work.” PRE-ORDER HERE

Tim Waggoner has a new short story collection out called Bone Whispers. Tim has long been one of my favorites among my peers — much like Tom Piccirilli and Bryan Smith — in that when he releases a new book, I stop reading whatever else I’m reading at the time and make room for it instead. His style is very unique — evocative enough to stand quietly with Charles Grant but visceral enough to punch with Richard Laymon. Bone Whispers contains some of his strongest, most surreal  work to date — eighteen stories including “Some Dark Hope,” “Skull Cathedral” and “The Great Ocean of Truth.” BUY IT HERE.