Brian Keene's Blog, page 139
June 6, 2013
BLOOD ON THE PAGE
BLOOD ON THE PAGE: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE, Volume 1
Now on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo for just $4.99! (Paperback editions forthcoming)
For contents and more information
“This is my gift. This is my legacy. This is my curse…”
BLOOD ON THE PAGE is the first book in a series collecting all of Brian Keene’s short fiction. Included in this volume are such critically-acclaimed and fan favorite stories as “Burying Betsy”, “Dust”, “The Resurrection and The Life”, “I Am An Exit”, “Fast Zombies Suck”, “Bunnies In August”, “I Sing A New Psalm”, and many more.
These are stories of love and hate. Trust and betrayal. Happiness and heartbreak. Truth and lies. Innocence and paranoia. Flying and falling. Unhappy endings and conspiracies of one. These are stories about zombies, ghosts, serial killers, and the most horrific monsters of all—ourselves.
BLOOD ON THE PAGE – the only thing we have to fear is… everything.
Contents:
Introduction by Dave “Meteornotes” Thomas.
Foreword
Portrait Of The Magus As A Writer (Interpolating Magic Realism)
Captive Hearts
Johnstown
Waiting For Darkness
Dust
Burying Betsy
Fast Zombies Suck
I Sing A New Psalm
Caught In A Mosh
I Am An Exit
This Is Not An Exit
That Which Lingers
Halves
Without You
Couch Potato
Fade To Null
Babylon Falling
A Revolution Of One
Full Of It
Two-Headed Alien Love Child
Bunnies In August
The Wind Cries Mary
The Resurrection And The Life
Stone Tears
Red Wood
The Ghosts Of Monsters
Slouching In Bethlehem
Marriage Causes Cancer In Rats
Golden Boy
To be followed this Fall by OTHER WORLDS: The Complete Short Fiction of Brian Keene, Vol. 2…
June 4, 2013
PORTENTS for $20
PORTENTS is a beautiful hardcover limited edition anthology featuring stories by myself, Joyce Carol Oates, Ramsey Campbell, Joe R. Lansdale, Melanie Tem, Steve Rasnic Tem, Kealan Patrick Burke, Tom Piccirilli, and many more.
It is currently on sale to Brian Keene dot com readers for just $20 (plus S&H). But hurry! This offer is only valid through Friday.
PayPal: send $20 (plus $5 postage and packing in the U.S.; $8 for Canada; and $15 for international orders) to Flyingfoxpub@aol.com.
EARTHWORM GODS 2: DELUGE now on Kindle and Nook!
The headline pretty much says it all. In addition to being available in paperback, EARTHWORM GODS II: DELUGE is now also available for Kindle and Nook.
With this publication, the entire EARTHWORM GODS TRILOGY is now complete, and all three volumes are available in both paperback and digital. For more information, visit their individual pages:
Earthworm Gods
Earthworm Gods II: Deluge
Earthworm Gods III: Selected Scenes From the End of the World
June 2, 2013
Today’s Tom Sawyer
Turtle (my five-year old’s public nickname) graduated preschool last Friday. It was a nice event. His teacher said he’s “a natural leader” and one of the parents said he’s “cute and a ham”. I don’t know where he got any of these traits from.
This was not my first preschool graduation. My oldest son, David (who is an adult and doesn’t mind the public knowing who his Dad is, and thus, the lack of a nickname), had a preschool graduation, too, but that was a long time ago, as evidenced by the fact that he’ll be graduating college next year.
So, while this was not my first, it will most probably be my last (unless I stick around long enough to enjoy some grand-kids).
I’d done my weeping two days before, on Turtle’s last official day of preschool, so I wasn’t sad after the ceremony. But I was… morose. It’s hard to believe my little man is starting kindergarten. And all I have to do is think back to his older brother’s preschool graduation, and contrast that with the adult his older brother has now become — an adult who asks me for advice on women and who is now able to kick my ass at Magic the Gathering about one in every three games — and I realize just how fucking fast time really does fly. I’d always been told that time slows down as one gets older, but I think the people who told me that were lying bastards, because if anything, time is speeding up. These days, I’m all too aware of that, and I’m left wondering if I’ll be able to complete everything I want to do before I die.
Filled with these thoughts, I was in no shape to write when I got back home, so I decided to spend the day cutting firewood instead. After all, I reasoned, I had all day Saturday and Sunday to write. My only other plans for the weekend were for Saturday afternoon, when Geoff Cooper was stopping by to help me scout out a location on my property for us to install a shooting range. I’d have plenty of time to write after that. It would do me good to chop firewood. Take my mind off things.
And it did. There is a poetry imbued in the act of chopping firewood that you probably wouldn’t dig unless you’ve actually done it. You’re standing there in the ninety-one degree heat, clad only in a pair of cutoff shorts, feeling the sun and the sweat on your shoulders, setting up a log, then swinging the ax and quartering that log, then setting up another. There’s a rhythm to it — a perfect synchronicity of ax and muscle and breathing. The only sounds are of the birds and squirrels and the satisfying thunk the blade makes as it splits the logs. It’s a primal, fulfilling sensation, and one I pondered as I chopped and swung.
By two in the afternoon, I’d cut enough wood for a pile eight feet long and about three feet high. The sun was beating down, and I’d run out of water and switched to the emergency bottle of bourbon I keep in the shed. Although I had the start of an impressive woodpile, I knew it wasn’t nearly enough. To make it through the winter here atop the mountain, I’d need a stack at least twenty feet long and six feet high.
It then occurred to me that as poetic as this experience was, there were others I could share it with. Laird Barron, for example. Laird used to race dogsleds in the Alaskan wilderness. He would certainly appreciate the rustic peace and camaraderie that comes with chopping wood. J.F. Gonzalez would probably like it, too. As a former Los Angeles native who’d been transplanted here in the wilds of Pennsylvania, he was always asking me to give him rural experiences (and I was fairly certain he’d forgiven me for the last such incident, which involved cows). I thought that perhaps Nick Mamatas would enjoy it, too. The act of collectively chopping wood together so that the community can survive the hardships of winter spoke directly to the heart of Socialism. And ditto Tom Monteleone. The act of collectively chopping wood together so that the community can survive the hardships of winter spoke directly to the heart of Democracy. I figured it imbued a sense of patriotism, for it is something our forefathers had done upon coming to this country. I was pretty sure Joe Lansdale was no stranger to swinging an ax, and I figured he’d need to be on hand if only to properly teach The Cage producer Damian Maffei how to do it.
Yes, I decided, sitting on a stump and now halfway into the bottle of bourbon — I would have a wood cutting party! I’d invite everyone into town for a weekend, and they could each take a turn swinging the ax while I stood in the shade and supervised.
And then, free of the mild post-graduation ceremony depression that had gripped me earlier, I forgot all about the whole scheme and came inside and wrote instead. I also decided that I’d keep this scheme in reserve in case I ever had a fence that I needed whitewashed.
Time is speeding up. But as long as I’ve got my sons and my work and my friends, I intend to stay on the ride until the end.
Always hopeful, yet discontent,
He knows changes aren’t permanent,
But change is.
– Rush, “Tom Sawyer”
(Note: This was supposed to be published tomorrow, but due to technical incompetence on my end, it went live today. Enjoy it one day early!)
June 1, 2013
The New Paradigm
As an author and public figure, I think a lot about social media and how to stay connected with my audience. I have no choice. Not to sound mercenary, but it’s part of the job, and every bit as essential as writing the books and comics themselves.
I’m not the only one who does this, of course, but I’m one of the few (along with folks like Warren Ellis, Joe Hill, John Scalzi, Scott Nicholson, Robert Swartwood, and J.A. Konrath) who muse on it in public.
Fact is, the internet is moving away from Blogging and websites in favor of hubs and streams. It’s no longer good enough to simply have YourName.com. If you want to reach the public at your maximum potential, you need to have Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc. You need to do this, because that’s where the public is. Take Facebook, for example. Vast as the internet is, there are users who never leave Facebook, unless it’s to click a link they saw there. And getting them to click those links and come back here, for example, is getting harder and harder to do.
Well, fuck that noise. This website is my hub, and although I’m on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Instagram, WhoSay, and more (links to which can all be found HERE), I still want traffic to flow here from all those other sources. Although this website still gets a lot of traffic, the numbers pale in comparison to what they used to be. And as a result, my audience on Twitter and Facebook and elsewhere ask me on a daily basis to use Google for them (to paraphrase Warren Ellis). I find myself having to post links to this website to answer simple questions — questions which could have been answered with a click of a mouse. I don’t say that to sound bitchy, but there are only so many hours in a day, and I’d rather spend those hours writing and editing and enjoying time with my sons, rather than posting a link 20 times to ‘When Deluge comes out on Kindle and Nook”. This is going to hold especially true in coming months, as I’m about to undertake a year-long project that will leave me busier than I’ve ever been before. (Can’t say what it is yet, but there’s a teaser hidden somewhere on my forum. Actually, two teasers…)
Yesterday afternoon, after I got home from my 5-year old’s preschool graduation, and was feeling weepy, I decided to cut firewood rather than sit around and mope. While I was swinging the ax, I pondered how to re-train people to come here on a daily or weekly basis. And I came up with this — a weekly schedule, so you know in advance what’s here.
MONDAY: Musings — lengthy essays on life, writing, the industry, or whatever else is on my mind. These have always been the most popular feature here (and even before here) and I’ve gotten away from doing them. So I’m going to fix that.
TUESDAY thru THURSDAY: News — book releases, pre-orders, announcements, etc.
FRIDAY: Plugs — things by others I think you will enjoy.
SATURDAY and SUNDAY: A recap of the week, as well as links to things from the rest of my social media web.
So, now you know what to expect. See you back here on Monday for some musings…
May 30, 2013
UPCOMING RELEASES
EARTHWORM GODS II: DELUGE – Currently available in paperback. Kindle and Nook editions on sale first week of June.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: ORIGIN OF HORDAK – On sale June 12. Pre-order here.
THE LAST ZOMBIE: THE END #2 – On sale mid-June. Pre-order here.
THE RISING: UNCUT, AUTHOR’S PREFERRED EDITION – Paperback available late-June. Kindle and Nook available late-Summer. Limited edition hardcover available this Fall.
May 29, 2013
The Last Zombie: BTA #5 gets 5 stars
March of the Nitwits
It’s summer, a time when stinkbugs, mosquitoes, snakes, and the Legion of Nitwits all make a reappearance. Here are two new warnings for writers and readers everywhere.*
1. By now, you should all be familiar with Anthony ‘Tony G’ Giangregorio. If not, peruse this first. He is apparently back, now operating under the name Open Casket Press. But while he may have a new name, he’s still playing the same old tricks. Stant Litore has all the details here, and it’s especially required reading for you newer authors. (No word yet on whether or not Tony G will once again threaten to show up at the homes of single female authors to discuss their complaints with him).
2. I know you’re all familiar with the horror genre’s favorite nitwit, Nickolaus Pacione. If not, Google is your friend. Although I can’t possibly conceive that there are any readers left who are naive enough to actually purchase one of his books, just in case there are, Nicky is back to pulling one of his favorite scams — waiting until a national tragedy occurs and then claiming proceeds from his books will go to various charities. By his own admission, this then fails to happen. This time, he says the proceeds will go to the folks in Oklahoma. They won’t, so don’t fall for it. I mean, I guess you could, if writing like this — “From this that eludes me which I pen this as what I say what eludes me is sleep, and from the sleep becomes the etchings where the dreams begin.” — really turns you on, but just be aware that your money isn’t going to help storm victims.
*Hat tip to Monica O’Rourke and Val Botchlet for making me aware of these.
May 26, 2013
He Is Risen
The cover for the forthcoming paperback and digital editions of THE RISING: UNCUT. On sale this summer.
THE CAGE movie is a go. Here’s the official Twitter.
I’m done moving. My WhoSay or Instagram pages have a few pics from my new cabin in the woods.
I’ve been told to get my passport in order so I can be on set for DARK HOLLOW later this summer. I’ll also be in New York June 10th to the 13th on top secret comic book business, and to see an advance screening of Man of Steel.
It’s going to be an interesting summer…
May 25, 2013
IS THERE A DEMON IN YOU? Lettered Edition (UPDATED)
The Lettered Editions of Is There A Demon In You? are on sale now. Featuring four novellas by myself, Mary SanGiovanni, Nate Southard, and Wrath James White, along with a second Lettered Edition chapbook that features four short stories by each of us! So not only is this beautiful collector’s item a work of art — it’s also two books for the price of one!
The Lettered Edition of Is There A Demon In You? is limited to 26 copies, each signed by me, Nate Southard, Mary SanGiovanni, and Wrath James White. Half-bound in Italian Black Leather with French Marble Paper over Boards, a ribbon marker,and Gold-Stamping on the spine. Includes the following novellas: The Witching Tree by Brian Keene, Possessing Amy by Mary SanGiovanni, Mr. Gray by Nate Southard, and Amber Alert by Wrath James White.
As mentioned above, it comes with a second Lettered Edition, also limited to 26 unsigned copies. Hand-sewn with Black Endpapers, and half-bound in Black Cloth with French Marble Paper over Boards, it includes the following short stories: Fast Zombies Suck by Brian Keene, Baby Teeth by Mary SanGiovanni, The Devil Crashed In by Nate Southard, and Tamara’s Last Exorcism by Wrath James White.
Both the lettered book and the lettered chapbook are housed in a clamshell traycase.
UPDATE: There are only 2 Lettered Editions and 24 Limited Editions left!
