Brian Keene's Blog, page 16

Submerged Serial Concludes

The grand finale of SUBMERGED: THE LABYRINTH Book 2 just went live on Patreon. There are a lot of twists, a lot of turns, and one hell of a surprise ending. Please don’t spoil those things for non-Patreon readers.

A reminder that you can read the serial, and its predecessor (THE SEVEN: THE LABYRINTH Book 1) for just $5 via Patreon.

If you prefer to wait for physical releases, the schedule is currently as follows:

THE SEVEN - Hardover late-Summer 2021, paperback and ebook late 2021/early 2022, audiobook 2022.

SUBMERGED - Hardcover mid 2022, paprback and e-book late 2022/early 2023, audiobook 2023

Clickers Audiobook

For the first time ever, CLICKERS is available in audiobook via Audible and Amazon. Click here to start listening.

Pre-Order With Teeth

For a group of middle-aged friends, the trip into the forest was supposed to be simple.  All they had to do was find a place to set up their criminal enterprise, and all of their financial problems would be solved.  But now, night is falling, and with the darkness comes something else.  Something fast.  Something ferocious.  Something...with TEETH!

From best selling, award-winning horror writer Brian Keene comes a vicious new novella WITH TEETH.

Release date is June 1. Paperback and e-book. You can pre-order direct from the publisher via this link.

Defenders Dialogue 132

Hulk! The Thing! Thanos! Iron Man! It's a Marvel Comics Bronze-Age Bonanza as Christopher Golden and Brian Keene kick off their coverage of Marvel Two-In-One! Available for free wherever you listen to podcasts, and also right here.

The Labyrinth Series - FAQ

THE LABYRINTH series is the culmination of all my works. Over the course of the fifty plus books I’ve written and the over two hundred plus short stories I’ve written, there has been an underlying mythos that connects them together. My fans call this “The Labyrinth Mythos” which is as good a name as any, and apt.

Now, as I head into the autumn of my career, I’ve begun drawing all of those connections together in a series called The Labyrinth. It is admittedly my own Dark Tower, my own Crisis On Infinite Earths, and my own Secret Wars. Indeed, those three things were the initial inspiration for me to decide — when I wrote my very first story — that all of my stuff would be taking place in a shared universe, and would all be connected. These days, of course, with the prevalence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other franchises, that idea isn’t so strange to consumers.

Here is where the series currently stands:

THE SEVEN: The Labyrinth, Book 1

The author’s first draft is currently available to read in its entirety on my Patreon. The cost is five bucks. As this is the first draft, there are some changes between what is published on Patreon and what will be published in book form (typos, grammar, etc but also the fixing of continuity errors, the fleshing out of certain scenes, and the alteration of other scenes.

A signed, limited edition hardcover version will be available from Thunderstorm Books later this year. The amazing cover by Ben Baldwin is below. That cover features Frankie (from THE RISING series), The Exit (from THE COMPLEX and various short stories), Teddy (from EARTHWORM GODS), Bloom (from various short stories), Tony (from the CLICKERS series and various short stories), LeHorn (from DARK HOLLOW), and Lucifer, last of the angels. Other characters from my mythos who appear in THE SEVEN but are not on the cover include Ob, Nodens, Kandara, Colonel Livingston (CLICKERS), Ochse (PRESSURE), The Sleepwalker, the Grim Reaper, and the Hellertown RHIC (location of the climactic final battle in THE RISING).

Paperback, e-book and audiobook editions will be published in either late-2021 or early-2022.

SUBMERGED: The Labyrinth. Book 2

The author’s first draft is currently being serialized on my Patreon, and is available to read in its entirety for five bucks. We are almost to the end (the characters are currently fighting Leviathan, aka Cthulhu, aka Dagon). I expect it to be concluded next month.

A signed, limited edition hardcover version will be available from Thunderstorm Books next year (2022). Paperback, e-book and audiobook editions will be available in late-2022 or early-2023.

FRACTURED: The Labyrinth, Book 3

That’s a tentative title. I will probably change it, but I’m not going to do so yet, because it would possibly spoil the end of SUBMERGED. Like the first two books, the first draft will be serialized on my Patreon. However, I don’t intend to start it until September or October of this year (as I want to finish PROJECT CASTLE, INVISIBLE MONSTERS, and DEAD AIR in between. All of those are nearing completion. I need about a month for each to wrap them up). So, what will be serialized on Patreon in the meantime? BENEATH THE LOST LEVEL and possibly a western novel called THE LAST STAND. Once those are put to bed, I’ll start on FRACTURED.

The Labyrinth Books 4 through 7

I have it in my head that this is a seven book series. It may end up being five or six. It depends on where my muse goes and how my health goes. Regardless, there will at the very least be a Book 4 and a Book 5.

RECOMMENDED READING LIST

New readers often ask me where to start, and I always answer “Wherever you like”. Yes, all of my work takes place in a shared universe, but — much like Marvel and DC Comics of old — I have always endeavored to make sure that not having knowledge of one book doesn’t negatively impact your enjoyment of a different book.

However, for something like THE LABYRINTH series, I can understand why folks want to come in armed. So, here is a list of the core things you should read. Understand, you don’t have to read any of these first, but it is my belief that having knowledge of them will enhance your enjoyment of THE LABYRINTH series. Those core books are:

THE RISING
CITY OF THE DEAD
THE RISING: SELECTED SCENES FROM THE END OF THE WORLD
EARTHWORM GODS
EARTHWORM GODS II: DELUGE
EARTHWORM GODS: SELECTED SCENES FROM THE END OF THE WORLD
CLICKERS II
CLICKERS III
CLICKERS VS. ZOMBIES
DARK HOLLOW
GHOST WALK
THE COMPLEX
DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN
BLOOD ON THE PAGE: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE 1
ALL DARK, ALL THE TIME: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE 2
LOVE LETTERS FROM A NIHILIST: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE 3

All of those books are available here.

As I said, those are what I consider the core. Other books tie in — THE CAGE, for example, features a villain who will appear in a future volume, and TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME and WHITE FIRE both give some back story on the angels — but I don’t consider them core.

So, I think and hope that answers the most frequently asked questions I’ve been getting about this. Thanks for the support. Now, let’s all check out this beautiful cover to THE SEVEN by artist Ben Baldwin!

Interview on ConTinual

I was a guest on ConTinual and my friend L. Marie Wood interviewed me about pretty much my entire 20-year career. Watch it for free via Facebook or YouTube.

The From Beyond Bundle

The new From Beyond Weird Fiction Storybundle is now live! Ten books for fifteen bucks, including THE DAMNED HIGHWAY by myself and Nick Mamatas, THRALL by Mary SanGiovanni, and many more!

Weird fiction spent much of the twentieth century as an acquired taste for people with peculiar taste. Not quite horror, only a quasi-science fiction, fantasies without consolation—it was a hard sell. But as the world got weirder, the weird made its move to reclaim its territory from the genres it inspired.

This bundle goes far beyond the classic modes of Weird Fiction. Sure, there's Lovecraftian and Cthulhoid stuff, but it's remixed and detourned, injected into the modes of thriller, of slice-of-life realism, of New Journalism and the avant-garde. Other aspects of the weird, from European decadence to punk rock outsider art, are also well represented, and expanded upon until every genre boundary gives way and every brain cell bursts.

Read more about the TEN books in the bundle here.

Scares That Care Weekend 2021 Author and Fan Info

Joe Ripple, CEO of the Scares That Care 501C3 charity, announced over the weekend the decision to hold a physical convention this year in Williamsburg, from July 30th thru August 1st. What follows is information specifically for attending celebrity authors, vendor room authors, and their fans.

Over the last few months, I contacted each author that was booked for the celebrity room, and inquired about their personal comfort level returning to the convention circuit, should a physical event happen this year.

Those of you who were not comfortable attending in 2021 have been rescheduled for next year.

Those of you who indicated your desire to attend this year will be contacted over the next week to square away your appearance contract.

Fans — once that process is completed, this year’s guest authors will be announced.

In accordance with the continuing pandemic and social distancing, there will be no author programming this year. There will be no readings. No panel discussions. No Q&As. The rooms usually devoted to these will either be occupied by a single vendor. or they will be locked. If you are unhappy about that, the recommendation to do this was mine, so complain to me about it.

In previous years, authors and fans have gathered in those programming rooms after hours to party together. Again, due to the continuing pandemic and social distancing, that will not be allowed this year. If you are unhappy about that, the recommendation to do this was mine, so complain to me about it.

If I find that members of our community gained access to those rooms after hours for their own purposes, I will recommend those individuals be permanently banned from all future events. If you want to socialize two dozen strong or you want to do a surprise reading for your fans, do so in the approved, open areas.

Authors booked for the celebrity room will still have a table in the celebrity room, like always, from which to sign and sell books.

Despite being fully vaccinated (I get my 2nd dose this Thursday) I am still unsure whether I will be attending. If I do not attend, Jonathan Janz will help each celebrity author get checked in, find their table, etc. I trust him like I trust my own hand, and — in the advent that I am not there — I hope that each of you will accord him the same respect you give to myself, Joe, the rest of our Board of Directors, and our volunteers.

If you have a question specifically in regard to celebrity authors or vendor room authors, and I haven’t answered it here, feel free to reach out.

Lifetime Subscriber Update

The next Lifetime Subscriber shipment is expected to go out in May. It will contin paperback copies of SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL, THE DAMNED HIGHWAY, END OF THE ROAD, DISSONANT HARMONIES, and STORIES FOR THE NEXT PANDEMIC. Copies of the former are in house. Copies of END OF THE ROAD and DISSONANT HARMONIES will be delivered within the next two weeks, and will then need to be signed. Three weeks for THE DAMNED HIGHWAY. Signature sheets for STORIES FOR THE NEXT PANDEMIC will be tipped in at the printer.

Dissonant Harmonies - Now In Paperback

Inspired by specially curated mixtapes, Bev Vincent and Brian Keene present two new spine-chilling novellas...

As a blizzard descends upon the sleepy town of Bayport, Rhode Island, brothers Joey and Frank Shaw investigate the mysterious disappearances of several townsfolk. After the discovery of strange tunnels, tunnels that only Joey can see, the trio suspect something is lurking beneath the snowbound town. Something burrowing. Something hungry. And it looks like Joey might be next in The Dead of Winter.

Did you imagine the world vanishing to a flood or a comet, the hand of God or nuclear war? What if it started with something as innocuous as the Berenstain Bears, and something known as the Mandela Effect? Barricaded in a seedy motel room, one man makes sense of love, loss, and life as the end of the world looms. Do you see what he sees? Do you know what he knows in The Motel At the End of the World?

On Sale Now In Paperback!

Click here to order from Amazon or click here to order from the publisher.

Special Note for Readers:
There's a Spotify playlist featuring many of the songs that inspired this book. The first 24 tracks are the songs Bev Vincent gave to Brian Keene (plus his B-sides), although there are a few substitutions because not all the songs Bev Vincent picked are on Spotify. The last 16 tracks are the ones Brian Keene sent to Bev Vincent.