Brian Keene's Blog, page 170
March 16, 2012
GHOUL VIEWING PARTIES
GHOUL premieres Friday, April 13th at 9pm on Chiller. Click here to watch the trailer.
A number of people have expressed an interest in hosting viewing parties for the public that night. If you own a sports bar, restaurant, etc., hosting a viewing party is a great opportunity for you to see some extra business. If you are a private citizen hosting a party for the public in your home, then this is a great opportunity to meet other fans in your area.
What follows are instructions on how to host a public viewing party, and how I'll support you in return.
If you are one of those establishments, or if you are a private citizen willing to open your home to other fans, please post a comment here on the Blog, or on Facebook or Twitter or my message board. DO NOT post it via Google+ or send it via email, as I do not check Google+ and I'm approximately 27 days behind on email.
Include your name, the name and address of the venue, what time festivities will begin, and an email address or phone number where people can contact you. I will then compile all of the locations nationwide and post a directory so fans without Chiller can find the viewing party closest to them.
But wait… there's more! During the commercial breaks, I will also personally call each of the viewing parties and thank everybody in attendance for their support (so it would be awesome if you have speaker phone). If you are a private venue and don't want your phone number being made public, no problem. All comments on this Blog are moderated before they are approved. Simply include the phone number in your comment, along with a note advising me it's not public. I'll then copy it down and delete it before approving the comment.
Now for the legal stuff: these viewing parties are not endorsed by, sponsored by, or in any other way approved by Chiller, NBC, Universal, or their subsidiaries. Neither they, nor myself, nor Moderncine or its subsidiaries are responsible for anything that might happen during these events. So if a power outage causes customers to riot in your bar, or you invite a serial killer into your home, that's on you.
I also want to stress that if your party is a private party in your home for just you and your friends, it should not be listed here (unless you want me making your address public). The parties on this list will all be considered as open to the public.
March 13, 2012
THE LAST ZOMBIE: NEVERLAND #5 – Preview
Why is Planters dressed up like Santa Claus, and who is he shooting at? The Mexican Cartel Army? The rat swarm? A new threat? To find out, you'll have to pre-order issue #5 from your local comic shop now!
If your local comic store won't carry The Last Zombie: Neverland, then you can buy issues #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5 online.
If you're new to The Last Zombie saga, get caught up with Volume 1 (The Last Zombie: Dead New World) and Volume 2 (The Last Zombie: Inferno).
March 12, 2012
THE LAST ZOMBIE: Good News, Bad News
THE LAST ZOMBIE: INFERNO made Diamond's Top 300 Graphic Novels for February 2012. If you haven't got it yet, buy one here. If you're new to the series, start with Volume 1 — THE LAST ZOMBIE: DEAD NEW WORLD, available here.
While the trade paperbacks continue to do well, individual issue sales have slacked off. I know this is normal in comics. Many readers prefer to wait for the trades. Still, without monthly sales, there won't be trade collections. So please consider picking up the first issue of THE LAST ZOMBIE: NEVERLAND. If your comic shop doesn't have it, buy one here.
March 11, 2012
Keene, Gonzalez, & SanGiovanni: Booksellers
Since the closure of Borders last year, fans in Central Pennsylvania (especially York County) have lamented that there is no longer a physical store where they can purchase books by J.F. Gonzalez or myself. Meanwhile, Mary and I are in the midst of merging our libraries and have about 500 duplicates between us. J.F. also finds himself with more books than his house can hold. So the three of us decided to open a bookstore, and joined forces with The York Emporium.
The York Emporium is a former factory and auto shop which has been converted into one of the biggest used bookstores on the East Coast. According to some, it is also haunted. Much like Bill Wahl and Ned Senft of Comix Connection, The York Emporium's owner, Jim Lewin, has long been supportive of Central PA's horror scene, hosting a number of events with myself, J.F., Mary, Mike Hawthorne, Kelli Owen, Robert Ford, Chet Williamson, and other locals. He's also brought in distinguished out-of-town genre guests (most recently Darrell Schweitzer).
Starting today, J.F., Mary, and myself have a 450-square foot section of the store, where you can buy signed copies of all our books (ranging from affordable paperbacks to rarities and limited editions). In addition to books written by us, we are selling books from our personal libraries, as well as comics, magazines, pulps, and more. Our goals are threefold: 1) Give local fans a place to buy our books once again. 2) Drive more traffic to The York Emporium and downtown York in general. 3) Get rid of books we no longer have room for. In the first few minutes of opening, we sold a limited edition of Michael Laimo's Desolation and a bunch of paperbacks. That's a good start. If the venture proves successful, we have further plans down the road…
The York Emporium is located at 343 West Market Street, York PA 17401. It is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm, and Sunday from noon to 6pm. For further information, call 717-846-2866. If you are driving from Harrisburg, Lancaster, Gettysburg, or Baltimore, click here for directions.
March 9, 2012
DORCHESTER: THE END
For a complete accounting and timeline of Dorchester Publishing's malfeasance, as well as links to other sources, click here.
After I reported earlier this week that Dorchester had closed its office and were still selling works to which they did not own the rights, Dorchester stated via their Facebook page that they were merely moving to a new office on Park Avenue. This turned out to be just another falsehood.
As reported by Locus and Publisher's Marketplace, John Backe (founder of The Backe Group and owner of Dorchester) filed a notice of foreclosure on the company after failing to collect on an outstanding $3.4 million loan. His intent was to sell the company (including the Dorchester Media magazine division, the Dorchester Publishing book division, registered trademarks, related internet domain names, domestic and foreign copyrights, ISBN numbers, computer equipment, intellectual property, etc) as a single unit at public auction — including the hundreds of works for which copyright and Dorchester's ownership is disputed. Since Backe is the owner and is also personally foreclosing against the company, all auction proceeds would go to him, rather than to authors and other creditors.
The auction took place at 2pm today. It was conducted by Burton Weston of the Garfunkel, Wild, Travis law firm located in Great Neck, NY. However, Dorchester's plan to sell the company as a single unit was apparently unsuccessful. When I spoke with Burton Weston earlier this afternoon, he confirmed for me that only the Dorchester Media division was auctioned today. The Dorchester Publishing division was not, although he does expect it to be at a later date.
Let me bullet-point that for you: Dorchester still plans to auction the rights to books they do not legally own the rights to.
What follows is my opinion on what each and every author who have disputed their rights should now do. I am not a legal expert, nor do I play one on TV. This commentary is mine alone.
* If you are a creditor or freelancer who disputed rights ownership as part of Dorchester's media or magazine division, you should probably find out who bought those rights at auction today. I've heard reports it was FAA Investors LLC or FAA Investments Inc, but I've been unable to verify that. I would suggest you contact the Garfunkel, Wild law firm, be very polite (because none of this is their fault and they have presumably acted in good faith), explain your situation, and ask for the contact information for the winning bidder. Garfunkel, Wild's contact info is as follows:
Garfunkel, Wild, Travis
111 Great Neck Road
Great Neck, NY 11021
Phone: 516-393-2200
* If you are a novelist or author who disputed rights ownership as part of Dorchester's Publishing division, follow these steps:
1. If Dorchester reverted your rights but are still publishing your books, or if they ignored your rights reversion request but violated your contract (non-payment, late-payment, sold editions they did not have the rights to produce or sell, etc.) the first thing you should do is make the law firm in charge of the auction — see above — aware of that dispute. You should do this in writing. You should list the title, ISBN, etc. of each work you own the copyright to. You should also include copies (not originals) of any verifying documentation (emails, phone logs, reversion letters, etc.) Let me stress again, the Garfunkel, Wild, Travis law firm aren't the bad guys in this situation. They are acting on good faith on behalf of their client. If Dorchester hasn't revealed these disputed rights to them, then it is your responsibility to do so.
2. You should immediately notify Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, and any other online bookseller who is selling digital editions of your work, that they are selling unauthorized digital editions of your work for which you own the copyright to. Each of these retailers has different methods for disputing copyright or filing a DMCA, so read those methods carefully before filing your claim. Then file it. Demand that those digital editions be removed from the website and the files suppressed. It should be noted that there is very little that can be done about already existing paperback or trade paperback editions. So don't walk into a B&N and flip out on the employees for selling copies of your books. They'll be liquidated soon enough, but digital is forever. Act now and get them removed.
3. Author Scott Nicholson offers a suggestion for those who have the time and inclination to self-publish their work digitally via Kindle, Nook, etc. He suggests that you self-publish a competing digital edition of your work and undercut Dorchester's price. I would personally suggest you follow through with #2 before doing this, however.
4. Remember former CEO John Prebich, current CEO Robert Anthony, owner John Backe, and all the other special little swine-headed snowflakes involved in this mess. Sooner or later, they will begin new ventures or land at new companies. You might consider not supporting those new ventures or businesses, and voicing your reasons why.
In the words of the immortal Hunter S. Thompson, "Selah…"
(NOTE: Check back for updates to this post as for information becomes available).
March 8, 2012
March Madness Week #1
I'm on a writing vacation, so posts will be sporadic for a few weeks. Here are some updates on various things (movies, interviews, book releases, book delays, plugs, etc).
Rue Morgue interviewed The Devil's Rock director Paul Campion. You can read it here. Near the end of the interview, he talks a bit about the upcoming film adaptations of Dark Hollow and "The Siqqusim Who Stole Christmas" (both based on my work, obviously). For those keeping score, here's the tally of current films in development: Castaways, Darkness On The Edge of Town, Dark Hollow, The Siqqusim Who Stole Christmas, and Fast Zombies Suck. And of course, Ghoul premieres April 13th on Chiller, and DVD copies of The Ties That Bind show up quite frequently on eBay and elsewhere.
Deadite Press reports there is a slight art-related production delay for The Cage. It will be out later this month, as should Dark Hollow.
The hardcover of Clickers vs. Zombies is almost sold out. There are 15 or so copies left. Snag one here before they are gone. And if you aren't convinced, read this spoiler-free excerpt.
There are less than 20 copies of The Hollower Trilogy collector's set left. Click here to get one.
This past week's work progress: finished a synopsis for The Landlord (a collaboration between myself and Mary), finished an essay for the special edition script book for Ghoul, continued writing the second draft of The Lost Level, and moving books from my house to the York Emporium.
Next week will be spent focused on The Lost Level and Maelstrom Set 3. And next Friday, J.F. Gonzalez and I will be in New York City to meet with a publisher. No time for signings or hanging out (not even with friends). This is a business trip. Very big business…
My fellow authors and friends Tim Lebbon and Mike Oliveri are both raising money for charity. In June, Mike will be running in the Warrior Dash to raise money for St Jude Children's Research Hospital. And in eight weeks, Tim will be running his first marathon to raise money for Sparkle Appeal. More information on Mike's run can be found here and more information on Tim's run can be found here.
My The Damned Highway collaborator, Nick Mamatas, on the sordid history of Shocklines: "Indeed, at one point the only way to be sure of not having one's thread locked, comments removed, or account terminated was to present with symptoms of untreated paranoid schizophrenia. Normal commentary, pointed arguments, and even innocuous posts were often simply erased."
If you enjoy crime fiction, please check out the debut of Nick's The Big Click.
My friend Matt Blazi found this last weekend — a September 2003 convention flyer for the January 2004 mass market release of The Rising. I'd forgotten all about this flyer, including the rather embarrassing typo in the headline (years instead of year's) but I remember the time-frame quite well. The Delirium hardcover edition was sold out, and people were desperate to find a copy, resulting in eBay bidding wars, a movie and video game option that never went anywhere, and the formation of a network of fans who would later become the F.U.K.U.
The Rising will be back in print later this year in an Author's Preferred Edition which will include material that was cut from the original. A new movie option is also forthcoming.
March 7, 2012
The Running Men
My fellow authors and friends Tim Lebbon and Mike Oliveri are both raising money for charity. In June, Mike will be running in the Warrior Dash to raise money for St Jude Children's Research Hospital. And in eight weeks, Tim will be running his first marathon to raise money for Sparkle Appeal. More information on Mike's run can be found here and more information on Tim's run can be found here.
March 6, 2012
Dorchester: Office Closed & Disputes Unresolved
For a complete timeline of the Dorchester saga, click here.
A number of troubling reports are surfacing just one month after Dorchester closed its community Blog, was officially disqualified by the SFWA, and told Publisher's Lunch (via company representative Hannah Wolfson) that the recent news I (and others) reported was nothing more than "propaganda" and that things were "business as usual".
Author John Skipp stated yesterday in an update to Kickstarter supporters: "one potential piece of bad news is that Dorchester Publications has apparently gone under for good. So we may be unable to get all the copies of SPORE we need."
Then when a second author, who wishes to remain anonymous, reported that she'd been told Dorchester had "locked the doors and turned off the lights" but were "still selling books", I asked via Twitter, if anyone else had heard these rumors. Former Dorchester Senior Vice-President of Sales and Marketing Tim DeYoung responded with, quote: "Office is closed and remaining people are working from home."
Meanwhile, Grace Wen confirmed that the company doesn't have any editorial staff for their magazine line, either. As with the book publishing arm, employees from marketing and other departments are now doubling as editors.
One year ago, Dorchester CEO Robert Anthony stated that the company would do right by authors and resolve the disputes. At that time, I listed six author disputes (a sampling of dozens more). To the best of my knowledge, none of them have been fully resolved. Here is a sampling of more recent disputes from the last month:
Author Deborah Macgillivray reports: "One of the saddest casualties of this mess is the sister of Dawn Thompson. Dawn did over dozen books with Dorchester. The rights were refused returned, as were mine, and a lot authors. Before Dawn's death, she turned the rights to her books over to her sister, Diane. Diane is disabled, living at the poverty line (which Dorchester is aware of). Last August she got a notice that one (just one) of Dawn's books had earned $4300 and a check would follow. A check never followed. This is the same thing that happened before. Chris sent a notice that $10,003 would be forwarded to her and that never came either… I won't mention the dozens of foreign rights sales… To date, over 4 years, not one dime of that has made it to Diane."
On Facebook, author Bryan Smith reports: "I have never received a sales statement for Depraved. That's the one book I've never received a (royalty) statement for and all the anecdotal evidence available suggests it's far and away my most popular book. Coincidence? Hmm…"
An author who wishes to remain anonymous verifies to me that she has now sent two rights revision requests, after Dorchester continues to violate their contract with her. It has been a year since the first request was sent, and she has still not received a definitive response. Meanwhile, the company continues to sell copies of her books digitally, for which she has not received restitution.
Author Deb Stover says "Count me among the authors who has one book still allegedly 'in print' with Dorchester."
I have confirmation from two separate authors that they have now chosen to begin legal proceedings against Dorchester. Both authors wish to remain anonymous, and were advised by counsel to say no more, although one did confirm to me that "the paperwork is on its way to them (Dorchester) as we speak."
Oh, and remember when Dorchester sold digital copies of my books AFTER the rights had reverted back to me, and they assured Publisher's Weekly that they were, quote: "…committed to solving the problem with Keene and treating all authors fairly. Dorchester will pass along all money to Keene on e-books that were sold after rights reverted." Yeah, well, I haven't seen a dime. Or a statement. And I know copies were sold. I have receipts confirming such, as well as documentation from booksellers.
I must take issue with Dorchester's claim that this is all simply "propaganda" but it does indeed seem to be "business as usual" for them.
Dorchester: Office Closed? Disputes Unresolved
For a complete timeline of the Dorchester saga, click here.
A number of troubling reports are surfacing just one month after Dorchester closed its community Blog, was officially disqualified by the SFWA, and told Publisher's Lunch (via company representative Hannah Wolfson) that the recent news I (and others) reported was nothing more than "propaganda" and that things were "business as usual".
Author John Skipp stated yesterday in an update to Kickstarter supporters: "one potential piece of bad news is that Dorchester Publications has apparently gone under for good. So we may be unable to get all the copies of SPORE we need."
Then when a second author, who wishes to remain anonymous, reported that she'd been told Dorchester had "locked the doors and turned off the lights" but were "still selling books", I asked via Twitter, if anyone else had heard these rumors. Former Dorchester Senior Vice-President of Sales and Marketing Tim DeYoung responded with, quote: "Office is closed and remaining people are working from home."
Meanwhile, Grace Wen confirmed that the company doesn't have any editorial staff for their magazine line, either. As with the book publishing arm, employees from marketing and other departments are now doubling as editors.
One year ago, Dorchester CEO Robert Anthony stated that the company would do right by authors and resolve the disputes. At that time, I listed six author disputes (a sampling of dozens more). To the best of my knowledge, none of them have been fully resolved. Here is a sampling of more recent disputes from the last month:
Author Deborah Macgillivray reports: "One of the saddest casualties of this mess is the sister of Dawn Thompson. Dawn did over dozen books with Dorchester. The rights were refused returned, as were mine, and a lot authors. Before Dawn's death, she turned the rights to her books over to her sister, Diane. Diane is disabled, living at the poverty line (which Dorchester is aware of). Last August she got a notice that one (just one) of Dawn's books had earned $4300 and a check would follow. A check never followed. This is the same thing that happened before. Chris sent a notice that $10,003 would be forwarded to her and that never came either… I won't mention the dozens of foreign rights sales… To date, over 4 years, not one dime of that has made it to Diane."
On Facebook, author Bryan Smith reports: "I have never received a sales statement for Depraved. That's the one book I've never received a (royalty) statement for and all the anecdotal evidence available suggests it's far and away my most popular book. Coincidence? Hmm…"
An author who wishes to remain anonymous verifies to me that she has now sent two rights revision requests, after Dorchester continues to violate their contract with her. It has been a year since the first request was sent, and she has still not received a definitive response. Meanwhile, the company continues to sell copies of her books digitally, for which she has not received restitution.
Author Deb Stover says "Count me among the authors who has one book still allegedly 'in print' with Dorchester."
I have confirmation from two separate authors that they have now chosen to begin legal proceedings against Dorchester. Both authors wish to remain anonymous, and were advised by counsel to say no more, although one did confirm to me that "the paperwork is on its way to them (Dorchester) as we speak."
Oh, and remember when Dorchester sold digital copies of my books AFTER the rights had reverted back to me, and they assured Publisher's Weekly that they were, quote: "…committed to solving the problem with Keene and treating all authors fairly. Dorchester will pass along all money to Keene on e-books that were sold after rights reverted." Yeah, well, I haven't seen a dime. Or a statement. And I know copies were sold. I have receipts confirming such, as well as documentation from booksellers.
I must take issue with Dorchester's claim that this is all simply "propaganda" but it does indeed seem to be "business as usual" for them.
