Brian Keene's Blog, page 195

Take The Long Way Home: Book Soundtrack

Step 1: Purchase Take the Long Way Home in paperback, Kindle, or Nook.

Step 2: Listen to this free soundtrack while you read it.

COMICS UPDATE

That's country and blues singer Kasey Lansdale over there on the right, showing off her latest comic purchases. Which is a nice segue-way into my upcoming comic projects. The Last Zombie trade paperback and To Fight With Monsters are out now, and all 5 issues of The Last Zombie: Inferno are up for pre-order. Issue #3 of Inferno – Planters' origin story – might be the saddest thing I've ever written.

Inferno will be followed by a series of one-shot single issues, before we jump into the next 5-issue story-arc, which finds Ian and the others embroiled in post-apocalyptic Chicago politics. If that sounds like we're planning ahead, yes, we are. Sales for The Last Zombie have been very strong, and as long as they remain that way, I see nothing preventing us from reaching fifty issues (which was my original plan).

On the non-Antarctic Press front, I've got some stuff in the pipeline with DC Comics and a few other publishers, but it is way too early to talk about most of it. Doom Patrol: Fire Away comes out this summer. Marvel just took Dead of Night: Devil Slayer out of print, but TFAW still has copies. Grave Conditions is still in print. And Camelot still has some copies of The Rising: Death In Four Colors. And look for Clickers comics in late 2011!

Weekend Update

Happy Memorial Day weekend! Please take a moment this weekend to remember those who have fallen in the service of our country. This holiday isn't just about getting off work. Things will be quiet here. I'm writing most of the weekend, and when not doing that, spending time with friends, family, and Mary.

I returned from the set of Ghoul (here's three pages of pics in case you missed them) and things got back to normal. On the comic book front, The Last Zombie trade paperback debuted at #141 on the Top 300 Graphic Novels best-seller list and Antarctic Press released a free six-page preview of To Fight With Monsters. The comic ships in a few weeks. In other comic book news, both Mary and myself have a one-panel cameo in issue #6 of Conan: Road of Kings, on sale next month.

Turning to books, we announced all the details regarding Maelstrom Set 2, which will go on sale June 19th. Tom Piccirilli's wonderful Nightjack is available for a limited time on Kindle and Nook for just 99 cents. Dorchester showed up for BEA and folks pointed and laughed (and deservedly so). The complete author guest list for Horrorfind Weekend 13 was announced. I posted an update on the various Hollywood adaptations of my work (including a few new additions). Finally, Dennis continued with his complaints, so I wrote him a special chapter of Deluge (the real Deluge returns next week, as promised).

Deluge (Part 74) – Not

This week's chapter is dedicated to Dennis…

When they were finished, Gail, Novak, Henry and the nearly catatonic Sarah ventured outside, where Earl was waiting for them. The fungoid man-thing lurched forward, arms outstretched. Supporting Sarah's dead weight, Henry barely dodged Earl's attack. Seven more of the creatures lumbered up the stairs.

"What do we do?" Gail shouted.

"Do?" Novak un-holstered his flamethrower and tossed it over the side. It crashed onto the landing far below.

Gail and Henry gaped at him, speechless.

"Do?" He repeated. "Why, we do the only thing we can do! We sing!"

He grabbed Gail by the arm, spun her around, and began an elaborate dance routine.

"Oooooooooklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain. And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet. When the wind comes right behind the rain."

And then Leviathan showed up and bit their heads off with his multi-mouthed tentacles. And it was all your fault, Dennis. Because rather than let things develop organically, you demanded I rush a chapter out, and this is what happened. Are you happy now?

The real next chapter of Deluge will debut next Friday, June 3

Dorchester stiffs landlord, buys booth instead

For the complete Dorchester Publishing saga, click here.

We all remember when Dorchester CEO Robert Anthony and editor Chris Keeslar told Publisher's Weekly everyone would get paid. This hasn't happened. On April 22nd, a committee representing Dorchester's largest unsecured creditors determined the company was "unable to propose any meaningful repayment plan". This means creditors, including individual authors, can file petitions of bankruptcy against the company.

Last week, Dorchester met with the committee and tried to persuade them that their intentions were good. The committee remained unimpressed and did not change their stance. One participant jokingly suggested that perhaps I was on the line, listening in, and would let the public know. Well, I wasn't. I was on the set of Ghoul. But my associates were on the line. And one of the things from their transcribed notes was that Dorchester is behind on paying their rent. That's right. They have been habitually late with their rent for their offices at 200 Madison Avenue. This was confirmed independently. We also confirmed that despite Dorchester's assurances that everyone is getting paid, the vast majority of authors who are owed money have still not seen recompense.

So… you can't afford to pay your rent. You can't afford to pay your authors. What do you do next? Apparently, you spend thousands of dollars on a booth at BEA (Book Expo America). BEA is a trade show for publishers, booksellers, librarians, authors, editors, agents, and anyone else who makes their living from books. Apparently, Dorchester still likes to pretend that they fall into one of those categories. Massive kudos to Edward Champion, who happened to be on hand and reported on his exchange with them. You can read all about it here. Edward asked fair, valid questions — the type of questions that a potential client would want answered. Dorchester had no comment, other than to fall back on their increasingly tired impression of a confused deer caught in oncoming headlights.

.99 cents – Tom Piccirilli's NIGHTJACK

On the day he's released from a mental institution, Pace is taken hostage by three escapees who disappeared after the presumed rape of the daughter of a Greek munitions tycoon. Now the four find themselves under attack from assassins. On an island where fantasy, myth, and truth are entangled, Pace sifts through madness and deceit to unlock the mystery. Everyone may wind up dead unless he unleashes the most brutal killer of all: Nightjack. 99 cents

Hither came Keenean (UPDATED)

On sale in comic book shops on June 22 is Conan: Road of Kings issue #6, written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by my good friend Mike Hawthorne. Why am I promoting it? Because it features a cameo, one panel appearance by myself and Mary SanGiovanni. That's right. One world is not enough. We're taking over Conan's world now, by Crom!

(This corrects the earlier announcement that our cameo was in issue #5, which is on sale today)

Hither came Keenean the Barbarian

On sale in comic book shops tomorrow is Conan: Road of Kings issue #5, written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by my good friend Mike Hawthorne. Why am I promoting it? Because it features a cameo, one panel appearance by myself and Mary SanGiovanni. That's right. One world is not enough. We're taking over Conan's world now, by Crom!

MAELSTROM Volume 2

Maelstrom is my collectible hardcover imprint through Thunderstorm Books. Each three-book set features a novel length work by me, a novella by me, and a novel length work by someone else I've hand-picked and think you'll enjoy. The first set contained A Gathering of Crows, The Rising: Deliverance, and Kelli Owen's debut novel Six Days. For full details on Maelstrom and what we hope to achieve with it, click here. If you are new to my work, I would urge you to read that. And if you are one of those people who take it personally and holler at me because you don't like these pricey limited editions, then might I suggest you pre-order The Damned Highway, which is a brand-new novel and will be in stores this July as an affordable trade paperback?

For everyone else, this is your official warning that pre-orders for the second Maelstrom set are coming June 19th. If you want in, save your money now. Details:

A CONSPIRACY OF ONE by Brian Keene

Everyone has a darkest hour. For the employees of Big Bill's Home Electronics, it comes when a crazed gunman barges into their store and opens fire. For Evan Fisher, it manifests as he tries to protect his family in the aftermath of a natural disaster. For Ward and Valerie, it is the imaginary friend who creeps through their daughter's window at night. For Gina, a woman devoted to her husband, it rises with the dead. For the residents of a small Atlantic coastal town, it arrives from the sea with an amphibian croak. And for burned-out horror novelist Brian Keene, it is echoed in the whispers of a ghost.

Thunderstorm Books is proud to present this new collection, featuring over 80,000 words of short fiction and novellas, including "Halves", "The House of Ushers", "Scratch", "I Sing A New Psalm", "The Girl on the Glider" and many more, as well as extensive story notes. And in keeping with Maelstrom's exclusivity promise, this will be the only edition of this book ever printed, thus making it a true collectible.

ALONE by Brian Keene

When Daniel Miller wakes up one morning, something has gone terribly wrong. The power is out. The phones are dead. The house is silent. The street is shrouded in fog. Both his partner and their adopted daughter are missing. So are their neighbors. And so is everyone else in the world. Daniel Miller is the last person left on Earth.

…or is he?

Thunderstorm Books is proud to present this all-new, original novella of quiet, supernatural horror from Brian Keene.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN MIDNIGHT by John Urbancik

Welcome to Midnight, City of Night. This is the city tucked between two mountains in such a way the sun never shines here. This is the home to men like Mr. Zero and Uncle Knuckles. This is a place where more roads lead in than out. When Thomas Midnight makes a wrong turn and ends up trapped in the City of Night, he'll do whatever it takes to get out. But the city's grip around him tightens, and word has already spread that he's arrived. A brand-new full length novel from one of the most exciting new voices in dark fantasy.

PRE-ORDERS BEGIN JUNE 19th! SAVE YOUR MONEY NOW!

HORRORFIND WEEKEND 2011

Horrorfind Weekend (now in it's 13th year) is one of the few horror conventions to feature guests from both the film and book worlds. This year's con (which takes place in Gettysburg, PA September 2 – 4) is no different, with such notable movie guests as Julian Sands and Dee Wallace (and more to be announced). Meanwhile, here are the Special Literary Guests, followed by the complete author programming schedule.

SPECIAL LITERARY GUESTS:

Brian Keene

Tim Lebbon

Christopher Golden

James A. Moore

Mary SanGiovanni

Kelli Owen

J. F. Gonzalez

Chet Williamson

Ronald Malfi

Kim Paffenroth

Deborah Painter

But wait… they aren't the only authors attending!!! What follows is the tentative full author programming schedule. Please note the usage of the word "tentative". A finalized version will be posted closer to the convention.

FRIDAY

5:30pm – 6:30pm: Zombies – Authors Kim Paffenroth (moderator), J.F. Gonzalez, Tim Lebbon, Jason Gehlert, Scott Kenemore, Jeremy Wagner, and Scott Baker discuss why the dead just won't stay dead, and why the literary zombie craze is far from over. (Reading Room)

6:30pm – 7:30pm: Ronald Malfi and Rio Youers (Reading Room)

7:30pm – 8:30pm: The Life of Forrest J. Ackerman – Author Deborah Painter discusses the horror genre's favorite Uncle. (Reading Room)

8:30pm – 9:00pm: James Newman and Norman Prentiss (Reading Room)

9:00pm – 10:00pm: Women in Horror – Authors Monica J. O'Rourke (moderator), Kelli Owen, Mary SanGiovanni, Christopher Golden, James A. Moore, and Lesley Conner discuss the history and contributions of women in literary horror, and their future roles. (Reading Room)

SATURDAY:

10:00am – 10:30am Spooky Stories for Kids with Robert Gray (Outside – Rear Carport)

10:00am – 11:00am: Thomas F. Monteleone and Chet Williamson (Reading Room)

11:00am – Noon: What We've Learned So Far – New authors Kevin Lucia (moderator), Sheldon S. Higdon, Lincoln Crisler, Ty Schwamberger, Jacob Haddon, and Bryon Morrigan discuss the perils, pitfalls, and lessons learned from publishing in the new millennium. (Outside – Rear Carport)

11:00am – Noon: James A. Moore and Mary SanGiovanni (Reading Room)

Noon – 1:00pm: Jason Gehlert and Jeremy Wagner (Reading Room)

12:30pm – 1:30pm: Politics and Religion in Horror – Politics and religion are two things many prefer not to discuss, yet horror fiction examines them regularly. Authors Kim Paffenroth (moderator), Chet Williamson, Andersen Prunty, Ronald Malfi, Kelli Owen, Rio Youers, Norman Prentiss, and James Newman discuss why. (Outside – Rear Carport)

1:00pm – 2:00pm: Tim Lebbon and Christopher Golden (Reading Room)

2:00pm – 3:00pm: Monica J. O'Rourke and Nick Cato (Reading Room)

3:00pm – 4:00pm: Brian Keene and Kelli Owen (Reading Room)

4:00pm – 5:00pm: Dustin Warburton and Scott Kenemore (Reading Room)

5:00pm – 7:00pm: Bizarro World – Authors Andersen Prunty (moderator), Jeff Burk, Gregory Hall, Eric Mays, William Pauley III, and Nick Cato discuss the origins and future of the Bizarro genre, and offer some select readings and performances. (Reading Room)

5:30pm – 7:00pm: Q&A – Authors Tim Lebbon, Christopher Golden, James A. Moore, Brian Keene, J. F. Gonzalez, Chet Williamson, and Thomas F. Monteleone answer your questions about anything in this no-holds-barred Q&A. (Outside – Rear Carport)

SUNDAY:

11:00am – 11:30am Spooky Stories for Kids with Robert Gray (Outside – Rear Carport)

11:00am – Noon: Charles Colyott, Brent Abell, and Ryan Clark (Reading Room)

Noon – 1:00pm: Sheldon S. Higdon, Lincoln Crisler, and Bryon Morrigan (Reading Room)

1:00pm – 2:00pm: Robert Ford, Kevin Lucia, and Wesley Southard (Reading Room)

2:00pm – 3:00pm: Scott Baker, Jacob Haddon, and Lesley Conner (Reading Room)

3:00pm – 4:00pm: Ty Schwamberger and Jay Franklin (Reading Room)

4:00pm – 5:00pm: Thomas Erb and Jeff Burk (Reading Room)