Brian Keene's Blog, page 199

Going… going…

Less than 100 copies of my new zombie novel Entombed (the follow-up to Dead Sea) remain. Click here to order. If you are getting an error message, you can place your order over the phone.

PLACEHOLDER

Things will be quiet both here and at The Keenedom for the next few weeks. The World Horror Convention kicks off in Austin on Thursday. I'll be there (here's my schedule if you want to say Hi), as will Keenedom mod Val, and many of the forum's other authors. Meanwhile, Keenedom mods Brandon and Noigeloverlord will be reenacting Smokey & the Bandit by driving across the country in a truck. I'll be on the set of Ghoul after WHC.

So yeah, expect lots of activity on Twitter and TwitPic, and very little activity here. In the meantime, remember that there have been a lot of new books released in hardcover, paperback, and e-book. You can find them all by clicking here.

DELUGE: Deluge resumes at the end of May. Yes, I hear you groaning, but the good news is that when Deluge does return, it will be the final segment. I anticipate approximately a dozen more chapters, give or take, until the finale which finds Sarah, Simon, Novak, Henry, Gail and the rest of the cast floating over the submerged LeHorn's Hollow. Will Simon open the door to the Labyrinth in time? Is Sarah's insanity permanent? Is Earl really dead? Will Leviathan return? The answers to these questions and more will be revealed.

LIFE-TIMERS: Your next shipment is scheduled to go out the first Friday in May, provided your copies of Grave Conditions arrive by then.

WRITING: I'll be working while on the road. These books don't write themselves. Alone is finished. Just need to get it pre-read and edited. I'll finish scripting The Last Zombie: Inferno #3 on the plane on Wednesday, and hope to finish up a short story for Cemetery Dance and novellas for Apex and KHP while on location in Louisiana (which is where Ghoul is being filmed).

New on Kindle

I'm happy to announce that Take The Long Way Home and A Gathering of Crows are now both available for Kindle, as are Urban Gothic, Jack's Magic Beans, Clickers, and Clickers II. Nook, Sony and iBook editions are forthcoming.

Dorchester Selling More Illegal E-Books

[image error]Earlier this year, my former publisher, Dorchester, was caught illegally selling digital editions of books they no longer had the rights to. I was not the only author whom this happened to. We called for a boycott. Amazon, B&N, Sony, and Apple were quick to remove the illegal e-books. But that hasn't stopped Dorchester, who in conjunction with for-side.com are releasing the books as iPad Apps, rather than via the iBooks store.

Last month, Dorchester's CEO Bob Anthony responded to our boycott via Publisher's Weekly. From that article: According to Anthony, after being notified by Keene that some sites had been selling e-books for which Dorchester had reverted the rights back to Keene, Dorchester sent suppression notices to the vendors. After Keene reported that some sites were still selling the e-books, Anthony said they sent another suppression letter telling the vendors they expected the e-books to be removed from sale. "We expected the vendors to act accordingly," Anthony said, adding that "we respect the right of reversion."

Apparently, Mr. Anthony just forgot to send a suppression letter. Yeah, I'm sure that's it…

Dorchester Selling More Illegal E-Books (Updated)

[image error]Earlier this year, my former publisher, Dorchester, was caught illegally selling digital editions of books they no longer had the rights to. I was not the only author whom this happened to. We called for a boycott. Amazon, B&N, Sony, and Apple were quick to remove the illegal e-books. But that hasn't stopped Dorchester, who in conjunction with for-side.com are releasing the books as iPad Apps, rather than via the iBooks store.

Last month, Dorchester's CEO Bob Anthony responded to our boycott via Publisher's Weekly. From that article: According to Anthony, after being notified by Keene that some sites had been selling e-books for which Dorchester had reverted the rights back to Keene, Dorchester sent suppression notices to the vendors. After Keene reported that some sites were still selling the e-books, Anthony said they sent another suppression letter telling the vendors they expected the e-books to be removed from sale. "We expected the vendors to act accordingly," Anthony said, adding that "we respect the right of reversion."

Apparently, Mr. Anthony just forgot to send a suppression letter. Yeah, I'm sure that's it…

UPDATE: I'm told the apps for my books have been removed. No word on whether or not the apps for other authors whose rights had reverted have also been removed.

Dorchester Caught Selling More Illegal E-Books

[image error]Earlier this year, my former publisher, Dorchester, was caught illegally selling digital editions of books they no longer had the rights to. I was not the only author whom this happened to. We called for a boycott. Amazon, B&N, Sony, and Apple were quick to remove the illegal e-books. A representative at Apple's iBooks division assisted me in getting my books removed. But that hasn't stopped Dorchester, who have found a way around this by partnering with for-side.com, who are releasing the books as iPad Apps, rather than via the iBooks store.

Last month, Dorchester's CEO Bob Anthony responded to our boycott via Publisher's Weekly. From that article: According to Anthony, after being notified by Keene that some sites had been selling e-books for which Dorchester had reverted the rights back to Keene, Dorchester sent suppression notices to the vendors. After Keene reported that some sites were still selling the e-books, Anthony said they sent another suppression letter telling the vendors they expected the e-books to be removed from sale. "We expected the vendors to act accordingly," Anthony said, adding that "we respect the right of reversion." Apparently, Mr. Anthony believes that respecting the right of reversion involves engaging in further theft by releasing more illegal digital copies after the previous digital copies have already been removed.

14 Days In A 7 Day Week

A reminder that I'll be in Austin, Texas most of next week for the World Horror Convention (as will most of the rest of the genre). As a result, things will be very slow around here. The same can't be said of this past week, however.

I have a #1 bestseller in Germany this week, so let's celebrate that at WHC! Speaking of the World Horror Convention, here's my schedule. I also updated my list of appearances for this year (please note that due to the production schedule of the Ghoul movie, I've had to cancel NECON and Mo*Con). As Deluge heads toward its conclusion, our two groups of characters finally met. There were a ton of new books released. My new zombie novel Entombed (a follow-up to Dead Sea) came out in hardcover from Camelot Books. Tequila's Sunrise and Darkness On The Edge Of Town came out in trade paperback. And Jack's Magic Beans and Clickers were made available for the Kindle. On the Dorchester front, things went from horrific to abysmal. And finally, we've opened the Keenedom to unregistered guests for a limited time. Check it out. There's a live chat tonight at 8pm (I won't be able to make it though).

Please remember Bryan Smith in your thoughts and prayers this week. We love you, brother. Rachael will be missed by us all…

ENTOMBED on sale now

The long-awaited follow up to DEAD SEA!

It has been several months since the disease known as Hamelin's Revenge decimated the world. Civilization has collapsed and the dead far outnumber the living. The living seek shelter from the roaming zombie hordes, but one-by-one, those shelters are falling.

Twenty-five survivors barricade themselves inside a former military bunker buried deep beneath a luxury hotel. They are safe from the zombies…but are they safe from one another? As supplies run low and despair sets in, each of them will find out just how far they're willing to go to survive.

Brian Keene's ENTOMBED….in the world of the dead, insanity is the only escape.

Also includes the bonus novella "White Fire". Limited to 500 signed and numbered hardcover copies. Price $40. Interior art by Glenn Chadbourne. Cover art by GAK. Signed, limited-edition hardcover. CLICK HERE TO ORDER.

Committee Determines Dorchester Unable To Pay

For previous posts regarding the Dorchester Boycott, click here (that is the original post, along with updated links to further posts).

As previously reported, an unofficial committee representing Dorchester Publishing's unsecured creditors (including authors and their agents) was formed last August. Since then, the committee and its financial advisers have been monitoring the company's operations, and have had access to Dorchester's financial information and legal documents.

Today, the committee notified Dorchester of their decision to disband, because they have determined that Dorchester will be "unable to propose any meaningful repayment plan to unsecured creditors in the foreseeable future". The committee states that this leaves Dorchester's unsecured creditors (including authors and agents) free to take "any action or inaction they determine to be appropriate."

Since the initial boycott call, myself and the other authors on this list, feeling we took the appropriate action (given that Dorchester was continuing to sell our work but was unable or unwilling to pay us for it), have kept quiet. A small handful of our peers disagreed with our actions, and took to their Blogs and online forums to decry the boycott. While we respect their varied reasons for doing so, it's worth noting that most of them took issue with our stance that Dorchester was unable to repay their authors and other unsecured creditors. We will, of course, be curious to hear their thoughts now that the committee has confirmed what we've been saying all along…

DELUGE (Part 73)

"R-rescue…?" Sarah's voice had a disbelieving, dreamlike tone.

"Sure," Novak said, "unless you'd rather hang out here. Your call. But you should know we risked our asses coming here like we did, so the very least you could do is let us haul you out of here."

"Yeah!" Henry nodded, tears running down his face. "Hell, yeah! Take us with you. But how did you get here? How did you—?"

"We've got a ship anchored out there. We were able to spy you with our binoculars. These observatory windows don't give you much privacy. Anyway, we saw that there were two of you, and that you had lots of supplies. We could use them."

"What if we'd been infected?" Henry asked.

Gail shrugged. "Then we would have killed you the same way we killed those things outside, and then taken the supplies."

"Fair enough," Henry muttered. "I reckon I'd do the same."

"Look," Novak said, "we don't have time to stand around talking. I'm sure you two have been through a lot. We have, too. Why don't we start by lowering that pistol?"

Nodding, Henry lay the weapon on the radio console.

"Good," Novak said. "Now the two of you strip out of those forest ranger uniforms and let us check you out."

Sarah made a squawking noise.

"It's okay," Gail soothed. "We just need to make sure you aren't infected with the fungus before we take you back to the ship. We won't touch you."

"Come on, Sarah," Henry said. "It'll be okay."

Slowly, he and Sarah stripped. Henry felt his ears turned red as he exposed himself to the two strangers. They stepped forward, had the two of them raise their arms and stand with their legs apart. Then they did a quick but thorough examination. When they were done, Novak stepped back and removed his mask.

"Good. You're both clear. Go ahead and get dressed. Then you can help us load this stuff into the lifeboat and we'll get you back to the ship."

Henry and Sarah got back into their uniforms. Excited, Henry was full of questions, but he decided they could wait. It occurred to him as he buttoned his shirt that perhaps he was trusting the new arrivals a little too quickly. But then he decided that he didn't care. He had no choice. He could go with them, and hope their intentions were true, or he could stay here and die.

The station shook again. All four of them grabbed on to supports until the trembling stopped. Then Henry and Sarah finished getting dressed.

"Is there anybody else here?" Novak asked.

"Nope," Henry said. "Just us. There was a little mouse running around, but we haven't seen it in a few days."

"Okay. Gail will stand guard in case any more of your friends show up."

Sarah moaned, and then collapsed. Her head struck the floor with a loud whack. Henry rushed to her side.

"Is she okay?" Gail asked.

"I reckon. Her head's not bleeding or anything. I think she just passed out."

"Is she sick?"

"No… at least, not physically. She's had a rough patch. Couple of weeks ago, she had to kill her best friend. He was turning into one of them things. It's been eating at her ever since."

Novak stepped forward and put his hand on Henry's shoulder. "What's your name, kid?"

"Henry, sir."

"Well, Henry. Help us get this stuff loaded up, and then we'll introduce you and her to a bunch of new friends."

Henry swallowed. "That would be nice."