Brian Keene's Blog, page 94

COMING SOON…

Apologies for the radio silence here and the disappearance on social media over the last week. Family illness. Be back soon. Also coming soon is my new novel, THE COMPLEX, in paperback and eBook.

2016 PRESSURE/THE COMPLEX POP-UP “FAREWELL” TOUR

One thing I have always enjoyed is meeting readers and fans. I was a fan of this genre long before I ever made my living as a professional in it, and I’m still a fan. I like physically interacting with other fans, and sharing their enthusiasm for something we all love. I like shaking hands, taking pictures, and signing books for the people who have supported me financially over the years.

Years ago, when I was starting out, I used to go out on the road for three or four months, and criss-cross the country and sign books for people. Didn’t matter where. A convention in Kansas. A bookstore in New York City. A strip mall in Kentucky. A comic book shop in Wyoming. If there were people there to sign books for, I’d go. Over the last twenty years, I’ve signed books in every state except Hawaii and Alaska.

Then I stopped. If you’ve read THE GIRL ON THE GLIDER, you know part of the reason why. But another big factor was that I had a young child, and I just didn’t want to be away from home that long. Well, now that young child is turning eight, and he’s content to play by himself, and he’s okay with Daddy heading out on the road for a few months (as long as I promise to bring him back some things from the places I go to).

I’m heading out on the road again this year, in support of THE COMPLEX and PRESSURE. This tour will run until December. It will cross the country several times. There will be scheduled signings and appearances, which you can keep track of here. (That list will have a lot more official dates added to it soon).

But there will be surprise, spur of the moment signings and appearances, as well. I’m calling these “pop-up” signings, and here is how they will work. I sign in Scottsdale, Arizona on June 28th and San Francisco, California on July 1. While I’m driving from Scottsdale to San Francisco, I pass by a Barnes and Noble in some small town we’ll call Dinkle, Arizona. I walk inside and find their stock of PRESSURE or THE COMPLEX. I then notify folks via Twitter and Facebook and the Forum that “I’M AT THE BARNES AND NOBLE IN DINKLE, ARIZONA FOR THE NEXT TWO HOURS”. And then I wait to see if anyone shows up, and if they do, I sign their books and chat with them a bit before heading back out on the road. And it may not even be a bookstore. It may be “I’M AT THE STARBUCKS IN FIDDLESTICKS, MISSOURI FOR THE NEXT TWO HOURS. BRING YOUR BOOKS AND LET’S HAVE COFFEE”.

This will require some participation on your part. Don’t think “Oh, there’s no way he’ll pass through my town” because there’s a good chance I just might. But you’ll have to pay attention to Twitter or Facebook or the Forum, because these “pop-up” signings won’t last long, and once I’m gone, I’m gone.

Which brings me to this — I get why people post comments like “Come to Dinkle, Arizona” or “Sign in Smith, Tennessee!” But here’s the thing, folks. It’s not up to me. I sign where I’m welcome, and if your local bookstore didn’t invite me, and if they’re not agreeable to a pop-up signing should I happen to pass by them, then I can’t sign there. So if you post, “Come sign in my town” I’m going to respond with “Come to one of these signings instead” and then link to this list of scheduled signings across the country.

You should also know that this is probably the last time I’ll ever do a tour that’s this extensive. I’m not saying I won’t be doing signings or public appearances in the future. Indeed, I’ll probably do them until the day I die. But this will be the last time I spend months on the road, driving across the country. It’s not a farewell tour, but then again, it sort of is.

“Livin’ legends are a dying breed

There ain’t too many left

To tell the truth, I ain’t been feelin’

Real hot lately my damn self…”

— Waylon Jennings

The War Against The Thirteen Begins

This week’s chapter of THE SEVEN: THE LABYRINTH, BOOK ONE (which will be posted near the end of the week), marks the end of part two of this serial novel. Part three, which starts next month, sees Teddy, Frankie, Tony, LeHorn, Bloom, the Exit, and Lucifer fight their first battle in the final war against The Thirteen, as they take on Kandara in the lawless, blasted wastes of Syria, Iraq, and Libya.

If you haven’t been reading THE SEVEN: THE LABYRINTH, BOOK ONE, now is a perfect time to start. All of the previous chapters are available online so you can easily get caught up. New chapters are also available online, and delivered to your email, as well. It only costs one dollar per month. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE AND START READING IMMEDIATELY.

SCARES THAT CARE III and WORLD HORROR CON 2016

Due to some unfortunate but unavoidable scheduling conflicts, my dear friend Sarah Pinborough, who was scheduled to be a Guest of Honor at this year’s World Horror Convention, has had to drop out. That means you’re all stuck with me as your replacement Guest of Honor instead.

World Horror is not a fan convention. It’s more like a trade show for professionals and aspiring professionals. If you are a fan you’d certainly have a good time there, but just know that most of the programming is dedicated to writing, publishing, and the like. If you want to be a horror writer, illustrator, agent, publisher, etc then YOU NEED TO ATTEND THIS CONVENTION. It moves ever year. This year, it is in Utah. Come if you can. Yes, it is expensive. But yes, it is worth it (in my opinion). Come, and I’ll sit down with you and fulfill my role as elder statesman (a role I’m growing increasingly comfortable with). Click here for the details.

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For most of yesterday, I was at the board meeting for this year’s Scares That Care Weekend III. Scares That Care is a fan convention, where you can meet actors, writers, directors, and other horror celebrities. It is part of the Scares That Care 501C charity, which raises money for children who have been burned, children with cancer, adults with breast cancer, etc. Each year, we pick three families and raise money for them through various fundraising efforts. A lot of this money comes from the convention.

We’re in the process of lining up guests. There are some authors (not yet announced) that will make your head spin. If you want to meet your favorite writer and get our books signed and send the weekend hanging out with them, this is your best bet in 2016. Click here for the details (with the understanding that most of the celebrity guests have not yet been announced).

Also know that the hotel is now officially sold out However, there are plenty of hotels within walking distance. Here is a list of them:

1) Quality Inn at Kingsmill-Busch Gardens 757-220-1100

2) Courtyard Williamsburg Busch Gardens 757-221-0700

3) Days Hotel Williamsburg 757-253-6444

4) Country Inn & Suites by Carlson 757-229-6900

5) Roadway Inn & Suites 757-229-0400

6) Fort Magruder Hotel and Conference Ctr 757-220-2250

7) Knights Inn Williamsburg 757-220-0960

8) Quality Inn Historic East 757-220-3100

9) Clarion Hotel Historic District 757-229-4100

10) Ramada Williamsburg East 757-585-7100

NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD

NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD

All-new stories set in the George Romero universe.

Edited by George Romero and Jonathan Maberry

Featuring stories by Brian Keene, Chuck Wendig, Craig Engler, David Wellington, George Romero, Isaac Marion, Jay Bonansinga, Joe Lansdale, Joe McKinney, John Russo, John Skipp, Jonathan Maberry, Keith DeCandido, Max Brallier, Mike Carey, Mira Grant, Neal Shusterman & Brandon Shusterman, and Sandra Brown & Ryan Brown.

Coming in 2017…

13 MINUTES in the FURNACE

There’s a new interview with me over at Entropy Magazine, in which I talk about public perceptions of me, bullies, writing, the gun debate, THE COMPLEX, PRESSURE, THE NAUGHTY LIST, this summer’s promotional tour, tire fires, and much more. Click here to read it.

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There’s also a new episode of my podcast available. This week we talk to author Adam Cesare, and also remember Mark justice, discuss the Jeepers Creepers III controversy, and much more. Click here to listen or download.

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Two books to spotlight this week.

First up is Livia Llewellyn’s long-awaited and much anticipated short story collection, FURNACE, available now on Kindle and in paperback.

Horror fiction has long celebrated and explored the twin engines driving human existence. Call them what you like: Sex and Death, Love and Destruction, Temptation and Terror. While many may strive to reach the extremes, few authors manage to find the beauty that rests in the liminal space between these polar forces, the shuddering ecstasy encased within the shock. And then there’s Livia Llewellyn, an author praised for her dark, stirring, evocative prose and disturbing, personal narratives.

Lush, layered, multifaceted, and elegant, the thirteen tales comprising Furnace showcase why Livia Llewellyn has been lauded by scholars and fans of weird fiction alike, and why she has been nominated multiple times for the Shirley Jackson Award and included in year’s best anthologies. These are exquisite stories, of beauty and cruelty, of pleasure and pain, of hunger, and of sharp teeth sinking into tender flesh.

$4.99 on Kindle — $13.49 in paperback — Click here to purchase.

Also new this week in the UK is Sarah Pinborough’s 13 MINUTES, out now on Kindle and in trade hardcover (paperback and US editions coming later this year).

I was dead for 13 minutes.

I don’t remember how I ended up in the icy water but I do know this – it wasn’t an accident and I wasn’t suicidal.

They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but when you’re a teenage girl, it’s hard to tell them apart. My friends love me, I’m sure of it. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t try to kill me. Does it?

13 MINUTES by Sarah Pinborough is a gripping psychological thriller about people, fears, manuiplation and the power of the truth. A stunning read, it questions our relationships – and what we really know about the people closest to us.

£6.99 on Kindle — £11.89 in hardcover — Click here to purchase

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And don’t forget, J. F. Gonzalez’s RETREAT and my ALL DARK, ALL THE TIME: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE, VOLUME 2 are both available this week in paperback, Kindle, Nook and Kobo. Click the covers below to purchase.

RETREAT and ALL DARK, ALL THE TIME – Now In Paperback

RETREAT, the final solo novel by J.F. Gonzalez, and ALL DARK, ALL THE TIME: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE, VOLUME 2 are now both available in paperback, as well as for Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. Click the covers above to purchase.

What It Takes To Be A Bestseller

Twenty-four hours after it went on sale, the Kindle edition of ALL DARK, ALL THE TIME: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE, VOLUME 2 is currently sitting at #9 on Amazon’s bestseller list for horror short story collections, right behind the new Peter Straub collection, a Dan Padavona collection, and a bunch of books by Stephen King. How many copies did it have to sell to get there? Forty-four. Forty-four copies in twenty-four hours will land you on the bestseller list.

A name also helps you become a bestseller — and it doesn’t even need to be your name. As I mentioned before, if you take a look at that bestseller list, you see collections by myself, Peter Straub, and Dan Padavona. You also see Stephen King’s latest collection firmly ensconced at #1. What books are between Steve’s latest and myself, Peter, and Dan? At first glance, those other books are also by Stephen King — except that they aren’t.

Welcome to another one of Amazon’s dirty little secrets — the world of scam artists masquerading as popular authors and utilizing Kindle’s self-publishing technology to make a quick — and crooked — buck.

Looking at the bestseller list, you’ll see AWAKEN and DESCENDANTS, two new short story collections ostensibly written by Stephen King. But they aren’t. They’re written by somebody pretending to be Stephen King. It isn’t a case of an author simply having the same name as him. It’s a case of outright fraud. The author bio for DESCENDANTS is the real Stephen King’s bio, which the impostor copied and pasted. Directly above that, you’ll notice that Amazon themselves are apparently aware of this malfeasance, because they’ve included a note that directs readers “looking for Stephen King the bestselling author of Doctor Sleep and The Shining” to his author page. Now, I don’t know what we can determine from this, but to the casual shopper, it would appear that they are concerned enough to direct readers to the other Stephen King, but not enough to actually remove the fake Stephen King’s books from print, or at least move that disclaimer to the top of his listings, where customers are more apt to see it.

As if that wasn’t confusing enough, there’s also a second fake Stephen King.

Why does Amazon allow this to continue? Because they’re making money off of it. And despite the amount of one-star negative reviews and customer complaints, I don’t expect they’ll be changing it anytime soon. So what can you, a reader, do about it? There’s only one thing I can think of.

Put ALL DARK, ALL THE TIME: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE, VOLUME 2, along with Dan’s new collection and Peter’s new collection, up there in spots #2, 3, and 4 (in any order — I’m not greedy) so that the fake Stephen King is below us in the rankings.

Click here to download to Kindle.

Click here to download to Nook.

Click here to download to Kobo.

ALL DARK, ALL THE TIME – eBook On Sale Now

[image error] ALL DARK, ALL THE TIME: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE, VOLUME 2 is now available on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo for just $4.99. Paperback editions will follow in about 7 days.

ALL DARK, ALL THE TIME is the second 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 “The Girl on the Glider”, “Fetish”, “The Siqqusim Who Stole Christmas”, “Scratch”, “Lost Canyon of the Dead”, and many more. These are stories about darkness. The darkness outside of us, surrounding us, and the darkness inside the human soul. ALL DARK, ALL THE TIME — and morning is never coming.

Click here to download to Kindle.

Click here to download to Nook.

Click here to download to Kobo.

It should also be noted that to celebrate this release, eBook editions of BLOOD ON THE PAGE: THE COMPLETE SHORT FICTION OF BRIAN KEENE, VOLUME 1 are on sale for just $2.99 — half of their normal price. (Note: There will be a delay in this price change on Nook, as Nook is still a terribly inefficient system with more technical problems and slower load times than a Geocities website circa 1999. Apologies to Nook users in advance, but really, maybe make the switch to Kindle or Kobo so I can quit uploading things to Nook altogether and save myself headaches like the one their system has been giving me for the last 48 hours. Thanks. Your pal, Brian Keene).

Note To Kickstarter Backers

To any of our Kickstarter backers who’s credit cards didn’t go through yet (a lot of US backers card payments were stopped because of the payment in UK£), this is what you need to do to complete the payment:

Backers must log in to the Kickstarter account from which they pledged to follow the ‘Fix Payment’ link.

Kickstarter will also send you an email every 48 hours with a link to reset your payment.

Thank you!