Running with the Devil

by Brian Keene

Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it... Overnight, Brian Keene has been transformed from an undergound writer into "The Zombie Guy." Now, he's a successful mass-market novelist, a pop culture buzzword, the prince of the genre, and the toast of Tinseltown. Hollywood's on line one, his editor's on line two, and God is leaving voice mail. Time to burn out...or burn it all down. Collecting more of the best of Brian Keene's popular Hail Saten columns, including many never-before-published essays, Running With The Devil is a cautionary tale of what happens when you achieve your goals. A funny, poignant and deeply personal memoir on the perils and pitfalls of fame, fans, fortune, and other f-words. Be it Hollywood or Washington D.C., the publishing industry or organized religion, crazed fans or unscrupulous C.E.O.s, Keene is more armed and dangerous than ever before. Running With The Devil: When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed...

Genres: Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

BRIAN KEENE writes novels, comic books, short fiction, and occasional journalism for money. He is the author of over forty books, mostly in the horror, crime, and dark fantasy genres. His 2003 novel, The Rising, is often credited (along with Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later film) with inspiring pop culture’s current interest in zombies. Keene’s novels have been translated into German, Spanish, Polish, Italian, French, Taiwanese, and many more. In addition to his own original work, Keene has written for media properties such as Doctor Who, Hellboy, Masters of the Universe, and Superman.

Several of Keene’s novels have been developed for film, including Ghoul, The Ties That Bind, and Fast Zombies Suck. Several more are in-development or under option. Keene also serves as Executive Producer for the independent film studio Drunken Tentacle Productions.

Keene also oversees Maelstrom, his own small press publishing imprint specializing in collectible limited editions, via Thunderstorm Books.

Keene’s work has been praised in such diverse places as The New York Times, The History Channel, The Howard Stern Show, CNN.com, Publisher’s Weekly, Media Bistro, Fangoria Magazine, and Rue Morgue Magazine. He has won numerous awards and honors, including the World Horror 2014 Grand Master Award, two Bram Stoker Awards, and a recognition from Whiteman A.F.B. (home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber) for his outreach to U.S. troops serving both overseas and abroad. A prolific public speaker, Keene has delivered talks at conventions, college campuses, theaters, and inside Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, VA.

The father of two sons, Keene lives in rural Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a second collection of essays and journal entries (following Sympathy for the Devil), the majority of which appeared on Keene's blog (known as Hail Saten) in 2004 and 2005. There's a new introduction to this edition in which he points out that he was a very different person when the pieces were originally written, and that he was a less likable individual with a lot to learn then. (Though I disagree that it was so long ago as Keene perceives it.) The serious entries are quite visceral and poignant, and his personal anguish is occasionally uncomfortable as he deals with drug abuse, family problems, crisis of faith, and reacts poorly to newfound fame and fortune. The less serious entries are very funny and completely entertaining; he projects an air of charming arrogance that made me suspect he used Harlan Ellison as a role model for his public persona. The longest section of the book is a sort of road diary in the tradition of Jack Kerouac or Hunter Thompson, and offers details of Keene's first big cross-country book tour with his assistant. Some of the anecdotes and adventures are hilariously relayed and some make you feel really sorry for all of the parties involved. His observations of politics and the horror genre and life in middle- America at the time strike me as mostly spot-on, insightful, and alternately amusing and depressing. It's a very engaging autobiographical volume, and I recommend it to horror readers interested in the genre of the time as well as to Keene's fans. There's a lengthy bibliography at the beginning of the book that shows how much he's published since those early days of his career (it includes a graphic novel adaptation of Gwendy's Button Box which sounds cool), and I guess that highlights his point that maybe it has been a long time.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been reading Brian Keene's writing since 2001. Halloween 2001, actually, because on that day, the bookstore where I work had a signing featuring half a dozen horror writers. None of them sold too many books, which was honestly par for the course back then--we were in a shitty location. But because we weren't all that busy, I had time to talk to the writers that were there. I was wearing an Emperor shirt, and Brian Keene and I ended up talking about metal for 20 minutes. He struck me as a really cool guy, and I bought the book he was selling that day--"No Rest For The Wicked: Redux", the second of three versions of his first short story collection. It had some horrific editing mistakes in it, and not all of the stories were great, but I could see some real talent there, and over the next few years, I kept up with his career as he got a mass-market deal with Leisure and released "The Rising", the zombie novel that brought him to widespread attention. When "The Rising" was released, he came back to the store for another, more well-attended signing, and in the years since then, he's made it back down a few more times. I feel like I've gotten to know Brian a little from our time hanging out during those signings (and, a couple times, afterwards at the bar). We don't agree about everything--sometimes he likes bands I hate, and sometimes I hold political views he thinks are crazy--but I really like him. He's a good dude.

I think that bit of personal history has something to do with my enjoyment of these collections of blog entries that he releases every so often. I can hear his voice in the way the entries are written, and sometimes I know the stories I'm reading from hearing them from him one of the times we hung out. They're engaging in the way Brian is engaging as a person; sometimes he's a bit rough around the edges, and sometimes he's a bit harsher than you might like him to be, but he's always honest and he's always sincere, and in the end, no matter how brusque he might be, the fact that he's a really good guy always shines through.

I don't think the fact that I know him and see him in these entries is the only reason I like them, though. Brian's good at telling stories, and he has a lot of interesting ones to tell. "Running With The Devil" dates from the time period when "The Rising" had first become successful, and covers the next year or so in his life, including the book tour he did for the sequel to "The Rising", "City Of The Dead". Some truly nutty things happened to him on this tour, and in addition to all of that, he had a lot of serious issues on his mind, relating to his personal life. The journal entries he wrote during that time are written with emotions close to the surface, so they aren't just interesting stories--they're stories you can relate to. I don't know what happened in Brian's life around that time; he doesn't say in the book, and we never discussed it in person. It's not important, though. His struggles with religion, his responsibilities and obligations to his family, his relationships with friends and fans, and his idea of who he is as a person are all easy to understand. We've all been there. We all know what it's like to suffer, and to be unsure of your place in the world.

"Running With The Devil" is like getting a letter from a good friend going through a hard time. It makes you worry about what's going down with him, even if there isn't anything you can do to help. And it makes you see your own life in a slightly different light. Some of the stories crack you up, and some of them might make you sad, but in the end, it's just good to hear from Brian. It's good to know that good people are out there fighting the good fight. I'm glad he's able to tell his stories in an engaging, eloquent manner, and I'm glad he puts these collections of often-ephemeral blog writings out there in a more permanent form. I enjoyed reading them, and I'm sure I'll come back to this book in the coming years.

[DJMikeG · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second in the excellent Hail Saten series of blog essays by Brian Keene. This was an occasionally painful read, Keene was going through some very challenging, hard times in his life. That said, it is so well written and is a harrowing, humorous, disturbing and incredibly honest look at a very strange era in a writer's life. These essays capture him going from a struggling author to a bestselling author. Some of the essays read like they are written by a person gripped by insanity. The honesty is very compelling and makes for a fantastic read. Highest recommendation.