Tag Archives: Guest Blog

GUEST BLOG: “The Great and Improbable Secret to a Great and Improbable Writing Career” by the Great and Improbable Weston Ochse

The state of publishing was explained to me early on, when I first started writing. You see, publishers prefer it if you write in a specific way, because they can categorize you much more easily. Likewise, booksellers know just where to put you so that your fan base can find you. After all, you’d never find Bag of Bones in the Romance Section or Duma Key in Men’s Self Help. In fact, if it was up to publishers, your first book would set the stage for everything that came after, thus locking you into a career of writing that very first thing which was published. So armed with this knowledge, I embarked on a writing career. Continue reading →

GUEST BLOG: ‘The End of the Symbolic Liminal: Brian Keene and the Rise of the Fast Zombie’ by Andrew P. Williams (North Carolina Central University)

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In George Romero’s seminal film Night of the Living Dead (1968), John, who will later become zombie fodder, jokingly warns his sister, “They’re coming to get you, Barbara.” Flash forward five decades later and all one has to do is browse the shelves of the local Barnes and Noble or the newest release section of Blockbuster to see that the living dead have certainly come for us. In film, books, television, video games, and even academic conferences, it seems as if the pop-cultural zombie apocalypse has finally arrived, and I, for one, cannot be more delighted. Continue reading →

FORGET THE CAREER, SERVE THE STORY (A Rebuttal to Brian Keene’s On Writing Full-Time circa 2013): Guest Blog by Nate Southard

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Last week, I posted my speech to the Borderlands Boot Camp, entitled On Writing Full-Time (circa 2013). Some folks, like John Skipp and Tim Waggoner, agreed. Some folks, like Dan Simmons and Nate Southard, disagreed. I think all of them raised great points. I stated in the speech that there are many paths, and this was the path I chose, and you might – or might not – want to choose it. It was a cautionary tale. Anyway, the aforementioned Nate Southard was moved to write this rebuttal to the speech, and I think it’s a great essay and raises some exceedingly important things. So here it is. Continue reading →

Following Your Dreams, or “What I Learned From Brian Keene” (Guest Blog by Jeff Heimbuch)

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Jeff Heimbuch is the director of The Ties That Bind, Leeds Point, and Fast Zombies Suck, and one of the founding partners in my film production company, Drunken Tentacle Productions. He’s also just written a book — It’s Kind Of A Cute Story — that will appeal to Disney-philes young and old. He’s here to tell you that, and the truth about me…

Brian Keene changed my life.

It sounds like he paid me to say that, but it’s true (the life changing, not the paying me to say that part). Continue reading →

MEETING THE BLACK by Tom Piccirilli – Guest Blog (UPDATED)

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As you know, Tom Piccirilli is battling brain cancer. So far, chemo and radiation are going well. The pills he will have to take for the rest of his life cost $14,000 a month (no, that is not a typo). Luckily, he has been accepted into a program that will help pay for those. But even so, he and his wife Michelle can still use your help. You can donate money to Tom via PayPal to PicSelf1@aol.com. You can also purchase one of his digital books published by Crossroads Press.

Last month, when I visited Tom after his surgery, he told me he’d “written a little something” about what he was going through before and after the operation. That little something was called Meeting the Black.

UPDATE: Meeting the Black was hosted here, but now Crossroads Press have released it in digital. So that Tom will get those future sales, I have removed the essay. You can download it here.

That Thing in the Water: Guest Blog by Jack Ketchum

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Jack Ketchum is in the middle of a Blog tour to promote his new book I’M NOT SAM (co-written with Lucky McKee). Monday saw him at LitReactor. Yesterday took him to Mary SanGiovanni’s website. Today, he’s here to talk to my readers. Jack Ketchum is one of my favorite writers but he’s also been a dear friend and mentor to me for over 15 years. Indeed, we’re it not for his efforts and those of Richard Laymon, I would have never sold my first novel, The Rising, and you and I would not be here together right now. So pull up a bar stool and listen to what the man has to say. Continue reading →

ProgPower USA Must Not Die! – Guest Blog by Dave Thomas

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Hi, I’m Dave Thomas. I’m not the guy that makes burgers or the actor, just Brian’s long-time assistant and troublemaker that’s likely more known as Meteornotes. If you follow me on Twitter or elsewhere on the internet, you’re used to seeing me rant about shark movies, the glory of Ice Bat, quality food, and why I should be legally allowed to taser pretty much everyone on Earth. But I am not here today to talk about any of those things. I’m actually going to talk about something that’s very important to me, something that I’d like to make more of you aware of… Continue reading →

GUEST BLOG: "How Brian Keene Nearly Caused the Nuclear Apocalypse and Yes, Every Word of This is True, Mostly" by Tom Piccirilli

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Tom Piccirilli’s new novel, The Last Kind Words, comes out next week. It is absolutely one of the best novels in his long and stellar career. You should pre-order it.

Tom is here with a true story. Seriously. 90% of what you are about to read is true. This really is what it’s like when I do a signing.

This is how trouble starts, I thought. Riding into the wasteland side by side with my bud, my little bro, Brian Keene, with him hunched over the wheel as the empty terrain of Wyoming flashed by, talking Hunter S. Thompson and other dead heroes.

Continue reading →

GUEST BLOG: A Self-Publishing Challenge by Glen Krisch

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Recently, Robert Swartwood and Mari Mancusi have both written guest blogs (here and here) about their transition from traditional publishing to self-publishing. Today, Glen Krisch is here to offer another perspective. He’s the author of The Nightmare Within, Where Darkness Dwells, Loss, and more. He’s also an editor for Morrigan Books, and has worked on books by Tim Lebbon, Lawrence Block, and others. Visit his official website, Twitter, or Facebook. When he and I talked about this essay, I had no idea he’d call me out in front of you. Let us know what you think in the comments.

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GUEST BLOG: Their Failure is Not Mine by Mari Mancusi

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For a complete accounting and timeline of Dorchester Publishing’s malfeasance, as well as links to other sources, click here.

NOTE FROM BRIAN: I first met Mari Mancusi back in 2008 at BEA – a publishing industry trade show held each year in New York City. Mari and several other romance writers were there for the launch of Dorchester’s Shomi line, and Deborah LeBlanc and I were there to promote the horror line. After a long day of signing books for and shaking hands with librarians, booksellers, and salespeople, we went out drinking, and Mari started a knife fight with some drunken Teamsters… okay, that last bit didn’t happen, but my point is this. I respect and admire Mari, so when she asked me if she could write a guest blog about life after Dorchester, I said I’d be honored. And here she is. Continue reading →