Brian Keene | |
---|---|
Born | September 22, 1967 |
Occupation | Novelist |
Nationality | American |
Period | 1997–present |
Genre | Horror |
Notable works | The Rising , The Conqueror Worms |
Website | |
briankeene |
Brian Keene (born September 22, 1967) [1] is an American author and podcaster, primarily known for his work in horror, dark fantasy, crime fiction, and comic books. He has won the 2014 World Horror Grandmaster Award and two Bram Stoker Awards. In addition to his own original work, Keene has written for media properties such as Doctor Who , Thor , Hellboy , Alien , Masters of the Universe , and The X-Files .
Keene was born in 1967. He grew up in both Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and many of his books take place in these locales. [2] After graduating high school, he served as a radioman in the U.S. Navy aboard an LPD. After his enlistment ended, Keene worked a variety of jobs before becoming a full-time writer. Among them were stints as a foundry worker, truck driver, data entry clerk, dockworker, telemarketer, customer service representative, repo man, bouncer, disc jockey, salesman, store manager, daycare instructor, custodian. In interviews, he credits this diverse background as the key to the characters that populate his books. [3]
2001 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction (for "Jobs In Hell") [4]
2003 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in First Novel (for "The Rising") [5]
2004 Shocker Award for Non-Fiction (for "Sympathy for the Devil") [6]
2014 World Horror Grand Master Award [7]
2015 Imaginarium Film Festival Awards for Best Screenplay, Best Short Film Genre, and Best Short Film Overall (for "Fast Zombies Suck") [8]
2016 Imadjinn Award for Best Fantasy Novel (for "King of the Bastards") [9]
2017 This Is Horror Award for Nonfiction Podcast of the Year (for The Horror Show with Brian Keene). [10]
In 2004 and 2005, Keene spearheaded a Books For Troops program, in which various horror authors supplied free, signed books to American troops serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere around the world. Keene was honored for this in 2005 by the 509th Logistics Fuels Flight Squadron based at Whiteman A.F.B. in Missouri. [11]
In 2014, an American flag was flown in Keene's honor in Afghanistan and presented to him by the United States Army International Security Assistance Force. [12]
Keene is one of the few writers who has spoken inside the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in several closed sessions. [13]
In 2006, three stories from Keene's Fear of Gravity were adapted in the graphic novel Brian Keene's FEAR. The stories were "Castaways", "Red Wood", and the award-winning "The King, in: Yellow".
In 2008, Marvel Comics announced that Keene would be writing for them. His first project for the company was the four-issue limited series for their MAX imprint: Dead of Night: Devil-Slayer . [14]
Keene wrote the 25-issue series "The Last Zombie" for Antarctic Press.
Keene's work for DC Comics has included Doom Patrol, the 2010 "DCU Halloween Special", and "Masters of the Universe: The Origin of Hordak". He was originally part of the writing team for Future's End but left the project along with writer Greg Rucka, also walking away from writing Animal Man and Booster Gold. [15]
In 2017, Keene returned to DC Comics to spearhead "DC House of Horror". [16]
From 2015 to 2020, Keene hosted a weekly podcast called The Horror Show With Brian Keene. [22] Keene and co-hosts Dave Thomas and Mary SanGiovanni discussed horror-related news and events, writing and publishing, and interviewed various horror authors, publishers, musicians, actors, and filmmakers.
Keene currently lives in York, Pennsylvania.
Since 2012, he has been in a romantic relationship with fellow author Mary SanGiovanni. [23] The two were married on May 27, 2023.
On June 5, 2018, he suffered first and second degree burns to his face, and second and third degree burns to his arm after an accident while burning brush on a friend's property (during flood clean-up), and was sent to recuperate in a burn unit. Due to a lack of insurance, a GoFundMe was set up to pay the medical bills. [24] [25]
Keene is actively involved in fundraising for the Scares That Care charitable organization. [26]
In August 2017, Keene was made a member of the board of directors for the Scares That Care charitable organization. [27]
Jeffrey Thomas is a prolific writer of science fiction and horror, best known for his stories set in the nightmarish future city called Punktown, such as the novel Deadstock and the collection Punktown, from which a story was reprinted in St. Martin's The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror #14. His fiction has also been reprinted in Daw's The Year's Best Horror Stories XXII, The Year's Best Fantastic Fiction and Quick Chills II: The Best Horror Fiction from the Specialty Press. He has been a 2003 finalist for the Bram Stoker Award for Monstrocity, and a 2008 finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Deadstock.
Brian James Freeman is an American author whose fiction has been published in magazines and anthologies including Borderlands 5, Corpse Blossoms, and all four volumes of the Shivers series. His first novel, Black Fire, was written under the pseudonym James Kidman. Published in 2004 by Leisure Books and Cemetery Dance Publications, the book was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel, one of the major awards in the horror genre. His work has been nominated for several awards in the horror genre over the years. Cemetery Dance Publications recently published his Blue November Storms, a new novella, and The Illustrated Stephen King Trivia Book, which he wrote with Stephen King expert Bev Vincent. Acclaimed horror artist Glenn Chadbourne created over fifty unique illustrations for the book.
Joe Richard Lansdale is an American writer and martial arts instructor. A prose writer in a variety of genres, including Western, horror, science fiction, mystery, and suspense, he has also written comic books and screenplays. Several of his novels have been adapted for film and television. He is the winner of the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, the Edgar Award, and eleven Bram Stoker Awards.
Richard Thomas Chizmar is an American writer, the publisher and editor of Cemetery Dance magazine, and the owner of Cemetery Dance Publications. He also edits anthologies, produces films, writes screenplays, and teaches writing.
Delirium Books, launched in the summer of 1999 by Shane Ryan Staley, was a horror publisher in the collector's market, producing low print-run limited editions intended for collectors and readers alike. Limited-edition books published by Delirium were reputed to sell out quickly, making their publications highly collectable. Delirium Books published The Rising, the first book in a series of zombie-themed horror novels written by Brian Keene, which won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel in 2003.
The Conqueror Worms is a post-apocalyptic horror novel written by author Brian Keene. "Earthworm Gods" was a 9,000-word short story that simultaneously was printed in 4x4 and No Rest for the Wicked. An indirect sequel to this tale, the 19,000 word novella The Garden Where My Rain Grows, appeared in Fear of Gravity; it was set in the same world, but the characters and situation was differed.
Greg F. Gifune is a horror author, the recipient of multiple Bram Stoker Award and International Horror Guild Award nominations in addition to one for the British Fantasy Award.
Edward Lee is an American horror novelist who has written 40 books, more than half of which have been published by mass-market New York City paperback companies such as Leisure/Dorchester, Berkley, and Zebra/Kensington. He is a Bram Stoker award nominee for his story “Mr. Torso,” and his short stories have appeared in over a dozen mass-market anthologies, including the award-winning “999”. Several of his novels have sold translation rights to Germany, Greece, Romania, and Poland. He also publishes quite actively in the small-press/limited-edition hardcover market; many of his books in this category have become collector's items.
Leisure Books was a mass market paperback publisher specializing in horror and thrillers that operated from 1957 to 2010. In the company's early years, it also published fantasy, science fiction, Westerns, and the Wildlife Treasury card series.
Nell Anne 'Charlee' Jacob was an American author specializing in horror fiction, dark fantasy, and poetry. Her writing career began in 1981 with the publication of several poems under the name Charlee Carter Broach. She began writing as Charlee Jacob in 1986.
Tim Curran is an American author of horror fiction from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Ghoul is a horror novel by Brian Keene, first published in 2007. The novel follows three young boys during summer vacation as they learn that a ghoul is threatening the peace of their town. It has been published in both English and German and Ghoul was adapted into a television film that aired in 2012 on Chiller.
Bloodletting Press was launched in 2002 by Larry Roberts to publish works in the horror genre specifically for the collector's market, producing low print run limited editions intended for collectors and unique heirloom Lettered Editions for the high-end collectors. They were originally located in Modesto, California, but have since relocated to Welches, Oregon. Several of the Lettered Editions have been signed in blood and housed in metal traycases, in one example designed as a trailer complete with working interior lights. The main focus, however, of the press is the Novella Series, Novelette Series, and Chapbook Series. In recent years they have added the Steve Gerlach library, a project to publish his complete works which have been previously only available in his native Australia. Another project is the Jonathan Crowley Library which collects and keeps in print the genre work of James A. Moore. Bloodletting Press is also one of a few small presses that risks putting out new genre authors whose titles having been successful within this context go on to wider mass market publishers, such as Rage, Succulent Prey and The Rutting Season. In 2009, the Horror Writers Association awarded to Bloodletting Press its Specialty Press Award for their "outstanding design and production techniques" in publishing the "modern masters of the horror field".
Alex McVey is an American fine artist and illustrator from Texas, mostly known for his work on high-end limited edition books and album art. He has illustrated the works of Stephen King, William Peter Blatty, Brian Keene, Joe R. Lansdale, and others. McVey is known for his work within the horror genre, and for his use of a variety of styles, subject matter, and media. Clients include: Cemetery Dance Publications, Bloodletting Press, Weird Tales, Straight Line Stitch, Centipede Press, Team Y&R, and others.
John Everson is an American author of contemporary horror, dark fantasy, science fiction and fantasy fiction. He is the author of thirteen novels and four short fiction collections, as well as three mini-collections, all focusing on horror and the supernatural. His novel Covenant, was originally released in a limited edition hardcover by Delirium Books in 2004 and won the Bram Stoker Award for a First Novel the following year from the Horror Writers Association. His sixth novel, NightWhere, was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award in 2012.
Brian Hodge is a writer of horror & crime, as well as an avid connoisseur of music. He lives in Boulder, Colorado, where he is working on his latest novel.
Weston Ochse was an American author and educator. He won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize for his short fiction. His novel SEAL Team 666 is currently being shopped by Seven Bucks Productions. Dwayne Johnson has attached himself to the film to executive produce as well as act in a leading role.
Jesus F. Gonzalez was an American author, primarily of horror fiction. He has written many notable novels and has done collaborations with Bram Stoker Award winners Mike Oliveri and Brian Keene. His novel Survivor has been optioned to be filmed by Chesapeake Films, and Clickers has been optioned by Cooked Goose Productions.
Jason Vincent Brock is an American author, artist, editor and filmmaker.
Dark Hollow is a 2006 horror novel written by Brian Keene. It tells the story of Adam Senft, a struggling writer who discovers that an evil satyr has been summoned by Nelson LeHorn, a local witch. The satyr is hypnotising and abducting women in Adam's local town in order to procreate with them. Adam must convince his friends and the police that the satyr is real in order to destroy it.