Brian Keene
Born (1967-09-22) September 22, 1967
OccupationNovelist
NationalityAmerican
Period1997–present
GenreHorror
Notable worksThe Rising, The Conqueror Worms
Website
briankeene.com

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.

Early life

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]

Bibliography

The Rising Series

  1. The Rising (April 2003): Delirium Books (January 2004) Leisure Books
  2. City of the Dead (January 2005): Delirium Books(June 2005) Leisure Books
  3. The Rising: Selected Scenes From the End of the World (2013) Deadite Press
  4. The Rising: Deliverance (2015) Deadite Press
  5. The Fall (Coming Soon)

Earthworm Gods Series

  1. Earthworm Gods (September 2005): Delirium Books, Republished as The Conqueror Worms(May 2006): Leisure Books, Republished again under its intended title Earthworm Gods (December 2012) Deadite Press
  2. Earthworm Gods II: Deluge (2013) Deadite Press (originally serialized on his website)
  3. Earthworm Gods: Selected Scenes From the End of the World (2013) Deadite Press

Levi Stoltzfus Series

  1. Dark Hollow (July 2006): (released in hardcover as The Rutting Season) Bloodletting Press. (February 2008): Leisure Books.
  2. Ghost Walk (August 2008): Leisure Books
  3. A Gathering of Crows (August 2010): Leisure Books
  4. The Last of the Albatwitches (2015) Deadite Press

Clickers Series (with J. F. Gonzalez)

  1. Clickers II: The Next Wave (April 2007) Delirium Books
  2. Clickers III: Dagon Rising (2010) Delirium Books
  3. Clickers vs. Zombies (2014) Deadite Press

The Lost Level Series

  1. Hole in the World (2019) Apex Publications
  2. The Lost Level (2015) Apex Publications
  3. The Chinese Beetle (2016) Thunderstorm Books (chapbook)
  4. Return to the Lost Level (2018) Apex Publications
  5. Beneath the Lost Level (Coming Soon)

The Labyrinth Series

  1. The Seven (2015–18). Online serial. Self-Published through Patreon and physically in 2021
  2. Submerged. Online serial. Self-published through Patreon and physically in 2022

The Rogan Series (w/Steven L. Shrewsbury)

  1. King of the Bastards (2015) Apex Publications
  2. Throne of the Bastards (2017) Apex Publications
  3. Curse of the Bastards (2022) Apex Publications

Non-Series

Collections

  • No Rest For The Wicked (2001): (Out of Print) Imaginary Worlds Publishing.
  • No Rest For The Wicked Redux (October 2001): (Out of Print) Vox 13 Publishing.
  • Fear of Gravity (2004) Delirium Books
  • A Little Silver Book of Streetwise Stories (2007) Borderlands Press
  • Unhappy Endings (2008) Delirium Books
  • A Conspiracy of One (2012) Thunderstorm Books
  • Blood on the Page (2014) Self-Published
  • Apocrypha (2014) Thunderstorm Books
  • Libra Nigrum Scienta Secreta (The Black Book of Secret Knowledge) with J. F. Gonzalez (2015) Arcane Wisdom (Limited release)
  • Where We Live and Die (2015) Lazy Fascist Books
  • The Cruelty of Autumn (2015): Thunderstorm Books. Published as a limited hardcover.
  • All Dark, All the Time (2016) Self-Published
  • Good Things for Bad People (2017) Thunderstorm Books. Published as a limited hardcover.

Novellas & novelettes

Non-fiction

  • End of the Road (2016): Cemetery Dance. Weekly column.
  • Brian Keene's Complete History of Horror Fiction (2017-Ongoing): Cemetery Dance. Ongoing column.

Anthologies edited

  • In Delirium (January 2006): (Delirium Books). Published as a 26-copy leather-bound and a hardcover 274-copy limited hardcover.
  • New Dark Voices II (January 2009): (Delirium Books). Published as a hardcover 150-copy limited hardcover.
  • The Daughters of Inanna (2015): Thunderstorm Books. Published as a limited hardcover.
  • Clickers Forever: A Tribute to J.F. Gonzalez (2018): Thunderstorm Books.

Awards

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]

Comics and graphic novels

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]

Film adaptations

  • In 2006, the short story "The Ties That Bind" was turned into a short film, and it had its world premiere on April 4, 2009, at the Garden State Film Festival.[17]
  • In 2009, Dark Hollow was optioned for film by director Paul Campion.[18]
  • Ghoul was made into a TV movie directed by Gregory Wilson and starring Nolan Gould[19] and debuted on the Chiller Network on April 13, 2012.
  • In July, 2015, a film adaptation of Keene's short story "Fast Zombies Suck" was released for free via YouTube.[20]
  • In December, 2016, The Naughty List, a film adaptation of Keene's short story "The Siqquism Who Stole Christmas" was released for free via YouTube and Vimeo.[21]

Podcast

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.

Personal life

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]

Philanthropy

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]

References

  1. ↑ "BrianKeene on Twitter". Twitter. September 22, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
  2. ↑ "He's Keene on horror Award-winning author makes his living writing about the dead," York Sunday News (PA), May 29, 2005.
  3. ↑ "Interview With Brian Keene on Xomba". Hellnotes. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Past Stoker Nominees & Winners Archived October 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Horror Writers Association Website, accessed May 27, 2011.
  5. ↑ The Complete Idiot's Guide to Zombies By Nathan Robert Brown
  6. ↑ Dragos-Valentin Radulescu. "Brian Keene - The Last Zombie - Rising Dead LOTD Community Forum". rising-dead.com. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  7. ↑ "2014 Grand Master Award Winner: Brian Keene | World Horror Convention 2014". Archived from the original on 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2014-06-03.
  8. ↑ "2015 Film Festival Awards". Locus. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  9. ↑ "2016 Imadjinn Award Winners". Locus. 17 October 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  10. ↑ "2017 This Is Horror Awards Winners". Locus. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  11. ↑ Rue Morgue Magazine #43, 2005
  12. ↑ "Brian Keene Talks About Stephen King, Ghoul and Why Horror Matters". The Huffington Post. September 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  13. ↑ "Brian Keene Talks About Stephen King, Ghoul and Why Horror Matters". The Huffington Post. September 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  14. ↑ NY Times review of The Rising
  15. ↑ "Talking With Horror Master Brian Keene About A Life In Dark Fiction And Why He Isn't Writing Futures End, Animal Man, Or Booster Gold - Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movie, TV News". Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movie, TV News. October 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  16. ↑ Terror, Jude (10 July 2017). "DC Sets 80 Page House Of Horror Anthology For October Release From Top Horror Authors And Brian Keene". Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movie, TV News. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  17. ↑ "The Ties That Bind (Short 2009) - IMDb". IMDb.
  18. ↑ Alex Billington. "Brian Keene's Dark Hollow Headed to the Big Screen", FirstShowing.net, April 5, 2009; accessed May 27, 2011.
  19. ↑ "Modern Family" tyke to star in "Ghoul" TV movie Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, reuters.com, May 3, 2011.
  20. ↑ "Watch Brian Keene's Fast Zombies Suck Online For Free - Dread Central". Dread Central. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  21. ↑ "BRIAN KEENE'S THE NAUGHTY LIST". Gingernuts of Horror. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  22. ↑ "The Horror Show With Brian Keene-About".
  23. ↑ "A Handy Guide to Passive-Aggressive Sexism, or, How To Avoid Misidentifying Partners As Secretaries". Postcards From Space. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  24. ↑ "Brian Keene Badly Burned in Fire, Seeks Help with Medical Bills". 6 June 2018.
  25. ↑ "Horror novelist Brian Keene badly burned in Lower Windsor TWP. Mishap".
  26. ↑ "Interview with Brian Keene". Apex Magazine. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  27. ↑ Ripple, Joe. "welcome Brian Keene to our Board of Directors". Scares That Care. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
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