The plan is to reread all of Brian Keene’s available works in roughly the order that they were published. I’m doing it because I’m an author in need of improvement and a reader who enjoys a storyteller willing to bleed out on the page in a powerful and interesting way. I’m a fan of Keene’s work. I think there is something to be learned through this process.

You can also go back to the Introductory Post: A Gathering of Books to read more about the how and the why of this or any of my other posts up through this one and beyond by checking out the Master List of all my #BrianKeeneRevisited posts.

Jack’s Magic Beans is a collection from Brian Keene from Deadite Press that leads off with the title novella and then offers a few more favorite stories from collections now out of print. Everything in here is good.

I’m wondering if this work will make its way over to his personal imprint of Manhattan on Mars, in his effort to consolidate all his work under his own control, eventually or not.

Jack’s Magic Beans

A lovely and weird first line. Apparently, Keene had the line before he had the story. It may not be as overtly dark as other Keene openers, but all the dark potential is there. Reading so many of his books in order makes me want to create better opening lines for my stories,

The story had a few wild twists right at the beginning that keep you guessing. The premise is different and consistent. Great orgy of violence. Then, there was Jack, who missed the whole thing.

Purple dyed chemicals from a hot air balloon over a town in Pennsylvania is mentioned. I’m not sure if this is a reference to another of his stories that I missed along the way.

The characters are written well. They are interesting and realistic.

The familiarity and contempt of workers with the muzak at their job was a good bit of business. I believe that type of canned music is now called “mood” in the industry. I used to work at a movie theater as a second job when I was teaching. Songs from popular films at the time were rolled through over and over. These songs were changed out, but not often enough to keep them from becoming maddening to the workers. Occasionally, a movie would have a song I liked in the closing credits, and I would go in to hear it as a reprieve from the “mood” out in the corridors, as I stood by the wall waiting to clean up.

Fallout Boy is mentioned again in a list of bad musicians like in Dead Sea. Keene’s characters have a visceral reaction to Fallout Boy.

This story was his pallet cleanser that he wrote after Ghoul.

Without You

I need to put more work into my opening lines! This is another good one.

This is a solidly written short story. He builds the rich and necessary backstory of the character through the quick action. He delivers on the clever “what if” of the story. His author note indicates that this version of the story is a much improved version since its earliest printings. I’m glad I read this version.

I Am an Exit

This is a beloved tale that introduces what will becoming a recuring character. You feel for the characters in the situation as it is presented, just as Keene wants you to. Then, you get the classic Keene twist with a sharp turn on the story as it was originally presented to you.

This is Not an Exit

This is the sequel to the previous story in response to popular demand for the character. The character and background are fleshed out a little more, but not fully. Enough to make for a great story.

This character was going to appear in A Gathering of Crows, but then was written out. I’m going from memory here, but I believe The Complex was the book where this character finally got his longer work.

‘The King’: In, Yellow

Lots of references to earlier works and authors here, of course. If you know, you know. Keene goes into depth about the authors you should be reading in the author’s note for this final tale.

The drudgery of onsetting adult life creates a certain mood interrupted by a burst of terror. All the implied mythology of the title is here.

Keene has lots of references to Kurt Cobain in his work stretching from Tequilla Sunrise to here. “Rock and Roll Heaven” is an interesting trope of sorts in horror writing, particularly among authors of a certain age and era, no offense intended. Stephen King dove into it from time to time. Some of the usual classic rock suspects are typically invoked. And it’s never a terribly nice place when the trope is introduced into a setting.

I forget what the term for it is, but there is a combat or engagement concept for what to do after a particularly harrowing encounter. Kidnap victims released while in a foreign country are supposed to exit the country as quick as possible. No stops on the way to the airport. After a conflict at a fort or base, it’s not best to go back to business as usual. Lock down and be wary of a secondary flare up. Don’t go back outside right after an animal attack has been reported. Don’t mill around a parking lot after an explosion because of the possibility of a secondary device. I think it might be called something like tactical incident site security response. Something like that. It’s the idea that you don’t go back to business as usual immediately following something particularly disruptive because it is not business as usual yet. The mental state of the characters in this story leading up to and through the early incidents in the tale did not prepare them to think clearly about what they should do next. They were the perfect victims in this case.

This was an interesting story to round out the collection.

My next post in this series will be Clickers II #BrianKeeneRevisited which can be found on the Master List of all my #BrianKeeneRevisited posts. Note: The photo of Brian Keene used in the banner image of these blog posts was taken by John Urbancik and used by permission of both Keene and Urbancik.

Jay Wilburn

Jay Wilburn has a Masters Degree in Education that goes mostly unused since he quit teaching to write about zombies. Jay writes horror because he tends to find the light by facing down the darkness. His is doing well following a life saving kidney transplant. Jay is the author of Maidens of Zombie Kingdom a young adult fantasy trilogy, Lake Scatter Wood Tales adventure books for elementary and middle school readers, Vampire Christ a trilogy of political and religious satire, and The Dead Song Legend. He cowrote The Enemy Held Near, Yard Full of Bones, and The Hidden Truth with Armand Rosamilia. You can also find Jay's work in Best Horror of the Year volume 5. He is a staff writer with Dark Moon Digest, LitReactor, and the Still Water Bay series with Crystal Lake Publishing.

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