Curtain Call
Today I decided to end The Horror Show with Brian Keene podcast.
We had a great six year (almost seven year) run, but it is clear to me that the time has come. With each passing year, the show has become more and more popular, but with that popularity comes more work and more headaches and more time away from writing.
I understand the role the show plays in people’s lives, and I understand, as my friend Hillary Monahan said “you're an important voice…and the community will miss you.” And as Christopher Golden pointed out, “You've done a lot of good with The Horror Show, brother. That includes respect for the history of the genre and lifting up new generations of writers. The constant melee of social media is poisonous and maybe it doesn't need the oxygen you give it. But that other stuff? It does.”
But here’s the thing. If you’re going to do a show that — at least in part — focuses on fairly presenting news that impacts the horror genre and industry — then you’re going to have to give oxygen to some of that poisonous stuff. And when you give oxygen to the poisonous stuff, it slowly takes your own oxygen away.
Here lately, I’m having trouble breathing.
(And yes, it occurs to me that “I can’t breathe” has very particular connotations in our society right now, so let me take this as an opportunity to reiterate that Black Lives Fucking Matter, and if you disagree with me, that’s okay. Stop buying my books).
But I digress…
Hillary and Chris are both right, in that the show serves other important purposes — namely, giving a platform to other voices and shining a spotlight on the genre’s history. I enjoy doing both of those things. Those things don’t take away my oxygen.
So…while The Horror Show with Brian Keene is indeed ending with next week’s episode, that doesn’t mean I’ll stop giving a platform to other voices and shining a spotlight on the genre’s history. I intend to continue doing both of those things via semi-regular livestreams on YouTube. I say semi-regular because I don’t want to be tied to a schedule, the way i was with the podcast. Coming up in the next two months on The Horror Show, I had intended to interview Gabino Iglesias, Stephen Graham Jones, Cina Pelayo, Tim Waggoner, Wesley Southard, and Somer Canon. I’ll still be doing that, but on YouTube, rather than a podcast, and I’ll focus ONLY on giving them a platform, rather than a format where they have to share the spotlight with whatever terrible fucking thing happened in the industry that week. And I’ll also use that platform to examine the genre’s history. (I’ve been dying for an opportunity to show off stuff like my 90s horror zine collection and uber-rare Richard Laymon works, and stuff like a letter from Robert Bloch to J.F. Gonzalez).
All 280 episodes of The Horror Show with Brian Keene will continue to be available for free. They are an important document and I would not deprive future genre enthusiast’s of their value. Episodes like Jack Ketchum’s final interview are priceless and important.
I will continue to record weekly episodes of Defenders Dialogue with Christopher Golden as that has never impacted my time to write or my ability to breathe.
I would like to thank everyone who has appeared on the show these last six and a half years. Thanks to Project iRadio who hosted us our first year. Thanks to Armand and Shelly Rosamilia and all of our former Project Entertainment Network sister shows who put up with us through years two through five. Thanks to Dave Thomas, Mary SanGiovanni, Matt Wildasin, Coop, Phoebe, and Dungeonmaster 77.1.
And thanks to you, the listeners. It’s been a pleasure. Thank you for inviting us into your homes and cars and commutes every week. Thanks for allowing me to do something that — for a very long time — brought me joy. I hope it brought you some, as well.
— Brian Keene
PS: Between this announcement and the announcement earlier in the week that we were pulling the plug on Maelstrom — don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not going anywhere. Ultimately, this all leads to more time to refocus on writing. And that’s a good thing.