Brian Keene Double Bill! 'Sundancing' and 'The Triangle of Belief'

This week has been, and will continue to be, a bit of a nightmare what with one thing and another (mostly work so, no change there then); reading time has been at a real premium over the last couple of days in particular. That’s not to say that there has been no reading though (come on, it’s me!), it’s just been shorter reads than normal, at the end of the day and with a ‘well done for getting through another day’ pizza 😉 By a happy stroke of luck, those short reads were both by Brian Keene; another ‘Reader Recession Relief’ deal (that I’d never read before) and the first release from Keene’s new ‘Manhattan on Mars’ imprint. Quick thoughts on both reads coming up, partly because they are both quick reads but mostly because this week has just about finished me and I’ve got half an eye on the earliest time I can reasonably go to bed…

'Sundancing'

A broken, beaten, and burned-out horror novelist struggles to emerge from the aftermath of two years of personal and professional upheaval. Corrupt publishers, a global economic collapse, an industry in flux, a divorce, and a heart attack have left him unsure of everything, including — for the first time — himself. Courting a death wish and desperate for renewal and reinvention, the writer looks to Hollywood for safe harbor. But when this possible salvation turns into potential damnation, the author and his friends may have to go to war against an enemy unlike any they’ve ever encountered. In this metafictional memoir, hailed by critics as "simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming" and "a book of unvarnished beauty" Brian Keene reveals what it’s really like to write for a living, and how easy it is for an author to lose their soul…

A lot of stuff jumped out at me here but what really got me was that if a certain troll (first name rhymes with ‘sticky’) could read, they might realise just how close they came to reaping some real consequences of their actions. But anyway…

‘Sundancing’ is a really sweet read about coming out from under a cloud and realising that when you have your friends around you, not only is life manageable but even when it isn’t, you feel like you can take it on and win. I really need to make some friends… ☹ Keene doesn’t hold back and as a result, it’s like you’re at Sundance with him and his friends, and everyone else. There’s probably all sorts you can take from ‘Sundancing’ but what I’ll take is the image of Keene making the festival all his, just by  being real when no-one else was. There’s a lesson to learn there.

'The Triangle of Belief'

In January 2018, best-selling authors Brian Keene and Mary SanGiovanni witnessed a group of unidentified flying objects over their home. That encounter with the unexplained forms the basis for this honest, revealing memoir-styled treatise on faith, religion, the occult, atheism, agnosticism, science, and the supernatural, as World Horror Grandmaster Award-Winner Brian Keene takes the reader on a journey through his own belief structure, revealing how it has influenced him as both a person and as a writer, impacting everything from his lifestyle choices to the books he's written. Regardless of your own individual experience, you'll find yourself pondering THE TRIANGLE OF BELIEF.

And here is the latest instalment in the ‘Reader Recession Relief’ series of deal. I’ve never read a book quite like it so excuse my stumbling over this one. ‘The Triangle of Belief’ is a thought provoking read that really made me think about what I believe and how/why this has changed over the course of my life so far. It didn’t change my mind over anything but that’s not the point of the book at all; it’s more about giving you a framework to hang your own beliefs from, and track them over time, and I’d say it does very well at doing just that. This is especially the case when you have Keene laying it on the line and basically explaining it in a way that I could not only understand but also relate to. And the examples that he uses, while doing this, wow… I’ve got a lot of respect for Brian Keene already but now it’s even more so after watching him push the boundaries of just how personal writing can be.

‘The Triangle of Belief’ isn’t a book that I’d normally read but I’m really glad that I did. Well worth picking up.