Brian Keene posted the following on Facebook:
"Sixty-Five Stirrup Iron Road is the tentative title for a collaborative novel written by myself, Edward Lee, Jack Ketchum, Bryan Smith, J.F. Gonzalez, Wrath James White, Nate Southard, Ryan Harding, and Shane McKenzie. All profits from the book will benefit Tom Piccirilli, who is recovering from brain surgery.
As of tonight (when Bryan emailed me his latest section) the novel is roughly halfway finished at 42,000 words. That’s good news, considering this was first proposed as a novella. So far, the line-up looks like this:
Prologue – Edward Lee
Chapter 1 – Edward Lee and J.F. Gonzalez
Chapter 2 – J.F. Gonzalez
Chapter 3 – J.F. Gonzalez and Brian Keene
Chapter 4 – Brian Keene
Chapter 5 – Brian Keene and Nate Southard
Chapter 6 – Nate Southard
Chapter 7 – Jack Ketchum
Chapter 8 – Jack Ketchum and Shane McKenzie
Chapter 9 – Shane McKenzie
Chapter 10 – Shane McKenzie and Wrath James White
Chapter 11 – Wrath James White
Chapter 12 – Wrath James White and Ryan Harding
Chapter 13 – Ryan Harding and Bryan Smith
Chapter 14 – Bryan Smith
Chapter 15 – Bryan Smith and Brian Keene
As you can see, it’s now each author’s turn again. The second half of the novel will feature different pairings (Keene and Ketchum, Lee and Smith, White and Southard, etc.)
We hope to have it finished by June. Deadite Press will be publishing the paperback and e-books. We may also do a signed, limited edition hardcover via Sinister Grin.
And yes, I admit I’m posting this just to tease the fuck out of you. But you’ve gotta admit, that’s one hell of a tease…
"The concept of all these top-knotch horror authors collaborating on one novel blows my mind, and I love the way they've structured the writing process, moving from one to the other by teaming up for the transitive chapters. Can't wait to read this thing!
I am curious, Mr. Lee, about how this works. When you collaborate with multiple authors on a novel like this, do you all start with a generally agreed-upon plot outline, or does each author (or author pairing) have a blank slate to take the story wherever they want, surprising the other authors in the process? If you'd prefer not to answer this and want to keep the magic of the writing process a mystery, I fully understand.
