Kyle Lybeck's Literary Lair
I’ve been reading horror since I was a kid in junior high. Dean Koontz and Stephen King were my poison, just like anyone else just starting out. I was always a much bigger Koontz fan, and read all his books. King’s The Stand though became one of my favorite novels of all time. Years passed, I would read many different genres and authors, became a big Clive Cussler and John Grisham fan. Then the start of this decade hit.

I moved into another city outside of Seattle called Redmond: a new apartment, a new city, a new place to explore. I was within walking distance of many stores, shops, and restaurants, but what was I most excited about? Borders. Each week I would walk there with some extra cash and purchase a stack of Leisure novels. Richard Laymon, Brian Keene, Wrath James White, Bryan Smith, Ronald Malfi, Simon Clark, Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, Graham Masterton, and more. It was a whole new world I was brought into, one that would begin to change me forever.

In 2011 I then attended my first horror convention in Austin, Texas. World Horror was all the rage, and I was able to finally meet many of my new literary idols. Keene, Clark, Ketchum, Southard, and many more. I was more nervous than I’d ever been, but also the most excited to meet everyone. I had no idea if these authors would be standoffish, nice, introverted, hate fans, it was all so new. What I found though were a group of writers who were extremely welcoming, wanted to talk books, and were willing to sign all my books. It was at this convention that my life really changed, and I never turned back.

From there I attended more World Horror Conventions on 2012 (Salt Lake City) and 2014 (Portland, OR), and since it was in my own backyard just down from Seattle, I literally brought 100 books in multiple boxes, filling the back of my Jeep, to get signed and they all amazingly did. Then I found out about a new convention hitting the block from my author friends: all the way across the country in Williamsburg, Virginia the Scares That Care convention was having its inaugural opening. I flew all the way out there and haven’t turned back. The friends I’ve made since that first convention continues to grow each year I head out there.

This decade has not been without its challenges. Several publishing houses have folded. Many controversies have ensued. World Horror Conventions have become a thing of the past. Authors that I’d been enamored by through their writing in that of Jack Ketchum, Tom Piccirilli, and J.F. Gonzalez, sadly passed away. The publishing world changed to allow self-publishing to explode with Amazon, causing everyone to reinvent how to sell books. Kindles went insane, again reinventing everyone’s ideas of books in the digital world.

What has been a tough, challenging, and exciting decade, is now finally coming to a close. The thing that sticks out in my mind though? Horror is exploding again, as everyone is also noticing. Movies are coming at us fast and furious. Filmmakers like Jordan Peele and Mike Lombardo are taking the scene by storm. Then there’s the new crop of authors who have been slicing throats and ripping out everyone’s Achilles tendons: Somer Canon, Wesley Southard, Stephen Kozeniewski, Adam Cesare, Sisters of Slaughter, Glenn Rolfe, Tim Meyer, Chad Lutzke, Lucas Mangum, Matt Hayward, Patrick Lacey, Lucas Milliron, Scott Cole, Matt Serafini, Wile E. Young, Aaron Dries, Kenzie Jennings, Joe Zito, and many more I’m forgetting or have yet to discover, for that I apologize.

A decade that started with myself barely reading horror novels anymore, quickly engulfed me with new authors and friends, zoomed me into copy-editing for Eraserhead/Deadite Press for a four year stint (mainly editing for Carlton Mellick III), which then exploded into being a copy-editor for Thunderstorm Books. To then work with all my recent literary idols made me again nervous, but after doing it for almost seven years now, and around 120 books later, has been outstanding. Now in the past five years also becoming an author myself has been amazing. Learning from my idols in this new realm has been incredible, being mentored by Kelli Owen, Robert Ford, Brian Keene, and Tom Monteleone has been invaluable, garnering knowledge from the new crop of authors around me has also been eye opening and unforgettable. I can’t begin to thank everyone around me for all that they’ve done, but I would like to thank five people specifically.

Kelli Owen, Robert Ford, and Brian Keene for their friendship, knowledge, pushing me to be better, and opportunities.

Mark Sieber for his friendship, opening my world up with his knowledge, the doors he’s opened for me just by having the Horror Drive-In, and through everything he’s done the opportunities that have been created for me.

Paul Goblirsch for the amazing adventure he continues to grant me, the doors he’s opened without realizing it (and maybe some he does realize), and for everything that the future holds.

This has been quite a decade for all of us, both personally and professionally, and I can’t even begin to think what the next will hold. Let’s do this and do it right. The sky’s the limit, and there’s way too many victims left for us to eviscerate before we’re done.

Written by Kyle Lybeck

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