The Stephen King Thread - Part 1

[ouroboros]

Hey, now, they've given me BSG, Caprica and Being Human...

But, yeah, their misses outweigh their hits. The odds are stacked against this. And God help us if Mick Garris directs.

Nice to see some more Mick Garris hate (or at least dislike).

 

[JewishHobbit]

Lately I've read Rage, the Dead Zone, and am almost finished with Firestarter.

Sadly... I've not liked any of them. I despised Rage and felt that the characters were insanely unbelievable. The Dead Zone was okay but forgettable (though I liked the final conflict scene) and so far Firestarter has dragged on. There's been a scene or two that I liked, but over all I'm just excited to see it end.

I have Cujo and Roadwork on my phone to listen to next.

 

[Victarion]

Try The Talisman by King and Straub. You might enjoy it, Hobbit. It read kind of like a fantasy for kids, so it might be up your alley since if I recall correctly you were writing some books for kids.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I'll give it a shot soon. I actually started it once but had to stop. I listen to audio books while working and the guy who reads Talisman sounds like Andy Samberg's impression of Nicholas Cage. It was very hard to take it seriously at the time, but I've gotten used to audio books more now so I can probably handle it.

 

[:eek:]

Hearts in Suspension Out Now!

Posted: November 8, 2016, 09:07:22
Section: Book » Hearts in Suspension

So, King’s latest book was released yesterday (my review is on its way) and this time it’s a special book. Hearts in Suspension is an Essay Collection released by University of Maine. Here is all the info you need about it.

This publication marks the 50th anniversary of Stephen King’s entrance into the University of Maine at Orono in the fall of 1966. The accelerating war in Vietnam and great social upheaval at home exerted a profound impact on students of the period and deeply influenced King’s development as a writer and as a man.

King’s fictional treatment of this experience in his novella “Hearts in Atlantis” (reprinted in this volume) tracks his youthful avatar, Peter Riley, through the awakenings and heartbreak of his turbulent first year at UMaine. In his accompanying essay, “Five to One, One in Five,” written expressly for this volume, King sheds his fictional persona and takes on the challenge of a nonfiction return to his undergraduate experience. The stereoscopic combination of these narratives, told with King’s characteristic blend of canny insight and self-deprecating humor, create a revealing portrait of the artist as young man and a ground-level tableau of this highly charged time.

In addition, twelve fellow students and friends from King’s college days contribute personal narratives recalling their own experience of those years. These recollections—engaged, irreverent, and affecting—bring dimension and texture to the collective witnessing of a formative time in their lives and a defining moment in the country’s history.

This book also includes four installments of King’s never-before-reprinted student newspaper column, “King’s Garbage Truck.” These lively examples of King’s damn-the-torpedoes style, entertaining and shrewd in their youthful perceptions, more than hint at a talent about to take its place in the American literary landscape.

A gallery of period photographs and documents augments this volume.


You can order your copy here.

 

[Morg]

If you follow him on twitter he's shutting down for awhile

http://wgme.com/news/local/clinton-...medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

 

[:eek:]

King Read Two Excerpts From Sleeping Beauties

Posted: November 23, 2016, 10:07:08
Section: Book » Sleeping Beauties

King read from his and Owen’s upcoming book Sleeping Beauties on November 16. Here is a recap of the event.

Stephen King gave a Princeton audience a preview of his newest work, which will be published in 2017.

The legendary author shared two excerpts from “Sleeping Beauties,” which Mr. King wrote with his son, Owen King, an author in his own right, having published such acclaimed books as “We’re All in This Together: A Novella and Stories,” and “Double Feature: A Novel.”

During his reading — which was part of the Althea Ward Clark Reading Series, presented by Princeton University’s Program in Creative in Writing — at McCarter Theatre on Nov. 16, Stephen King read the excerpts from an iPad. He explained that he and his son started working on the book two years ago after Owen came to him with an idea — a story about what would happen if all the women in the world fell asleep.

Mr. King, whose bibliography of bestsellers includes “Carrie,” “The Shining,” “Misery,” “Under the Dome,” and “11/22/63,” said the idea brought two memories to mind. His mother-in-law once told him that if you go into someone’s house and there isn’t a ring in the toilet bowl, it means a woman lives in the home. The other thought was his mother saying that no man knows how to property fold a shirt (men who served in the military may disagree).

Wearing jeans, a collared shirt, and sneakers, Mr. King was introduced by Joyce Carol Oates. Mr. King talked about the story, and a bit about writing. “One of the reasons writers write is to figure out what they think by codifying it into words,” he said. He also joked about pushing the wrong button on his iPad and losing the excerpts, “What will you do then Smartass?” he said to himself. He added that while the iPad is amazing, he preferred reading printed pages. “These are just boops and bleeps,” he said of the words on the screen. It was an interesting remark from a writer who was among the first major authors to publish an original story as an e-book, and who has published a few things exclusively for Amazon’s Kindle.

The stage was decorated with the set for a production of the musical “Once,” presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts. Standing before some wooden tables, a bar and under dozens of hanging chandeliers, Mr. King read two excerpts from the book, one from a man’s point of view, and one from the point of a view from a female character, who is existing in another dimension.


Source: Central Jersey

 

[SpideyInATree]

Lately I've read Rage, the Dead Zone, and am almost finished with Firestarter.

Sadly... I've not liked any of them. I despised Rage and felt that the characters were insanely unbelievable. The Dead Zone was okay but forgettable (though I liked the final conflict scene) and so far Firestarter has dragged on. There's been a scene or two that I liked, but over all I'm just excited to see it end.

I have Cujo and Roadwork on my phone to listen to next.

I think you should give Dead Zone another try. It's a great book, one of my all time favorites of his.

 

[John G. Lodge]

Currently reading IT. For the first time since it originally dropped.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I realized that it's quite sad that I've seen so many films based on his novels, but haven't read any. I'm waitlisted for It from my library.

 

[Brother Jack]

I will read The Stand this year. Hopefully starting it soon.

 

[MadderMaximus]

I will read The Stand this year. Hopefully starting it soon.

I read this once every few years. Same with It. It's gotten to the point where sometimes I'll flip to a random page and just start reading and not feel like I missed anything.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Got It, Starting it now. Page count is still intimidating.

 

[scarlet-witch]

The further I get into It, the more I realize that Joe Hill really doesn't seem to have his own voice. He writes exactly as his father does, or tries to.

 

[squeekness]

That may be true, but it hasn't kept me from really enjoying his books.

 

[:eek:]

Sleeping Beauties Out In October

Posted: January 31, 2017, 19:39:10
Section: Book » Sleeping Beauties
According to StephenKing.com Sleeping Beauties will be out in October.

What would happen if all the women abandoned the world? A wildly provocative novel of supernatural suspense, SLEEPING BEAUTIES is the first father/son collaboration between Stephen King and Owen King.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I finished It. Now, I was really young when I saw the miniseries based on it and I only vaguely remember parts. But I was not expecting that sex scene where the f*** did that come from?!

 

[:eek:]

New Book By King & Chizmar

Posted: February 11, 2017, 20:12:39

Looks like we might get a second King book this year after all, a collaboration with Richard Chizmar.

 

[:eek:]

Chizmar & King Novella Returns To Castle Rock

Posted: February 15, 2017, 21:23:04
Section: Book » Untitled Book By King & Chizmar

Richard Chizmar gave us this update on the novella he has written with King:

Regarding the novella I recently finished writing with Stephen King...
I can't tell you the title yet. I can't tell you the plot synopsis. And I can't tell you publication details. But I can tell you that readers will soon be heading back to a small town in Maine called Castle Rock.


I don't know about you but I'm superexcited!

 

[rnewbz]

Guys! A Castle Rock series is being made by JJ Abrams! http://www.audienceseverywhere.net/stephen-kings-shared-universe-comes-togther-castle-rock/

 

[:eek:]

Gwendy’s Button Box: New Book By King & Chizmar

Posted: February 28, 2017, 18:21:21
Section: Book » Gwendy’s Button Box

The book Stephen King and Richard Chizmar has written is called Gwendy’s Button Box and will be released by Cemetery Dance in May.

Here is a description of the plot. Something that exits me extra with this is the line: ”We ought to palaver, you and me“. We have heard that word Palaver before right…

The little town of Castle Rock, Maine has witnessed some very strange events and unusual visitors over the years, but there is one story that has never been told...until now.

There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974 twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong (if time-rusted) iron bolts and zig-zag up the cliffside.

At the top of the stairs, Gwendy catches her breath and listens to the shouts of the kids on the playground. From a bit farther away comes the chink of an aluminum bat hitting a baseball as the Senior League kids practice for the Labor Day charity game.

One day, a stranger calls to Gwendy: "Hey, girl. Come on over here for a bit. We ought to palaver, you and me."

On a bench in the shade sits a man in black jeans, a black coat like for a suit, and a white shirt unbuttoned at the top. On his head is a small neat black hat. The time will come when Gwendy has nightmares about that hat...

Journey back to Castle Rock again in this chilling new novella by Stephen King, bestselling author of The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, and Richard Chizmar, award-winning author of A Long December.


Here is what King said about working with Richard:


“I had a story I couldn’t finish, and [Chizmar] showed me the way home with style and panache,” King said in a statement. “It was a good time, and I think readers will have a good time reading it. If they are left with questions, and maybe have a few arguments, all the better.”


Rich added…


“Steve sent me the first chunk of a short story,” Chizmar says. “I added quite a bit and sent it back to him. He did a pass, then bounced it back to me for another pass. Then, we did the same thing all over again – one more draft each. Next thing you know, we had a full-length novella on our hands. We took a free hand in rewriting each other and adding new ideas and characters. The whole process took about a month.”

​

 

[:eek:]

Update: Different Editions Of Gwendy’s Button Box

Posted: March 1, 2017, 00:34:18
Section: Book » Gwendy’s Button Box
Here is an update on what editions you can get of Gwendy’s Button Box.

Cemetery Dance
- Trade Hardcover ($25)
- Trade Hardcover signed by Richard Chizmar ($25)
- Trade Hardcover with Custom Slipcase ($49.95)
- Trade Hardcover signed by Richard Chizmar with Custom Slipcase ($49.95)
- eBook

Lonely Road Books
- Limited edition (350) signed by Stephen King & Richard Chizmar
- Lettered Edition (52) signed by Stephen King & Richard Chizmar
The Limited & Lettered Editions will have a 7 X 10 trim size with some additional artwork including a full-color gatefold painting of Castle Rock.

Simon & Schuster Audio
- Audio edition (probably)

Order Gwendy's Button Box from Cemetery Dance
Order Gwendy's Button Box from Amazon.com

Source: Brian Freeman on thedarktower.org message board.

 

[:eek:]

Gwendy’s Button Box 175 Pages Long

Posted: March 1, 2017, 19:38:07
Section: Book » Gwendy’s Button Box
PS Publishing lists Gwendy’s Button Box as 175 pages long.

 

[:eek:]

Sleeping Beauties Over 700 Pages Long

Posted: March 6, 2017, 13:13:13
Section: Book » Sleeping Beauties

Sleeping Beauties

By Stephen King and Owen King

Details UK Edition:
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781473665194
Publication date: 26 Sep 2017
Page count: 704
Imprint: Hodder & Stoughton
Cover art is not the final cover
Pre-Order

Details US Edition:
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 150116340X
Publication date: 26 Sep 2017
Page count: 720
Imprint: Scribner
Pre-Order

A spectacular father/son collaboration like no other, Stephen King and Owen King tell the highest of high stakes stories: what might happen if women disappeared from the world of men?
In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place...

The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain?

Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women's prison, SLEEPING BEAUTIES is a wildly provocative, gloriously absorbing father/son collaboration between Stephen King and Owen King.

 

[:eek:]

The Old Dude's Ticker To Be Released

Posted: March 18, 2017, 11:07:01

Richard Chizmar and Brian James Freeman of Cemetery Dance Publications together with Hydra, a division of Random House, are releasing King's story The Old Dude's Ticker, in the sixth volum of the Dark Screams series.

“THE OLD DUDE’S TICKER” by Stephen King
Richard Drogan has been spooked ever since he came back from ‘Nam, but he’s no head case, dig? He just knows the old dude needs to die.


Pre-order here.