FROM HARD CASE CRIME
JOYLAND to be published in June 2013
New York, NY; London, UK (May 30, 2012)—Hard Case Crime, the award-winning line of pulp-styled crime novels published by Titan Books, today announced it will publish JOYLAND, a new novel by Stephen King, in June 2013. Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, JOYLAND tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever. JOYLAND is a brand-new book and has never previously been published. One of the most beloved storytellers of all time, Stephen King is the world’s best-selling novelist, with more than 300 million books in print.
Called "the best new American publisher to appear in the last decade" by Neal Pollack in The Stranger, Hard Case Crime revives the storytelling and visual style of the pulp paperbacks of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. The line features an exciting mix of lost pulp masterpieces from some of the most acclaimed crime writers of all time and gripping new novels from the next generation of great hardboiled authors, all with new painted covers in the grand pulp style. Authors range from modern-day bestsellers such as Pete Hamill, Donald E. Westlake, Lawrence Block and Ed McBain to Golden Age stars like Mickey Spillane (creator of "Mike Hammer"), Erle Stanley Gardner (creator of "Perry Mason"), Wade Miller (author of Touch of Evil), and Cornell Woolrich (author of Rear Window).
Stephen King commented, "I love crime, I love mysteries, and I love ghosts. That combo made Hard Case Crime the perfect venue for this book, which is one of my favorites. I also loved the paperbacks I grew up with as a kid, and for that reason, we’re going to hold off on e-publishing this one for the time being. Joyland will be coming out in paperback, and folks who want to read it will have to buy the actual book."
King’s previous Hard Case Crime novel, The Colorado Kid, became a national bestseller and inspired the television series "Haven," now going into its third season on SyFy.
"Joyland is a breathtaking, beautiful, heartbreaking book," said Charles Ardai, Edgar- and Shamus Award-winning editor of Hard Case Crime. "It’s a whodunit, it’s a carny novel, it’s a story about growing up and growing old, and about those who don’t get to do either because death comes for them before their time. Even the most hardboiled readers will find themselves moved. When I finished it, I sent a note saying, ‘Goddamn it, Steve, you made me cry.’ "
Nick Landau, Titan Publisher, added: "Stephen King is one of the fiction greats, and I am tremendously proud and excited to be publishing a brand-new book of his under the Hard Case Crime imprint."
JOYLAND will feature new painted cover art by the legendary Robert McGinnis, the artist behind the posters for the original Sean Connery James Bond movies and "Breakfast At Tiffany’s," and by Glen Orbik, the painter of more than a dozen of Hard Case Crime’s most popular covers, including the cover for The Colorado Kid.
Since its debut in 2004, Hard Case Crime has been the subject of enthusiastic coverage by a wide range of publications including The New York Times, USA Today, Time, Playboy, U.S. News & World Report, BusinessWeek, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Houston Chronicle, New York magazine, the New York Post and Daily News, Salon, Reader’s Digest, Parade and USA Weekend, as well as numerous other magazines, newspapers, and online media outlets. The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "Hard Case Crime is doing a wonderful job publishing both classic and contemporary ‘pulp’ novels in a crisp new format with beautiful, period-style covers. These modern ‘penny dreadfuls’ are worth every dime." Playboy praised Hard Case Crime’s "lost masterpieces," writing "They put to shame the work of modern mystery writers whose plots rely on cell phones and terrorists." And the Philadelphia City Paper wrote, "Tired of overblown, doorstop-sized thrillers...? You’ve come to the right place. Hard Case novels are as spare and as honest as a sock in the jaw."
Well, unlike Doctor Sleep I can say with this one that I'm looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteToo bad it's not a Bachman novel, which I think is what it deserves to be.
Nice try for a pulp cover Reverend.
ChrisC
Fine by me. I'd bet Cemetery Dance or someone else will eventually get around to releasing a limited edition hardback; I'd better start saving up for that now!
ReplyDeleteI have a question. . .
ReplyDeletedid anyone find Colorado Kid hard to follow ?
I've tried to read the Kid four different times. Each time, I couldn't get past the first few chapters because it was so BORING. This "hard-boiled" novel is a true snooze-fest. Makes me wish King would get back to his cocaine-fueled greatness!
DeleteCouldn't agree more, anon
ReplyDeleteIn answer to your question Reverend, and beware of a major spoilers,is that the real story is about the doors between worlds. It's a Tower related novel.
ReplyDeleteThe Colorado Kid is just that, some kid who discovered that ever popular crack in reality and used it to go world hopping, maybe in an attempt to get back to his own where and when.
Problem is, ol' Colorado found out to late that "The world had Teeth, and it could bite you with them any time it wanted".
As for the insolvable mystery part of the story, I honestly believe it's just a personal belief on the part of King and if you must know it strikes me as a pretty self-indulgent, full of it concept. The idea that we can never truly know things or that things happen with no rhyme or reason. Daniel would have labeled it pagan; Plato called it sophistry.
To be fair, I don't think it's an idea even King believes in himself too much, a lot of what he writes contradicts the very idea. He's in the ironic position of being a basically grounded, yet often caught up in passing fancies or whims.
In other words, the boy's sometimes got his head in the clouds too often.
ChrisC
I found Colorado Kid difficult to read, bland and frustrating. Thus my lack of a review.
ReplyDelete