The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

King has announced that in the fall of 2015 there will be a new collection of stories called The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.  He said it will collect about 20 short tales. Kin noted, "It should be a pretty fat book."

Esquire Offers New KING Story UPDATED

This was first posted at Lilja's Library -- which is a well written King site with LOTS of  news, information and interviews.  Check  it out at liljas-library.com/

Apparently the August edition of Esquire  will be running a new story from Stephen King.  Of course,  none of my local stores have Esquire -- and so I must wait patiently.  Waiting is only made easier by the fact that I still have a few pages of Mr. Mercedes to finish up.

UPDATED: (from Lilja's Library)

King's upcoming story in Esquire Magazine is called That Bus Is Another World.

PHOTO: liljas-library.com

PHOTO: liljas-library

Stephen King Books That Make Great Bedtime Reading

I know some of you will say "all of them."  But which Stephen King books are actually best to curl up with late at night?  Are there certain books you prefer to read before bed?

My list:
1. Books ABOUT Stephen King.  It's true.  I'm more likely to read books that discuss King's books than I am to actually read a Stephen King book.

2. Short books.  I'm not very daring right before I fall asleep.  So novella's and short stories fall nicely into this category.  Only -- I have a confession.  Don't hate me, okay?  I'm not really a short story guy.  It's an odd relationship.  Some of them are great, but it's difficult to invest time, knowing the relationship won't last.  Novella's are just perfect, though.  Satisfying, without requiring a lot of commitment.

The Mist, The Langoliers, 1922, A Good Marriage, Blockade Billy are a few of my favorites.

3. Books I just can't part with.  I read The Stand day and night because I just couldn't stop.

4. Booklets and paperbacks.  Those little parts of the Green Mile were great bedtime reading.

So what Stephen King books do you prefer before falling asleep?

P.S., I know some of you want that bed.

Bad Little Kid

BAD LITTLE KID (in french : "SALE GOSSE")

From stephenking.com: Stephen's visit in Germany and France last November was not only for his fans a very special event, but also for him. To thank all his German and French fans for their warm welcome he came up with a great idea: He wrote a story, "Bad Little Kid", which will be available in e-book format from 14th of March just in German (Böser kleiner Junge) and French (Sale Gosse).

Lilja's Library gives this summery of Bad Little Kid: George Hallas is in prison. In one week, he is to be executed. He has remained silent for a long time, but now he opens up to his public defender, Leonard Bradley. He tells him how his dreadful deed came to pass. For Bradley, the confession will eventuelly have spooky consequences.

Club Stephen King offered this, "A diabolical kid who cause the inevitable death of your relatives, a bad little kid who has led George Hallas, accountant, in the death row. And that may, one day, cross your path."

Summer Thunder is on its way

Stephen King's website has announced the release of "Turn Down the Lights" Published by our good friends at Cemetery Dance, Turn Down the Lights is a trade hardcover featuring Stephen's never before published short story, Summer Thunder. This edition celebrates the 25th anniversary of Cemetery Dance with special editions to be published in 2014. For more information, see the Cemetery Dance website at the link below.

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos

I saw this on ebay and thought it was interesting:
New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos.  It is a compilation of 9 short stories, edited by Ramsey Campbell.

Some of the stories include:

• "Crouch End" by Stephen King
• "The Second Wish" by Brian Lumley
• "Shaft Number 247" by Basil Copper
• "The Faces at Pine Dunes" by Ramsey Campbell
• And a collaboration: "The Black Tome of Alsophocus" by H.P. Lovecraft and Martin S. Warnes!

The book went for $55.68.  (a far cry from my $5 bid.)

Wikipedia offers this summery:

On August 19, 1974, two police officers, alcoholic veteran Ted Vetter and newcomer Robert Farnham, are working the night shift in the London neighborhood of Crouch End. They are discussing the case of Doris Freeman, a young American woman who came in to report the disappearance of her husband, lawyer Leonard Freeman. Nearly hysterical, Doris' story involves monsters and other supernatural incidents. 

She relates how she and her husband were looking for a potential employer's house in Crouch End, but as they did so, they became lost. As they continued searching, their surroundings started to change subtly and become infested by what appeared to be monsters and demons. Doris escapes with her life, but her husband is not so lucky, being consumed by some kind of hideous creature (possibly Shub-Niggurath, due to a reference to 'the Black Goat with a Thousand Young' made shortly before the creature's appearance). 

Farnham dismisses the story as rubbish, but Vetter, who has worked in Crouch End for years, is not so sure, remembering a time previously when similar events happened before. He speaks of different dimensions and Crouch End being a place where the veil between our world and another more demonic world is at its weakest. The story ends with Farnham going out into the night, only to find that something is different about the area for him too. He is never seen again, and Vetter dies a few years later. The story ends by saying that people continued to disappear in Crouch End and sometimes are never seen again.

Full Wikipedia article is HERE.

Harpers to publish short story

I posted last week that King would be publishing a new short story titled, "Batman and Robin have an altercation."  Lauren Walter has posted at Examiner, 

Stephen King has a new short story available on Tuesday, August 28, in the latest issue of Harper's Magazine. It’s King's first time featured in Harper's. The story features a middle-aged man and who has a weekly lunch with his Alzheimer’s afflicted dad. After three years of the same lunch and the same conversation, the man is saved from a violent assault by his father. (www.examiner.com)

Harpers gives this  introductory tease:

Sanderson sees his father twice a week. On Wednesday evenings, after he closes the jewelry store his parents opened long ago, he drives the three miles to Crackerjack Manor and sees Pop there, usually in the common room. In his “suite,” if Pop is having a bad day. On most Sundays, Sanderson takes him out to lunch. The facility where Pop is living out his final foggy years is actually called the Harvest Hills Special Care Unit, but to Sanderson, Crackerjack Manor seems more accurate. (www.harpers.org)

What does a man with Alzheimers have to do with "Batman and Robin have an altercation" ?  I don't know!  King's short story titles have been a little more daring lately -- example, Herman Wouk Is Still Alive.

Honk's Review Of: In The Tall Grass

I enjoyed the recent short story segment "In the Tall Grass," written by Stephen King and his son Joe Hill.  I would write a review, but honestly. .  . absolutely everything I would say about it was already said by my friend Bryant Burnette.  He posted a review that hit the nail right on the head at his blog "Ramblings Of A Honk Mahfah."

So, this is reposted from Ramblings Of A Honk Mahfah with Bryant's gracious permission.

A Brief Review of "In theTall Grass" (Part 1 of 2) by Stephen King and Joe Hill 

by Bryant Burnette


Here is what I'm prepared to tell you about "In the Tall Grass":

(1) It is a new novella written by Stephen King and Joe Hill.

(2) It is being published in two parts, the first of which appears in the June/July 2012 issue (on newsstands now!), the second of which will appear in the August 2012 issue.

(3) It is, based on Part 1, a good vintage-style high-concept horror story, of the sort which was once a King specialty. It has since, arguably, become something of a Hill specialty.

and 

(4) It is, based on Part 1, well worth your time.

What I'm about to say next may shock you. It probably won't, but it may, especially if you are very easily shocked (i.e., if you are shocked by things like low low prices at the Walmart, or when Don cheats on someone on Mad Men, or when eating beans gives you the poots).

So if those things shock you, you'll almost certainly be shocked by the following recommendation: do not read Part 1 of "In the Tall Grass"!

*gasp*!!!!!

That's right, I'm advising you NOT to read a Stephen King/Joe Hill story. Even more shocking, I'm advising you not to read a King/Hill story that I very much enjoyed.

*GASP*!!!!!

Why would I make such a blatantly contradictory recommendation? Simple: because Part 1 of this story ends with no resolution whatsoever, and it's going to be two fucking months before you get to find out what happens in that titular tall grass. So, really, it's not so much that I'm recommending that you not read the story; I'm just recommending that you wait two months and then read it all in one go.

"In the Tall Grass" is the story of a pair of siblings, Cal and Becky DeMuth, who are on a road trip. They are very close, and act very much as most twins I have known act. While tooling along in Kansas with the radio off and the windows down, they hear a child shouting for help. The child is apparently lost inside a big field of tall grass, and they decide to help.

That's all you're getting out of me.

I very much enjoyed the first part of the story. It's well-written, funny, scary, and ... incomplete. See, thing is, I just can't judge it in this form; without knowing how it turns out, I don't know how to feel about the story. Did I enjoy reading Part 1? Absolutely. Do I anticipate that Part 2 will reward my patience? I do.

But I suspect that most readers -- be they King fans, Hill fans, fans of both, or fans of neither -- will mostly be more satisfied if they digest "In the Tall Grass" as a complete work, not as a serial one.

This, of course, should not stop you from buying a copy of the current issue of Esquire. It's got other goodies, including a short but highly interesting interview with Hill wherein he talks about the process of collaborating with his father. There's also an illuminating interview with Bruce Willis -- see him on the cover? -- in which he sounds, frankly, like a total douche. Or, possibly, like the coolest guy ever. Maybe even both.

So, if you're inclined, give it a buy. And then sit on it for a couple of months; I'm guessing you'll be glad you did (in BOTH cases).

King In June / July Issue Of Esquire

Jule Bosman has a short article at Media Decoder about some new attempts Esquire is making to not only include more fiction -- but to market it to men.

While a lot of the focus in fiction is in the e-book world, the article also reveals that King and Hill will be published in the June / July issue of Esquire.

Bosman writes:

It coincides with the publication of three works in the June/July issue of Esquire — by Stephen King and his son Joe Hill; the thriller writer Lee Child; and Colum McCann. The works will be available only in the print and iPad editions of the magazine.

David Granger, the editor in chief of Esquire, said he has lamented the loss of space that magazines devoted to publishing fiction. The New Yorker is perhaps the most visible home for fiction in the magazine world, but many other magazines have cut back.

The full article is HERE.

Quigley: Collection Time for Stephen King

Kevin Quigley has posted a great article at FEARnet.com.  Quigley is author of several books about Stephen King and proprietor of Charnel House.

Quigley's article, titled "Collection Time for Stephen King: An Observation" is like an alarm clock reminding the constant reader that the time must be near for another collection of short stories. In  Collection Time, Quigley gives us an examination of several of King's short stories that have not yet been included in a book.

Of course, some of King's most memorable works have come from the books of short stories.  The Mist was one of my favorites.  Of course, sometimes the short stories are deeply connected to King's novels.   Jerusalem's Lot lay the ground work for Salem's Lot and Night Surf was groundwork for The Stand.  One of my favorites is Survivor Type -- which is a different kind of take on cannibalism. 

Quigley spots things I would easily miss.  (Maybe because I don't focus enough on the short stories, as I'm just trying to stay afloat reading all those novels!)  I like this observation about Morality:

"Morality" forms a loose trilogy with "Mute" (from Just After Sunset) and Full Dark, No Stars' "Fair Extension" as stories that explore the concept of sin and how it affects regular people.

Quigley also considers what story should serve as the "opening act."  I'll stop giving spoilers, because you should really read this article and chew on his conclusions.  I like it all!

The full article is HERE.

New Anthology Film In The Works

Dark Horizon's Garth Franklin has posted that Mark Pavia is writing a script for an new anthology film featuring the work of Stephen King.  Franklin notes that this is something we haven't seen since Creepshow and Cat's Eye.

Franklin writes:

Pavia tells Icons of Fright that "Steve chose two of the stories and I chose two — the selection a perfect mixture of classic and contemporary King, a little bit of something for his oldest and newest fans alike. It will be a true representation of his different personas, his varied styles and voices throughout the years. Everything from the horror showman at his pulpiest to his most introverted and introspective character pieces, which can also be his most frightening."

Pavia previously directed the 1997 adaptation of King's "The Night Flier" about a journalist that tracks a vampire pilot.  (HERE)

Herman Wouk Is Still Alive

stephenking.com reports: "Stephen King’s short story, “Herman Wouk is Still Alive,” will be published in the May issue of The Atlantic, on newsstands April 19 and available on the web and to subscribers a week earlier."
http://www.stephenking.com/index.html

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Herman who? Wouk worked for Fred Allen as a writer. Fred Allen was famous on old radio and early television. As a Jack Benny fan, I don't know about this Mr. Wouk! (Benny and Allen had an ongoing feud that was awesome!) In fact, just think of all the Jack Benny digs this Wouk has probably written. He later served in World War Two.

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On a more serious note, he is the author of many historical novels, most notably The Caine Mutiny and Winds of war. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Caine Mutiny. His most recent book is The Language God Talks. He is Jewish and has written a lot about Israel. Awesomely cool to me, he lives in California! (Not too far away)

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Website: http://www.hermanwouk.net/index.html

Biography: http://www.hermanwouk.net/biography.html

On What's My Line: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXiiuVtu5AA

On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Herman-Wouk/e/B000APY7U4

The Kind Of Television Suited For King

Simple Point: I wish there was a "Twilight Zone" like series featuring Stephen King's work.

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In the previous post I linked to Stephanie Earp's article, "Can Stephen King Work on TV?"

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I think King can work on TV. Of course, I'm excited about Haven. When it comes to television, I liked Nightmares and Dreamscapes. I'll review the 8 episodes another time, but here's why I like it; Short stories with a punch are one of the things constant readers have come to expect from King. In fact, every few years King gives us a book full of wonderful stories -- Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Everything Eventual, Just After Sunset.

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The format where you did short stories on television seems to be slipping away. I loved the Twilight Zone. It was written -- for the most part -- by three authors; Rod Serling, Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont (the Twilight Zone's Richard Bachman!). While it was always Serling's show, the output was so enormous it took a creative writing team to make it happen.

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I wish we could have a Stephen King version of the Twilight Zone. Strange music, an introduction from Uncle Steve and a great story with a neck breaking twist at the end.

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They tried a remake of the Twilight Zone in the 80's. We all know how that went. And to be clear, I'm not saying King should do the Twilight Zone. However, the series had a format that would work for King's material.

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What made the Twilight Zone successful? A lot of things, but one important factor was Serling himself. Serling had immense control over the Twilight Zone! It was His show. You can read the behind the scenes story in Marc Zicree's The Twilight Zone Companion, but the bottom line is that it was Serling's gig. He sold it, he wrote for it, he often re-wrote the scripts, and he introduced each episode. He became the face of the Twilight Zone.

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There were Others!

Of course, there was the Outer Limits and Science Fiction Theater -- but they weren't built on a single person.

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The Master of Suspense -- director of Psycho and The Birds -- had Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Lots of fun! Can any of us forget those opening lines, "Good evening." We knew it would not be a good evening for someone on Mr. Hitchcock's show! This series was so good, they remade it.

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I also remember enjoying Ray Bradbury's Theater as a kid. I mention those because they are both based on a single person (in this case, respectively, a director and a writer). More recently we've had Tales from the Crypt, which King has written for, and each episode was introduced by the ghoulish Crypt keeper. I liked it! George Romero produced Tales from the Darkside.

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The forced time frame is also nice for short stories. Often King's work is actually hurt by cinema's need to flesh it out beyond the walls King created it in. You know, the best Twilight Zone's were the 30 minute ones. Season Four,w hen they went to an hour, stunk up bad! In fact, I can't think of a single episode from season four that was really wonderful.

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Still Waiting For Radio

Don't you miss old radio? I wasn't around for it! My wife said I was born an old man. Go figure. But I've said before that King's work would really work best on radio since it is the Theater Of The Mind! And it's been done. BBC gave us a faithful adaptation of Pet Semetary.

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Maybe some day they'll give us: Uncle Steve's Dark Kingdom.

King Among 09 Shirley Jackson Award Winners

shirleyjacksonawards.org has this announcement about their 2009 awards:

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"The 2009 Shirley Jackson Awards winners were announced on Sunday, July 11th 2010, at Readercon 21, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Burlington, Massachusetts. Congratulations to all winners!"

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King won in the catagory of "novelette" for "Morality" which was published in Esquire.

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http://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/sja_2009_winners.php

The Old Dude's Ticker

Cemetery Dance has an announcement that "The Old Dude's Ticker" by Stephen King, which you can only read in The Big Book of Necon -- a hardcover oversized special edition.

Here's a snippit of Kin g's the introduction from The Big Book of Necon,

"In the two years after I was married, I sold nearly a dozen stories to various men's magazines. Most were purchased by Nye Willden, the fiction editor at Cavalier. Those stories were important supplements to the meager income I was earning in my two day jobs, one as a high school English teacher and the other as an employee of The New Franklin Laundry, where I washed motel sheets. Two of them, however, did not sell... The second was the one that follows, a crazed revisionist telling of Poe’s 'The Tell-Tale Heart...' I hope some of Poe's feverish intensity comes through here... and I hope the master isn't rolling in his grave too much."

The book is $40.

http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/PROD/booth01

Premium Harmony

Stephen King is a busy man! His short story, Premium Harmony, is online -- for free! -- at the newyorker.com. The story includes a trip through Castle Rock, a bickering couple (remind you of Children of the Corn? -- well, it shouldn't). Have fun.



http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2009/11/09/091109fi_fiction_king

Shrot Stories

I enjoy short stories the way I enjoy the Twilight Zone -- I look forward to the end and the final twist. But a novel allows you to enjoy each turn, the stories within the stories. It's like LOST verses the Twilight Zone.

One reason The Stand is such an engaging novel is that it is long and takes the time to build characters. King's novels are usually a series of short stories pressed together into a larger plot. Ray Bradbury literally wrote the Martian Chronicles as a series of shrot stories.

I do wish the Tommyknockers were a novella instead of a novel.

Here is a quick list of my favorite King short stories:
1. The Mist.
2. Riding The Bullet
3. Autopsy Room Four
4. Dolan's Cadillac.
5. Suffer the Children
6. The Ledge
7. Survivor Type
8. The Girl who loved Tom Gordon.
9. The man in the black suit
10. Willa

Okay, so the Mist is techincally a novella, but it's in a book of short stories!

Short Story, Weeds & Morality

Lilja's Library gave this address for those who want to read King's short story: Weeds.

http://www.cavmag.com/featured.php

Also read the new short story Morality
http://www.esquire.com/fiction/fiction/stephen-king-morality-0709