Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #206

Stephen King News From the Dead Zone

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of everything that’s going on in the Stephen King Universe. There are so many projects underway or about to get underway or that could possibly some day get underway that it boggles the mind. This is a new Golden Age for King, especially when it comes to the various adaptations of his work to screens large and small, silver and otherwise. I’m here to help you keep track!
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News From The Dead Zone #95

Breaking News from the Dead Zone

The publication date for King’s upcoming short story collection Just Past Sunset (ISBN-10: 1-4165-8408-0) is November 11, 2008 in the US and UK. The book will have approximately 400 pages and has a cover price of $28.

Though the list hasn’t been finalized, here are the stories that are confirmed for the collection: The Gingerbread Girl, Harvey’s Dream, Rest Stop, Stationary Bike, The Things They Left Behind, Willa, Graduation Afternoon, N, The New York Times At Special Bargain Rates, Mute, Ayana, A Very Tight Place. One unnamed “bonus” story might be added to the list.  I’ve never heard of “N” before.

Look for a new three-part interview with King later this week at Lilja’s Library.

Bravo in Canada is airing the one-hour show An Evening With Stephen King on Thursday at 9 pm EST. “Recently honoured with the Canadian Booksellers Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, King is the first non-Canadian to receive the honour. BookTelevision’s cameras were there to record the historic evening. Authors Margaret Atwood and Clive Barker toast this literary legend, and pop culture writer and essayist Chuck Klosterman interviews King one-on-one. In his heartfelt acceptance speech, King pays tribute to many Canadian writers who have made an impact on his life.” The show does not appear on the US Bravo schedule.

News From The Dead Zone #75

Breaking News from the Dead Zone

August 17, 2007: Fangoria reports that Mick Garris will be directing a feature film adaptation of Bag of Bones, written by Matt Venne and coproduced with Mark Sennet. Garris is also producing the film version of From a Buick 8, directed by Tobe Hooper and said the he would love to direct Gerald’s Game, his favorite King novel.

Read King’s thoughts about the ending of the Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling’s Ministry of Magic) and another EW column: The Joy of Looking, or: What I learned from watching Ellen.

This slipped under some people’s radars, but The Gunslinger’s Guidebook is now out. It was delayed by a week due to some binding issues.

You can now read an excerpt from The Science of Stephen King at the publisher’s web site.

1408 will be released on DVD on October 2, with deleted scenes, featurettes and an alternate ending.

Best American Short Stories will be out on October 10. Edited by King, contributors include Richard Russo, John Barth, Jim Shepard, Alice Munro, William Gay, T.C. Boyle, Mary Gordon, Kate Walbert, Ann Beattie, and Louis Auchincloss.

“The Gingerbread Girl” will be released on Simon & Schuster audio next May.

The Shining: Special Edition DVD will be out from Warner Home Video on October 23. Disc One: Audio commentary by Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown and Kubrick biographer John Baxter. Disc Two: The Making of The Shining, with optional commentary by Vivian Kubrick (from the previous DVD),  new View from The Overlook: Crafting The Shining featurette, new The Visions of Stanley Kubrick featurette,  new Wendy Carlos, Composer featurette.

News From The Dead Zone #72

Breaking News from the Dead Zone

Issue #6 of Gunslinger Born comes out this week. Some shops may be open on July 4th, but otherwise you’ll be able to pick up this penultimate issue of the first cycle on Thursday, July 5th.

It was announced at Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors that Rob Schmidt will direct a big screen adaptation of Insomnia. When asked how he was going to handle bringing such a long story to theatres, Schmidt related that he’ll be focusing a lot on the town itself. He intends to cast young actors and use the special effects wizardry of Stan Winston to de-age them during the story. He says that King is a big fan of his movie Wrong Turn.

1408 had a strong second week at the box office, bringing in over $10 million. In absolute dollars, the $20.2 million opening weekend is the largest for any King adaptation ever. Read some of my thoughts about the film here.

If you haven’t had a chance to read the new story yet, Esquire released a long excerpt from “The Gingerbread Girl” on their website. Once the magazine vanishes from newsstands, you should still be able to find it in your local library or order a back issue.

Blaze entered the NY Times bestseller list at #2 and stayed there the week following its release, too.

A new Entertainment Weekly column: Uncle Stevie’s Gotta Have It!

News From The Dead Zone #69

Breaking News from the Dead Zone

Today is Blaze day. There are new reviews in these two publications: Miami Herald, USA Today.

1408 comes out next week, and there has been a lot of advanced publicity for it. Perhaps they’re trying to stave off the curse attached to horror movies of late. Here are video interviews with John Cusack and director Mikael Hafstrom, and a Shock Till You Drop interview with Hafstrom. Of the production, John Cusack told EW, “We all got Stockholm syndrome.” Here’s an article that speculates about the extra features on the DVD.

The Esquire issue with “The Gingerbread Girl” is out in most places now, and has been drawing a lot of media attention, thanks to an AP wire article that has been picked up everywhere. If you’re not sure where the story’s title comes from, refamiliarize yourself with the classic story The Gingerbread Man. “The gingerbread man did not look back. He ran on saying, ‘Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!'”

News From The Dead Zone #68

Breaking News from the Dead Zone

King was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Toronto on Friday night. Here is his acceptance speech and part of Chuck Klosterman’s interview (video courtesy of Lou Sytsma, a frequent poster on my message board, who also posted these pictures of the event). King’s publisher, Susan Moldow, mentioned that he handed her the manuscript for a new (“personal and moving”) short story, “I, Anna,” that morning. The story probably won’t be published until next year, and was inspired by the recent family death. Here are a few articles that cover the event: Chronicle Journal, CBC, Toronto Star, Toronto Star (follow-up with James Patterson, who was the brunt of a less than flattering comment by King during his interview). The event will run on Canadian television at some point, perhaps on Bravo, and will later be posted on The Hour’s web site.

Here are 8 new film clips from 1408. Simon and Schuster is holding a contest associated with the tie-in reissue of Everything’s Eventual. Cinemablend has a podcast interview with the director, who also informed Bloody-Disgusting.com that King really likes the movie: “King was very pleased with the film, I’m happy to say. When you are adapting an author, especially one who has been around like he has, it’s very important that he approves. Even though the film contains more story, we are true to heart and soul of the short story.” King also doled out some specific praise for Cusack’s performance. Actress Mary McCormack told Bloody Disgusting that two endings were shot for the film, the original too much of a downer for mainstream audiences. The director said the DVD version will contain numerous deleted scenes.

Blaze comes out tomorrow. Here’s my review and Lilja’s review. Lilja is holding Blaze week at his web site, with contests, interviews and prizes.

Several people asked me how to get copies of the DVD of King’s interview with Charles Ardia at the Edgar Awards recently. It is available for purchase from the MWA web site. Click on Order DVD/CDs/Tapes.

I got a kick out of this: 50 reasons to love SK. Especially #26, which is so true it’s funny. Or vice versa.

I read “The Gingerbread Girl,” the 21,000-word thriller in the current issue of Esquire, over the weekend. It has no supernatural elements, but that doesn’t keep it from getting the pulse pounding and the heart thumping.

News From The Dead Zone #67

Breaking News from the Dead Zone

Tonight’s the night for “A Toast to Stephen King,” featuring Margaret Atwood, Clive Barker and George Stroumboulopoulos. The event takes place at 7:30 p.m. in John Bassett Theatre, 255 Front St. W., Toronto. King is presigning a limited number of books for the event, but there’s been no word yet about how they will be distributed. He will not be signing any other books.

The issue of Esquire featuring the new, long story “The Gingerbread Girl” is starting to show up in stores. Angelina Jolie is on the cover. “The Gingerbread Girl” takes up over 20 pages of the issue.

Blaze comes out on Tuesday. Scribner has launched a web site for the book and the first media review appeared in the L.A. Times.

The NY Times reviewed last week’s Rock Bottom Remainders concert. Rock On, But Hang Onto Your Literary Gigs. There’s video from their Good Morning America appearance on the ABC web site.

Check out my message board for a summary of what King has to say about his upcoming novel Duma Key during his recent interview with Hardcase Crime’s Charles Ardai.

Eli Roth has been talking about Cell quite a bit lately, including at Ain’t It Cool News.

You didn’t forget to pick up issue #5 of The Gunslinger Born this week, did you?

News From The Dead Zone #66

Breaking News from the Dead Zone

For the first time in many years, Stephen King will be playing with the Rock Bottom Remainders again. The show takes place on Friday, June 1st at Webster Hall in New York City. The show is being billed as their 15th anniversary “Still Younger Than Keith” concert. Other band members and guests include Dave Barry, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Mitch Albom, Frank McCourt, Andy Borowitz and Roger McGuinn from the Byrds. The concert is a benefit for 826NYC, the New York affiliate of the organization Dave Eggers founded to get kids writing; the AAP’s Get Caught Reading program; and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. On May 31, some of the RBR band members will be appearing on Good Morning America to talk up the charities the band is supporting.

Among those paying tribute to King at the gala in Toronto on June 8th will be Margaret Atwood and Clive Barker, and former Spin editor Chuck Klosterman is handling the evening’s on-stage interview.

King’s newest story, “The Gingerbread Girl,” will appear in Esquire’s July issue, on stands June 15. Here’s how it’s described on King’s web site: “In the emotional aftermath of her baby’s sudden death, Em starts running. Soon she runs from her husband, to the airport, down to the Florida Gulf and out to the loneliest stretch of Vermillion Key, where her father has offered the use of a conch shack he has kept there for years. Em keeps up her running—barefoot on the beach, sneakers on the road—and sees virtually no one. This is doing her all kinds of good, until one day she makes the mistake of looking into the driveway of a man named Pickering. Pickering also enjoys the privacy of Vermillion Key, but the young women he brings there suffer the consequences…”

The Publishers Weekly review of Blaze is now up at Amazon. The Booklist review is available at Lilja’s Library. Publication date is June 12th.

The King-edited 2007 Best American Short Stories is now up for pre-order at Amazon. It features 20 stories selected from over 400 King read last year, along with a list of 100 others worthy of mention that didn’t make the final cut.

On July 28, The Stand by Me Celebration and Rolling Roadshow invites fans to re-live the classic coming-of-age film in Brownsville, Oregon where it was filmed. Fans can re-live the film during a 1-day celebration that includes viewing the film on a giant outdoor screen, a blueberry pie eating contest, 1950s vintage car cruise-in, sock hop, and a scavenger hunt for the dead body. There will be guest appearances by cast members.

Issue 5 of The Gunslinger Born comes out on June 6th. Lilja has the sketch and variant covers on his web site.

The Dead Zone launches its sixth season on USA Network Sunday, June 17 at 10:00PM/9:00 Central.

News From The Dead Zone #51

Breaking News from the Dead Zone

Parts I and II of Lilja’s interview with Stephen King are online at Lilja’s Library. Part I covers such topics as Fan sites, Blaze and The Haven Foundation. In Part II, King talks about Duma Key, Jack Sawyer and The Gingerbread Girl. Part III appears tomorrow.

In March, Marvel will publish Gunslinger’s Guidebook, which appears to be a concordance type book for the Dark Tower graphic novel series. “May luck rise to meet you, sai. Dark days have befallen the once powerful Affiliation. As the Good Man’s revolutionaries continue their assault on the civilizations of the Inner Baronies, young Gunslinger Roland Deschain of Gilead and his loyal ka-tet embark eastward on an undercover mission to the distant Outer Barony of Mejis on behalf of the Affiliation. The Gunslinger Guidebook serves as your essential guide for Gilead to Mejis and all points in between – featuring profiles on the Big Coffin Hunters, Sheemie Ruiz, and Rhea of the Coos.” Click the cover image for a larger version.

Nicole Boose has a new entry in her Marvel blog, The Error That Almost Was. Issue 1 of the series is at the printers.

Peter David and Jae Lee will sign The Gunslinger Born #1 at Midtown Comics at midnight on February 6th at Times Square.