Stephen King Breaking News From the Dead Zone

May 6, 2008: You can now watch the entire video from the C-SPAN 2 broadcast via their website and/or order the program on DVD.

The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta announced that production of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, with music by John Mellencamp and a book by horror master King, has been delayed because of "unanticipated scheduling problems which could not be resolved in time for the production." Members of the creative team "realized the script would not be ready by spring 2009," the statement said. The Alliance said it now hopes to produce the show during its 2009-2010 season.

May 5, 2008: If you missed last night's airing on C-SPAN 2 of a Writing Discussion with Stephen, Tabitha, and Owen King, it will run again on Saturday, May 17, at 8:00 a.m. It's worth catching, because King read from the first pages of the book he is currently working on, which sounds like a re-imagining of a failed novel from the 1980s called The Cannibals at one time and Under the Dome at another. The snippet he read had to do with a woman getting a flying lesson. A twenty-five year old quote from King about the novel: "I've gotten about four-hundred-and-fifty pages done and it is all about these people who are trapped in an apartment building. Worst thing I could think of. And I thought, wouldn't it be funny if they all ended up eating each other? It's very, very bizarre because it's all on one note. And who knows whether it will be published or not."

King was on the NPR program Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me yesterday playing a game called, "You're the Warmest, Fluffiest, Most Unthreatening Friend Ever." Three questions about nice things to ask the man who has scared us to our wits for decades.

Christian Slater and Wes Bentley have signed up to star in the adaptation of "Dolan's Cadillac." The thriller follows a young man (Bentley) who seeks to avenge his wife's murder by the untouchable Las Vegas mobster Jimmy Dolan (Slater). Emmanuelle Vaugier rounds out the key cast on the project, which is scheduled to begin shooting in Saskatchewan and Quebec on May 14. Erik Canuel will direct from Richard Dooling's adapted screenplay. (Dooling, as you may recall, was King's collaborator on Kingdom Hospital)

May 1, 2008: On Book TV on C-SPAN 2: Authors Stephen, Tabitha, and Owen King discuss their writing with Washington, D.C. area high school students. The King family reads from their latest works and takes questions from the students. This event was sponsored by PEN/Faulkner's "Writers in Schools" program and the Center for the Book and took place at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

April 22, 2008: Stephen King, crime writer Tess Gerritsen and John Grisham will read at a fundraiser to support Maine Congressman Tom Allen's campaign for the U.S. Senate on Saturday, June 7. There will be two events on that day, a Host Committee Cocktail Reception from 5:00-6:00 pm and the main event at 7:00 pm at the Bangor Auditorium. Tickets for one or both events are available here. There are some restrictions on who can buy tickets (non-resident aliens can't, for example), so check out the full announcement here.

It was revealed this week that the third cycle of Marvel's graphic novel series will be called Dark Tower: Treachery #1, debuting in September 2008.

April 17, 2008: Bev Vincent's review of "A Very Tight Place" by Stephen King has been posted on the Cemetery Dance MySpace Blog. Check it out!

April 16, 2008: The debut entry Cemetery Dance's MySpace blog is my report on The Three Kings event in Washington D.C. two weeks ago. There was also a nice write-up in The Washington Post.

Marvel announced Dark Tower: The End-World Almanac, which will be published on July 2. "Woe unto those who traverse beyond the cursed Borderlands into End-World! 'Tis a twisted and desolate realm where it seems as if the world passed ages ago. From the blasted landscapes of Thunderclap to the frozen heights of Empathica, End-World shows no mercy to unwary young Gunslingers. In a world where information--and a bit of luck--is the key to survival, the End-World Almanac serves as your guide to the Badlands, Le Casse Roi Russe and beyond!"

Gunslinger Born and its artists received a total of four nominations in the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards: Best Limited Series, Best Penciller/Inker (Jae Lee), Best Cover Artist (Jae Lee) and Best Coloring (Richard Isanove). The results will be announced at an awards ceremony on Friday, July 25 at Comic-Con International.

"A Very Tight Place" will be in McSweeney's #27, due out on May 1. Much of this 70+ page story takes place in a portable toilet at an abandoned construction site and is classic King. It is also the first King story I can recall that has a gay protagonist. You can get discounted issues at Amazon. Otherwise you'll have to wait until Just After Sunset comes out this fall to read this great story. It's not for the squeamish, though. Positively icky in places.

Mick Garris will direct Bag of Bones as a feature film, and executive-produce with Mark Sennett. The screenplay was written by Matt Venne. "What appeals to me about King in general and Bag of Bones in particular is how human it is," Garris told Fangoria. "The recent King stuff is very adult and very passionate, which I really respond to. I just love the idea of doing a grown-up ghost story."

March 24, 2008: The first published collaboration between Stephen King and Joe Hill, a novella entitled "Throttle" inspired by the classic Richard Matheson story Duel (and the equally classic adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg), will appear in the Gauntlet Press collection He Is Legend: Celebrating Richard Matheson, which was announced this morning and is now up for reservation pre-orders for a February 2009 limited edition release.

You can listen to King's NPR interview from last week online here. The main news arising from the interview is that Marvel seems to be moving forward with plans to do a graphic novel adaptation of The Stand.

The Mist comes out on DVD tomorrow. Blockbuster has an online game where you fight off monsters as you escape from the supermarket. If you make it to the end you can see a snippet from an interview between King and Frank Darabont. Blockbuster is also giving out Mist globes at participating stores to people who purchase the DVD tomorrow. Here's a neat little interview with Francis Sternhagen.

Note that the official title for King's upcoming story collection from Scribner is Just After Sunset.

March 10, 2008: King will give a live interview to discuss the state of comics tied to the release of The Long Road Home on the NPR program Talk of The Nation this Wednesday, March 12th from 2:30-3:00 PM EST. "Marvel Publishing is grateful to Stephen for taking the time out of his busy schedule to talk about The Dark Tower comic series and comic books as a whole," says Ruwan Jayatilleke, Marvel Entertainment Vice President of Development. "We're excited that this will offer a chance to introduce this phenomenal epic--and medium of entertainment--to NPR's listeners as well as reward loyal Dark Tower fans with some highly entertaining radio!" To check local listings, visit http://www.npr.org.

March 5, 2008: Today is the publication day for the first installment of The Long Road Home. Some comic shops opened at midnight, but most others should have the Marvel comic book on their shelves by this afternoon.

The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, King's musical collaboration with John Mellencamp, will have its World Premiere at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta from April 15 - May 10, 2009 . "In 1957, in the tiny town of Lake Belle Reve, Mississippi, a terrible tragedy took the lives of two brothers and a beautiful young girl. During the next forty years, the events of that night became a local legend. But legend is often just another word for lie. Joe McCandless knows what really happened; he saw it all. The question is whether or not he can bring himself to tell the truth in order to save his own troubled sons, and whether the ghosts left behind by an act of violence will help him...or tear the McCandless family apart forever." If the show does well in Atlanta, it will move on to Broadway.

Tickets for The Three Kings are showing up both at the Folger Theater web site and on eBay, so if you want to go and haven't purchased a ticket yet, here's another chance.

King will be introducing Lauren Groff, author of The Monsters of Templeton, at a special event at 6:30 p.m. March 27 in Selby Auditorium at the University of South Florida, 8350 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $25, include a copy of Groff's book, and are available at Sarasota News & Books, 1341 Main St. Whether King will be reading or interviewing the author has not yet been finalized.

All three parts of Lilja's interview with King are now online at Lilja's Library.

The first episode of a Bravo! Canada show called Books into Film will feature King's works on March 6. "Series examining the adaptation of books into movies, using clips, interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. This episode: Hollywood's long-running fascination with this versatile writer, author of Carrie, The Shawshank Redemption, The Shining and Stand By Me. Bravo! Canada is also re-airing An Evening With Stephen King on March 27 and March 28.

February 19, 2008: 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 10th anniversary of the publication of Bag of Bones, King's first book with Scribner. 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.

February 8, 2008: The official title for King's upcoming short story collection is Just Past Sunset. The publication date and story list are still being finalized but a fall 2008 date is a possibility.

King enlisted input from posters on his message board for one of his upcoming essays. He writes: "As you know, I do a column for Entertainment Weekly, and I had an idea for a column called My Worst Entertainment Experience. If you have stories about your absolute worst entertainment experience—anything from a guy who threw up in your lap at a movie to a concert where the lead singer passed out—let me know. Please limit your responses to 100 or so words. After all Ms. Mod and I have to wade our way through these things. In any case, thank you for your help! And if you never had a terrible entertainment experience·I hate you!" Though the thread is no longer accepting contributions, you can read the stories here.

McSweeney's 27 will contain the new King short story "A Very Tight Place." Visit the web site for ordering information (it should be out in May or June) and for a description of the issue's unique presentation. "A Very Tight Place" was inspired by King's vision of what would happen if someone was in a port-a-pottie when it fell over and blocked the door shut. "And immediately I'm thinking Poe, The Premature Burial, I'm thinking about all the buried alive stories that I've ever read, and I'm thinking, but I've never read a story about anyone trapped in a Porta-Pottie. And there are so many interesting things that you can do with people who are in tight places, people's feelings of claustrophobia are easy to bring out."

February 1, 2008: When you're not scanning the back yard tomorrow to see if the groundhog is frightened off by his shadow, don't forget to check out the Today show on NBC. King's appearance that was scheduled for last weekend was pushed back to this weekend, Saturday according to the current schedule.

Duma Key debuted in the #1 position on USA TODAY and Publishers Weekly's lists. With a new Grisham book out this week, USA Today opines that Duma might be dethroned after just one week at the top of the lists. "This is the first time the two titans have released new hardcover novels within a week of each other." On his message board, King issued the following statement, "Thanks, everybody, for buying Duma Key and--even more--saying nice things about it. I haven't seen so few 'flame throwers' on this website (and others) in...well, more years than some of you have been alive. Stay tuned, and keep checking this site for new material. It's coming..."

Stephen King's new haunt: Florida -- Erik Spanberg, Christian Science Monitor
Duma Key -- Chauncey Mabe, Florida Sun-Sentinal
A King-sized tale -- Karin Winegar and Peter Moore, Minneapolis Star Tribune; a tag-team review.
Terry Miller Shannon @ BookReporter.com
London Times
The horror of Stephen King's decline -- Justin Williams, London Telegraph
Artist with devilish power sure to please King fans -- Brigitte Weeks, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
King finds new state of horror -- Susan L. Rife, Sarasota Herald Tribune
Stephen King churns out some of his best work for most of 'Duma Key' -- Christopher Kelly, Fort Worth Star Telegram
A late show of force from the artist of dread -- Roz Kaveney in the Independent
On form? -- Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail

According to their web page, McSweeney's 27 will come "as three separate books in a windowed slipcase, presenting six different possible faces to the world, in order to best match your home decor. Book One plunges into the grayish, faintly understood area of the art world involving oddly drawn objects coupled with uncertainly spelled text. Book Two is a never-before-seen 72-page sketchbook by the legendary Art Spiegelman. Book Three collects new stories by Stephen King, Jim Shepard, and fiveish others."

In a recent interview in Rolling Stone, John Mellencamp says that The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County will have another workshop in New York and then go into production in Atlanta this spring. "If it goes well in Atlanta, then we'll come to Broadway. If it don't go well in Atlanta, we're done...Somebody came and watched the last reading that we had in New York and reviewed it. The review said this is a musical that men will enjoy. Unheard of, the guy said."

January 24, 2008: There's a new interview in today's USA Today: 'Duma Key' finds Stephen King stepping into his own life. The interactive graphic at the top is called Stephen King By the Numbers. "His next book will be a collection of short stories, but he and his publisher can't agree on a title. He wants to call it Unnatural Acts of Human Intercourse, which 'could be a tough sell in some markets.'"

The Mist will be released on DVD on March 25th. The two-disc version will contain the theatrical release along with the movie rendered into black and white, which was how Darabont originally envisioned filming the movie. Special features on the two-disc version include:

∂ Audio commentary by writer/director Frank Darabont
∂ Eight deleted scenes with optional commentary
∂ A Conversation With Stephen King and Frank Darabont featurette
∂ When Darkness Came: The Making of THE MIST featurette
∂ Taming the Beast: Shooting Scene 35 featurette
∂ Monsters Among Us: A Look at the Creature FX featurette
∂ The Horror of It All: The Visual FX of THE MIST featurette
∂ Drew Struzan: Appreciation of an Artist featurette

The single-disc presentation won't have all the bonus features, nor will it have the B&W rendering.

January 23, 2008: Here is a new link directly to King's appearance on Today. He is supposed to appear on the weekend edition of Today as well, probably on Saturday.

The Long Road Home #1, goes on-sale in stores at 12:01AM, March 5th, 2008 (at comic stores participating in the midnight launch). Otherwise the issue will hit shelves at your local comic and book stores during normal business hours. View the exclusive artwork preview at King's official web site.

Burton Hatlen, a literary scholar whose subjects ranged from Shakespeare to King and whose teachings shaped the minds of four generations of students at the University of Maine, died Monday at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. Hatlen wrote several scholarly essays on King's work, and a handful of King's characters bear the name Hatlen, including Brooks Hatlen, the prison librarian in "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption." Read more here.

January 22, 2008: Today is Duma Key day in North America. The book will be released on Thursday in the UK.

King was interviewed by the Bangor Daily News (Stephen King at 60) and appeared on the Today show (Click on the video link underneath The King of Scary in the upper right corner. Users contributed many more questions than King could handle on the live broadcast, so NBC has posted an online Q&A: Why writing is like sex. In the BDN interview, King elaborates that the long novel he is working on now is set in Western Maine.

Stephen King adds painful authenticity to 'Duma Key' —-- David J. Montgomery, Chicago Sun Times
'Duma Key' is uneven, but King can still carry a reader to the thrilling end —-- Karen Long, Cleveland Plain Dealer
King finds fright on Florida's coast —-- Erica Noonan, Boston Globe
Darkness in the Land of Steady Sunshine —-- Janet Maslin, NY Times
King's Florida Nightmare —-- Ali Karim, January Magazine
Duma Key —-- Richard Rayner, LA Times
Duma Key —-- John Dugdale, London Times
Edgar's haunted hand —-- Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
Stephen King's absorbing new thriller, "Duma Key" —-- Mark Rahner, Seattle Times
Tide of terror washes over Stephen King's 'Duma Key' —-- Carol Memmott, USA TODAY
Author stokes potboiler at slow Floridian pace —-- Bill Eichenberger, Columbus Dispatch

January 18, 2008: Duma Key reviews are starting to emerge. Here is my review, which is fairly detailed and discusses a lot of the plot, so read at your own risk. Alan Cheuse reviewed the book on NPR (audio). There are also reviews in the Washington Post and the Rocky Mountain News. If you haven't seen the film clip of King discussing the book on Amazon, it's now available on his official web site, too. (Dialup | DSL/Cable). According to Publishers Weekly, the first printing is 1.5 million copies. Lilja is giving away copies in a contest on his web site.

There's a mini-review/interview in Time magazine (King's New Realm). The article also reveals the following news: King's next book of short stories, Unnatural Acts of Intercourse, will come out this fall or next spring, and he's working on a "novel that's going to be very long. I'll be killing a lot of trees if it gets done."

King will appear on Today on NBC on Tuesday, January 22. If you want to submit a question that might be asked during the interview fill out this form.

Stephen, Tabitha, and Owen King will read from their works at an event called The Three Kings on April 4 in Washington, DC. A reception and book signing will follow. Tickets ($30 + handling) are available here.

January 10, 2008: Happy New Year! Duma Key will be released a week from next Tuesday. Here's an audio excerpt from the book, and here's a neat video trailer (Dial Up | Cable /DSL / Fiber). There's an essay by editor Chuck Verrill at Amazon entitled Duma Key: Where It All Began, and you can read the beginning of the novel in parallel with the short story Memory to see the differences between the two.

December 21, 2007: Just one month to go until the release of Duma Key. Here's the Publishers Weekly review (mild spoilers):

My buddy Dave from Overlook Connection sent me samples of slipcases for Blaze and Gunslinger Born. He's selling both slipcased books and standalone slipcases. Check 'em out.

Issue 1 (of 5) of The Long Road Home, the second Dark Tower graphic novel serial, will be released on March 5, 2008. Here's Marvel's exclamation point-riddled description: "It's the return of the best-selling comic book series, inspired by Stephen King's epic The Dark Tower! Gunslinger Roland Deschain has seen the death of his lover Susan Delgado. And the Big Coffin Hunters who burned her at the stake are now in pursuit of Roland and his ka-tet Cuthbert and Alain. The friends are forced to flee into the desert with the deadly posse in hot pursuit·.and Roland is in a coma! Don't miss this opening chapter starring the Gunslinger whose quest for the Dark Tower will shake the foundation of reality itself!"

USA's series The Dead Zone has been cancelled after a six-year run, leaving several continuing plotlines unresolved. "We wish we could keep all our great shows alive forever," said Jeff Wachtel. "But we feel we need to give some of our new shows a platform to grow, and it's with great sadness that we say goodbye to two shows that had a great run and helped create the resurgence of original programming on our network and on all of cable." The premiere of The Dead Zone, created by the late Michael Piller and his son Shawn, set a record for a series debut on basic cable with 6.4 million viewers.

Two prisoners escaped from Union County jail in Elizabeth, New Jersey last week. Using improvised tools, the men removed cement blocks from two walls, squeezed through the holes, jumped to a rooftop below, scaled a 30-foot high wall and hopped a razor wire fence to escape from what was considered the most secure area of the prison. The escape was apparently inspired by The Shawshank Redemption—---- the inmates covered up their escape holes with photographs of women in bikinis. The escapees left a note saying "Happy Holidays," and thanking a guard they claim helped them escape.

This new Q&A has been getting a lot of press, mostly because of King's "waterboarding" comments. King also talked to Nightline about his childhood, career and the secret to a successful horror film. ABC news has an interesting from book to screen photo essay.

The Mist took in $13 million dollars during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. It was a ninth place opening, but the film's budget was only $18 million, so in five days they've earned back most of their money. Here's a NY Times interview with Darabont and King, an interview with Marcia Gay Harden, an interview with the extras, pictures from the premiere and "Ms Mod's" review -- by the moderator of King's message board, a USA Today article, and an MTV interview with King. My set visit report is a Cemetery Dance free read, but beware of the spoiler notice at the top of the page. I have interviews with Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden and Toby Jones. My interview with Frank Darabont in Rue Morgue #73 should be on stands for a few more days. For my thoughts on the film, visit my LiveJournal.

To see exclusive storyboards from The Mist, visit Fangoria.com. They also have an exclusive video interview with writer/director Darabont here, as well as some cool clips of Darabont and King talking together here. Star Thomas Jane sounds off here. Check out all the articles in Fearful Features too, and the cover story of the current issue of FANGORIA (on newsstands now).

CD's very own Glenn Chadbourne said he spotted his t-shirt design featuring Doug Graves in The Mist. Glenn said he heard on King's radio station WKIT that multiple t-shirts were used in the movie because of all the blood.

Fear.net has a nice interview with Peter, wherein he talks about T3, The Talisman movie and his next book. Note: this video is only available in North America.

Promotional bookmarks for The Long Road Home, the second Marvel graphic novel series, indicate that the launch will be in March 2008. The hardcover version of The Gunslinger Born was the #1 hardcover graphic novel on multiple sales charts and Amazon.com's editors' picked it as the #1 Comic & Graphic Novel of 2007. "This is everything a hardcover collection of this type should be, and more," gushed Joe Hartlaub of BookReporter.Com, who furthered described Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born HC as, "a beautiful hardcover edition that pays proper homage to the work within."

According to Entertainment Weekly, ABC is planning a new drama series that's loosely based on The Colorado Kid. King describes the script, from The Dead Zone's Sam Ernst and Jim Dunn, as "closer to The X-Files than Supernatural." King will have a small stake in the show (currently dubbed Sanctuary) should it go to series, "but it's not something that keeps me up nights, the way Kingdom Hospital did."

When you read Duma Key in January, check out the epigraph, then back up to the copyright page and look at the acknowledgements for the song "Dig" by Shark Puppy. You'll see some familiar names, I'm sure.

November 16, 2007: Stephen King will appear on ABC's Nightline tonight at 11:35 P.M. (EST). If you miss it, the full interview transcript will be at ABCNEWS.com after the show airs. "If I can make you feel for my characters, and if you worry that something will happen to them instead of rooting for something to happen to them, for their head to be blown off, or for Freddy to get them with his nails, then I got something going," King tells Jake Tapper.

Publisher Donald M. Grant posted an updated last week about their new edition of the revised version of The Gunslinger combined with Little Sisters of Eluria. "We have now received from Michael all the additional art for the book and can start working on design and production. Price, schedule and other details have not been set and when further information is available it will be posted on our website and published in our newsletter. We expect that this will be announced in the beginning of 2008." This book will be called Little Sisters of Eluria.

TMZ.com posted a video of King greeting fans before the New York premiere of The Mist when someone asks him to autograph their daughter's diaper. Saying he had "changed a few" in his day, King happily obliges, but the kid throws a fit. Here are some video highlights from the press conference where King and Darabont field questions about The Mist, a quick text recap of the high points and a link where you can listen to the interview. Fangoria magazine says "not only is The Mist intelligent, thoughtful and empathetic toward its characters, it is proudly and unashamedly a horror movie through and through. Darabont has scored his third successful King adaptation in a row, and there's nothing hazy about his intention this time to scare the hell out of all of us." Wandering through the Mist is an interview with Darabont and Marcia Gay Harden. Here is the third trailer.

Darabont tells MTV about his hopes to adapt The Long Walk. "It's a hard story to pitch to a studio. Because they say Îwell what's it about?" Well it is about a bunch of kids walking and talking - uh okay. The thing I keep thinking about is that these guys never stop moving. So, I how do you get a really good close up. It would be an interesting challenge to not have people get just sick of watching the image because of all the movements. So, I think that there are certain rigs that stabilize the image even more so than a steady cam,ä he revealed. "But [overall] I think a lot of run and gun, a lot of the guerrilla approach that I applied on The Mist. It will again be letting those ragged edges show."

Hodder & Stoughton are offering you a unique opportunity to design the advertising for Duma Key. "The winning designer will see their work in print on the London Underground and in city centres and have a hand in promoting a fantastic book by an internationally-renowned author." The competition is open to anyone. Further information on the competition is available at www.stephenking.co.uk. Deadline for entry is December 7, 2007.

November 1, 2007: Den of Geek has released part 1 of an interview that was conducted in 1983 and never published until now. Part 2 will be up tomorrow.

King's review of Eric Clapton's autobiography was published in the NY Times last weekend and is available online. Best American Short Stories 2007 was #10 on the Times paperback bestseller list in the same issue. The standalone paperback of The Mist was #13.

The October 27^th podcast at The Imagination Station's latest Hypa-Space has brief interviews with King, Frank Darabont, and Marcia Gay Harden. Numerologists will be interested to note that they start at the 14:08 mark of the audio file.

Cemetery Dance has released information and illustrations from Secretary of Dreams (Volume Two). This edition contains "The Monkey," "Strawberry Spring," and "In the Deathroom" as illustrated text and "Gray Matter," "One for the Road," and "Nona" in illustrated format. Glenn Chadbourne is the illustrator, once again.

Rocky Wood and Justin Brooks announced The Stephen King Collector's Guide, a CD-ROM of PDFs, available here.

October 26, 2007: Paris Review is now accepting online orders for the Fall issue, which contains the new King story Ayana. Stay tuned, too, in the next few weeks for the December issue of Playboy containing "Mute." F&SF magazine is tentatively scheduling the publication of a new 3100-word story for the October/November 2008 issue of their magazine. The title of this story is still under consideration.

Actors Judith Ivey and Kelli O'Hara will read short fiction from The Best American Short Stories 2007 on Tuesday, November 6 at 8PM at Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut. For more information or reservations visit www.westportplayhouse.org. Here's a Harvard Crimson article about King's visit to Cambridge to promote the anthology. Also check out this NPR radio interview.

Eli Roth recently told the folks at MTV that he hasn't yet finished the script for Cell. "I've realized that I can't multitask in the writing department; I can only kind of do one thing at a time. So right now I'm working on [a guest-director episode of] Heroes, and then I'll work on Trailer Trash, and then we'll see about Cell after that."

Here's an article in The Scientist by the authors of The Science of Stephen King: How now, Stephen King.

Mick Garris said the he hopes to include an adaptation of "Home Delivery" in the new NBC anthology series Fear Itself that he will be producing. Garris originally prepared this story for the Nightmares and Dreamscapes series but Masters of Horror obligations pulled him away.

October 17, 2007: Leonard Lopate interviewed King today about The Best American Short Stories 2007. A podcast of the interview is available here. There's an article in The Harvard Crimson about his appearance in Cambridge earlier this week and one in the NYU News about his New York appearance.

Look for King to appear in an ESPN ad, preparing copy for anchor John Anderson. "I think it was the Red Sox's clutch hitting, not that New York was possessed by demons," Anderson deadpans as King rips the copy out of Anderson's hands, throws it in the garbage and begins typing again.

Eli Roth has this to say in an interview with MTV: "The latest with Cell is that the script is not finished. I've realized that I can't multitask in the writing department; I can only kind of do one thing at a time. So right now I'm working on [a guest-director episode of] Heroes, and then I'll work on Trailer Trash, and then we'll see about Cell after that.

Frank Darabont will receive the Kodak Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at ShowEast's closing gala. He will also screen The Mist tonight.

October 11, 2007: A second new King story will come out in November. In addition to "Mute" in the December issue of Playboy, "Ayana" will appear in the fall issue of The Paris Review. This is the story Susan Moldow mentioned that King gave her when he appeared in Toronto earlier this year. See the June 11 post below for more details.

In a brief interview at USA Today, King talks about what he's working on: "It's called A Very Tight Place. Not a novel but a long story. I've been writing lots of stories lately." The paper also reviews The Best American Short Stories 2007: At a story a night, there's enough variety and talent in the 20 selections here to keep readers entertained for nearly three weeks. Guest editor Stephen King's lineup includes literary all-stars: Alice Munro's "Dimension" is a chilling look at criminal insanity; Richard Russo's "Horseman" explores how a professor's encounter with student plagiarism triggers questions about her authenticity. But the real finds are the lesser-known writers. Beverly Jensen's haunting "Wake," about a rousing funeral in the midst of a nor'easter, is made even more poignant by the note that Jensen died at age 49.

In an interview posted at The Overlook Connection's web site, Peter Straub says: "The Talisman has just been shelved for the hundredth time, now because of the budget. Steve and I have agreed to do the last book in the series, but it will have to wait until our desks are clear."

Director Tobe Hooper says that From a Buick 8 will not be "your stock horror film by any means. There's a really cool, layered quality to the story. The producers, writers and I shared the same sensibility about the project and responded to it in a similar way."

Note: Links to two web sites that posted clips from The Mist were removed from this page because the producers advised me the clips were unauthorized.

October 9, 2007: According to an announcement at the back of the current issue (November), there will be a new King short story called "Mute" in the December 2007 Playboy. The story is described this way: "In a confession to a priest, a traveling salesman tells of his encounter on the Maine turnpike with a deaf-mute hitchhiker to whom he rants about his adulterous wife." The street date for this issue should be early November.

With the hunt for the World Series under way, King's appearances at Red Sox games have been announced in numerous sports articles, including this one: King shows why he's Faithful to the Sox.

October 5, 2007: Lilja has a new interview with Jae Lee about the Gunslinger Born series and his work on the next series, too. The entire creative team talks to Publishers Weekly, too.

Here are King's comments about The Girl Next Door, the movie adaptation of Jack Ketchum's novel, which is screening in NY this weekend: "The first authentically shocking American film I've seen since Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer over 20 years ago. If you are easily disturbed, you should not watch this movie. If, on the other hand, you are prepared for a long look into hell, suburban style, The Girl Next Door will not disappoint. This is the dark-side-of-the-moon version of Stand By Me."

According to a new press release, the upcoming (November 7) 240-page hardcover edition of Gunslinger Born will "present fans with exciting bonus material. Leading the way is a series of all-new illustrations from Lee. Additional added-value features will be unveiled in the coming weeks."

"They're all gonna laugh at you." A year after Jaws made audiences afraid to go in the water, Carrie raised similar fears about the high school prom. Schedule permitting, director Brian De Palma will participate in a post-screening discussion about the film when it hits the big screen at the Academy Theater at Lighthouse International in Manhattan (111 E 59th between Park & Lexington Ave) on October 15 as part of the Monday Nights with Oscar series. Tickets are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID, and may be reserved by calling 1-888-778-7575. Doors open at 7 p.m. All seating is unreserved. Featuring a new print from the Academy film archive.

King will be making two appearances in October to promote the Best American Short Stories (2007) which he edited. He will be at Symphony Space in New York on October 10th and in Cambridge, MA on October 16th. His introduction from the anthology was published on Sunday in the NY Times Book Review.

September 28, 2007: 1408 comes out on DVD next week, in a standard edition and a 2-disk version. Here's a DVD Talk review of the two-disk version. Blockbuster has an online game 1408 Room & Doom, inspired by the movie. "Players who survive the psychological onslaught of Room 1408 will receive one of three bonus experiences. These include a special 1408 wallpaper download or a sneak peak at an alternate ending to the movie, otherwise available only on DVD. In a third experience, players can watch a trailer and behind-the-scenes footage of The Mist." Entries in the sweepstakes must be made by Oct. 14.

The Stephen King Area of the Popular Culture Association is seeking papers for the Annual National Joint Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference to be held March 19-22, 2008 at the San Francisco Marriot. "Papers which cover any aspect of Stephen King—---- his fiction, films, non-fiction, King in the classroom, the King phenomenon—---- are sought for this area. For the 2008 National PCA/ACA conference, we would like to note that we are quite interested in papers which focus on The Dark Tower series (and the recently released graphic novels, The Gunslinger Born). Of course, papers which focus on King's early writing, the Bachman books, and King's uncollected writings, to name a few additional topics, are most certainly welcomed." Visit this site for full details.

To Everyone,

Although I am trying to make the best of it, turning 60 is a bit of a bummer. Nevertheless, so many people who visit the web site have cheered me up with their greetings and good wishes. Not to mention all the people who contributed checks to The Haven Foundation to mark my passage into the golden city of Geezerdom! Thank you all! And now, please, can't we just forget the whole thing? From now on, I am going backwards. Next year I will be 59 and by 2017, I will be 50 again.

Love and best wishes to all you Constant Readers out there,

Steve King
Posted 24 September 2007