Stephen King Breaking News from the Dead Zone (Archive)

September 19, 2007: There's an eBay auction running through the 26th for a complete set of hand-signed copies of the Dark Tower series. The books are all hardcovers and consist of first trade editions from 2003-2004; The Viking editions of the first four books (including the revised and expanded edition of The Gunslinger) and the Scribner/Grant editions of the last three books. The opening bid was $100 and within an hour or so it was up to $1500. It's for a good cause! Check it out.

According to Publisher's Lunch, The Haven Foundation, created by Stephen King to provide financial assistance to writers and artists "experiencing career-threatening illness, accident, natural disaster or other emergency or personal catastrophe," has announced that they are now able to start making grants of up to $25,000 a year to those in need. Seed money for the foundation was raised in part by last year's Harry, Carrie and Garp readings at Radio City Music hall.

September 13, 2007: The producers of The Talisman miniseries for TNT got together and looked at their scripts and realized something. This movie is going to cost a lot of money. Due to budgetary issues, the six-hour event has been put on hold, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Mick Garris is quoted in the article as saying that ABC couldn't afford the four-hour version he wrote back in 2000. This doesn't mean the project is dead, but 2008 looks like a big question mark right now.

Here are a couple of good interviews/articles about The Long Road Home, the second cycle in the Marvel graphic novel series: Comic Book Resource and Newsarama. The series debuts in February 2008.

Jim Shepard will join Richard Russo and Karen Russell, author of St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves at an evening hosted by Stephen King and The Best American Short Stories 2007 series editor Heidi Pitlor on Oct 16 at 8pm at Memorial Church, 1 Harvard Yard, Cambridge. Admission is $15, which includes purchase of the book. Tickets will go on sale mid-September at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass. Ave., Cambridge.

King admits in his introduction that he prefers "all-out emotionally assaultive" stories to those that might appeal to his "critical nose." Yet King's selections are right at home among those of recent BASS editors Lorrie Moore, Michael Chabon and Walter Mosley: John Barth's darkly comic take on aging and mortality; a child's unforgiving view of her alcoholic parent from T.C. Boyle; an exploration of the grief of a crystal meth addict by William Gay (a writer King notes is a relatively obscure "American talent"); Lauren Groff's piece about a polio survivor learning to swim during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic (based loosely on real-life Olympian Ethelda Bleibtrey); Roy Kesey's imagining of an airport terminal as microcosm of global politics; and Karen Russell's halfway house for the human children of werewolves ("their condition skips a generation"). Stories drawing on horror and on Maine add a personal King touch to this year's cull of 20, taken from among the 4,000 that series editor Pitlor read last year in periodicals. The book reflects the variety of substance and style and the consistent quality that readers have come to expect from the series, now in its 30th year.

Misery: Collector's Edition (October 2) will retail for $19.98 and include the following extras: Feature commentary by Rob Reiner, Feature commentary by Screenwriter William Goldman, "Misery Loves Company" featurette, "Marc Shaiman's Music Misery Tour" featurette, "Diagnosing Annie Wilkes" featurette (new), "Advice For The Stalked" featurette(new), "Profile Of A Stalker" featurette(new), "Celebrity Stalkers" featurette(new), "Anti-Stalking Laws" featurette(new), Original Theatrical Trailer, Original Theatrical Teaser.

Winners in the creative arts categories of the 59th annual Primetime Emmy Awards from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences: Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score): "Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King: Battleground," TNT. Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or Special: "Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King: Battleground," TNT.

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.

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.

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 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.

August 1, 2007: It's been a couple of weeks since the last update, partly because I was away at NECON and partly because there hasn't been a lot of news to warrant an update. Since today is the release day of the final installation of Gunslinger Born, I thought I'd catch you up on all the little things that have arisen in the interim.

King introduces three of the page-turners he selected for The Best American Short Stories 2007 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre in NY on October 10 at 7:30 pm. Each story delivers what King says he wants all stories to convey: a "sense of emotional involvement, of flipped-out amazement--like a big hot meteor screaming down from the Kansas sky." Tickets available here.

John Mellencamp was in New York last week to attend workshop performances of The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, the musical play he's written with King.

Duma Key is the engaging, fascinating story of a man who discovers an incredible talent for painting after a freak accident in which he loses an arm. He moves to a 'new life' in Duma Key, off Florida's West Coast; a deserted strip, part beach, part weed-tangled, owned by a patroness of the arts whose twin sisters went missing in the 1920s.

Duma Key is where out-of-season hurricanes tears lives apart and a powerful undertow lures lost and tormented souls. Here Freemantle is inspired to paint the amazing sunsets. But soon the paintings become predictive, even dangerous. Freemantle knows the only way forward is to discover what happened to the twin sisters -- and what is the secret of the strange old lady who holds the key?

The story is about friendship, about the bond between a father and his daughter. And about memory, truth and art. It is also is a metaphor for the life and inspiration of a writer, and an exploration of the nature, power and influence of fiction.

If you haven't had a chance to get to the comic shop yet, here's a preview of Issue 7 of Gunslinger Born. The Gunslinger's Guidebook is also supposed to come out today, but I've heard rumors that a binding error might delay its delivery. Lilja reports that the title of the second story arc is The Long Road Home. The first issue in that arc will be released in February 2008.

Here is an audio recording of The Mist presentation done at Comic-Con last week. Director Frank Darabont revealed that he plans to adapt The Long Walk once he has completed Fahrenheit 451. Since he doesn't have a script for The Long Walk yet, I think it's a safe bet we're a couple of years away from production on that movie.

Eli Roth told Comic-Con that his adaptation of Cell is on hold. The script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski has yet to be completed and he is currently at work on a movie full of fake movie trailers. Roth hopes to enlist King's help in a cameo role when he finally gets around to making Cell.

Ghost Hunters: Live From the Shining Hotel, which originally aired on SciFi last May, will be released on DVD on October 9, 2007 and is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com. Jason, Grant and the Ghost Hunters team revisit the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado for a live Halloween-night investigation.

Yet another King movie is getting the "special edition" DVD treatment. On October 2, a new Collector's Edition DVD of Misery is coming from MGM Home Video through Fox Home Video. The disc will include a new audio commentary by director Rob Reiner and scripter William Goldman, plus additional behind-the-scenes material.

Rocky Wood warns about a new book showing up that is written by Stephen King...just not that Stephen King. The book is A Master Class in Brand Planning.

Have you been keeping up with The Dead Zone on USA? Season 6 has taken a number of interesting twists and I'm enjoying it. The new sheriff is a handful and Johnny and Sarah are finally getting to pick up where they left off over a decade earlier. Production moved to Montreal, and I'm seeing some influences from that move in the scenery and guest actors.

July 13, 2007: Happy Friday the 13^th! Someone posted a couple of deleted scenes from Shawshank Redemption on YouTube. They're interesting, but their ultimate destination, the cutting room floor, was the best place for them, in my opinion.

On July 27th at San Diego Comic-Con, Frank Darabont will be showing clips from The Mist and holding a panel with stars Thomas Jane and Laurie Holden, along with special effects gurus Greg Nicotero (KNB) and Everett Burell (CafeFX). Other cast members may be along for the panel. Darabont is having 3000 teaser posters printed up for the event to hand out at the show.

Lilja reports that Duma Key will be approximately 592 pages long and that King will narrate the audio edition.

King's most recent Entertainment Weekly column is about the end of the Harry Potter series: Goodbye, Harry

Here's a review of the new special collector's edition DVD of Cujo. A new DVD boxed set this month contains Carrie, The Dark Half, Misery and Needful Things. Three TV adaptations will be released in another boxed set on September 25, including The Stand, Golden Years and The Langoliers.

July 2, 2007: Issue #6 of Gunslinger Born comes out this week. Some shops may be open on July 4^th, but otherwise you'll be able to pick up this penultimate issue of the first cycle on Thursday, July 5^th.

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.

June 22, 2007: This is 1408 day, and the movie has been drawing mostly favorable advanced reviews, and a ton of them at that. King publicly endorsed the movie with this message posted on his web site:

Eli Roth won't be directing Cell any time soon. "I most likely will take the rest of the year to write my other projects. Which means I wouldn't shoot until the spring, and you wouldn't see a film directed by me in the cinemas until at least next fall (2008)."

Here's a review of The Dead Zone season 5 DVD set. Episode 2 of Season 6 airs on Sunday night. It's called "Ego": Johnny's relationship with new Cleaves Mills sheriff Anna Turner (Cara Buono) gets off to a rocky start when she tells him that her department will no longer need his help. But when Johnny has a vision of her shooting a female psychiatrist, he launches an investigation despite her objections.

Here's a report from the Dark Tower panel at HeroesCon. For people who've been curious about sales numbers for the series, this site is the place to go. Gunslinger Born #4 sold an estimated 131,753 copies in May. (Issue #3 sold 132,481 copies in April.)

June 15, 2007: Everything changes this season on The Dead Zone on USA Network. One moment took his love, took his hope, took his future. Beginning this Sunday at 10/9C Johnny Smith takes it all back in the season six premiere.

More 1408 articles and interviews: Fashion Wire Daily, UK Metro, IESB, MTV, SciFi.com. SPIKE TV is having "creepy hotel room" week on C.S.I. reruns, hosted by John Cusack with lots of promos for 1408. According to a producer, the key detail that took the fright out of making the film: "It cost $25 million. Anything over $30 million and we make a profit."

Here is a preview for Gunslinger Born #6. The issue will be out on either July 4th or 5th, depending on if shops are open for the holiday. Peter David and Robin Furth will be attending HeroesCon 2007 this weekend.

June 12, 2007: Today is Blaze day. There are new reviews in these two publications: Miami Herald, USA Today.

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!'"

June 11, 2007: 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, "Ayana," 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.

June 8, 2007: 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.

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?

May 28, 2007: 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 1^st 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 8^th 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 12^th.

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.

May 9, 2007: Rather than go head to head with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dimension has decided to move 1408 to June 22 from its original release date of July 13. Check out a very favorable report from an advanced screening at the Fangoria website.

According to Variety, HBO Films and HBO Sports are making a miniseries based on Faithful. Bill Diamond will write scripts for the program, which has been broken into six hour long episodes. The series will chronicle the Red Sox's 2004 World Series win. Much of the program will also focus on the 86 year lag between wins.

Today is Gunslinger Born day—issue 4 should be on a comic book store shelf near you. Previews and reviews are available here:

The film adaptation of 1408 is due in theaters on Friday, July 13^th. The trailer and ten stills from the movie can be seen here.

Publishers Weekly had this to say about the Edgar Awards banquet: The evening's high point was the induction of Stephen King as Grand Master÷one speaker wondered why this choice "didn't happen 20 years ago." Barry and Ridley Pearson, introducing King, riffed on his "murderous" style: "Many critics were dismissive of his early work," said Pearson, "but those who are still alive have come to recognize his talents." King received two standing ovations÷the first when he bounded to the stage prematurely, seemingly unaware that Donald Westlake was to present the award itself. Taking the podium, Westlake good-naturedly told the crowd, "I wasn't born to be the forgotten man." King seemed amused by the many labels that have been bestowed on him (thrillermeister, et al.), saying, "I never called myself anything except somebody who wanted to be a writer." CDs and DVDs of certain events from the awards are available from the Mystery Writers of America.

I have an essay (in French) called "Stephen King's Dark Tower" in Le livre des livres de Stephen King. Apparently contributor copies were sent out a few months ago, but mine hasn't shown up yet. Other contributors include F. Paul Wilson, Mort Castle, Stephen Jones, Tim Lebbon, Ed Bryant, Michael R. Collings, Steve Tem, Kim Newman, Poppy Z. Brite and Jack Ketchum.

King accepts his Grand Master Award at the Edgar Awards tomorrow night in NYC. Charles Ardai from Hard Case Crime interviewed King at a symposium that is part of the awards event today. DVDs or tapes of the event can be purchased from the MWA.

The New York Post reports that King will perform with the Rock Bottom Remainders at Webster Hall in NYC on June 1st as part of Book Expo America. This is the first time in several years that he has played with the band.

USA Network has picked up The Dead Zone for a Sixth Season of 13 one-hour episodes. The series returns Sunday, June 17 at 10/9C with a "dramatic premiere that will change everything in Johnny Smith's world."

We're less than two months away from the publication of Blaze. Ron McLarty will read the audio version of this Bachman novel. The author photo is vintage King, from 1973.

April 4, 2007: Lisey's Story won the Bram Stoker Award in the novel category at the HWA Banquet in Toronto last weekend.

Frank Darabont and his crew set people on fire on Day 18 of filming of The Mist. See the Webisode here (Quicktime .mov, 6 MB). Quint from Ain't it Cool News spent three more days on the set after our visit. His reports are here: Day 2.1, Day 2.2, Day 2.3.

Speaking of our favorite haunted car, Disturbia co-writer Christopher Landon may be involved in a remake of the movie. "[Christine] has been all over the place," he told Coming Soon. Apparently this was going to be a SciFi original or a movie for NBC. "If it happens or not we'll see, but when I came in what I wanted to do was really go back to the book, the source material. I'm a fan of the Carpenter version, it is fun. But the book was much more of a possession story than it was just a killer car. That's what made the book so great is that what was so terrifying was that it wasn't just about an inanimate object running around and killing people, it was a boy who was sorta being taken over by the former owner of the car - and there was something more terrifying about that. Also, I just love the dynamics of the characters and so forth. Right now it's way too soon say anything else about it. We're so in the thick of deal-making, I don't want to blow anything else!"

The paperback edition of Blaze will be released on December 26, 2007. The cover art for the hardcover, due out in June, appears here. Yes, that's a red mitten you see underneath the E in the title.

A while back I mentioned that Michael Marshall (Smith) would be adapting a King story for a UK TV series. At World Horror in Toronto last weekend he said that the story is "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut."

March 27, 2007: Rich Chizmar and I got to visit the set of The Mist in Shreveport, Louisiana on Thursday and Friday last week. I posted a lengthy "travelogue" of the trip on my Live Journal. While I was in Shreveport, this article was published in the local newspaper: A bad day at the market is fun for creators of The Mist. I'm writing a set visit report for Rue Morgue magazine, which will probably be in their next issue. Set videographer Constantine Nasr put together a video blog (a webisode) from day 10 of filming that premiered at Ain't It Cool News and later appeared at Jo-Blo.

I was interviewed recently for this article about the Dark Tower in the LSU Reveille. It seemed apropos that I was in Louisiana when it appeared. Also apropos that I took exit 19 from the highway to get to The Mist set every morning.

Postscripts 10 should be shipping soon, with the new King story "Graduation Afternoon." I strongly recommend that you skip King's introductory paragraph until after you read the story itself, because it reveals an image that is best left undiscovered until you get to that part of the story.

King is the editor for the new edition of The Best American Short Stories, an anthology that is organized by a well-known guest editor each year. King said he picked 20 stories to be featured in the 2007 edition, which will be out in October, after reading more than 400. King also said the book will contain a list of 100 short stories that weren't chosen for the collection but made the "honor roll." He wrote in the introduction to the collection: "There isn't a single one ... that didn't delight me, that didn't make me want to crow 'Oh man, you gotta read this!' to someone. I knew it would be that way. That's why I took the job. Talent does more than come out; it bursts out, again and again, doing exuberant cartwheels while the band plays 'Stars and Stripes Forever.'"

The Gunslinger's Guidebook, a concordance for the Marvel graphic novel series, has been pushed back to August. Co-author Anthony Flamini posted this on the Marvel DT board: "Yeah, The Gunslinger's Guidebook was originally envisioned as a handbook focusing on Roland's Hambry adventure and everything that occurred prior to that. But as Robin Furth and I discussed things in greater detail, we decided that we also wanted to feature profiles on the all-new Mid-World characters who would be debuting for the first time in the comic adaptation following the Hambry story arc . . . characters such as the ferocious General Grissom (of the blue-faced barbarians). So that's the primary reason for the book's delay -- but you'll be getting a superior product packed with much more original content! The wait will be worth it!"

The first issue of The Gunslinger Born has been reprinted with a new Quesada cover. I don't know how frequently this happens in comic-dom. Issue 3 will be released next Wednesday.

Eli Roth told SCI FI WIRE that King endorsed his version of Cell. "My first question when I adapted it was can I deviate from the book?" Roth said. "It's Stephen King. Am I going to piss off Stephen King? He was mad at Stanley Kubrick, I don't want him mad at me. And, finally, Stephen King was like, 'Do whatever you want.'" Roth warned that he would be making changes to the story. "I love the opening [scene]," Roth said. "But I also want to keep, ... not necessarily that same chaotic tone, but I want to keep the tension of the opening 40 pages of the book going throughout the whole film and introduce other elements. Because I think the book, for me, where it loses tension is where suddenly you don't feel like the phone crazies are trying to kill them. ... I find that it's finding other ways to make it so you still feel the tension that any second you could get killed [and] carrying that throughout the whole film." He hopes to get King to do a cameo. "There's always room. That's the good thing about Cell. Because it's like crazy people running around trying to [kill you] It's like everybody gets a cameo." He hopes to shoot the movie in his native Boston, where the book is set.

March 9, 2007: Quint from Ain't it Cool News reports from the set of The Mist. Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 & Day 4 (with photos). Frank Darabont will provide fans with news about The Mist at the next West Coast edition of FANGORIA's Weekend of Horrors convention, May 18-20, 2007 at Burbank's Marriott Airport Hilton.

Here's a very brief interview with King in the NY Post. Quint's interview is much longer.

In an interview with Michael Marshall (author of The Straw Men and The Intruders, which I'm currently reading) I found this line: "At the moment, I'm about to start a television adaptation of a Stephen King short story." After a little detective work, I turned up the name of the story he's adapting, but I'm not allowed to say anything about it yet since the deal isn't signed. Stay tuned!

JJ Abrams had this to say to Wired News in a recent interview in response to a question about him directing The Dark Tower: "This is something that we are just now talking about with Stephen, so it's too early for me to say that we're even officially doing it yet just because the thing is in the early stages of discussion. I love what the The Dark Tower is. Damon Lindelof is obsessed (with it). We met Stephen, who was just the greatest, and hit it off. What's exciting to me about it is that it is a very edgy epic. You could . . . say it's his Tolkien Ring series, but I feel like it has a potential of being a lot more. I think that sense of that great hero, that sort of Western, iconic, almost spaghetti-Western-type hero in this landscape is just an amazing--it feels iconic to me."

Moviehole.net reports that Dimension is gearing up to remake Children of the Corn. Not a sequel, a remake, with Saw III director Lynn Bousman attached.

Here's an article about the artists involved with Gunslinger Born: Illustrators make `Tower' stand out. Issue two came out this week, in case you missed it.

In a recent interview with Movies Online, Lorenzo di Bonaventura admitted that they haven't yet shot the ending for 1408. "It was a really interesting idea because the idea of doing a real time movie in a hotel -- one man in a one-bedroom suite for 80 minutes of real time. We didn't know how you'd come out of that. Like do you need bigger or do you need smaller? What do you need? Or do you feel like he should die or do you feel like he should live? What do you feel? And so we wrote like 15 different endings because Stephen King's short story doesn't really have an ending. It just sort of ends and it's not a cinematic ending. I'll say it that way. So that's the last piece of the puzzle, but it's really fascinating to have done a movie all in a room and we all went sort of crazy."

Here is the publisher's description of Blaze, posted at Amazon/UK: "At 6'7"and just under 300 lbs, Clay Blaisdell is one big mother, but his capers were just small-time until he met George Rackley. George introduced him to a hundred cons and one big idea: kidnapping the child of rich parents. The Gerards are filthy rich, and the last twig on the family tree could be worth millions. There's only one problem: by the time the deal goes down, the brains of the partnership is dead. Or is he? Now Blaze is running into the teeth of a howling storm and the cops are closing in. He's got a baby as a hostage, and the crime of the century just turned into a race against time in the white hell of the Maine woods."

The March selection of a signed book through The Haven Foundation will be Dreamcatcher (hardcover). The price will be $60 plus shipping. The books will go on sale beginning at 12 noon Eastern Standard Time on March 12th. They have a total of 25 copies available and will be offering them in small lots at random times throughout the day so that they will not sell out within the first 2 minutes of going on-sale as they did in January. The April selection will be Black House (hardcover) signed by both Stephen and Peter Straub for $80 plus shipping.

February 27, 2007: Stephen King confirmed at New York Comic Con last weekend that he had granted the option to make a Dark Tower movie to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindeloff (LOST) for $19.

King also addressed the persistent rumor that he might go back and rewrite the rest of the Dark Tower books, as he did with The Gunslinger. "Yes, that's correct. It's a first draft. It was written over a long period of time, and I look at it as a work that's still in progress. That's why I re-did the first book. The vision that I had of what was going on got clearer as it went along. So, for instance, I looked back at the first book and I said to myself 'there's a lot of things I can do with this now, now that I know how everything turns out in the end.' I'm a really instinctual writer—I don't work with an outline. I did have an outline of some of The Dark Tower stuff way back when, when I started, when I was stoned, and I lost it. I didn't have a clue, and I couldn't remember what was going on, and I had that poem by Robert Browning to draw on, to start, so I knew certain elements that I wanted to be in it, that were in the poem. So, when I got done, and I looked at it, I said This Horn of Eld should be there at the front. That's what you when you rewrite a book. I've got a book now called Duma Key, and there's a woman who has some bracelets and the bracelets are important, but they're not there until the end of the book. What I'm saying is, I know now some things I could do. The Dark Tower is one book, and I'd like go back and fix it up. Who knows—I might end up novelizing their comic book."

He also suggested that The Stand would make a good project for a comic book adaptation. Here are some reports about the panel, including some with photos:

Eric Roth also stated that Cell would be his next movie project after Hostel II. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood and 1408) are working on the script. "By the time I finish Hostel Part II the script should be ready. I really want to read it."

Lilja has a nice photo courtesy of Frank Darabont from The Mist set at his web site.

Don't forget that issue 2 of The Gunslinger Born will be out on March 7th. Each of the first five issues will be released on the first Wednesday in the month. No word yet on the release schedule for the July issue, since the first Wednesday is July 4th.

Thanks to King's praise of Meg Gardiner, both on his website and in Entertainment Weekly, there's been a run on her books at second hand outlets and her agent told Publishers Lunch that publishers are lining up to make book deals with her in the U.S., where she is currently unpublished.

February 19, 2007: Lilja reports that Scribner will publish the next Richard Bachman novel, Blaze, on June 12.

Everyone got excited last week when Hollywood Reporter announced that King was in talks with J.J. Abrams to bring the Dark Tower to the screen. Abrams is well known for his work on LOST, and he and King have formed sort of a mutual admiration society. However, it must be emphasized that this is very, very, very preliminary, and nothing might ever come of it. Keep in mind how long a movie based on The Talisman was in discussion before it showed any promise of becoming reality.

I finally had a chance to read through the Marvel Spotlight on the Dark Tower series. It has a two-page letter from King and interviews with Robin Furth, Jae Lee, Richard Isanove and Peter David. The Road to the Dark Tower even gets a couple of mentions, including in Peter David's interview. Peter David wrote on his website about his experience at the midnight signing at Times Square, and took part in a TV interview at WCSH (Portland, ME) that was up on the web site last time I checked. The same page had an archival interview with Tabitha King if you scroll down to the bottom.

Newsarama released the conventional cover for issue #4 of Gunslinger Born. They also got the David Finch variant artwork for issue 2. See right and click on the images for larger views.

Dennis Hopper is in negotiations to star in Dolan's Cadillac, a movie that was in preproduction a few years ago with Kevin Bacon and Sylvester Stallone attached to it. Then there were rumors of Freddie Prinze, Jr. The report said that production would begin in a couple of months. We'll see.

The February selection of a signed book through The Haven Foundation will be Hearts in Atlantis (hardcover). The price will be $60 plus shipping. The books will go on sale beginning at 12 noon Eastern Time on February 23rd. Haven has a total of 25 copies available and will be offering them in small lots at random times throughout the day so that they will not sell out within the first 2 minutes of going on-sale as they did in January. The March selection will be Dreamcatcher (hardcover), also at $60 plus shipping, and the April selection will be Black House (hardcover) signed by both Stephen and Peter Straub for $80 plus shipping. NOTE: Anyone who has purchased a signed Stephen King book through The Haven Foundation will not be eligible to purchase another signed copy. There is a one signed book per household lifetime limit in order to give as many people as possible the opportunity to get a signed book.

Award news from this past weekend: Stephen King's Desperation won The Art Directors Guild's Excellence in Production Design Award for best TV movie or mini-series. John Stokes (TNT's Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King) won for television movie/miniseries/pilot at the 21st Annual American Society of Cinematographers' Outstanding Achievement Awards.

February 8, 2007: Jae Lee's original drawings from Gunslinger Born are available for sale here.

Here are a few reports about the midnight openings at various comic stores across the country to launch the graphic novel.

In Entertainment Weekly, King had this to say: ''There are some that are an interesting hybrid between the superhero comics and the novels that I read as an adult.'' And while many would like to see The Dark Tower on the big screen, King is wary. To a degree. ''If Peter Jackson came along and said, 'I made up with New Line and they want to spend billions of dollars on this,' I'd say sure, knock yourself out.'' In other words, fans, don't look for that movie anytime soon.

If you're in the Portland, ME area, Peter David will be signing Gunlsinger Born at Casablanca Comics on Friday, February 9th from 3-6 PM. WCSH (Portland channel 6) will have an interview with Peter tonight at 7 p.m. local time.

Lilja has an excellent in-depth interview with Frank Darabont at Lilja's Library.

February 5, 2007: The Gunslinger Born is almost here! Marvel announced today that due to the tremendous popularity of the variant cover program, each issue of The Gunslinger Born will feature a sketch cover, as chosen by Jae Lee, and an all-new variant cover by one of the top artists in the industry. Issue #2 will feature a variant cover by David Finch (New Avengers, Moon Knight) and a sketch cover by Jae Lee (shown here). Stay tuned to Marvel.com for more on who the other variant cover artists will be. Jae Lee takes the T.M.I. quiz.

"We have more than exceeded our initial forecast numbers. With the first issue looking to surpass 200,000 units in sales, this is by far the biggest selling non-super hero comic event in recent memory," said Dan Buckley, president and publisher of Marvel Entertainment. At present, newsstands, including Barnes & Noble and Borders, can't carry the comic. Foreign translated version deals are being worked through..

"These comics aren't junk food; they're more like delicacies," King said. "Sushi for the mind, if you like. You have to teach yourself how to read 'adult comics,' which are actually comic/novel hybrids. and even then you have to give yourself to the experience, which means accepting the idea that you'll need to work a bit as you do with any good novel. This is, in a sense, an 'origin' story, and interesting in its own right These are not just retellings of books that have already been written. The books serve as a launching pad—and a resource center, I suppose—but the flight is into brand new territory. People curious about the Crimson King will find things to interest them here. And give them some nightmares, I hope. They—Marvel, and especially Robin Furth, who worked with me on the later ["Tower"] books, keeping the proliferating details straight—broke out a simple story line that might be called Teenage Gunslingers and How They Grew," King said. "The basis was Wizard and Glass, the only novel in the series that comes close to being a stand-alone. I modified their outline, and have had a chance to tinker with the dialogue and narration of each issue before it gets graven in stone. I don't tell anyone what or how to draw, though. I know my limitations."

Lilja reports these new additions to the cast of The Mist: Frances Sternhagen (Misery, The Golden Years), Alexa Davalos, Sam Witwer, Bill Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile), Jeff DeMunn (The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, Storm of the Century) and Brian Libby (The Woman in the Room).

A press release about a new film company from Fangoria mentions that Brian Witten, under his Witten Pictures banner, is producing a feature based on The Breathing Method.

January 29, 2007: Andre Braugher and Laurie Holden have joined Thomas Jane in Frank Darabont's production of The Mist. Holden, the female lead, plays Amanda, who is "on the good side of the aisle," and Braugher is Brent Norton, the attorney who lives next door to Tomas Jane's David Drayton and has "more of an adversarial relationship" with Drayton. Holden previously starred in Darabont's movie The Majestic. Shooting is scheduled to begin in mid- to late February in Shreveport, La. for a tentative November release.

To commemorate the launch of the Marvel Dark Tower series, almost 150 comic book retailers across the country will begin selling the issue at the stroke of midnight. A list of participating stores can be found at here. Fans who flock to Midtown Comics in Manhattan will see a couple of special guests: Peter David, who writes the dialogue for the series, and Jae Lee, the book's artist. The store will open for one hour.

In advance of the big release, Silver Bullet Comics' podcast guru Tim Beeman introduces a Marvel conference call featuring Robin Furth. The conference call is hosted by Jim McCann, Marvel's Assistant Manager of Sales Communication. Click the podcast image at this link to be taken directly to the conference call. Furth discusses her extensive experience as King's personal research assistant and how writing A Complete Concordance prepared her for the writing of this series. Furth details the challenges of telling Roland Deschain's back story.

Here is the trailer for 1408, which premieres in July and a positive review from an advanced screening. CHUD and Total Film have short articles about the movie, and Lilja has an interview with the director, Mikael Håfström. The movie will preview at Fangoria's Weekend Of Horrors in Chicago the weekend of Feb 23rd.

HBO Video, through Warner Home Video, will release Creepshow III on May 15th. Neither King nor George Romero were involved in this production, which features five new inter-connected tales of horror: "Alice," "Rachel the Call Girl," "Professor Dayton," "The Haunted Dog" and "The Radio." The DVD arrives unrated with an anamorphic widescreen transfer and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio. Extras will include behind-the-scenes interviews with directors Ana Clavell & James Glenn Dudelson and make-up artist Greg McDougall. Retail is $19.98.

January 23, 2007: Ehren Kruger talks about The Talisman miniseries with the folks at Coming Soon. "The core structure of the feature was always that of the novel, but there was just no way we could include a lot of what's in the novel, so now we're able to go back and cherry-pick the best sequences and plotlines and subplots of the novel again."

New York Comic Con announced that it will launch an audio and video podcast available free to the general public. The podcast episodes, which will begin almost immediately after New York Comic Con (February 23-25) concludes, will feature interviews, anime clips, previews from TV shows and films and highlights from panel discussions at the show. The podcasts are expected to be released for several months following the convention and will remain available throughout the year. King, who will be at the con on February 24th, will be among the guests of honor featured in interview podcasts. Read the rest of the press release.

Marvel held a press conference yesterday to discuss The Dark Tower: Gunslinger Born #1, released next month. Sitting at the head of the audio table was Robin Furth, chief story architect of the hotly anticipated comic adaptation and long time associate of Stephen King. Also in attendance were Marvel editors Ralph Macchio, Nicole Boos, John Barber, as well as Jim McCann, Marvel's Assistant Manager of Sales Communication. Read more about what was said at the press conference.

January 19, 2007: Dimension announced that 1408 has been pushed back to July 13th. Here's an article about The Mist, which starts filming in Shreveport, LA in just over a month from now.

This week in Entertainment Weekly, King spends an hour flipping around the TV dial. Television Impaired.

SKFakes is running another competition this year. To register, send your name and email address to comp2007@skfakes.co.uk. The entry fee is £10 ($17). Over half a dozen books, all signed by King, are among the list of confirmed prizes to date. More details about the nature of the competition will be announced closer to the starting date, April 1st.

January 18, 2007: Lilja reports that Scribner will publish Duma Key in January 2008. In the third and final section of his interview, King talks about Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, books in cellphones and limited editions.

In addition to the graphic story we've been expecting, issue 1 of Gunslinger Born will contain a map of New Canaan, a preview of issue #2 and an exclusive prose short story by Robin Furth telling the tale of Roland and his friends as they learn how their worlds came into being--all accompanied with spot-illustrations by Jim Calafiore and June Chung. The 48-page issue is all content--no outside advertising.

A note regarding the signed books being offered at the Haven Foundation storefront: there is a one-per-household limit for signed books. If you bought a copy of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon or Secret Windows, you are not eligible to purchase any future signed offerings. This policy ensures that signed books will be available to more people. This restriction does not apply to the unsigned books the charity is also offering.

January 17, 2007: 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 ö 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.

January 15, 2007: A new short story called "Graduation Afternoon" will appear in the special 10^th issue of Postscripts magazine from PS Publishing, the publisher who is also doing the limited edition of The Colorado Kid. The magazine will debut at the World Horror Convention in Toronto in March, but PS is taking advanced orders for the various issues (including a 200-copy slipcased edition signed by all contributors, including King) now. (You can also order the unsigned hardcover through the Cemetery Dance online store.) Other contributors to this 160,000 word magazine include: Lucius Shepard, Joe Hill, Ramsey Campbell, Graham Joyce, Tim Lebbon, James Cooper, Nancy Kilpatrick, Rick Hautala, T.M. Wright, Thomas Tessier, Chris Fowler, Stephen Gallagher, Stephen Volk, Mark Morris, Peter Atkins, Allen Ashley, Lisa Tuttle, Chaz Brenchley, P.D. Cacek, Steven Erikson, Paul Jessup and Connie Willis.

The January 22 issue of Newsweek, on newstands today, has an article where famous baby boomers--including Stephen King, Dan Quayle, Bill O'Reilly, Camille Paglia and Cal Ripken Jr.--to list the three things they still want to do--no matter what. Their answers range from improving their golf game to learning a new language to fighting AIDS.

Interviews: Entering the Dark Tower III: Richard Isanove and Part I of an interview with Peter David, which builds up to his discussion of Gunslinger Born next week. The Jae Lee variant cover is a sketch, which the artist says is one of his favorite sketches for the series thus far. Jae Lee's pencils are famous for their distinctive, moody look and this variant can only be described as gorgeous. The second variant is Joe Quesada's take on Roland. Visit this link and click on the images to get larger versions.

January 11, 2007: The Haven Foundation will be offering a very limited supply of signed books by Stephen King each month. The January selection is Secret Window. This was published as an exclusive Book-of-the-Month Club anthology of hard-to-find non-fiction pieces, little-known interviews, short stories, and articles, with an Introduction by Peter Straub. It was intended as a companion to On Writing. Copies will go on sale at 12 PM on Monday, January 15th (eastern time zone) and will be on an 'as supplies last' basis. They may be purchased at the Haven Foundation store. Unsigned hardcover copies of other King titles will also be available for purchase at the original cover price plus shipping. Many of these are now out-of-print in the hardcover edition. New titles will be added as they become available, so check back often for current inventory.

Stay tuned for an in depth interview with King at Lilja's Library. He reported yesterday, "About an hour ago I hung up the phone after doing a 45 minute long phone interview with King himself. Yes, you heard correct. Hearing 'Hello Hans? Steve King...' when I answered the phone was probably one of the weirdest (in a very good way) things I have ever experienced."

You can buy the original cover art or prints of Edward Miller's cover art for the PS Publishing edition of The Colorado Kid here.

Dorman T. Shindler reviewed Secretary of Dreams in the St. Louis Dispatch. He called it "a Twilight Zone-like anthology featuring illustrated works by Stephen King that are reminiscent of the EC horror comics the author professes to love. The tales gathered here—featuring hordes of invading zombies, a haunted truck and a 'storm' of frogs—are well-suited to the treatment. And Glen[n] Chabourne's pen and ink, nightmarish, illustrations (featuring lots of skeletal detail, rotting skin and deranged stares) is the perfect accompaniment. The difference here is that none of King's words is edited, so the illustrations enhance rather than replace the prose. That makes for near perfection when it comes to King's 1981 World Fantasy-winning story, 'The Reach,' a story Joyce Carol Oates once termed elegantly composed." Here's the transcript of Glenn Chadbourne's recent chat.

January 4, 2007: Happy New Year! Welcome back to News from the Dead Zone. This should be an exciting year, with the possibility of two new novels, at least two films, the graphic novel series and who knows what else? You'll know what else—if you keep checking out this page.

The Marvel web site has lots of new goodies to promote the Dark Tower graphic novel series, which will be out in just over a month from now. On the main DT page you can download a cool screensaver and wallpapers and watch a trailer for the series. On the blog page, Nicole Boose presents a first look at some of the extra material that will be included with the first issue: a map of New Canaan based on a sketch provided by Robin Furth. The previous blog entry is here.

A group called Dead Issue has a song called The Last Gunslinger inspired by Roland on their MySpace page. I haven't listened to it yet, but I thought I would pass this along.

Filming of The Mist is slated to commence filming February 20 for a tentative November 21 release.

Rebecca Gibney says King called (director) Mikael Salomon after seeing The End of the Whole Mess to tell him it was one of the best adaptations of any of his works that he'd ever seen.

Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro told SCI FI Wire that he hand-carried a copy of his movie to King's Maine to screen it for him personally. King later named it his favorite film of 2006. "Even now, when you say it, I get chills," del Toro said in an interview this week in Beverly Hills, Calif. "I do. I mean, ... Stephen King has been a huge influence." del Toro, "like a Muslim going to Mecca," hand-toted two enormous film cans containing a print of his movie through three airports from Los Angeles to Bangor. "And then I arrived to a theater that, technically, was very hard for me to go, 'Oh, this is the optimal screening,'" del Toro said. "And yet, to this day, it remains the best screening of my entire life. Because I was sitting next to Stephen King, and he was squirming during the impalement sequence, and I was like, 'It doesn't get better than this.'" The FX people who did Pan's Labyrinth will be doing The Mist, by the way.

Subterranean Press announced recently that they should receive their slipcases for the new edition of The Green Mile within a few weeks, at which time the marathon shipping operation will commence.

I started a new book review site called Onyx Reviews, where I've posted a bunch of my book reviews and a couple of interviews. The Owen King interview appeared previously online but the Tabitha King interview appears here for the first time.

December 19, 2006: Chapters 1 and 2 of Blaze are now online at King's web site. King's note says that he hopes to publish the book in 2007, with royalties going to The Haven Foundation.

If you subscribe to the newsletter from Stephen King's official web site, you received a notice late last week concerning a chance to buy a signed copy of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon or John Irving's Until I Found You from a special store set up at The Haven Foundation website. Though the King books aren't first editions, $40 for a signed hardcover with unequivocal provenance is a great deal in today's market. The approximately 200 copies sold out very fast, but subscribe to the newsletter or check the Haven web site for future offers throughout the winter. Haven is the replacement for the Wavedancer Foundation, an organization designed to support people in the book and publishing industry who have little or no financial cushion in the event of a sudden catastrophic accident. All proceeds from the sale of these books goes to Haven.

Both Stephen King and Robin Furth will be attending New York Comic Con at the end of February. King will be a Guest of Honor and will appear with Furth on a special panel hosted by Joe Quesada, Editor In Chief of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. on Saturday, February 24. Marvel is beginning a full-court press to support the Dark Tower comic series. One of the series associate editors has established a Dark Tower Blog at the Marvel web site. There's also an article in today's USA Today (Dark Tower looms in graphic form) and the newspaper's website has the e-mail Q&A that gave rise to the article. Both links have sample artwork from the first issue.

CaféFX Plus (Pan's Labyrinth, Eragon, Ghost Rider) will be doing special effects for Frank Darabont's The Mist, starring Thomas Jane, who describes the script as "12 Angry Men with monsters." The movie will be shooting in Shreveport, LA at the end of February for a couple of months.See the interview with Jane here. (Windows Media).

And finally, here are King's three top-ten lists for 2006: Books, Music, Movies.

December 13, 2006: Check at your local comic shop today for the free Dark Tower sketchbook to promote The Gunslinger Born. This 16-page booklet has pencil art and character design by Jae Lee and some sample color art demonstrating how Richard Isanove developed the sketches. Here is the description of Issue 2 of The Gunslinger Born: "Roland has incurred the wrath of the evil sorcerer Marten, and must flee his home in Gilead with two of his young friends. But arriving in the supposedly friendly town of Hambry may be no safer, for the dreaded agents of Marten are abroad--The Coffin Hunters! Though it's not all completely bleak as Roland meets the woman who will become the love of his young life--the beautiful Susan Delgado. Plus: Learn more about the land of the Dark Tower with exclusive bonus material!"

Thomas Jane has confirmed that he will be playing the part of David Drake in The Mist, directed by Frank Darabont. Filming is expected to start early in 2007.

December 5, 2006: TNT will team with executive producers Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy and DreamWorks Television for a six-hour miniseries adaptation of The Talisman, scheduled to air on the cable network during summer 2008. "We are so happy and proud to be working with DreamWorks Television and Steven Spielberg after such a tremendous experience making Into the West," said Michael Wright, senior vice president of original programming for TNT and TBS. "We've also had excellent results working with Stephen King's material on Salem's Lot and Nightmares & Dreamscapes, so the opportunity to bring these talents together on our network is just about as good as it gets. Like those previous projects, The Talisman is a truly epic production, but one that will present all new challenges and opportunities. We look forward to working with this top-notch team of filmmakers as we create what is certain to be a television event to remember." Ehren Kruger (Skeleton Key, The Ring) will write the script. No director has been announced yet.

I have an essay about upcoming King projects in the Overlook Connection catalog, which should be out in January. Other contributors to the magazine include Ellen Datlow, Jack Ketchum, Mick Garris, Jonathan Reitan and Rob Zombie. The catalog features over 1,300 related King items, from signed limiteds and first editions to rare magazine appearances and special signed videos by Frank Darabont and Mick Garris. If you use the coupon code BevSentMe, you'll get $5 off the list price of the catalog, as well as an additional $10 off your purchase total if you buy something else. The Overlook Connection will launch their new web site later this month, but you can have a sneak peak right now.

November 28, 2006: Check out Steve's picks on his official web site, and the current issue of Entertainment Weekly for a lengthy interview/article called "When Stephen King met the LOST boys.

The moderator on King's message board says that Duma Key, his next novel, is 835 manuscript pages in first draft manuscript, and that it was written between February and October 2006

I've had an unconfirmed report that King will be on BBC4's Desert Island Disks on Sunday, November 19th. This program will likely NOT be archived on the BBC site after it is presented due to rights restrictions.

The new Carrie stage play runs off-Broadway at P.S. 122 in New York from December 2-30th. Tickets, priced $18, are available by calling (212) 352-3101. P.S. 122 is located at 150 First Avenue at Ninth Street.

After about a week on eBay, the bench King signed for charity went for a little more than $2,000. Someone in Virginia bought it. The money goes to the Maine Discovery Museum in downtown Bangor.

Don't expect esteemed filmmaker Frank Darabont to make nice with The Mist. "This one's more angry than what I've done before," he tells the Los Angeles Daily News. "To get my 'shoot fast and loose' legs under me, I did an episode of The Shield. I had such a blast. I put aside everything I know about filmmaking, the whole Kubrick wannabe approach and shook things up."

Here's the official announcement about the Dark Tower graphic novel series debut, and a profile of artist Jae Lee:

DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER BORN #1 (of 7)
COVER BY: JAE LEE
WRITER: ROBIN FURTH
PETER DAVID
PENCILS: JAE LEE
COLORED BY: RICHARD ISANOVE
LETTERED BY: CHRIS ELIOPOULOS

THE STORY:
ãThe man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.ä With those words, millions of readers were introduced to Stephen Kingâs Roland÷an implacable gunslinger in search of the enigmatic Dark Tower, powering his way through a dangerous land filled with ancient technology and deadly magic. Now, in a comic book personally overseen by King himself, Rolandâs past is revealed! Sumptuously drawn by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove, adapted by long-time Stephen King expert Robin Furth (author of Stephen Kingâs The Dark Tower: A Concordance) and scripted by New York Times Best-seller Peter David, this series delves deep into Rolandâs origins÷the perfect introduction to this incredibly realized world, while long-time fans will thrill to adventures merely hinted at in the novels. Be there for the very beginning of a modern classic of fantasy literature!

48 PGS./CARDSTOCK COVER/Parental Advisory ·$3.99

PRICE: 3.99
IN STORES: 2007-02-07

November 10, 2006: According to Lilja, the newly discovered Bachman manuscript I mentioned last time is Blaze, written in the early 1970s. Visit Lilja's site to read about his meeting with King in the UK. Blaze is about a huge, almost retarded criminal who kidnaps a baby and plans to ransom it back to the wealthy parents, but falls in love with the child instead.

November 8, 2006: The deadline to get your name in the back of the new limited edition of The Green Mile is Monday, November 13, 2006 at 5:00 EST. Visit Subterranean Press's website for full details. In unrelated news, the movie version of The Green Mile has been voted the most tear-jerking film, beating Ghost and Titanic in a poll by the British Heart Foundation.

The issue of Playboy (December 2006) containing the new short story "Willa" is on many newsstands now.

Here is the eBay link for the signed desk auction mentioned last time. The bid is currently over $800 with four days remaining.

November 2, 2006: Lisey's Story entered the USA Today mixed fiction/non-fiction bestseller list at #1.

Craig R Baxley (Kingdom Hospital, Storm of the Century) hopes to direct a film version of Gerald's Game starring Nicole Kidman, adapted by King.

If you're looking for one of the oddest Stephen King collectable items, check out an auction starting today for a signed bench.

At his appearance in New York last week, King said the he has spoken with Peter Straub about the final book in the Talisman trilogy. He sees the story as "sort of a 24 thing" where Jack can only travel back to our world for brief periods because it accelerates his death.

Marvel Spotlight: Dark #14, on sale on January 17, will have a feature on the Dark Tower graphic series. "We'll talk to the creative team that will unite Marvel Comics with the concepts of one of the giants of modern fiction, getting an inside look at Robin Furth, Peter David and Jae Lee and we'll even talk to Stephen King himself! So if you're a longtime fan of DARK TOWER or curious as to what it's all about, you'll want to check out this issue."

October 30, 2006: There's just one week left to take advantage of the promotion to get your name in the back of the new limited edition of The Green Mile from Subterranean Press. Don't forget to check out the calendar below for details about King's upcoming book tour on the West Coast and in the UK. Always check with the venue before committing yourself to a trip, because some events have changed and many may be sold out.

If you missed King's appearance on Good Morning America last week, the streaming video is available at ABC. Also, check out John Connolly's blog about interviewing King last week. It's the October 26th entry. During the interview, King described an idea he had for another novel. Read how SKEMER Noah described the plotline here.

In the current Entertainment Weekly, King discusses his favorite audiobooks. Hail to the Spoken Word.

October 24, 2006: Well, here it is--the day we've all been waiting for. Not only does Lisey's Story come out today, but the DVD set of Nightmares and Dreamscapes is also available starting today. The London Times has a Stephen King special that has reviews, excerpts, interviews, commentary and an exclusive PODcast. King is interviewed in a Financial News segment.

Here is a batch of reviews, which you should read at your own risk. Some of them will likely contain discussions of plot that may spoil the fun of reading