Bev Vincent explores Never Flinch by Stephen King

Bev VincentMay 26, 2025May 24, 2025Reviews, Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Cujo, Finders Keepers, Holly, If it Bleeds, Mr. Mercedes, Never Flinch, News from the Dead Zone, Reviews, Stephen King, Stephen King News, The OutsiderLeave a comment

Murderers Anonymous

Although Stephen King has written books that could be classified as thrillers in the past, it’s hard to pick one with more intricate interweaving of fast-paced events featuring numerous characters in different locations than you’ll find in the climactic section of Never Flinch. With plenty of foreshadowing to prime the pump, King begins the drive toward an impressive series of confrontations at the book’s midpoint. It’s a whodunit, replete with red herrings and misdirection, and even after the true identity of the killer is revealed, King keeps the tension level high as he juggles several independent but interlinked plotlines and roars to a gripping finale.

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #239

Bev VincentApril 22, 2025April 21, 2025Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Carrie, Columns, Cujo, Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream, Hansel and Gretel, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, the end of the world as we know it, The Institute, The Life of Chuck, The Long Walk, The Monkey, The Running Man, Welcome to Derry1 Comment

There’s a lot going on in the Stephen King Universe in the next six or seven months, so you should get a calendar and fill in all the important dates. Or you could just refer to all the information in this column, which has you covered!

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #238 – Monkey Shines

Bev VincentFebruary 24, 2025February 23, 2025Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Columns, Hansel and Gretel, Maurice Sendak, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Monkey, The TalismanLeave a comment

In this episode of News from the Dead Zone, I’ll be dealing with two things from the opposite ends of the age spectrum: My ramblings about a very R-rated adaptation, The Monkey, and news of an unexpected book coming up this fall that is targeted at 6-8 year-olds that was announced recently.

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #237

Bev VincentFebruary 3, 2025February 2, 2025Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Black House, Carrie, Columns, Holly, Lily, mike flanagan, Never Flinch, News from the Dead Zone, Peter Straub, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The Extra Hour, The Institute, The Life of Chuck, The Long Walk, The Monkey, The Running Man, The Talisman, Welcome to Derry1 Comment

I should start off by saying Happy New Year. We can hope it will be happy anyway. And why not? For the first time in a while, we know not only what King’s next book is going to be, but also what he’s currently working on for the book after that, assuming inspiration continues to flow in his direction. Or, as he so colorfully put it, that the “red thread that comes out of a mousehole in the ground” doesn’t break. And there will be at least six adaptations hitting screens of various sizes during 2025.

Bev Vincent explores ‘Salem’s Lot (2024)

Bev VincentSeptember 27, 2024September 26, 2024Reviews, Stephen King News from the Dead Zone'Salem's Lot, Bev Vincent, Christine, News from the Dead Zone, Reviews, Stephen King, Stephen King News2 Comments

The Show Begins at Sundown

Back in 2011, Screem magazine commissioned me to write an article about ‘Salem’s Lot and its adaptations. (1) That led me to revisit the 1979 miniseries, starring David Soul, that had so terrorized me at the time. I had just started reading King a couple of months earlier, and two scenes in particular—ones that will be familiar to anyone who’s seen it—haunted me for a long time thereafter. Even though the original miniseries doesn’t stand the test of time—even in 1979, Soul didn’t have the gravitas required of the role and I find the adaptation almost painful to watch now—those scenes do hold up. I would say that the miniseries is better as a memory than as an actuality. I found a lot of flaws in it when I wrote about it for Screem and I doubt I could make myself watch it again today. (2)

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #235

Bev VincentAugust 5, 2024August 2, 2024Stephen King News from the Dead Zone'Salem's Lot, Always Holly, Bev Vincent, Columns, Holly, It, mike flanagan, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The Institute, The Life of Chuck, The Long Walk, The Monkey, The Running Man, The Shining, The Talisman, Welcome to Derry, You Like It Darker1 Comment

I can’t believe it’s been a year since I last wrote one of these columns (except for a couple of book reviews). I refused to believe it until I verified it three different ways. It’s mind-blowing. Where has the time gone? Oh well, I’m here now and we have a few things to talk about.

No, not hurricanes or the Olympics or the forthcoming election. We’re here to talk about what’s new in the Stephen King Universe, so let’s get to it.
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Bev Vincent explores You Like it Darker by Stephen King

Bev VincentMay 20, 2024May 19, 2024Reviews, Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBag of Bones, Bev Vincent, Cujo, Dreamcatcher, Duma Key, Fair Extension, Flight or Fright, Laurie, News from the Dead Zone, Rattlesnake, Reviews, Revival, Stephen King, Stephen King News, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, The Turbulence Expert, You Like It DarkerLeave a comment

“Lack of belief is the curse of intelligence”

It’s a short story collection. No, it’s a novella collection. No, it’s two…two…two things in one! OK, you have to be really old to get that reference to an old Certs commercial. They don’t even make Certs anymore, I’m displeased to discover.

Anyhow, You Like It Darker is a hybrid of two types of books we’ve come to expect from Stephen King. It’s a collection of the seven short stories published since The Bazaar of Bad Dreams but it also contains five brand-new long works ranging from a novelette (“The Dreamers”) to novellas (“The Answer Man,” “Two Talented Bastids” and “Rattlesnakes”) to a story long enough to be considered a novel by the SFWA and other awards criteria (“Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream”).

Bev Vincent explores Holly by Stephen King

Bev VincentAugust 29, 2023August 21, 2023Reviews, Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Billy Summers, Carrie, Holly, If it Bleeds, Mr. Mercedes, News from the Dead Zone, Reviews, Stephen King, Stephen King News1 Comment

“No one will believe it really happened”

Stephen King doesn’t hide the identity of the murderers at the center of Holly Gibney’s latest case in the novel that bears her name. In 2012, Emily and Rodney Harris, professors emeritus at Bell College, tricked a colleague named Jorge Castro into helping them resolve a roadside issue. They drugged him and took him to a dungeon in the basement of their presentable home in a respectable part of town.

Why did the elderly Harrises kidnap him, why do they force him to eat something unpalatable, and what are their plans? Since Castro knows the identity of his abductors, it doesn’t seem likely he’ll be released. The popular consensus is that he packed up and left town abruptly, although his lover doesn’t agree.

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #232

Bev VincentAugust 11, 2023August 11, 2023Stephen King News from the Dead Zone'Salem's Lot, Bev Vincent, Christine, Columns, Gerald's Game, Holly, It, King on Screen, mike flanagan, News from the Dead Zone, Pet Sematary, Stephen King, The Boogeyman, The Dark Tower, The Life of Chuck, The Long Walk, The Monkey, Welcome to DerryLeave a comment

It’s hot. Oh, so hot. Ever so effing hot. As many of you probably know, I live in Texas. Some years we get by without a single day with a temperature above 100°. This year, we’ve been “blessed” with almost nothing but triple-digit days, with “feels like temps” over 110°. It’s relentless.

So, while the world is melting down, what else should a person do but stay inside, with the A/C turned up high, reading and writing and watching television?
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Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #231

Bev VincentJanuary 24, 2023January 24, 2023Stephen King News from the Dead Zone'Salem's Lot, Bev Vincent, Columns, Doctor Sleep, Fairy Tale, Flight or Fright, Gerald's Game, Gwendy's Button Box, Holly, It, mike flanagan, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Boogeyman, The Dark Tower, The Long Walk, Welcome to Derry1 Comment

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe and pleasant holiday season. I know a lot of people had travel issues, so I hope none of you are still stuck in an airport somewhere (if you are, Mr. King and I have an anthology to help you pass the time) or trying to track down your luggage.

Will 2023 be a good year? Hard to say, but I know one thing for sure: we have a new King book to look forward to in September and a movie adaptation that has the studio’s confidence.
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Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #230

Bev VincentOctober 3, 2022October 11, 2022Stephen King News from the Dead Zone'Salem's Lot, Bev Vincent, Chapelwaite, Columns, Cujo, dark tower, Fariy Tale, Flight or Fright, Holly, Mr. Harrigan's Phone, News from the Dead Zone, Rattlesnake, Stephen King, The Boogeyman, The Dark Tower Companion, The Regulators, Welcome to Derry, Willie the Weirdo1 Comment

Time for another Stephen King news update, don’t you think? Recently we saw the publication of King’s latest novel, Fairy Tale, and I have news about the next adaptation, which launches this week. In addition to those items, I’m going to talk about two associational projects, one of which involves yours truly and the other that involves someone from New Brunswick in Canada—and it’s not me!
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Bev Vincent: Documenting the King of Horror

Cemetery Dance OnlineSeptember 12, 2022September 7, 2022Interviews, Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Interviews, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Stephen King Illustrated Companion, The Stephen King Ultimate CompanionLeave a comment

cover of The Stephen King Ultimate Companion Bev Vincent is living the life that most Constant Readers can only dream of.

Bev has written volumes documenting Stephen King’s work, from career-spanning books like The Illustrated Stephen King Companion to more focused works like The Dark Tower Companion. He co-edited an anthology with King called Flight or Fright. He gets early copies of King’s books, which he reviews for us here at Cemetery Dance as part of his “News from the Dead Zone” column. And soon he’ll have a new book out: The Stephen King Ultimate Companion: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences.

Recently, I fired off a few questions about this new project, which Bev graciously took the time to answer.Continue Reading

Bev Vincent explores Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Bev VincentSeptember 2, 2022September 1, 2022Reviews, Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Cujo, dark tower, Fairy Tale, Gunslinger, News from the Dead Zone, Reviews, Stephen King, Stephen King News, The Green Mile, The Talisman2 Comments

“There are other worlds than these”

Traditionally, in stories modeled after the Hero’s Journey, the main character receives a call to action, which he or she initially resists. Take, for example, Bilbo Baggins, who is cajoled out of his comfortable, quiet life to go on an adventure by Gandalf. In Stephen King’s fantasy stories, the characters are self-motivated. No one has to urge Jack Sawyer to light out for the Territories—he has a good reason to embark on a perilous journey. Similarly, Roland Deschain chooses his mission to find and save the Dark Tower, even though it will take him on a wild journey for the rest of his natural days. No one conscripts him. (Although, to be fair, sometimes his characters are yanked into a quest without being given any choice in the matter.)

In Fairy Tale, Charlie McGee[1] Reade also decides for himself to go on a magical adventure although, when he sets out, he has no idea what dangers he will face and what will be asked of him while he attempts to achieve his goal.

Bev Vincent explores Gwendy’s Final Task

Bev VincentFebruary 15, 2022February 25, 2022Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Gwendy's Button Box, Gwendy's Final Task, Gwendy's Magic Feather, News from the Dead Zone, Nineteen, Reviews, Richard Chizmar, Stephen King, Stephen King News, The StandLeave a comment

“The Tower Is Strong”

There’s a lot going on in Ben Baldwin’s artwork on the cover of the Cemetery Dance edition of Gwendy’s Final Task, coauthored by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar. The dominant figure is the enigmatic Richard Farris, who has burdened Gwendy Peterson with custody of a mysterious and dangerous box of buttons on two previous occasions. In the foreground we see an illustration of a town or a city and what looks to be a rocket or a shooting star.

But what’s that behind Mr. Farris? Could it be…could it possibly be…the Dark Tower? This image generated a lot of discussion and debate when it was first revealed. The Gallery Books cover for the final book in the Gwendy trilogy puts the question to rest—the central image is the Tower and, in the foreground, a field of red roses.

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #227

Bev VincentJanuary 31, 2022February 12, 2022Stephen King News from the Dead Zone'Salem's Lot, A Face in the Crowd, Bev Vincent, Christine, Columns, dark tower, Fariy Tale, Firestarter, Gwendy's Button Box, Gwendy's Final Task, Later, Mr. Harrigan's Phone, News from the Dead Zone, Pet Sematary, Red Screen, Richard Chizmar, Stephen King, The Green Mile, Willie the WeirdoLeave a comment

Happy New Year to all my readers. It’s been a while since my last news update, primarily because there hasn’t been a lot going on in the Stephen King Universe. However, I now have some cool things to talk about, so pull up a chair.
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