NEWS -

A Winter Evening With Stephen King

Posted: January 29, 2021, 02:04
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The A Winter Evening with Stephen King online event has just ended and some of the interesting things that were touched upon was this...


- For the last two months King have been working on a new book and this one will probably be long.

- Even though The Dark Tower is always present King has no plans to write a new Dark Tower book. He’s not saying never but he don’t see it happening.

I wish there would have been more questions about King’s work (Later and Billy Summers in particular) but all in all it was a good event. It was also one question though (that we would all have wanted to heard the answer to) that King missed. That question was “Will there be a third Talisman book soon”. I guess we’ll have to wait and see...

Billy Summers Arrives August 3rd

Posted: January 28, 2021, 21:36
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King’s fall 2021 book has been announced. It’s titled Billy summers and will be released on August 3rd.

Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong?

How about everything.

This spectacular can’t-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It’s about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption.

You won’t put this story down, and you won’t forget Billy.


Here is a very short excerpt from the book.

"Two million. Five hundred thousand up front, the rest after."

Billy's whistle isn't part of the act, which he doesn't think of as an act but his dumb self, the one he shows to guys like Nick and Frank and Paulie. It's like a seatbelt. You don't use it because you expect to be in a crash, but you never know who you might meet coming over a hill on your side of the road. This is also true on the road of life, where people veer all over the place and drive the wrong way on the turnpike.

"Why so much?" The most he's ever gotten on a contract was seventy K. "It's not a politician, is it? Because I don't do that."

"Not even close."

"Is it a bad person?"

Nick laughs, shakes his head, and looks at Billy with real affection. "Always the same question with you."

Billy nods.

The dumb self might be a shuck, but this is true: he only does bad people. It's how he sleeps at night. It goes without saying that he has made a living working for bad people, yes, but Billy doesn't see this as a moral conundrum. He has no problem with bad people paying to have other bad people killed. He basically sees himself as a garbageman with a gun.

"This is a very bad person."

Source: EW

Script For Black House Released

Posted: January 20, 2021, 14:44
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Borderlands Press are publishing the script for a movie version of Black House. The script is written by Richard Chizmar and Jonathan Schaech.

For our 14th title in Series III, we give you a fantastic offering from publishing Living Legend, feature film producer, and bestselling writer, Richard Chizmar and Hollywood actor Jonathan Schaech.

BLACK HOUSE: A Screenplay written by Richard Chizmar & Jonathan Schaech

Based on the bestselling novel by Stephen King & Peter Straub

Commissioned by Akiva Goldsman, Academy Award winning writer and producer of A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, and The Dark Tower.

Never produced because of complications with The Talisman rights.

The book will be released on March 6, 2021, limited to 750 copies numbered and signed by the screenwriters.

The Art And The Making of The Stand Out In May

Posted: January 5, 2021, 16:16
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Titan Books has announced the upcoming publication of the definitive companion title to the new CBS All Access series, The Stand.

The Art And The Making of The Stand takes readers behind the scenes of this much-anticipated series to discover how a remarkable group of producers and actors brought Stephen King’s genre-defining opus to screen. The book is full to the brim with on-set photography, concept art and more, accompanied by interviews with the crew and all-star cast alongside the shooting script for the never-before-published coda written for the new series by King himself.

Written by Andy Burns, The Art And The Making of The Stand is set to publish in hardback on May 4, 2021, priced at $45.

2020, what happened? 2021, what will happen?

Posted: December 29, 2020, 20:26
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2020 was a very strange year. While the pandemic swept throughout the world we tried to stay afloat as best we could and one way to do it was to turn to Stephen King. We did get one book, If it Bleeds and we did get two short stories, The Fifth Step and One Slide Inn Road. We didn’t get any feature films, but we did get The Outsider and The Stand on our TVs. So, considering what we got from King it was a pretty good year.

2021 will, when it comes to King, be an even better year. Here is what’s confirmed.

- The Stand will continue with one episode / week until it’s conclusion on February 11.

- Later will be out on March 2.

- A second book from King will be out during 2021. We don’t know the title or the release date yet, but a guess is that it’s the book about an assassin that he’s talked about and that it will be out in the fall. This has not been confirmed yet though.

- A new Children of the Corn movie is done and will be released in 2021. No release date has been set.

We also have a few things that probably will happen but that haven't been confirmed yet.

- The TV series Chapelwaite will probably air. The show isn’t finished yet, but my guess is that it will be and will air during 2021.

- TV series version of Lisey’s Story will air on Apple TV+. This is not confirmed but when the pandemic happened, they had a few weeks left of shooting so a guess is that they will finish that, edit it and air it before 2021 is over. Probably late in the year.

- Gwendy’s Final Task (third book about Gwendy) seems to be pretty much done so I would be very surprised if it’s not out in 2021. No date has been confirmed yet though and some talk about 2022 has been heard...

Beside all this there is a lot, and I mean a lot, of stuff that has been mentioned but I choose not to list them here because with the current situation in the world and the limited information we have about these projects it seems unlikely to me that they’ll be ready for 2021. But we’ll see. If I’m wrong I’ll be sure to post it on Lilja’s Library! King will probably throw in a few surprises as well during the year in the form of a short story or two…

Last, I also want to take the opportunity to thank you all for your support during 2020. As you know I love to talk Stephen King and you all give me that opportunity so thank you for that! I also want to thank all of you who have bought my book Shining in the Dark. It was released in four new physical editions this year in Brazil, Sweden, Japan and France. But we haven’t seen the end of that book. At least two new translations are lined up for 2021!


And with that I thank you for 2020 and wish you all a great 2021 where I hope we’ll be seeing a lot of each other in one way or the other.

No Revival For Mike Flanagan

Posted: December 27, 2020, 00:25
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Comicbook reports that Mike Flanagan’s film version of Revival won’t happen.

In a disappointing update however, Flanagan has confirmed that his version of the movie isn't happening.

It was in the podcast ”The Company Of The Mad” that Flanagan confirmed this was the case.

My Spoiler Free Review Of The Stand

Posted: December 16, 2020, 09:30
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I know that most of you don’t want to know too much of what happens in advance when it comes to the new TV series based on The Stand (even though we all know the plot) so here is a spoiler free review with my thoughts about the first four episodes in it I focus on some of the concerns we had before seeing the show and how well the cast works.

A Winter Evening With Stephen King

Posted: December 15, 2020, 10:10
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King will do a reading for ”The Friends of Charlotte Hobbs Memorial Library” and if you become a member before January 21, 2021 you’ll get invited to the event ”A Winter Evening with Stephen King” on Thursday January 28, 2021 from 7pm to 8pm where King will read from Bag of Bones and talk about his connection to Maine.

A Winter Evening with Stephen King

January 28, 2021 from 7pm to 8pm

If you become a member of the Friends of Charlotte Hobbs Memorial Library before January 21, 2021 you are invited to be our guest at a very special event, A Winter Evening with Stephen King on Thursday January 28, 2021 from 7pm to 8pm.

A world-renowned author, humanitarian, philanthropist, and activist, Stephen King is also a neighbor and friend to many in the Lovell area.

JOIN US as Stephen talks about his deep connection to Maine, takes questions, and reads from his novel, Bag of Bones, which was loosely based on the town of Lovell where he and his family have been summer residents since 1980. We look forward to spending an evening with Stephen and hope you can join us for this live online event.

Each Friends membership, whether individual or family or a gift*, will receive a unique Zoom link (which can’t be shared) to participate in this event. After you have joined our organization, either by downloading our membership form and mailing it in with a check or through PayPal you will receive an email with details. Students can become a Friend for $5 and Individuals can become a member for as little as $25.

*When making a gift membership through PayPal, please provide us with contact information of the person receiving the gift in the 'ADD A NOTE' field.

10 Days Until The Stand Premiers

Posted: December 7, 2020, 16:31
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10 days until The Stand premiers and three things I wanted to make you aware of, things that have been reported differently from site to site.

1. There will be 9 episodes. Some sites say 10 and that was the plan but there will only be 9.

2. This version is based on the uncut version of the book. This is probably the case since they were going to include the character ”The Kid” who only appear in the uncut version.

3. The show will have a new ending. Well...there will be a continuation of the story. King wrote the last episode and is telling us what happened after the book ended. So not a new ending but a very interesting continuation of the book. Here is what creator Josh Boone say about it:

“King wrote us a lovely coda, which is sort of the story he’s wanted to tell for a long time that takes place immediately after The Stand that provides an additional resolution for Franny, who’s sort of not involved in the climax of the book, which I thought was really, really brilliant and a deeply moving script. I was so moved to get to go make it.”

King To Appear In The Stand

Posted: December 4, 2020, 14:22
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Looks like we’ll be seeing King in the new adaptation of The Stand. Here is a report from Syfy.com

Eagle-eyed Stephen King fans are going to want to pay close attention to all nine episodes of CBS All Access’ The Stand, because the author is going to show up in a cameo just like he did for the 1994 miniseries.

Today at the Television Critics Association virtual panel presentation of CBS All Access’ The Stand, showrunner Benjamin Cavell told SYFY WIRE and other outlets that asked about King making an appearance that, “I would say there’s a chance you may see him this time.”

Take A Stand Around The World

Posted: December 3, 2020, 16:06
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OK, I’ve got some news about the airdates and how to watch The Stand outside the US.

As reported earlier The Stand will premier on December 17th in the US. The same day it will also premier in Sweden on HBO Nordic which means (when you calculate the time difference of 6 to 9 hours) that Sweden will actually air the show before the US. HBO Nordic will then continue with a new episode each Thursday (same as the US).

It has also been revealed (by ClubStephenKing) that Starzplay channel have revealed, through a press release, that they have bought the international rights and will air the show in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latin America, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom from Sunday January 3, 2021.

Shining In The Dark Turns 3 Years!

Posted: November 26, 2020, 15:49
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Three years ago, a book was published in Bulgaria. Nothing strange about that you might say, and I agree. But the book we’re talking about is none other than Shining in the Dark, edited by yours truly. This was the true first edition of the book and it was later followed by editions in the US, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden, the UK, Serbia, Brazil, Japan and France. During 2021 it will also be released in Greece and at least one more country. 13 translations published in 26 different editions…and counting.

All this during a three-year period. Not bad if you ask me!

Ezra Miller Is Trashcan Man In The Stand

Posted: November 18, 2020, 20:51
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Ezra Miller has a big and somewhat secret role in The Stand. He plays Trashcan Man and today EW has the first photo of him in character. The casting details have been kept under wraps until now, after months of speculation that goth rocker Marilyn Mason was cast in the role. However, Manson was originaly scheduled to play another role in the show...

“We were talking to [Manson] early on about playing The Kid, who drives Trashcan Man to Vegas,” Cavell reveals. The showrunner noted he was initially excited to include The Kid because he’s a colorful character from King’s extended version of The Stand who wasn’t in the previous 1994 miniseries adaptation of the material. But during the writing process, Cavell realized – as presumably did King when he completed his first edition of the book – there just wasn’t enough of a reason to have the character in the story. “We thought we were going to be able to restore the character of The Kid, but there really isn’t a lot of reason for The Kid to exist."

Limited Later

Posted: November 17, 2020, 16:11
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Here are the alternative covers for King’s upcoming book Later. This is a limited edition signed by King in three states:

The Lettered Edition: Limited to 26 copies, signed on tip-in sheets by Stephen King and packaged in a stylish black traycase with ribbon, styled with the Hard Case Crime logo.

The Numbered Edition: Limited to 374 copies, signed on tip-in sheets by Stephen King.

The Unsigned Hardcover Edition: Limited to 2500 copies.


The hardcover limited editions all feature two exclusive covers painted by acclaimed artist Gregory Manchess, each on its own separate dustjacket. These covers are variants to the standard trade paperback edition. The bonus jacket is a mock-up cover of The Secret of Roanoke by Regis Thomas, a fictitious novel that features prominently in the plot of Later.

Each hardcover edition also includes eight original exclusive illustrations by artist Rob Gale and the back cover features an exclusive map created especially for this Limited Edition in the classic “mapback” art style by artist Robert Hack, a reading ribbon, head and tail bands and quality endpapers.

Read more and check out an excerpt here

The Outsider Canceled By HBO

Posted: November 10, 2020, 19:47
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Variety reports that The Outsider has been canceled.

HBO has made the decision to pass on making a second season of the horror-crime drama, which is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. News of the effective cancelation comes around nine months after the show ended a successful 10-episode first season run. MRC, the studio behind “Outsider,” is set to shop season 2 around to other premium networks and streamers, according to sources.

Castle Rock Canceled by Hulu

Posted: November 4, 2020, 00:21
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Castle Rock has been canceled by Hulu.

Castle Rock is closing up shop at Hulu.

The Disney-owned streamer has canceled the scripted anthology based on stories created by horror master Stephen King.

From Warner Bros. TV and exec producers J.J. Abrams and showrunner-creators Dustin Thomason and Sam Shaw, season two launched around Halloween last year and ended its 10-episode run in December.

André Øvredal Talks The Long Walk

Posted: October 28, 2020, 16:10
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André Øvredal talks The Long Walk with Coming Soon.

After spending over a decade in the lap of frequent King adapter Frank Darabont (The Mist, The Shawshank Redemption), the rights to the 1979 dystopian novel finally lapsed and were acquired by James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) and New Line Cinema, with Øvredal being tapped for the the director’s chair in May 2019. While he’s uncertain as to why it’s taken so long to get the project off the ground, he’s excited for what’s to come, even if “COVID is just wrecking everything” trying to into production but promising “it’s alive and well and moving along.”

“I guess in the end, he just didn’t choose to do it, I actually don’t even know if he ever had a script,” Øvredal pondered. “This script was written on spec by James Vanderbilt when he did not even have the rights to it, he just wrote it out of pure love for the book and in the end, suddenly the rights were open and he was able to go to King with his script and say, ‘Can we do this?’ Then New Line bought it and somehow I got involved [laughs].

The story takes place in a dystopian future, where 100 boys are selected for a long walk. They have to maintain speeds of 4 miles an hour, and receive fewer than three warnings an hour. Break these rules, and they’re shot dead. The last one standing, however, gets whatever he wants for the rest of his life. Despite the high stakes, the boys form an unlikely camaraderie along their journey. James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) wrote the screenplay and is producing alongside Bradley Fischer and William Sherak.

New Children Of The Corn Now Playing

Posted: October 27, 2020, 08:24
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Last Friday the new Children of the Corn movie premiered in Sarasota. Written and directed by “Equilibrium” filmmaker Kurt Wimmer, the movie isn’t a remake of the 1984 film but rather a reimagining of the material, centering on a rampage waged against the adults of a small Nebraska town by their children.


A psychopathic twelve-year-old girl in a small town in Nebraska recruits all the other children and goes on a bloody rampage, killing the corrupt adults and anyone else who opposes her. A bright high schooler who won’t go along with the plan, is the town’s only hope of survival.



Thanks to Herbert West

Creepshow Halloween Special Trailer

Posted: October 26, 2020, 20:41
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Here is a trailer for the Halloween special of Creepshow.



Survivor Type,” based on the short story by Stephen King and adapted by Nicotero, stars Kiefer Sutherland (24, Designated Survivor) as a man determined to stay alive alone on a deserted island no matter what the cost.

“Twittering from the Circus of the Dead,” based on the short story by Joe Hill and adapted by Melanie Dale, stars Joey King (The Kissing Booth, The Act) as a teen whose family road trip includes a visit to the gravest show on earth.

Animate Creepshow Special Poster

Posted: October 24, 2020, 22:40
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Here is the poster and a picture from Shudder’s animated Creepshow special that airs on October 26. The special will feature two stories. Survivor Type by King (featuring the voice of Kiefer Sutherland) and Twittering from the Circus of the Dead by Joe Hill (featuring the voice of Joey King).


Thoughts About The Second King Book For 2021

Posted: October 15, 2020, 15:06
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As we know now King has a new book besides LATER coming in 2021. So far nothing has been confirmed as to which book it is, when it’s being released (probably in the fall), what the title will be or what it’s about. There have been quite a few speculations online and I thought I would go through the options and how likely they are.

The Assassin (not confirmed title):
This book King has been talking about earlier this year. He mentioned it in the King & Grisham event on April 29 and said it’s a crime novel about a hired assassin. This is probably (not confirmed) the book that has the scene when two of the characters go on a cruise and because of that King had to change the year it took place from 2020 to 2019 due to the fact that no one go on cruises in 2020 due to Corona.

I would say that this is probably the book we will see released in 2021.

A totally unknown book:
King have surprised us before with books that we haven’t heard anything about until very close to the publication. This could be one of those books.

There is a chance that King have been working on this alongside “The Assassin” and finished it first so it’s possible that next year’s second book is an unknown book.

A short story collection:
The last collection, not counting If it Bleeds was Bazaar of Bad Dreams back in 2015 so King probably have a few short stories but the question is if he has enough for a collection? He might. So far, we know about The Music Room, Thin Scenery, Laurie, The Turbulence Expert and The Fifth Step.

If next years book is a collection King have been working hard writing short stories. He will have to have written at least five or six stories. Not impossible but not that likely either…

The Dark Tower (not confirmed title):
King has said very vaguely several times that he would like to go back to The Dark Tower but so far we have no indication that he has.

I’m convinced that we’ll get more “Dark Tower” books in the future but I don’t think we’ll get one in 2021. It’s not impossible but I would say that the chance of a new “Dark Tower” book in 2021 is very small.

The Talisman 3 (not confirmed title):
This book has been the subject to numerous rumors and each time King and Straub ends up in the same picture people think they are writing it. The last concrete thing we heard about it was back in 2016 when King said that they hoped to start it in February 2017. We know that didn’t happen.

It would be a dream come true to many fans if we got the third book about Jack next year, but I find it very unlikely that it will happen. I think we would have heard something if King and Straub had started working on it. But you never know, stranger things have happened, but I still hold this as the least likely book for next year.

Those are my guesses, what do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Have I missed any book King have mentioned?

It's Alive In France

Posted: October 6, 2020, 13:53
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The Frensh edition of Shining in the Dark is back from the printer. I just got these photos from the publisher. The book is released October 16th.






Photos taken by Gaëlle Giroulet.

Eli Roth Talks Horror & Stephen King

Posted: October 5, 2020, 16:08
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Eli Roth’s History of Horror season 2 premiers this Saturday (Oct. 10) on AMC and I got a chance to talk to Eli about the show, horror and Stephen King. Here is what he had to say.

Stephen King inspires me every day. He has created the most iconic works since Edgar Allen Poe and he still just keeps going. He never stops. I love his book “On Writing,” I follow his lessons in that book to the letter.
- Eli Roth

Make A Stand At Comic-Con

Posted: October 5, 2020, 14:58
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The Stand will be On New York Comic-Con this year and on Friday October 9 there will be a Q&A with the cast.

Friday, October 9 at 12:40PM ET/9:40AM PT
THE STAND

Exclusive Q&A with Cast + Inside Look
Based on Stephen King’s iconic post-apocalyptic novel of the same name, the much-anticipated limited event series asks the question “where will you stand?” in the ultimate fight between good and evil. Join series stars Whoopi Goldberg, James Marsden, Greg Kinnear, Amber Heard, Jovan Adepo, Odessa Young and Owen Teague alongside showrunner Benjamin Cavell and executive producer Taylor Elmore, as they discuss bringing this epic story to life and what fans can expect when the series premieres December 17. Moderated by Anthony Breznican of Vanity
Fair.

The virtual confab is set to take place October 8-11 and will be available to watch on YouTube and FindtheMetaverse.com.

Zac Efron Is Andy McGee In Firestarter

Posted: September 30, 2020, 08:24
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Today Collider reports that Zac Efron has signed on to star in the remake of Firestarter from Universal, Blumhouse and Weed Road. Efron will play the Charlie’s father, Andy McGee.


Keith Thomas will direct from a script by Scott Teems, Jason Blum is producing alongside Akiva Goldsman and his Weed Road banner, while Martha De Laurentiis will executive produce alongside Teems, having served as an associate producer on the original 1984 movie.

Creepshow Special With King & Hill

Posted: September 25, 2020, 08:40
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Shudder just announced that they are airing an animated Creepshow special on October 26. The special will feature two stories. Survivor Type by King (featuring the voice of Kiefer Sutherland) is about a man trapped on a deserted island struggling to stay alive. Twittering from the Circus of the Dead by Joe Hill (featuring the voice of Joey King) is about a teenager on a family road trip that turns sinister.