Here are some images and info about something called The Master of Horror. The Master of Horror is stage plays based on King's stories The Last Waltz (a liberal adaptations of the final chapter of Danse Macabre), Nona, Quitters, Inc., Paranoid and In the Deathroom.
They will be performed on October 9-11, 16-18, 23-25, 30-31, November 1, 2008 on Thursday through Saturday, 7:30pm. You can find more info and photos here. And here is a review of it.
It looks like The Talisman is the next King book to become a comic...
Del Rey, an imprint of Random House US’ Ballantine Books, has acquired the comic book and graphic novel rights to The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. A monthly comic, with “at least 24 issues”, is planned for late summer/early fall 2009.
“Illustrating The Talisman in the depth that it deserves will involve at least 24 issues of comics, probably more,” said Del Rey editor in chief, Betsy Mitchell, who acquired the project from agent Ralph Vicinanza. “It’s a tremendously visual story, filled with images that burn in memory long after the book has been closed.”
After two years of trying, CU-Boulder film student Luke Cheney got permission from Stephen King himself to make a student film of King's short story "In the Death Room." It involves a New York Times reporter being interrogated by Spanish intelligence officers. Cheney's shooting it Nov. 15 and 16 in Boulder and a Denver studio.
IGN has talked to Frank Marshall and also checked with him about the movie version of The Talisman. Here is what he said:
IGN: And I have to ask this because I'm a huge fan of the book. Any word on that long-in-development adaptation of Stephen King's The Talisman?
MARSHALL: Yes, there is! It's back to being a movie. It's kind of on the backburner since we're waiting to see how everything shakes out with the DreamWorks, Paramount, Amblin thing.
I just heard that the Italian version of Just After Sunset will be called Al Crepuscolo and released on October 21st. If that is correct it would be the first edition released. It's quite rare that there is an edition released ahead of the US ed. and I'll make sure to check this out some more...
King, who earned $45 million over the course of the year, has placed himself on third place on the list of authors earning the most between June 1, 2007, and June 1, 2008.
From the 10/3 issue of Entertainment Weekly. A letter about the most recent column, and for the first time in a long time, if ever, King responds to it.
From page 2:
Lee Child and Michael Connelly are among my favorite authors, while current chick lit makes me gag (The Pop of King). What's appealing about "manfiction" characters is their confidence, humor, and sense of morality. I'd rather read about them than the hunk on the tropical isle Stephen King described.
Nancy Urbanis, Tunkhannock, PA
Columnist Stephen King responds: No sexism intended. Ladies have every right to enjoy the exploits of Jack Reacher and Harry Bosch...just as I have every right to enjoy Nora Roberts. Genre fiction is NOT unisex.
Interested in winning a signed copy of Just After Sunset? All you have to do is create a trailer for the book in a contest King’s UK publisher Hodder & Stoughton is running. More info here.
Amazon.com claims to have their own exclusive cover for the hardback edition of The Long Road Home. It looks just like the variant cover of issue #5 though so I'll look into this some more and let you know what's up with this.
Here is the cover for the 2nd printing of the first issue of Captain Trips. The first chapter of Stephen King’s acclaimed horror epic, The Stand: Captain Trips, debuted this month in graphic fiction form and was an instant hit with fans. After a quick sell out at Diamond, Marvel is pleased to announce that they will be going back to the press with The Stand: Captain Trips #1 (of 5) Second Printing Variant! The Stand, which is commonly deemed as King's most popular novel, is a story of Biblical proportions; after a virus produced by the government spreads across the country, destroying the human race, the few survivors left alive must band together and make their final stand! Written by acclaimed scribe Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four) and featuring the visually stunning interiors of Eisner-nominated artist, Mike Perkins (Captain America, House of M: Avengers), comes the beginning of the end of the world! Plus, check out the all new variant cover featuring the mind-blowing art of Mike Perkins!
Here is the cover to a biography of Stephen King called Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King. The book isn't authorized but King knows about it.
The book is scheduled to be released in January 2009 and Lisa was kind enough to let me read her introduction to the book in advance and so far it's interesting.
Here is the latest on the remake of Children of the Corn:
SCI FI Channel has cast its upcoming Children of the Corn remake, with David Anders, Kandyse McClure, Preston Bailey and Daniel Newman coming aboard the two-hour TV movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The movie, based on the Stephen King novel, features Anders (NBC's Heroes) and McClure (Battlestar Galactica) as Burt and Vicky, a couple with marital problems whose attempt at a second-honeymoon driving trip ends up taking them into a seemingly deserted rural community that conceals a grim secret among its rows of tall corn.
Bailey plays boy preacher Isaac, while Newman plays his rebellious right-hand man, Malachai.
The movie, set to air next year, is shooting in and around Davenport, Iowa. Donald P. Borchers is directing from his own script.
The TV movie is supposed to be two hours long and here are some photos from the movie and another article about it.
From an official newsletter:
Stephen to do a book signing with fellow author Richard Russo on November 6, 2008
A Conversation with Stephen King and Richard Russo:
A Benefit for The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of The Odyssey Bookshop
Stephen King and Richard Russo will be participating in an on-stage conversation followed by a book signing to be held at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, on Thursday, November 6th.
I have just worked my way through season 2 of Master of Horror (Mick Garris TV project) and if you're interested you can read my thoughts about it here. Oh, and I got it in a very nice skull version that you should definitely check out.
Don’t miss the midnight openings on September 10th. Mike Perkins (artist for The Stand: Captain Trips) and Peter David (writer for Treachery) for The Stand: Captain Trips, will be doing several signings. For more information about the events, visit this link.
Bloody Disgusting reports that Daniel Newman has been casted as Malachai in the remake of Childern of the Corn.
It has also been decided that Childern of the Corn won’t be filmed in Tipton and Wilton as the two cities looked “too large and too prosperous”. Read more here.
Here are some info about the upcoming The Illustrated Stephen King MOVIE Trivia Book:
Now that summer is winding down, we've listed the next batch of movies on the StephenKingTrivia.com website... and we're getting into "sequel" territory for a while!
*** BUT FIRST, AN IMPORTANT PRIZE UPDATE:
We're going to be giving additional prizes in surprise categories... for
example, we might give a prize to the person who submitted the most questions... or we might give a prize to the person who submitted questions for the most movies (even if he or she only submitted one question for each movie)! We can't say just yet what categories we'll be giving away these bonus prizes in, but the more you submit, the better your chances of winning something cool and free!
*** SNEAK PEEK AT THE ARTWORK:
Glenn Chadbourne has been working all summer on the artwork for this project, and we're pleased to be able to show you the world's first look at two of the dozens and dozens of illustrations! Go to this secret page on the website to check them out:
There will be more to come in the near future, including the beautiful color cover, so please sign-up for the Stephen King Trivia mailing list for updates! You can do so on the website at: http://www.stephenkingtrivia.com/
*** OKAY, THIS WEEK'S MOVIES ARE:
€ A Return To 'Salem's Lot
€ Pet Sematary 2
€ Children Of The Corn 2 - The Final Sacrifice
€ Children Of The Corn 3 - Urban Harvest
€ The Lawnmower Man 2 - Beyond Cyberspace
You can submit your questions and answers for these movies via the form on the website:
Don't forget: you can submit questions each and every week, and every question you submit increases your odds of winning free books! So even if you just have one good question about just one of the movies each week, you should definitely send it in!
Damon Lindelof talks about The Dark Tower:
Q: Have there been any developments with your rumored adaptation of Stephen King's Dark Tower series?
A: The Dark Tower is to me every bit as daunting an adaptation as the Lord of the Rings trilogy must have been for Peter Jackson, except we've got seven books we're looking at. And the idea of doing that at the same time Carlton and I are bringing Lost to a close is simply not viable. There are always Dark Tower conversations, but the figuring out of what this will look like as a movie has not begun. If The Dark Tower were in the right hands, I would love to see seven movies executed just right. But you have to get people to see the first one to get them to come and see the second one.
Here is a description of Just After Sunset: Just After Sunset
Stephen King. Scribner, $28 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4165-8408-7
In the introduction to his first collection of short fiction since Everything’s Eventual (2002), King credits editing Best American Short Stories (2007) with reigniting his interest in the short form and inducing some of this volume’s contents. Most of these 13 tales show him at the top of his game, molding the themes and set pieces of horror and suspense fiction into richly nuanced blends of fantasy and psychological realism. “The Things They Left Behind,” a powerful study of survivor guilt, is one of several supernatural disaster stories that evoke the horrors of 9/11. Like the crime thrillers “The Gingerbread Girl” and “A Very Tight Place,” both of which feature protagonists struggling with apparently insuperable threats to life, it is laced with moving ruminations on mortality that King attributes to his own well-publicized near-death experience. Even the smattering of genre-oriented works shows King trying out provocative new vehicles for his trademark thrills, notably “N.,” a creepy character study of an obsessive-compulsive that subtly blossoms into a tale of cosmic terror in the tradition of Arthur Machen and H.P. Lovecraft. Culled almost entirely from leading mainstream periodicals, these stories are a testament to the literary merits of the well-told macabre tale. (Nov.)
Here is even more Children of the Corn news:
TIPTON, Iowa — It won’t be as big as RAGBRAI, but Tipton is expecting closed streets and an influx of people and vehicles as it becomes one of two small towns chosen for filming scenes for the feature film, “Children of the Corn.”
The remake of a 1983 horror movie based on a Stephen King story will be filmed in the Quad-City area from Sept. 3 to 30.
Douglas Miller of Motion Pictures Midwest told the Tipton City Council that the director of photography and members of the art department will visit Tipton this week to make decisions concerning the scenes that will be shot there.
Tipton and Wilton will be used to represent the fictional town of Gatlin, Neb. Tipton’s downtown area, especially near the Hardacre Theatre on East 5th Street, is to be featured.
Travis Alden, community development director for Tipton, is excited Tipton was chosen for the movie scenes.
“In my opinion, this is perfect timing as we are fresh off of our RAGBRAI success and the logistics planning required for that will be helpful with this project,” he said.
Donald Borchers is writer, director and producer of the remake. He was a producer of the 1983 version, which was made in Sioux City.
If anyone happens to be on scene and has photos, please send them to me and I'll post them here.