Here are some info about King and Lauren Groff's reading:
HERALD-TRIBUNE BOOK CLUB
"The Monsters of Templeton" by Lauren Groff (Hyperion/Voice, $24.95) is the current selection of the Herald-Tribune Book Club. Groff will be in conversation with mystery writer Stephen King in a special event at 6:30 p.m. March 27 in Selby Auditorium at the University of South Florida, 8350 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $25, include a copy of Groff's book, and are available at Sarasota News & Books, 1341 Main St. Call 365-6332. For information about the book club, call Susan Rife at 361-4930 or e-mail susan.rife @heraldtribune.com.
King is first out in a new TV show starting on the Bravo channel in Canada. Here is a description: Books into Film EP: 01 Stephen King 2005
Series examining the adaptation of books into movies, using clips, interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. This episode: Hollywood's long-running fascination with this versatile writer, author of "Carrie," "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Shining" and "Stand By Me."
Alliance Theatre has released the following info about Ghost Brothers of Darkland County. It will run April 15 - May 10, 2009: Ghost Brothers of Darkland County
A haunted cabin. A late night jump off lover’s leap. A chilling new musical.
In 1957, in the tiny town of Lake Belle Reve, Mississippi, a terrible tragedy took the lives of two brothers and a beautiful young girl. During the next forty years, the events of that night became a local legend. But legend is often just another word for lie. Joe McCandless knows what really happened; he saw it all. The question is whether or not he can bring himself to tell the truth in order to save his own troubled sons, and whether the ghosts left behind by an act of violence will help him...or tear the McCandless family apart forever. Stephen King’s script brings the power of suspense and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Mellencamp brings a gritty rock and zydeco score to this World Premiere musical that’s certain to send chills up your spine.
Why We Love This Play
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County is a sultry Southern gothic mystery, with a blues-tinged guitar-driven score. It’s a great story of family tension and secrets, a gripping mystery and a traditional ghost story. Since Aida, our Alliance has participated in the development of some of the most exciting and heartfelt new American musicals. Our audience has a reputation for an adventurous spirit and support for new work, embracing the excitement of developing theatre, a reputation that drew the remarkable creative team of this new musical to Atlanta.
Lauren Groff mentiones in an interview that she and King will do a reading together on March 27th. The Wall Street Journal: How did Stephen King get onto your book so early?
Lauren Groff: He chose a story of mine for "The Best American Short Stories 2007," which he edited. It's a resetting of Abelard and Heloise in 1918 during the flu epidemic titled "L. DeBard and Aliette." Aliette is a girl stricken by polio who later goes on to become an Olympic swimmer. Anyway, he loved the story, thank goodness. My editor, Pam Dorman, had worked with him on earlier books, and asked if he would like to see my book. He wrote it up and created amazing buzz right from the beginning. (Ms. Groff's short story is online at The Atlantic.)
WSJ: What was the impact?
Ms. Groff: There is no name in American literature more recognized than Stephen King, so it helped immeasurably. In Sarasota, Fla., we'll be doing a reading together. (The March 27 event will be on the University of South Florida's Sarasota-Manatee campus.)
The moderator of King’s official board had the following comment:
I'm not 100% sure about his doing a reading -- will have to double check with him. The original deal was just that he would be introducing Lauren Groff, nothing about a reading.
After some confusing it seams The Mist is back on it’s original DVD release date, March 25th. If you head over to Amazon you can also see a preview from the DVD where Frank talks about the visual effects.
will premier in April/May 2009:
Mellencamp, Stephen King will debut scary musical at Alliance
The king of goosebumps and a soon-to-be Rock and Roll Hall of Famer are creating a new musical that will debut at the Alliance Theatre.
Mystery writer Stephen King and Grammy Award-winning pop-music legend John Mellencamp, both newcomers to theater, will unveil the world premiere of "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County" in April and May of next year, the Alliance has announced.
"It is John Mellencamp's musical style and it's Stephen King's gothic style, and I just thought it was too cool to pass up," Alliance artistic director Susan V. Booth says.
Set in 1957, "Ghost Brothers" centers on a simmering 40-year-old legend about the strange deaths of two brothers and a beautiful young girl in the fictional town of Lake Belle Reve, Miss.
Booth says it's too soon to say if the show will transfer to Broadway but that commercial producers will be charting the musical's progress. In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Mellencamp said, "If it goes well in Atlanta, then we'll come to Broadway. If it don't go well in Atlanta, we're done."
Mellencamp, who has been working on the piece for eight years, is to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10.
Booth said the idea for "Ghost Brothers" came from a story Mellencamp heard as a youth in his hometown of Seymour, Ind. When the writer of hits "Jack and Diane" and "Hurts So Good" decided to turn the material into a musical, he realized he needed a book writer.
At that point, Booth says, Mellencamp thought: "Wait, it's a ghost story. Who's the best ghost story writer there is? So his people talked to Stephen King's people, and now they are buddies and they have written this musical together."
Booth describes the show as "a theatrical piece with music." There will be a live band onstage, and New York director Peter Askin will direct. Askin's credits include Eve Ensler's "The Good Body" and John Leguizamo's "Sexaholix" on Broadway and John Cameron Mitchell's "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" off-Broadway.
"John and Stephen have the kinds of names and reputations that are going to attract people's curiosity," Askin says, "and the fact that they have not worked in theater before is an interesting thing."
He describes the musical style as zydeco. "It's Southern and it's kind of country."
"Ghost Brothers" will join an impressive list of new musicals to play the Alliance since Booth arrived in 2001. "The Color Purple," "Sister Act: The Musical" and "The Women of Brewster Place" have all helped put the Alliance on the national map. Last year, the Alliance won the regional Tony Award for sustained excellence.
The Alliance is expected to announce the rest of its 2008-2009 season this week.
The third and final part of my interview with Stephen King is now available. I call it PART 3 – The Gingerbread Girl, The Mist and The Talisman 3 and you can read it here
The second part of my interview with Stephen King is now available. I call it PART 2 – Just Past Sunset, The Dark Tower and The Stand and you can read it here
THE DARK TOWER: THE LONG ROAD HOME #3 (of 5)
Written by PETER DAVID & ROBIN FURTH
Pencils & Cover by JAE LEE & RICHARD ISANOVE
Variant Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
Variant Sketch Cover by JAE LEE
With Roland’s consciousness trapped within Maerlyn’s Grapefruit, his ka-tet companion, Alain, enters the mystical todash space in an attempt to rescue his friend. But as he and Roland flit in and out of alien dimensions, Cuthbert, the last member of their ka-tet, desperately tries to stave off a pack of slavering mutant wolves who have come to devour the unconscious Roland and Alain!
Here is news about the stories in Just Past Sunset: Update on new short story collection
We have received the list of stories that will be included in Steve's new short story collection, Just Past Sunset, which will be published in November '08. There may be one more bonus story, but this is the list so far:
The Gingerbread Girl
Harvey’s Dream
Rest Stop
Stationary Bike
The Things They Left Behind
Willa
Graduation Afternoon
N
The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates
Mute
Ayana
A Very Tight Place
This past Friday I did a new phone interview with Stephen King and it will be published here hopefully within the next days so keep checking back…or even better, subscribe to my newsletter and you’ll know about it the second it’s out.
Robert L from Canada sent me this interesting info:
Last summer's Canadian Booksellers Association Lifetime Achievement Gala for Stephen King will be broadcast this week. It will feature the individual intros by Margaret Atwood and Clive Barker, and the lengthy interview with Mr. King by pop culture critic Chuck Klosterman (whose book "Fargo Rock City" King highly recommends). It will air this Thursday Feb. 21 on Canada's "Bravo" channel, at 9 PM EST. No words on a U.S. broadcast.
A bit of Trivia for you that you may or may not know... with Duma Key King has notched up 30 number ones on the New York Times best seller list... more than any other author in the history of the list.
1 The Dead Zone Viking October 14, 1979
2 Firestarter Viking September 28, 1980
3 Cujo Viking August 23, 1981
4 Different Seasons Viking August 15, 1982
5 Pet Sematary Doubleday November 13, 1983
6 The Talisman (with Peter Straub) Viking October 28, 1984
7 Thinner (as Richard Bachman) NAL Books April 28, 1985
8 Skeleton Crew Putnam June 23, 1985
9 It Viking September 14, 1986
10 The Eyes of the Dragon Viking February 1, 1987
11 Misery Viking June 7, 1987
12 The Tommyknockers Putnam November 29, 1987
13 The Dark Half Viking November 5, 1989
14 The Stand Doubleday May 13, 1990
15 Four Past Midnight Viking September 16, 1990
16 Gerald's Game Viking July 19, 1992
17 Dolores Claiborne Viking December 6, 1992
18 Insomnia Viking October 23, 1994
19 Desperation Viking October 13, 1996
20 Bag of Bones Scribner October 11, 1998
21 The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon Scribner May 2, 1999
22 Dreamcatcher Scribner April 8, 2001
23 Black House (with Peter Straub) Random House September 30, 2001
24 Everything's Eventual Scribner April 7, 2002
25 From a Buick 8 Scribner October 13, 2002
26 Song of Susannah Donald M. Grant/Scribner June 27, 2004
27 The Dark Tower Donald M. Grant/Scribner October 10, 2004
28 Cell Scribner February 12, 2006
29 Lisey's Story Scribner November 12, 2006
30 Duma Key Scribner February 10, 2008
Here is a thank you from King for all the entertainment experiences he asked for earlier:
Hey, you guys—
Thanks so much for sharing your worst entertainment experiences. Not only did I get a great Entertainment Weekly column out of it, I almost laughed myself into cardiac arrest. I know that on one level it’s dreadfully mean to laugh at the misfortunes of others, but on another level…let’s just think of it as “identification and sympathy,” okay? It was great.
And speaking of Entertainment Weekly, I saw a great movie last week called Jumper and I can’t write about it for them because the executive producer also happens to be the guy who got me the EW gig. It would look like log-rolling. Probably this does, too, but I don’t care. It was the fun movie I hoped for last summer when Transformers opened (the only pic I walked out on all year; it offended even my low standards). Jumper is about a picked-on teen who discovers he can teleport. So if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to eat lunch on the head of the Sphinx, or take your girlfriend on a make-out expedition into the catacombs below the Roman Coliseum, this is the movie for you. You may have also wondered what Samuel L. Jackson would look like in a 1940s-style bathing cap. If so…check out the ’do.
Now you’re probably wondering, Uncle Stevie, how much did you get comped for this? Answer: not a penny. I’d tell you I liked this movie if Hugo Chavez was an executive producer. (Come to think of it, I’ve never seen Hugo and my pal Ralph in the same place, so maybe…) Aw heck, think of this as my little Forry Ackerman turn and go see the darn movie.
Plus…thanks again for having so many weird experiences. I loved em.
Here is the cover for the double DVD release of The Mist
Today Amazon released the DVD cover art for Genius Products release of The Mist (review) on March 25. On both the single and two-disc you'll find: Audio commentary by writer/director Frank Darabont, Eight deleted scenes with optional commentary, and “A Conversation With Stephen King and Frank Darabont” featurette; the two-disc exclusively carries: “When Darkness Came: The Making of The Mist” featurette, “Taming the Beast: Shooting Scene 35” featurette, “Monsters Among Us: A Look at the Creature FX” featurette, “The Horror of It All: The Visual FX of The Mist” featurette and “Drew Struzan: Appreciation of an Artist” featurette.
Here are some of the news we have been waiting for about the upcoming collection: New Short Story Collection
The title for Stephen's new short story collection has been chosen. It will be titled Just Past Sunset. The publication date and story list are still being finalized but a fall 2008 date is a possibility.
Aperantly the story King will have in McSweeney's issue 27 will be called A Very Tight Place.
King talks about A Very Tight Place in his interview with Nightline:
Let me give you an example. There's a story that's written, it's been accepted for publication by a magazine. It's called "A Very Tight Place." And we live part of the year down in Florida, and I have a walk that I go on every day, that's fairly isolated. Which is good, because people don't bother me or anything. I get a chance to read a little bit, to think a little bit. And one day while I was on that walk, I saw one of these Porta-Potties. You know what I mean? They stand up, and I thought you know what? There's nobody around ... the house that it belonged to was under construction, and the workers had all gone home for the day, and I still had a mile to go to get home, and I thought, you know what? I'm going to go in there and I'm going to take a leak. That'll be good. Why not? It's there. I'll get comfortable.
King Takes on His CriticsAnd I did. I went in, and the thing had been undercut, not a lot, just the tiniest little bit. So that when I stepped into the Porta-Pottie, I could feel this thing rock a little bit on its base. And I thought to myself, you know, if ... if one of those things fell over on its door, and a person was inside, that person would be in trouble. And immediately I'm thinking Poe, The Premature Burial, I'm thinking about all the buried alive stories that I've ever read, and I'm thinking, but I've never read a story about anyone trapped in a Porta-Pottie. And there are so many interesting things that you can do with people who are in tight places, people's feelings of claustrophobia are easy to bring out. I'm not a particularly claustrophobic person myself, but I thought, "Oh, my God, this is wonderful!" So then I go online ...
King is asking for help on his message board:
Dear Constant Browser,
As you know, I do a column for Entertainment Weekly, and I had an idea for a column called My Worst Entertainment Experience. If you have stories about your absolute worst entertainment experience--anything from a guy who threw up in your lap at a movie to a concert where the lead singer passed out--let me know. Please limit your responses to 100 or so words. After all Ms. Mod and I have to wade our way through these things. In any case, thank you for your help! And if you never had a terrible entertainment experience…I hate you!
Steve
P.S. Please sign a first name (it doesn't have to be your real name) that I can use along with your experience in the column.
The Overlook Connection is releasing a bunch of slipcases to different Stephen King books (including Blaze and Duma Key) as well as to The Dark Tower comic and I’m now very pleased to let you all know that Dave over at
The Overlook Connection has agreed to give all you readers of Lilja’s Library a 10% discount when you buy these slipcases.
All you have to do is head over to The Overlook Connection and pick the ones you like and then use the code LiljaSlipDeal in the REDEEM CODE box for their discount.
As reported earlier there will be a black and white version of The Mist on the DVD release of the movie and now Frank is telling us why that is in this clip.
Yet another short story...
McSweeney's 27 comes to you as three separate books in a windowed slipcase, presenting six different possible faces to the world, in order to best match your home décor. Book One plunges into the grayish, faintly understood area of the art world involving oddly drawn objects coupled with uncertainly spelled text. Book Two is a never-before-seen 72-page sketchbook by the legendary Art Spiegelman. Book Three collects new stories by Stephen King, Jim Shepard, and fiveish others.
The issue will probably be out during the first half of 2008.
Here is an interview with John Mellencamp from Rolling Stone:
RS: Can we have an update on the Stephen King project [the "play with music" The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County]?
JM: We have another workshop in New York coming up, and from there it goes into production in Atlanta, Georgia next spring. And then if it goes well in Atlanta, then we'll come to Broadway. If it don't go well in Atlanta, we're done.
RS: What can you tell me about working with Stephen?
JM: Oh, I love Steve. Steve is nothing like everybody thinks he is. Steve and I really have a lot in common. He lives in the middle of nowhere. I live in the middle of nowhere. He's not comfortable being around a lot of people. I'm not comfortable. We just have a — you know, we're kinda antisocial guys, and, of course, we're bigmouths.
RS: How did working in this new medium, the play, challenge you both?
JM: Steve is not used to a live performance. I am. So whenever the stage goes dark, he's pumped up, man. He's excited. Somebody came and watched the last reading that we had in New York and reviewed it. The review said this is a musical that men will enjoy. Unheard of, the guy said.
A new message from King about Duma Key was posted on his official message board today:
"Thanks, everybody, for buying DUMA KEY and--even more--saying
nice things about it. I haven't seen so few "flame throwers"
on this website (and others) in...well, more years than some
of you have been alive. Stay tuned, and keep checking this
site for new material. It's coming..."
From King's official site: Stephen on Weekend Today - 7:50am EST.
Weekend Today has let us know that Steve's interview (this is a different one than shown on Tuesday) will air on Saturday, January 26th at approximately 7:50 AM Eastern Time. Please check your local listings as the time may be different in your area for this show.
King comments on the new collection in an interview with USA Today:
His next book will be a collection of short stories, but he and his publisher can't agree on a title. He wants to call it Unnatural Acts of Human Intercourse, which "could be a tough sell in some markets."
King also commented on a new book he is working on:
He also has begun work on another novel, but he won't discuss it for fear of "bad luck. If I didn't think it would work out, I'd talk your ear off about it," he says and laughs.
Here are the details about the DVD edition of The Mist
On March 25th, Genius Entertainment and The Weinstein Company will issue Frank Darabont's The Mist on DVD. Sticking with Darabont's original intentions for the film, a two-disc collector's edition will present "Mist" in black and white along with a standard color version and the following special features...
• Audio commentary by writer/director Frank Darabont
• Eight deleted scenes with optional commentary
• A Conversation With Stephen King and Frank Darabont featurette
• When Darkness Came: The Making of THE MIST featurette
• Taming the Beast: Shooting Scene 35 featurette
• Monsters Among Us: A Look at the Creature FX featurette
• The Horror of It All: The Visual FX of THE MIST featurette
• Drew Struzan: Appreciation of an Artist featurette
A single-disc presentation is being released as well sans the b&w version and certain bonus goodies.
News about The Long Road Home from King's site:
Marvel is proud to present your first full-color look inside Dark Tower: The Long Road Home #1, arriving in stores at 12:01 AM, March 5th, 2008 (at participating comic stores)! The best-selling, chart-topping team of writers Robin Furth & Peter David, artists Jae Lee & Richard Isanove, joined by special guest variant cover artist (and Marvel Editor-In-Chief) Joe Quesada, present the second limited series inspired by Stephen King's epic Dark Tower series. Overseen by Stephen King himself, Dark Tower: The Long Road Home explores a chapter in Roland's life only hinted at in the novels!
The Long Road Home #1, goes on-sale in stores at 12:01AM, March 5th, 2008 (at comic stores participating in the midnight launch)! Otherwise the issue will hit shelves at your local comic and book stores during normal business hours.
For an exclusive look at the artwork for this new series, click here:
THE DARK TOWER: THE LONG ROAD HOME #2 (of 5)
Written by ROBIN FURTH & PETER DAVID
Art & Cover by JAE LEE & RICHARD ISANOVE
Variant Cover by MIKE DEODATO, JR.
Sketch Variant by JAE LEE
Roland’s spirit is trapped inside Maerlyn's sinister Grapefruit and is taken on a terrifying journey to the outer reaches of End-World...to the harsh domain called Thunderclap! Back in Mid-World, Roland’s ka-tet is pursued by the Hambry posse which intends to kill them all before they are able to cross the Xay River on their journey home. Revenge will soon be at hand for Eldred Jonas and the Big Coffin Hunters.
Last day's topic has been the new title of King's next book (the collection) and when I asked King's office about it they said that "details regarding the book, including the title, have not been finalized" which means that Unnatural Acts of Intercourse might or might not be the final title.