NEWS -

A Merry King's Christmas

Posted: December 16, 2014, 09:11
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In about a week Christmas is here and hopefully you have gotten all your Christmas shopping done by now but if you haven’t, here are some suggestions…

For the casual King reader: Mr Mercedes or Revival…or maybe both. Keep in mind though that Mr Mercedes is out in paperback on January 6 so that one might be worth waiting for if you are short of money.

For the dresser: Get the new Revival clothes from Café Press. Personally I’d love a Crome Roses t-shirt (hint) :-)

For the die-hard fan: Something signed. You can’t go wrong with a signed book but be careful and make sure you get it for a reliable source.

For the listener: As for the reader you can’t go wrong with the two new books Mr Mercedes and Revival. But if the one getting it already have them why not going for some older book? There are a lot of audiobooks out there. Why not a copy of 11/22/63 or Big Driver and A Good Marriage?

For the non-reader: Pre-order Big Driver on DVD. It’s a good movie but unfortunately it’s not released until January 27.

For the one who gets it all him or herself: Pre-order Finders Keepers and / or The Bazaar of Bad Dreams before they get a chance to get them.

For Lilja: Keep coming back to the site, facebook and twitter page and talk King! I love to interact with you all and I hope we will keep doing it during 2015 as well! And maybe some audio comments for the podcast…

Do you have other suggestions on gifts for King fans? What would you like for Christmas? Post in the comment below or on facebook and twitter.

Ep 39: A Josh Boone Revival Of The Stand

Posted: December 15, 2014, 16:26
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With your hosts Hans Lilja of Lilja's Library and podcaster - Lou Sytsma.

Welcome to Episode 39 of The Stephen King Podcast!

We take a moment to reflect on the passing of Rocky Wood.

Included is the latest Stephen King news plus our thoughts on the latest Stephen King book - Revival.

We also discuss in depth the possible implications of director Josh Boone's interview by Kevin Smith on Hollywood Babble On about The Stand.

We hope you enjoy this episode and, as usual, we want to hear from you.

Good or bad, we want it all!

You can leave us comments, questions, topic suggestions at:
1) FaceBook - Lilja's Library
2) Audio Message - Speak Pipe widget on the right hand of the podcast page (send voicemail)



In this podcast:

1) 00:00 - Intro
2) 00:56 - Podcast Setup
3) 01:50 - From The Death Room - The Latest Stephen King News
4) 21:36 - Reviews From The Night Shift - Revival
5) 35:35 - Reviews From The Night Shift - Director Josh Boone
6) 58:06 - Signoff & Next Podcast Preview
7) 58:57 - Outre
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New French Book About King's Work

Posted: December 10, 2014, 13:20
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Here is a book about King's work. It's focused on the French market and in French but if you understand that, please check it out. And for the rest of us, when will there be an English translation?

"Les adaptations de Stephen King", is a french book about Stephen King's adaptations, but in a wide meaning of the word "adaptations" : it is not solely about the movie adaptations (the movies / series / short movies, dollar babies / documentaries / theater, musical / cameos is the biggest section of the book), but it also deals with the video games, the illustrations, the comics & graphic novels, the musical adaptations (which includes subsections about Stephen King as a singer / Stephen King as a reader of audiobooks / Stephen King's essays ins albums), and the french translations.

This 2014 version is available worldwide on amazon, for about 10€ / $10 / £8, or as an ebook for 2€. Furthermore, the Club Stephen King organise a contest with 10 ebooks given away, and they will add another 10 ebooks for each 100 social shares on Facebook / Twitter.

Here is the link on my website about the book+contest :
http://club-stephenking.fr/2027-les-adaptations-de-stephen-king-livre

Here is the amazon.com link :
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/2953848312/?tag=csk21-20

And the text from the back cover:

"You love Stephen King books, but have you ever wondered :
- If you have seen all the movies based on Stephen King's work?
- If you are missing some of the DVDs?
- If one of the stories that you love have been adapted? With which actors?
- You have noticed Stephen King in a movie, but you are not sure.
- Where to find documentaries about Stephen King?
- If there are video games or comics based on his work?

Have you read everything that had been published in France?
As a french collector, you are looking for a first edition but do not know his specifics?

This book will help you answering all those questions, but also fullfilling your movie collection!

Dark Screams

Posted: December 10, 2014, 13:20
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Richard Chizmar and Brian James Freeman of Cemetery Dance Publications have joined forces with the cutting edge team at Hydra, a division of Random House, to launch a series of horror eBook anthologies called Dark Screams that will collect horror stories from the best authors working in the business today!

About the Book:
Stephen King, Kelley Armstrong, Bill Pronzini, Simon Clark, and Ramsey Campbell are the first contributors to a mind-bending new series of short-story collections that push the boundaries of horror and dark suspense to the bleeding edge. From Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar of the acclaimed Cemetery Dance Publications, Dark Screams: Volume One reaches across genres to take readers beyond the precipice of mortal toil and into the glimmering void of irreality and beyond.

WEEDS by Stephen King
When a meteorite lands on his property, Jordy Verrill envisions an easy payday. Unfortunately for Jordy, this is no ordinary rock—and the uncompromising force inside has found its first target.

THE PRICE YOU PAY by Kelley Armstrong
Never pay more than you owe. Sounds like easy advice to follow. But for Kara and her childhood friend Ingrid, some debts can never be repaid . . . especially those tendered in blood.

MAGIC EYES by Bill Pronzini
Edward James Toliver has found a weary sort of asylum among the insane. He knows he's not one of them—but how can he tell anyone about the invaders without sounding that way?

MURDER IN CHAINS by Simon Clark
Imagine awaking to find yourself in an underground vault, chained by the neck to a murderous lunatic, a grunting goliath who seems more animal than man. What would you do to save yourself?

THE WATCHED by Ramsey Campbell
Little Jimmy gets a glimpse of the cold truth when he finds out that it's not always what you see that can get you into trouble; it's who knows what you see.

IT Starts Filming This Summer

Posted: December 6, 2014, 00:35
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Finally some IT news has been arriving. According to the project’s producer Dan Lin the plan is to start official prep in March for a summer shoot. Lin also says his big plan is to split King’s sprawling novel into two movies.

“The book is so epic that we couldn’t tell it all in one movie and service the characters with enough depth. The first film, then, will be a coming-of-age story about the children tormented by It, while the second will skip ahead in time as those same characters band together to continue the fight as adults.”

All though Fukunaga is only committed to directing the first film, Lin says the in-demand helmer is currently closing a deal to co-write the second.
When King read the script his comment was this:

Go with God, please! This is the version the studio should make.

Thanks to Lou Sytsma, Troy Tradup and Rick Urban.

Which is the Best King book? Cast Your Vote!

Posted: December 3, 2014, 15:06
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Over the years many have tried to crown the #1 Stephen King book but has anyone asked the fans? Well, I did back in 2012 but I realized that since then there has been five more books has been released. Will those five make a change? Where do they place themselves on the list? Well, I want to find out and I hope that you do too.

Head over to the voting page and cast your vote now. Please also help spread the word about it so we can get enough votes!

Today is a very sad day!

Posted: December 1, 2014, 23:01
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Today is a very sad day because a friend and King expert; Rocky Wood has passed away. I think many of us knew he was terminally ill. I have for years but I had no idea that it would happen so soon.

I never met Rocky in person but we spoke through email and he often sent me news bits for the site, the last one less than a month ago. I will miss him a lot!

Walk in peace my friend, there are other worlds than these...

Haven Contest

Posted: November 27, 2014, 11:28
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Entries for the contest are starting to come in and it looks good. And remember that "illustrate" can be anything you want. Text, a photo, several photos, drawings, a song…well you get the idea. It can be anything you want it to be.

Good luck and why not use the free time during Thanks Giving (those of you that celebrate that) to go all in? Here are all the details

Win a Signed Haven Cast Photo

Posted: November 26, 2014, 15:35
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I have a photo of the cast from Haven (Emily Rose, Lucas Bryant, Adam Copeland and Eric Balfour) that they all have signed and now I’m going to give it away to one of you. The only thing you need to do is enter this contest.

Usually there are a lot of rules with a contest but not this time. This time I want to give you the freedom to do what you want…almost. The only thing I’m going to give you is a one sentence instruction and then it’s up to you to run with it. And as long as you follow it you can’t go wrong.


I will then judge the entries and select a winner and I will tell you this. I will be picking the winner out of what I like, what I think is creative and what I think is fun. I want to be able to see that you have put some thought into it. OK, are you ready? Here it comes:


"Illustrate a trouble"


If you don’t know what this means you have probably not seen Haven but if you have you should know what I mean. Now it’s up to you. Run wild and send in your entry no later than December 20.

Send your entry to me by email info[a]liljas-library.com and if you for any reason can’t send it by email. Please email me and we’ll work it out. OK, Good Luck!

King Talks Revival

Posted: November 25, 2014, 10:11
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Here is an interesting podcast from Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C. where King discusses his new book, Revival, and takes questions from the audience.



Thanks to Douglas Dowie

William Shatner Goes to Haven

Posted: November 21, 2014, 21:52
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William Shatner, the iconic Star Trek captain, recently teased on Twitter his gig on the Syfy series. Now, TVLine reveals that Shatner will recur in a four-episode Season 5 arc in "a seminal role," as a pivotal character that has the potential to forever impact the fate of the town of Haven and its Troubled residents.


Thanks to Lou Sytsma

Finders Keepers...

Posted: November 20, 2014, 16:08
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Looks like Finders Keepers might have an interesting ending... Here are two comments about it from the moderator on King's board given as an answer to the question if the book is very much like Misery (since that book was mentioned in the description).

No. I can't say too much without giving away more of the plot but you won't feel like it's a rehash of Misery.

What I will say is that I do want to reread this one as there have been edits since the first draft. I still get goosebumps every time I think about the ending so am glad that part hasn't been changed from what Steve told me when I asked.

The Stand To Be 4 Movies

Posted: November 20, 2014, 14:21
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Kevin Smith has done an interview with Josh Boone in which he talks about movie version of The Stand (if you don’t want to listen to all of it you can jump in at the 1.20 mark). In the interview Josh says that he will do no less than 4 movies based on the book.

He also talks about the 3 hour version he wrote the script for first and how he dropped that without any hesitation when Warner offered him to do 4 movies instead of one. He also say that they hope start shooting next year, maybe in the spring.

Listen to the interview here.

Thanks to Anders Jakobson.


Read more about it here.

Thanks to Lou Sytsma

Plot For Finders Keepers Released

Posted: November 19, 2014, 18:42
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Simon & Schuster has released the plot for Finders Keepers, King's next book about Bill Hodges, Holly Gibney, and Jerome Robinson that's released on June 2, 2015.

“Wake up, genius.” So begins King’s instantly riveting story about a vengeful reader. The genius is John Rothstein, a Salinger-like icon who created a famous character, Jimmy Gold, but who hasn’t published a book for decades. Morris Bellamy is livid, not just because Rothstein has stopped providing books, but because the nonconformist Jimmy Gold has sold out for a career in advertising. Morris kills Rothstein and empties his safe of cash, yes, but the real treasure is a trove of notebooks containing at least one more Gold novel.

Morris hides the money and the notebooks, and then he is locked away for another crime. Decades later, a boy named Pete Sauberg finds the treasure, and now it is Pete and his family that Bill Hodges, Holly Gibney, and Jerome Robinson must rescue from the ever-more deranged and vengeful Morris when he’s released from prison after thirty-five years.

Not since Misery has King played with the notion of a reader whose obsession with a writer gets dangerous. Finders Keepers is spectacular, heart-pounding suspense, but it is also King writing about how literature shapes a life—for good, for bad, forever.

20 Years Ago Today...

Posted: November 19, 2014, 14:22
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Twenty years has passed since Frank Darabont adapted Stephen King's The Shawshank Redemption for the big screen.

And on Tuesday night, the 1994 film's stars Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins reunited for a special Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences anniversary screening at the Samuel Goldwyn theatre in Beverly Hills.

Gil Bellows and Clancy Brown were among the other cast members who had joined together to celebrate the seven time Oscar-nominated classic.


Read more here.

Dark Half on Blu-ray Nov. 18

Posted: November 18, 2014, 11:20
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I don't know about you but I think it's been way to long since I saw this one.



Special features include:
- NEW Audio Commentary with Writer/Director George A. Romero
- NEW The Sparrows Are Flying Again!: The Making of “The Dark Half” – An all-new retrospective with Writer/Director George A. Romero, Producer Declan Baldwin, Actors Michael Rooker, Robert Joy, Rutanya Alda and John Amplas, Composer Christopher Young, Special Make-Up Effects Creators John Vulich and Everett Burrell, Visual Effects Supervisor Kevin Kutchaver, Second Unit Director Tom Dubensky and Editor Pasquale Buba (36 Minutes)
- Deleted Scenes
- Animated Storyboards for the original ending
- Behind-the-Scenes Footage – Special Effects and On the Set, Vintage “Making of THE DARK HALF”
- Additional interview clips
- Theatrical Trailer
- TV Spot
- Still Gallery

Thanks to Ari.

Ep 38: A Big Drive To Haven

Posted: November 18, 2014, 08:39
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With your hosts Hans Lilja of Lilja's Library and podcaster - Lou Sytsma.

Welcome to Episode 38 of The Stephen King Podcast!

The latest Stephen King news plus our thoughts on the LifeTime Channel movie adaptation of - Big Driver. We also head back to Season 5 of Haven and check out episodes 2 - 9.

We hope you enjoy this episode and, as usual, we want to hear from you.

Good or bad, we want it all!

You can leave us comments, questions, topic suggestions at:

1) FaceBook - Lilja's Library

2) Audio Message - Speak Pipe widget on the right hand of the podcast page (send voicemail)



In this podcast:

1) 00:00 - Intro
2) 00:56 - Podcast Setup
3) 01:25 - From The Death Room - The Latest Stephen King News
4) 21:06 - Reviews From The Night Shift - Big Driver - LifeTime Movie
5) 41:25 - Reviews From The Night Shift - Haven - Season 5 - Ep 2 - 9
6) 1:04:50 - Signoff & Next Podcast Preview
7) 1:06:01 - Outre
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Intro Music - Don't Fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult

Outro Music - Stand By Me - Ben E. King
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Photos From Portland

Posted: November 18, 2014, 08:26
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Portland Press Herald writes about how King signed more books than planed. I bet everyone there was very happy with this. Thanks King!

SOUTH PORTLAND – Stephen King has wrapped up his six-city book tour by signing hundreds of books in his home state of Maine.

The horror writer made his final appearance at Books-A-Million in South Portland, where hundreds of fans awaited with copies of his latest book, “Revival.”

Hundreds wait in dark for Stephen King book-signing tickets
Four hundred fans had tickets to have their books signed by King on Monday. But the line moved so quickly that he was able to sign books from another 100 or so people.

The 67-year-old King has described the book that was released last week as a “straight-ahead horror novel.” He told his Twitter followers, “If you’re going to buy it, better tone up your nerves.”



Do We Want A Running Man 2 Movie?

Posted: November 18, 2014, 00:37
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Would you like a sequel to The Running Man? Well, Arnold Schwarzenegger do. This is what he said about it recently.

People loved the movie. I loved the idea, It is like the Hunger Games, it's that kind of idea. I think that now, if someone writes it (a Running Man sequel) really well, it can be an extraordinary movie. I hope that no one decides to do that movie without me. I would really love to pick it up and continue on where we left off and be the Running Man.


Thanks to Ari.

The Talisman 3; Clarification

Posted: November 14, 2014, 21:07
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In regards to my post from yesterday about that King and Straub hope to write The Talisman 3 next year I want to make it extra clear that it’s their PLAN to do it but it’s NOT set in stone yet and as everyone who has ever made plans to do something know…it’s not always the plan work as you had hoped. Before they can start they will have to coordinate their schedules and so far nothing has been written. So let’s hope they can work their schedule out and once they do I bet it will be info about it on both authors website.

King & Straub hope to write Talisman 3 next year!

Posted: November 13, 2014, 16:12
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King gave us some very interesting news yesterday at the reading in Washington, D.C. about the third book about Jack Sawyer. King confirmed that it was supposed to be a trilogy and that he had already worked out the framework for the third book in his head. He also said he hoped to write it with Peter Straub during next year.

After reading this I emailed Peter who confirmed that the plan is to write the book next year. So, very good news for all fans of The Talisman and Black House!


Photo by Jordan M. Hahn

Us Getting Revival

Posted: November 12, 2014, 22:35
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King’s latest book, Revival, is out and I would like to do the same thing I did when Mr Mercedes was released. I want to put together a page with photos of you all and your copy of Revival. All you need to do is send me a photo (this should open an email but if it dosn't, send the photo to info[a]liljas-library.com) of yourself and the book (any edition works) and I’ll post them here. If you don’t want to send it by email you can also post it on the facebook page and I’ll grab it there. I would also like to ask you to include your name, town and country so that I can list that with the photo. You can see what it will look like at the Mr Mercedes page.

With the release of Mr Mercedes over 200 of you sent in a photo but I think we can do better with Revival, right? Check out all the Revival photos here.


And the winners are!

Posted: November 10, 2014, 23:48
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OK, Revival is out tomorrow and the contest is over and the winners has been drawn. But first, here are the right answers:

1. What date is Revival released in the UK?
- November 11, 2014

2. Who narrates the audio edition of Revival?
- David Morse

3. Who said the following about Revival: This is an electrifying new book from Stephen King
- UK Editor Philippa Pride

The grand prize, a UK galley of Revival that only exists in 200 copies went to Benny West and the three UK hardbacks went to Wies Mielniczyn, Petr Laycock and Nick Rich. Congratulations to you all and thanks to Hodder & Stoughton who donated the books! And thanks to everyone who entered!

King: Uncollected, Unpublished Now Updated

Posted: November 10, 2014, 11:33
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Rocky Wood’s updated fourth edition of Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished is now available in paperback and eBook.

Rocky has been working directly with Stephen King on much of this and he has been able to clear up many mysteries and reveal even more 'lost' works from King’s past, including the school play King wrote, a busted novel, another lost poem, unpublished stories from the 1970s, stories from his fanfic days, a story he won't prize and a lecture for, and eight new uncollected stories, amongst others.

So, if you’re a fan of King’s work you definitely want to check this one out!

Order the book here:
Amazon
Smashwords
StephenKingCatalog.com


Here you can read the entire interview.

Thanks to Rocky Wood.

What is Next For King?

Posted: November 8, 2014, 00:10
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A lot of news about new books and stories has been popping up during the last days and I thought it would be a good thing to list it all in one place so here we go.

Finders Keepers:
This is the second of three books about detective Bill Hodges and now it has a release date. It will be released on June 2, 2015 and be 448 pages long, or in King’s case short.

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
The next collection from King now has a title; The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. It will be released on November 30, 2015 and contain about 20 short tales. No titles of the tales has been released yet.

Something with his son Owen
King has stated that he is working on something with his son Owen. No more info has been release.

One more story about Stu & Fran from The Stand
King has stated that there’s one more story about Stu and Fran that needs to be told. King hasn’t written this one yet though.

There's one Stand story that still needs to be told, although it's not a long one. I happen to know that when [Stand characters] Stu Redman and Frannie Goldsmith headed back to New England (with their baby), Frannie fell into a dry well. That's all I know. I'd have to write the story to find out what happens.

One more Dark Tower book
King has stated that he’d like to revisit The Dark Tower series and possibly write one more book about The Fall of Gilead.

In the not too distant future, King says he'd like to revisit his seminal Dark Tower series and possibly write one more addition to his fantasy epic.

"The one thing that is missing in the books is The Fall of Gilead," he says.

"But I'd like to go back to all of them and revise the whole series because it’s really one book. I’m delighted people loved them, but I think of those books as a rough first draft of a very long novel. I’d like to go back and rewrite 'em all."

King on Today

Posted: November 7, 2014, 11:00
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Word is that King will be a guest on The Today Show on Tuesday, November 11th. This has not been confirmed on the shows site or on King's site yet though.

New King Interview

Posted: November 7, 2014, 10:00
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Here is a new interview with King about Revival but he also mentions two other very interesting things. The first one is that he is working on something with his son Owen. No info about what or when we might read it but it will be interesting to see how they collaborate.

I enjoy working with them, though, because we fit together. I've got something going with Owen now, and I've collaborated with Joe on two novellas, Throttle and In the Tall Grass.

The other thing is that he isn’t done with Stu and Frannie from The Stand. There is still a short story about them that needs to be told…

There's one Stand story that still needs to be told, although it's not a long one. I happen to know that when [Stand characters] Stu Redman and Frannie Goldsmith headed back to New England (with their baby), Frannie fell into a dry well. That's all I know. I'd have to write the story to find out what happens.

Check out the entire interview here.

Thanks to Rocky Wood and Lou Sytsma

Stephen King Revisited

Posted: November 7, 2014, 08:17
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If you haven’t already heard about Stephen King Revisited you need to check it out now. It’s Richard Chizmar from Cemetery Dance who sets out to read all of King’s book in chronological order, starting with Carrie. After reading each book he will then post comments and thoughts about it as well as have guests post their own essays about the books. The first one is by Bev Vincent and about how Carrie happened.

I wish I had the time to join in but I don’t. If you do I strongly encourage you do to do so. It’ll be a very interesting ride!

Revival in London

Posted: November 7, 2014, 08:08
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Click for a larger imageIf you live in London (UK) you can get King's new book the second it's out...or why not be there early and get a limited version?

Stephen King fans will have the chance to get their hands on his electrifying new book, Revival, the moment it’s released, at a midnight launch at Waterstones Piccadilly. Doors open at 11.30pm on 10th November, and attendees will enjoy retro fairground-themed entertainment, snacks and beverages while they wait for the clock to strike twelve.

The first fifty people in the queue will be able to purchase the Revival Collector’s Set - a limited edition hardback with deluxe binding, slipcase, illustrated endpapers, author’s facsimile signature and a silver plectrum engraved with the author’s signature.