NEWS -

Win Under the Dome

Posted: November 18, 2009, 18:16

Over at BookRabbit.com you now have the chance to win a copy of the UK edition of Under the Dome. And this competition is open to people everywhere.

King's Holiday movie

Posted: November 18, 2009, 18:04

Here is a clip King and other authors from Simon & Schuster talking about their favorite Holiday movie.

Star Tribune: Q&A

Q What's on the stereo today?

A I'm listening to a lot of alt-country -- Ray Wylie Hubbard, Robbie Fulks. I've really gotten into that; it sounds like the rock I grew up with.

Q Any books you'd like to revisit?

A I'd like to go back to "Firestarter." She was 9 or 10 at the end of the book; she's probably in her 40s now. I'm always curious about Danny Torrance in "The Shining," what it was like to grow up with psychic talent, in an abusive family. I'd like to see them meet."

Read the complete text

Thanks to Bev Vincent

Talisman review

Posted: November 18, 2009, 11:45

Today the first issue of The Talisman comic is released and here you can see what I think of it.

King in McSweeney's

Posted: November 17, 2009, 19:47

Here's more info about King's coverage of The World Series in McSweeney's.

Thanks to Larry Fire

Kris Kristofferson in Ghost Brother

Posted: November 17, 2009, 19:16

According to King's Sarasota appearance we can now add Kris Kristofferson to the list of performers.

Thanks to Bev Vincent

Captain Trips in hardback

Posted: November 17, 2009, 18:25

When Marvel released the hardback version of Captain Trips it was only sold online. Next year they will release a new version that you will be able to buy in any bookstore that wants to carry it. Today I got a copy and the cover looks really, really nice.

Stephen King chats with Robin

Posted: November 17, 2009, 18:20

Here is a 3 min clip from King's chat with Robin at CNN.

Thanks to Bev Vincent

Carrie: The Musical

Posted: November 17, 2009, 18:15

Shock till you Drop has the following report about Carrie: The Musical:

Last month we got wind that a new production of Carrie: The Musical was headed to Broadway with producers Jeffrey Seller and Kevin McCollum (of Rent, Avenue Q, West Side Story) spearheading the project. Now, Playbill has announced the complete cast for the musical based upon Stephen King's novel and it looks like we have ourselves a new Carrie.

Stafford Arima will direct the 29-hour Equity reading that will take place in Manhattan Nov. 20. The cast will feature Sutton Foster as gym teacher Ms. Gardner, Marin Mazzie as Margaret White, Molly Ranson as Carrie (pictured left) and Jennifer Damiano as Sue.

Also revealed in the cast are "American Idol" finalist Diana DeGarmo (Hairspray, The Toxic Avenger) as Chris, Matt Doyle as Tommy and John Arthur Greene as Billy.

The Carrie ensemble includes Corey Boardman, Lilli Cooper, Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Benjamin Eakeley, Emily Ferranti, Kyle Harris, Philip Hoffman, Kaitlin Kiyan, Max Kumangai, Mackenzie Mauzy, Preston Sadleir, Jonathan Schwartz, Bud Weber and Sasha Weiss.

Producer Seller has reunited composer Michael Gore, lyricist Dean Pitchford and book writer Lawrence D. Cohen, whom took a crack at the stage show back in 1988 to reprise their roles for this update.

You can actually check out an official Carrie: The Musical website with plenty of tid-bits on the original show, as well as info on the new one right here.

Thanks to Bev Vincent

King in Sarasota

Posted: November 17, 2009, 18:01

Here are some pics and info from King's visit to Sarasota to promote Under the Dome. The event was a great 90min and covered a range of topics. Here is a summary:

1. He re-confirmed Wind through the Keyhole as another Dark Tower novel that he will be working on.

2. He re-confirmed that he and Straub will be doing another Talisman / Black House novel to make it a trilogy for Jack Sawyer.

3. One of the scariest scenes for him personally that he's had to write was the bathtub scene in The Shining.

4. He believes he's seen one ghost in his life. It was at a party that he went to when going to retrieve he and Tabitha's coats before leaving. He saw a man sitting in the bedroom where the coats were being kept out of the corner of his eye. There were so many coats that Steve thought the man might think he was stealing and was about to tell the man that wasn't true when he looked up there was no man actually in the room. He described the man as bald, wearing glasses, in a brown suit.

5. He was presented The Key to the City of Sarasota at the end of the evening by the Mayor.

Here are more links to articles about the event, including a blog of the interviewer Susan Rife.

Thanks to Gordon W. Olson and Bev Vincent

And the winners are…

Posted: November 16, 2009, 22:07

Under the Dome week is over here at Lilja’s Library and it’s time to select the winners in the contest that run during the week. But first here are the correct answers:

Read the complete text

Matt Venne to adapt BoB

Posted: November 16, 2009, 13:25

Rocky Wood found the following:

We’ve discovered that Matt is currently working on adapting Stephen King’s Bag of Bones for Mick Garris (The Stand, The Shining, Desperation) to direct.

Matt is Matt Venne and you can read more here (scroll down a bit).

Thanks to Rocky Wood

New column

Posted: November 16, 2009, 13:00

King has a new column in the 11/20 issue of Entertainment Weekly called My Ultimate Playlist.

This column notes that it essentially takes the place of a 2009 Best Music column, because King simply hasn't heard enough new music to write one. There will be a Best TV column this year, though.

Thanks to willowlove

King on The Hour

Posted: November 16, 2009, 12:58

This was posted on King's site today:

Stephen will be on the Canadian news magazine The Hour on Thursday November 19th to talk about Under the Dome. Acclaimed Director, David Cronenberg will also join the conversation. We will post this video to the multimedia section as soon as it becomes available.

King on Ghost Brothers

Posted: November 15, 2009, 23:33

Here's King's update on the musical:

"It's there ... it's in the editing studio right now. We've got a lot of people from the music world who agreed to do parts – Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Roseanne Cash ... it should be like an old-time radio show and then it's scheduled to go on stage in Atlanta next fall."

Thanks to Bev Vincent

Wolf Blitzer in Under the Dome

Posted: November 15, 2009, 23:27

Here is a clip of Wolf Blitzer who has a cameo in Under the Dome.

King on The View

Posted: November 15, 2009, 23:17

Here clip of King visiting The View.

A new story...

Posted: November 15, 2009, 23:08

This quote is from a Toronto Star article with Stephen King:

"I have one (story) that's kind of like Under the Dome, that I tried to write when I was 22 or 23 years old and I'm going to try to go back to that after this tour. I'd like to write that one. Beyond that, I have things that bounce around in my head. Dome bounced around a long time. I don't keep a writer's notebook of ideas because I've felt all my life that if I get a really good idea, it will stick."

Thanks to Lou Sytsma

Diana DeGarmo and Carrie

Posted: November 13, 2009, 23:45

American Idol finalist Diana DeGarmo joins Carrie cast. Read more here.

Thanks to Bev Vincent

The Wind Through the Keyhole

Posted: November 12, 2009, 09:01

Here is a clip from the book signing King did at Walmar in Dundalk, Maryland yesterday. In the Q&A he confirmed the new Dark Tower book, that Under the Dome will be an HBO miniseries and that he has written a script for Cell. This clip is shot by Steven Seebode.

Also, this was posted on King’s board:

The moderator at S.K. message board gave details on the new D.T. book:
"Stephen has given me permission to pass along that he has an idea for a new Dark Tower book, the working title of which will be THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE. He has not yet started this book and anticipates that it will be a minimum of eight months before he is able to begin writing it."

Thanks to Steven Seebode and David Squyres

Under the Dome Week, Day 4

Posted: November 11, 2009, 23:59

Day 4 of Under the Dome Week is here and today I have an interview with illustrator Matthew Diffee for you. Matthew is the one that has illustrated the cards with all the characters on them that's included in the collector's edition of Under the Dome and you can see what he had to say here.

Some news...

Posted: November 11, 2009, 19:04

Other news from King’s TimesTalk last night:

- King said he's always thought there should be a third "eclipse novel," where Jessie Burlingame from Gerald's Game and Dolores Claiborne meet up.

- He said he's always wondered what happened to Danny Torrance, that he'd be about 40 by now, and so would Charlie McGee from Firestarter, and maybe they could meet up and...

- King said he thinks The Under the Dome is being developed as a miniseries for HBO.

- He did reaffirm that a third Talisman novel will be written with Peter Straub.

Nothing of this has been confirmed though.

No Tower for Abrams

Posted: November 11, 2009, 18:03

It looks like there won't be a Dark Tower movie for J.J. Abrams after all.

This is what Abrams told MTV News:

It coulda be great, but it ain't gonna happen, as Abrams himself told MTV News' Josh Horowitz recently. "The 'Dark Tower' thing is tricky," he said. "It's such an important piece of writing. The truth is that Damon and I are not looking at that right now."

Read more here.

Thanks to Anders Jakobson, Alex Carmona and Joseph Altomere

There will be a new Dark Tower novel!

Posted: November 11, 2009, 18:01

Great news! In his TimesTalk last night King released the following big news, and I'm quoting Zach Dionne at GQ:

King stated he will write another Dark Tower novel. It will center around supporting characters and revolve around some important events between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla.

Mark hidden text below for SPOILER.

One fan asked him to make sure Oy comes back, and King said not to worry, that Oy would return.--

Under the Dome Week, Day 3

Posted: November 11, 2009, 00:00

Today I have a very interesting interview for you. I have spoken to none other than the team behind the US cover of Under the Dome about how, what’s probably the best cover for a King book so far, was created. They showed me very cool versions of the cover (that I’m now sharing with you), including a sketch by King himself. Check it out here

Under the Dome released today!

Posted: November 10, 2009, 22:24

Under the Dome is released today and because of that King appeared on God Morning America today. You can see the clip here.

Simon & Schuster is, like me, hosting a contest where you can win copies of Under the Dome. To enter you need to live in the US though. You can find it here.

And if you are on Twitter, check out @ScribnerBooks and @SimonSchuster for their Dome Day giveaways. They plan to giveaway some of King’s backlist titles and other items throughout the day so check it out.

Under the Dome Week, Day 2

Posted: November 10, 2009, 00:00

Today we continue the Under the Dome Week here at Lilja’s Library with an interview with King’s publisher at Simon & Schuster, Susan Moldow. You can read what she had to say here

Q&A with King

Posted: November 9, 2009, 22:13

Here is a Q&A with King where he talks about his ten longest novels. Quite interesting. Check it out.

Under the Dome Week, Day 1

Posted: November 9, 2009, 00:00

King’s new book Under the Dome is released tomorrow but today I’m kicking of a week filled with Under the Dome stuff. If you check back during the week you’ll be able to read no less than three interviews with people involved with the book, two reviews and a contest where you can win either a US hardcover, a UK hardcover or a US audio edition of the book. I won’t reveal just yet what you’ll find on the site during the week but I can tell you that I’m kicking it off with the contest which you can enter by clicking the link to the right and my review of the book which you can find here.

But please remember to check back every day during Monday to Friday this week. Take my word for it; you don’t want to miss this.

Fangoria cover

Posted: November 7, 2009, 00:55

Here is the cover for the issue of Fangoria that has King's essay called What’s Scary.

Interview with Tony Shasteen

Posted: November 7, 2009, 00:52

Here is an interview with Tony Shasteen, illustrator of The Talisman.

King and McSweeney

Posted: November 7, 2009, 00:51

Bev Vincent reports:

So the folks at the hipster lit journal McSweeney's are producing a celebration of newsprint, a reimagined newspaper sort of like what your Strib or PiPress would look like if designers designed one paper a month and publishers could afford Michael Chabon and Stephen King and charge $16 an issue.

Going by the just-released media kit, it looks pretty beautiful, and could be quite a meaty read as well. Check out the full, mouthwatering tease here. The 380-page San Francisco Panorama will be out in early December.

Dates

Posted: November 7, 2009, 00:41

Here is an update about the Under the Dome signing dates:

Portland, OR is not on the list.

Nov. 10 NYC Sold out
Nov. 11 Dundalk, MD 400 wristbands given out on day of signing
Nov. 13 Atlanta, GA will need to check to see if there are any places left
Nov. 16 Sarasota, FL tickets still available
Nov. 18 St. Paul, MN sold out
Nov. 19 Toronto tickets still available
Dec. 1 Portsmouth, NH sold out
Dec. 2 Manchester Village, VT tickets still available

And here is an added TV appearance:

Thursday, November 19 (Toronto)
CBC's 'The Hour' with George Stoumboulopoulos

UK trailer for Dome

Posted: November 7, 2009, 00:10

Now Amazon.co.uk also has a trailer for Under the Dome, you can check it out here.

Thanks to Herbert West

Under the Dome Collector's Set

Posted: November 7, 2009, 00:02

I have been getting a lot of mails from people who have gotten their copies of the collectors edition of Under the Dome.

Thanks to Bill Standwill

A new review and quote

Posted: November 6, 2009, 22:10

Charnel House has posted a very positive review of my upcoming book by George Beahm. You can check it out here.

An exclusive

Posted: November 6, 2009, 21:58

Here is an exclusive look at the cover for issue #3 of Soul Survivors by Lee Bermejo and Laura Martin.

New quote

Posted: November 6, 2009, 07:49

Here is a new quote for my book the other day, this time from Stephen Spignes, author of several boos about King.

"Lilja's Library: The World of Stephen King" is a major labor of love that is a treasure trove for King fans and in a category all its own. Lilja's combination of knowledge about King, his passion for King's work, and his writing and editing talents make for a magnificent tome that is a must-read for King lovers. It seems like Lilja has talked to everyone, and reviewed everything, and having all his interviews, articles, and reviews in one place is a goldmine for Constant Readers. M-O-O-N spells "Lilja" and we all owe our friend across the pond roaring thanks for this terrific book.

Stephen Spignesi

King on The View

Posted: November 6, 2009, 00:13

Stephen King drops by "The View" next Friday to help Whoopi Goldberg celebrate her birthday. Read more here

Thanks to Louis Sytsma

Jay Franco did a calendar

Posted: November 6, 2009, 00:09

Here is a rather interesting blog by Jay Franco who edited Stephen King Library 2010 Desk Calendar. In the blogg he talks about how he worked on the calendar. Check it out.

A dragon on stage?

Posted: November 5, 2009, 00:52

How about this...

Eyes of the Dragon is being turned as a play in Belgium. And the play will start on the 11th of november, and it will be at "la ruche théatre", in Marcincelle (Belgium).
Website of the theater :

Thanks to Herbert West

Online

Posted: November 5, 2009, 00:48

Here is an FAQ about Discordia: A Dark Tower Online Experience.

And here is a brand new multimedia section of King's official website.

My reveiw of...

Posted: November 4, 2009, 16:11

Here is my review of the Dollar Baby version of My Pretty Pony.

More Under the Dome

Posted: November 4, 2009, 12:31

Now you can check out a longer video of King reading from Under the Dome. You can also check out the trailer, King talking about the book and an audio excerpt. You'll find all this here.

Scribner has also added more illustrations from the limited book. You can check out them here.

And here you can see them in even bigger format.

Thanks to Ari

The Stephen King Library Desk Calendar 2010

Posted: November 3, 2009, 13:53

2010's edition of The Stephen King Library Desk Calendar is now out. You can see the cover to the right.

Since these aren't sold outside the US I'd be very interested to buy one if there is anyone out there that got an extra copy. Mail me.

King interview

Posted: November 3, 2009, 00:35

Here is an exclusive interview with King done by Barnes & Noble.

TV promotion for Under the Dome

Posted: November 3, 2009, 00:32

This listing of TV appearances to promote Under the Dome was posted on King's official board:

We do not have exact times or dates for all of the appearances, but here is the short list:

Tuesday, Nov. 10th:
-Good Morning America

Currently Scheduled for Friday, November 13th but subject to change:
- The View

Air date not set yet:
- The Colbert Report

If others are added, we will try to post them here.

More about Discordia

Posted: November 3, 2009, 00:31

More about what Discordia is:

Discordia: A Dark Tower Online Experience
Discordia is an internet-based Dark Tower experience that has been in development since early 2007. The project started as a small add-on concept for the then new Dark Tower Official Web Site. Over time, Discordia evolved into a progressive storytelling platform that leverages cutting-edge technologies to chronicle the war between Tet Corporation and Sombra/NCP.

Exploring the behind-the-scenes conflict between the two companies, Discordia introduces long-time Dark Tower fans to new characters and numerous mechanical/magical items developed by Mid-World's Old Ones. Over the course of our adventure we will visit numerous locations, both those familiar to Dark Tower fans and others which we only glimpsed in the Dark Tower novels. While we may not see Roland and his ka-tet in this adventure, the development team has remembered the faces of its fathers. We have done our best to honor the original Dark Tower series while simultaneously mapping new and exciting Dark Tower territory.

Discordia uses Flash and Flash video to immerse the user in detailed 3D artwork and video that has been meticulously created based on literal dissections of the Dark Tower books. With retrospective text by Robin Furth, highly detailed magical items and environments by Brian Stark and truly exquisite original paintings by Michael Whelan, Discordia is a revolutionary experience that should please any Dark Tower fan.

New column

Posted: November 3, 2009, 00:30

Here is a new column called The Secret to Pop Culture Snacking.

Delay and review for LL

Posted: November 2, 2009, 16:33

My book was planned for a November release but will be pushed forward to early 2010. The reason for this is that we sent out review copies to people hoping for quotes to use on the book and getting responses on that has been taking much longer than we expected. However both CD and I felt that it was worth waiting for even if it means the book will be delayed a few months.

With that said I'm also happy to chare this review of the book with you.