NEWS -

Riding the Bullet DVD and Salem's Lot review

Posted: February 3, 2005, 00:00
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To the right is the DVD cover for Riding the Bullet. The DVD will be released on April 19 and you can pre-order it here.

I have taken a look at the biggest King book ever released (to my knowledge), the limited edition of Salem's Lot released by Centipede Press. You can read my thoughts on it here.

The Man Who Loved Flowers no Dollar Baby

Posted: February 1, 2005, 13:22
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I have a clarification to do. The Man Who Loved Flowers is not a Dollar Baby. Justin Zimmerman have the exclusive, commercial feature rights to adapt the short into a feature. He's on the 3rd draft now and the script will be turned in to King in March.

UK Faithful after all and McSweeney's review

Posted: February 1, 2005, 00:00
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It seems that Faithful has been released in the UK after all. It's released by Orion Publishing Group and to the right you can see the UK cover. You can also order the book here: here.

I have just finished McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories that contains King's short story Lisey and the Madman. You can see what I thought about it here.

The Road to The Dark Tower chapbook

Posted: January 31, 2005, 00:00
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Stand By Me is being released on DVD in March. There will be a special edition and a deluxe edition. Read more over at IGN.

Thanks to Rocky Wood

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: Secondary Characters In The Dark Tower Series by Bev Vincent is a signed Limited Edition chapbook features material that does NOT appear in Bev Vincent's book, The Road to The Dark Tower. This chapbook will never be available for sale and can only be obtained by ordering from Cemetery Dance. Read more on their website.

Lisey and the Madman confirmed

Posted: January 27, 2005, 00:00
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Some info about King's contribution to the book New Beginnings has now been revealed on his official message board. Unfortunately it's not so good news if they are correct.

Question: Dear Moderator, I'm curious to know if Mr. King's short story Lisey and the Madman which was published in McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories, is the same one that will appear in New Beginnings collection for tsunami relief ?

Response from Moderator: That's my understanding.


So, that would mean that if you got McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories there isn't anything new in New Beginnings.

Thanks to Rocky Wood.

Desperation premiers at...

Posted: January 25, 2005, 22:58
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Fangoria reports that Desperation will be released from Lions Gate Home Entertainment on July 12 and premiere during the May sweeps on ABC.

Thanks to Mike Cahill.

Faithful review and more

Posted: January 24, 2005, 00:00
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I have finished reading and listening to Faithful and if you want, you can see what I thought about it here.

Fangoria reports that Riding the Bullet will be released from Lions Gate Home Entertainment on April 19. Quicksilver Highway will be released by Anchor Bay in May.

Thanks to Mike Cahill.

The 3rd edition of The Complete Guide to the Works of Stephen King is now out. I have taken a look at it and here is what I think about it.

New Beginnings cover and Riding the Bullet review

Posted: January 20, 2005, 00:00
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Here is the cover of the book New Beginnings.

Here's the link to King's latest column.

Thanks to James K.

On Sunday (Jan. 23) you can see Riding the Bullet on USA Network. I saw it today and here is what I thought about it.

Crying Wolfe and miscellaneous news

Posted: January 19, 2005, 00:00
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King has a new column out. This one is called Crying Wolfe and can be found in January 21 issue of Entertainment Weekly.

Thanks to Paul Poroshin and Rocky Wood

New Beginnings will be released in Canada by Raincoast Books.

Thanks to Bev Vincent.

I got some update on the progress I Know What You Need. Here is what Shawn Lealos, the movies director told me:

Valerie Jobe (Alice) has finished all her ADR work and her contributions for the movie are now completed. She did an AMAZING job doing her voice work and I was very impressed with her work. I am still waiting on Megan (Elizabeth) and Kevin (Edward) to finish theirs.

You can hear a song from the movie online now. There is a link to Resident Funk's "Ultimate Possibility" HERE if you want to give it a listen.

More on New Beginnings and Transgressions

Posted: January 17, 2005, 00:00
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It has now been confirmed that Bloomsbury will publish New Beginnings in the UK, US and Germany on the same day, 3rd March 2005.

Thanks to Bev Vincent.

Are you planning to buy a book signed by King? Do yourself a favour and visit this site, Stephen King Signatures - Fakes and the Real Thing, before you do. That way you may save yourself from buying a book with a fake signature.

As I reported earlier there will be a limited edition released of Transgressions (with King's story The Things They Left Behind in) by Ed McBain. I now have some additional info about it (directly from the publisher).

They will be doing a 100 copy-run of which only 74 will be available to the public. Each copy will be signed by the contributors who include Lawrence Block, Jeffrey Deaver, John Farris, Stephen King, Walter Mosley, Ed McBain, Sharyn McCrumb, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Perry, and Donald Westlake.

The price is $200 but Amazon.com has it for $126 and you can pre-order it here.

This is form King's official site:

A Special Message from Stephen
In addition to being Inauguration Day, January 20th is Not One Damn Dime Day. This is a chance for those who oppose what is happening in our name in Iraq to speak up with a 24-hour national boycott in all forms of consumer spending. Even if you are one of those who approve of our actions in Iraq, where the American death toll continues to rise to the number of Americans lost in the World Trade Center disaster, Not One Damn Dime Day is your chance to protest the bloated cost of President Bush's Inauguration ceremonies, which are now estimated in the $40 million range. I think even fiscal conservatives and die-hard Republicans would agree, this is a shameful amount of money to spend on a party when children are dying in Indonesia. I don't intend to spend a damn cent on January 20th, let alone a damn dime. I urge you to do the same and I urge you to pass this message along to everyone on your email list.

Stephen King


Click here for the Not One Damn Dime website and petition.

New Beginnings and Transgressions

Posted: January 13, 2005, 00:00
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There will be a book released by Bloomsbury in the UK called New Beginnings. The book will contain the first chapters from thirteen unpublished work and published on World Book Day, 3rd March 2005! All proceeds of this unique venture will be going to charities working in the Tsunami hit countries. Authors who have already agreed to take part include:

Stephen King
Alexander McCall Smith
Ian McEwan
Maeve Binchy
Margaret Atwood
Marian Keyes
Mark Haddon
Nicholas Evans
Nick Hornby
Paulo Coelho
Scott Turow
Tracy Chevalier
Vikram Seth

You can pre-order your copy here.

Thanks to JReitan47.

Just to clarify. The book King will be publishing is the one with the working title Lisey's Story and an excerpt from that one can be found in McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories which you can order here.

Thanks to Rocky wood and Monday Lad.

There will be a limited edition of Transgressions (with King's story The Things They Left Behind in) by Ed McBain. I have no info on whether it'll be signed or not but the price is $200 and you can pre-order it here.

Thanks to Bev Vincent.

Pictures from Desperation

Posted: January 12, 2005, 00:11
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Today I got these pictures from the filming of Desperation from Mick Garris. As you can see this movie looks really cool. Just check out the picture of Ron Pearlman as Collie Entragian below!

The image to the right shows Mick Garris himself along with Shane Haboucha who plays David Carver.







King finished new book

Posted: January 11, 2005, 23:21
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Very BIG news today. In a message to the message board on King's official site someone asked whether there will be any more books by King and this positive response was given by the Moderator:

Stephen has finished the first draft of a new novel and has decided to publish it, but we don’t have a publication date. It’s unlikely it will be this year, though.

The Mellencamp project and more

Posted: January 5, 2005, 00:00
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Another interesting question (and answer) was recently posted on King's official message board:

Being such a fun of king as I am, I would really like to know what is he doing now, and I mean, is he writing, working with any movie, miniserie, what?

Response from Moderator: Most recently he's been working again on the project with John Mellencamp that had been put on the back burner while he was doing The Dark Tower, Kingdom Hospital and Faithful. He's also written a couple of short stories and a novel.


That means he has a the Mellencamp project, new novel, a couple of short stories and maybe a new television show, not bad!

Thanks to Rocky Wood.

Russian Dollar Baby; Srajenie

Posted: January 4, 2005, 00:00
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Today I had a chance to watch a Russian Dollar Baby called Srajenie (The Battle). It's animated and about 10 minutes long. It's really cool! Some voiceover is in Russian and some in English...

The shooting of season 4 on The Dead Zone starts Jan. 13 and the plan is that it'll air this summer?

This interesting question (and answer) was recently posted on King's official message board:

Are you planning on making any new Television shows?

Response from Moderator: Yes, but I don't have details I can give out at this time.


Thanks to Bob I.

Riding the Bullet premiere and DVD release

Posted: January 3, 2005, 00:00
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Mick Garris just let me know that Riding the Bullet will premier on USANetwork on Sunday, January 23rd. The movie will be edited for television though.

Mick also told me that Lions Gate will be releasing the uncut film (which is rated R) later this year. They are just now starting to assemble stuff for the DVD.

Creepshow 3 on it's way

Posted: December 30, 2004, 00:00
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It seems that Creepshow 3 is on it's way...again. Read more in this article from Elites TV.

Thanks to Rocky Wood

The Wolves of the Calla trade paperback out now...in some stores. The official date is January 4, 2005. You can pre-order it here.

Thanks to Peter Hunt

Song of Susannah trade paperback

Posted: December 29, 2004, 00:00
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Here is a color scan of the cover of the trade paperback of Song of Susannah.

Fun Fact; The Rosewood resorts are offering guests advance copies of works by bestselling writers like Sidney Sheldon, Stephen King, Dan Brown and Annie Proulx. The program, called Hot Type, is the result of an arrangement between Rosewood and five major publishers - Random House, Harper, Hyperion, Knopf and Simon & Schuster - to provide bound galleys of the books anywhere from six weeks to six months before they are released to the public.

Thanks to Audrey

Review The Road to The Dark Tower and more

Posted: December 21, 2004, 00:00
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I have added my review of Bev Vincent's book The Road to The Dark Tower: Exploring Stephen King's Magnum Opus so you can see how I like that one.

King's latest column, in which he lists his top 10 movies of 2004, is now online.

Thanks to Peter Hansen.

Here is a color scan of the cover of the new audio of Carrie due out in February 2005.

Fun Fact; There seems to be an animated feature made of King's short story Battleground in USSR back in 1986. More info to come...

Thanks to Denis.

After reviewing a rough cut of Gotham Café, Stephen King has graciously allowed Turtle Bay Entertainment to change the movie's title to Stephen King's Gotham Café.

The Mist next year?

Posted: December 15, 2004, 13:53
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In an interview with Fangoria Frank Darabont talked about The Mist and said that it might be done as early as next year.

Thanks to Bev Vincent.

The Long Walk as a movie

Posted: December 15, 2004, 00:00
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It finally seems that one of my favourite King (or rather Bachman) books might be turned into a movie. In an answer on King's official message board the moderator gave the following answer to whether King would turn The Long Walk into a movie:

He has agreed to let Frank Darabont option the film rights for The Long Walk.

2004: The Year in Books and more

Posted: December 9, 2004, 00:00
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Here is an interview with King.

Thanks to Audrey* and Bev Vincent.

It seems that the UK edition of The Dark Tower concordance by Robin Furth has been pushed to summer 2005. The US edition is still scheduled for March 2005 though.

The Dead Zone trading cards from Rittenhouse are on the market now. Here are two links for you to check out: Scifi Hobby and Warp 9.

Faithful is now out in both hardback and on audio. You can order the different editions here:

Hardback
CD
Cassette

You can also listen to a clip here.

About the Today Show clip I reported about on Dec. 9. This isn't just an audio clip but you need to get a DivX codec to see it.

Thanks to jthodges.

Now you can read King's latest column, 2004: The Year in Books, online.

Thanks to Bev Vincent.

Riding the Bullet cable debut and more

Posted: December 2, 2004, 00:00
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FANGORIA has learned that Mick Garris' Riding the Bullet will make its cable television debut on the USA Network Sunday, January 23. Sister station Sci Fi Channel will share broadcast dibs on the film and air Riding the Bullet later in 2005. Lions Gate retains the North American video rights to the movie.

Thanks to Randy Ford

Here is an article about Faithful with a picture of King and O'Nan.

Here is a transcript from King's interview with Aaron Brown on CNN's Newsnight.

Here is another article about Desperation from Tucson Citizen.

Release dates and reviews

Posted: November 30, 2004, 00:00
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Here are the US and UK trade paperback covers for The Dark Tower 5 and 6. You can pre-order by clicking on the covers.

The release dates for the last 3 books in trade paperback are:

- Wolves of the Calla -- Jan. 2005


- Song of Susannah --- April 2005
- The Dark Tower --- July 2005

I have listen to John Griffit's music that is inspired from The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three. You can read what I thought about it here.

Campbell Scott would narrate the audio edition of The Shining that is being released in August 2005.

Largest King limited ever and much more

Posted: November 25, 2004, 00:00
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Here is the signed numbered edition (left), the signed Deluxe edition (right), in comparison to a 1st edition, 1st state Doubleday edition (center).


Here are some info about the limited edition of 'Salem's Lot that Centipede Press is releasing.

The limited is by far the largest King limited ever produced. Limiteds such as Doubleday's "coffin" The Stand, and Cemetery Dance's From a Buick 8 are dwarfed in comparison to this publication.

This is the Deluxe Edition Salem's Lot limitation page


One of the finest (if not the finest) quality King limited, this one sets the benchmark for craftsmanship. Any King collector that has ordered one of these masterpieces will be very impressed. The leather bound deluxe edition weighs over 13 pounds, is over 4 1/4" thick and is housed in a beautifully constructed traycase.

Jerad Walters of Centipede Press (right) is holding the 1 of 15 Deluxe edition (roman numeral #1 in red ink) of the limited edition Salem's Lot. Robert Drew of Rare*Collectible*Books (left) am on the left holding the 1 of 300 numbered editions (#1 in black ink)


All King collectors will understand why this book had a high price tag and why shipping was so expensive once they receive it.

The unsigned editions will be the exact same size as the numbered edition, however, the book will have only one of the photographic printed pieces and the book will be thinner due to the less expensive paper stock. The unsigned edition does not come with a slipcase. The unsigned editions will start shipping in 5 weeks and there are very few copies left to purchase.


Thanks to Robert Drew at Rare*Collectible*Books.

The WCRB Horn of Plenty Cookbook II has been released in time for holiday giving. Boston radio station Classical 102.5 WCRB has produced a sequel to the very successful 1990 edition of their cookbook, and the proceeds again benefit Project Bread. Recipes were donated by WCRB listeners, by celebrities such as Boston Pops Music Director Keith Lockhart, author Stephen King, and by chefs from many area restaurants. Read more about it on their website.

Thanks to Rocky Wood.

A second sequel to The Mangler is on the way. It's tentatively called The Mangler Reborn and tell the tale of a man and his machine - one he creates, obsesses over and is ultimately possessed by. Matt Cunningham and Erik Gardner are penning the script with the intention of directing the film for Barnholtz Entertainment. If everything runs smoothly we can expect (or fear) to see The Mangler Reborn in late '05. Scott Pearlman is producing with Lions Gate likely to distribute.

Source: Bloody Disgusting.

Here are the two covers for the upcoming The Illustrated Stephen King Trivia Book by Brian Freeman and Bev Vincent. You can pre-order you copy either at Amazon.com or at Cemetery Dance.

In December the third edition of The Complete Guide to the Works of Stephen King will be released. This one has been Fully Revised. All Indexes and reference Chapters updated as of October 2004 and there are now 297 Chapters in the 'Guide'.

Also, keep an eye out at www.shocklines.com and www.horrorking.com, as copies will be available to order from these sites this coming week.

A photo from King's signing

Posted: November 22, 2004, 00:00
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Here is a photo from King's signing at the Briar Patch Bookstore on November 20th. You can see more here.

Thanks to Tyler over at TheDarkTower.net.

More info about upcoming publicity events for Faithful has now been revealed.

The Shining will be released on audio in August 2005.

Novella: The Things They Left Behind

Posted: November 21, 2004, 00:00
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King will be on both The Today Show and The Daily Show on December 2nd. That is all the info I have at the moment but when I hear more you'll be the first to know.

Thanks to Miss X.

Now you can pre-order Ed McBain's anthology with a new King novel in it. The anthology is called Transgressions and King's story The Things They Left Behind.

There will also an audio release of some of the stories and King's is among them. You can pre-order the audio edition (with the title Terror's Echo : Novellas from Transgressions) here.

Here is a description of King's story:

"The Things They Left Behind" by Stephen King: In the wake of the worst disaster on American soil, one man is coming to terms with the aftermath of the Twin Towers-when he begins finding the things they left behind.

Thanks to Kevin Etheridge.

Here are the two first reviews of Faithful. One is from Boston.com and the other from Boston Herald. And here is my review of The Dark Tower VII.

Here is a short (and I mean short) article about King's signing yesterday.

Concordance vol. 2 release info and Faithful audio

Posted: November 20, 2004, 00:00
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King's official site (in the message board) state that The Dark Tower Concordance vol. 2 by Robin Furth won't be out until January or February 2005.

Here is the final CD cover for Faithful.

Stewart O'Nan will be signing the new book Faithful at Borders in Boston on Dec. 1st. The bookstore's address is 10 School Street, Boston, phone is 617-557-7188 and O'Nan will be signing at 12:30 on Dec. 1. Read more here.

Sylvia Kelegian in Desperation

Posted: November 18, 2004, 23:56
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Sylvia Kelegian joins the cast for Desperation. She will play Ellie Carver.

Thanks to Bev Vincent.

Interview with Stewart O'Nan

Posted: November 18, 2004, 00:00
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As you all know the book Faithful by King and Stewart O'Nan will be out on November 21 and I though it would be interesting to hear how the book was written. To find out I contacted Stewart and asked if I could get a minute of his time. He said yes! In the interview he speaks about Faithful, King, Red Sox and more.

The Bangor Daily News is reporting that King will be doing a small booksigning at the Briar Patch Bookstore on Saturday, November 20th from 12:30-2:30pm.

Thanks to Tyler over at TheDarkTower.net.

Mississippi Ghost Brothers is the real title

Posted: November 14, 2004, 12:56
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I got the correct title for the collaboration between King and Mellencamp and it was Mississippi Ghost Brothers. The full quote from Mellencamp from Rolling Stone is:

“Right now, he’s preparing for another tour and working on blues and Cajun songs for Mississippi Ghost Brothers.

A stage musical he’s writing with Stephen King. In it, a quarreling Southern Family goes on vacation to the haunted cabin where two uncles killed each other; it’s set in the present day and in the 1940’s.” .

Thanks to John Palisano.

The Pop of King: A Dozen Thanks

Posted: November 14, 2004, 00:00
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King's next column for Entertainment Weekly will appear in the November 19th issue and have the title The Pop of King: A Dozen Thanks.

Thanks to Paul Poroshin.

Kelly Overton joins Desperation

Posted: November 11, 2004, 23:54
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Kelly Overton has joined the cast of Desperation. She will be playing Cynthia Smith.

Thanks to Gary Shaw.

Ghostbrothers

Posted: November 11, 2004, 18:20
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In a recent article about Mellencamp or about the collaboration between King and Mellencamp (or something like that) a title for their collaboration was mentioned and it was Ghostbrothers (all one word). It remains to be seen if that will be the final title though.

Thanks to Justin Brooks.

Casting and prints

Posted: November 11, 2004, 00:00
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Kelly Overton has joined the cast of Desperation. She will be playing Cynthia Smith.

Michael Whealen has put up the cover art for The Dark Tower VII prints for sale on his website.

Thanks to Mike Cahill.

Plans for Talisman 3?

Posted: November 8, 2004, 23:33
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Here is more info in the ongoing question if there will be a Talisman 3. This is from the message board on King's official site:

Question I recently read an interview in which Peter Straub said there will be a third book in the Talisman series.

Response from Moderator Stephen would agree that there are plans for one--it’s more a matter of when.

Popup signed by King

Posted: November 5, 2004, 00:00
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To the right is a picture of the cover of the limited edition of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon popup as well as a close-up on King's signature. The difference between the limited and the trade is not as big as you may think. The limited edition has the exact same interior as the regular edition (same number of pages, etc.). The binding is different though -- it has a full cloth cover with an extra pop-up that is not in the trade edition; this extra pop is embedded into the front cover.

The popup is also signed by Stephen King and numbered and there are only 125 copies of it. The biggest difference though is the price. The trade cost just below $20 and the limited will cost you $1,000 to own. You decide if that's reasonable.



You can also read my review of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, one of the coolest King books ever done if you ask me.

And if you haven't already bought the book you can get the trade edition from either Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

New Faithful cover again and more

Posted: November 3, 2004, 00:00
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Here is the final cover for Faithful and please not that is doesn't say Stewart O'Nan with Stephen King any more, just both authors names. The book will be released on November 21 and you can pre-order here.

The paperback edition of the book will be released on June 1, 2005 and you can pre-order here.

Here is the cover for McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories that contains King's new short story Lisey and the Madman. You can pre-order
here. It will be released on November 16.

Stephen King and Gahan Wilson were given Life Achievement Awards at the World Fantasy Awards banquet in Tempe, AZ on Sunday afternoon.

Thanks to Bev Vincent.

Music based on The Gunslinger

Posted: November 1, 2004, 00:00
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To the right is a picture of the limited edition of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon popup.

Faithful will now be released on November 21, which is a lot earlier then expected. I also got confirmation today that narrator of the audio edition will be Ron McLarty and Adam Grupper.

You can also read my reviews of Building Bridges and music based on The Gunslinger.

More Desperation casting news

Posted: October 29, 2004, 23:52
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Charles Durning as TomI just spoke to Mick Garris and he confirmed what I thought. That Tom Skerritt will play Johnny Marinville in Desperation. He also told me that Since Cliff Robertson recently had back surgery, and is recovering, he has been replaced by Charles Durning.

Cast for Desperation

Posted: October 28, 2004, 23:46
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Shane Haboucha as DavidThe cast for Desperation is starting to take shape. Here are the first names. Ron Perlman (Hellboy) will play Collie Entragian, Tom Skerritt (don't know who he will play) Steven Weber (The Shining) is Steve, Annabeth Gish (The X Files) takes the female lead as Mary, Cliff Robertson (Riding the Bullet) is Tom the veterinarian, Shane Haboucha (THE O.C.) stars as young David and Matt Frewer (Riding the Bullet, The Stand) is Ralph. There are also some articles available online.

Ron Perlman as Collie Entragian Tom Skerritt Annabeth Gish as Mary

Cliff Robertson as Tom Matt Frewer as Ralph Steven Weber as Steve

Thanks to Randy Ford and Jonathan Kennedy.

Pet Peeves of 2004

Posted: October 27, 2004, 00:00
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King has a new column out. This one is called Pet Peeves of 2004.

Thanks to Bev Vincent.

Enter a contest for a chance to win two tickets to a screening of "dailies" of the short film adaptation Gotham Cafe. Details at http://www.gothamcafethemovie.com (mid-way down the page, under What's new).

Thanks to Bev Vincent.

An article about Faithful and the Red Sox is online. On the image to the right you can see King and O'Nan at a game.

I get a lot of mails from readers asking if I know why the price of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon got so much more expensive then expected. So, I asked Little Simon about why the price of the popup book was raised and here is their answer:

The original price was tentative and was set before we knew exactly how many limited editions there were going to be--and what exactly the production costs for the small run would be.