NEWS -

Pennywise The Puppet Version

Posted: November 30, 2016, 17:10
_
These photos are of a puppet version of Pennywise that Bart Mixon used for stop-motion segments in the IT miniseries. Mixon posted them on his facebook site with this comment:

“A stop motion version of Pennywise was needed for a hand full of effects shots created by Gene Warren at Fantasy II.
The puppet was sculpted by Dan Platt with a regular face, but the day I was molding it the production decided to use the acid burn make-up, so I had to create a mini-facial prosthetic for the puppet to change it’s features. I painted the puppet and Jack Bricker did his hair.”





Thanks to Lou Sytsma

King Read Two Excerpts From Sleeping Beauties

Posted: November 23, 2016, 10:07
_
King read from his and Owen’s upcoming book Sleeping Beauties on November 16. Here is a recap of the event.

Stephen King gave a Princeton audience a preview of his newest work, which will be published in 2017.

The legendary author shared two excerpts from “Sleeping Beauties,” which Mr. King wrote with his son, Owen King, an author in his own right, having published such acclaimed books as “We’re All in This Together: A Novella and Stories,” and “Double Feature: A Novel.”

During his reading — which was part of the Althea Ward Clark Reading Series, presented by Princeton University’s Program in Creative in Writing — at McCarter Theatre on Nov. 16, Stephen King read the excerpts from an iPad. He explained that he and his son started working on the book two years ago after Owen came to him with an idea — a story about what would happen if all the women in the world fell asleep.

Mr. King, whose bibliography of bestsellers includes “Carrie,” “The Shining,” “Misery,” “Under the Dome,” and “11/22/63,” said the idea brought two memories to mind. His mother-in-law once told him that if you go into someone’s house and there isn’t a ring in the toilet bowl, it means a woman lives in the home. The other thought was his mother saying that no man knows how to property fold a shirt (men who served in the military may disagree).

Wearing jeans, a collared shirt, and sneakers, Mr. King was introduced by Joyce Carol Oates. Mr. King talked about the story, and a bit about writing. “One of the reasons writers write is to figure out what they think by codifying it into words,” he said. He also joked about pushing the wrong button on his iPad and losing the excerpts, “What will you do then Smartass?” he said to himself. He added that while the iPad is amazing, he preferred reading printed pages. “These are just boops and bleeps,” he said of the words on the screen. It was an interesting remark from a writer who was among the first major authors to publish an original story as an e-book, and who has published a few things exclusively for Amazon’s Kindle.

The stage was decorated with the set for a production of the musical “Once,” presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts. Standing before some wooden tables, a bar and under dozens of hanging chandeliers, Mr. King read two excerpts from the book, one from a man’s point of view, and one from the point of a view from a female character, who is existing in another dimension.

Source: Central Jersey

Thanks to Pablo

Give Someone Charlie the Choo Choo For Christmas

Posted: November 23, 2016, 06:04
_
Interested in giving someone a free copy of Charlie the Choo Choo for Christmas? Well, all you need to do is head over to Lilja’s Library’s Facebook page and like one of my posts there and in a comment to the same post, tag the person you want to give the book. The person who gets tagged needs to live in the US to qualify, the person who tags can live anywhere though.

You have to do it before December 10 and you also need to follow Lilja’s Library on Facebook so that I can contact you if you are one of the lucky once that gets to give away a copy of Charlie the Choo Choo for Christmas. You can tag as many people as many times as you like between now and December 10.

On December 11 I will select three lucky winners, contact you who have tagged them for their address and then send them a copy of Charlie the Choo Choo in time for Christmas. Sounds good? Well, what are you waiting for, go tag someone you like!

Click for a larger image

Interview With Dark Tower's Katheryn Winnick

Posted: November 18, 2016, 05:12
_
Here is a short interview with Katheryn Winnick who star in the upcoming Dark Tower movie. Winnick’s character hasn’t been revealed yet but during the conference call she came close to accidentally letting it slip.

“I play a character that’s in the novels as well,” offered Winnick. “I assume I’m not allowed to talk about who I play. (Laughing) I was this/close about giving it away! That was almost a massive slip-up. But I will say this, I have some great scenes with Matthew McConaughey who I love working with. I worked with him years and years ago on Failure to Launch – one of my very first movies. So, it was nice to reunite with him. He plays a very interesting character.”

Thanks to Lou Sytsma

New Short Story From King

Posted: November 18, 2016, 00:09
_
Here is a new short story from King. It's called The Music Room and will be included in the book Sunlight or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper that's published later this year. And yes, it's a Playboy url but it's not that kind of story... :-)


Thanks to Lou Sytsma

King Reading From Sleeping Beauties

Posted: November 17, 2016, 15:47
_
The Daily Princetonian reported that King read from the upcoming Sleeping Beauties yesterday.

Renowned suspense novelist Stephen King and award-winning poet Eileen Myles gave a joint reading at 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 16, as part of the Althea Ward Clark W’21 Reading Series 2016-2017. The writers were introduced by professor of creative writing Emeritus Joyce Carol Oates and professor of creative writing Susan Wheeler, respectively.

“We invited both of these writers because they do something in their genres that no one else does,” Michael Dickman, a lecturer in the Creative Writing department, said. “They read on the same day by happenstance in their schedules, but it was a great combination.”

Myles read a selection of her older works as well as an excerpt from her current project “Afterglow.” King followed with two excerpts from his upcoming novel Sleeping Beauties, which he co-wrote with his son Owen King.

If anyone attended, please let me know how it was and what the two Sleeping Beauties excerpts was all about.

More info here.

Ep 65: On The Pet Sematary Path

Posted: November 15, 2016, 17:03
_

Welcome to the Stephen King Podcast Constant and New Listeners!

Join your hosts - longtime Constant Readers - Hans Lilja of Lilja's Library and writer/podcaster - Lou W. Sytsma.

Welcome to Episode 65 of The Stephen King Podcast!

In this installment, we interview John Campopiano who along with his partner Justin White spent 5 years digging up a cemetery full of goodies about the Stephen King movie Pet Sematary. Those findings have been put together in a documentary titled: Unearthed and Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary.



All that plus the latest Stephen King News!
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) 00:30 - Podcast Setup
3) 01:27 - News From The DeathRoom
4) 17:42 - Interview- John Campopiano - Pet Sematary Documentary
5) 57:41 - Podcast Signoff
6) 58:34 - Outro



-------------------------------------------------------------------
Intro Music - Don't Fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult

Outro Music - Stand By Me - Ben E. King
-------------------------------------------------------------------
iTunes - The Stephen King Podcast.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
RSS Feed - RSS.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Direct Download Link - The Stephen King Podcast - Episode 65
(Click to play, right click and Chose 'Save Link As' to save the file)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
You can find the podcast on the Internet at the following locations:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe on Android Listen to Stitcher Listen to Google Play Listen to iHeartRadio
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Support The Show - Thank You!

Listen To The Shining Opera

Posted: November 8, 2016, 15:31
_
This past May, the Minnesota Opera presented the world premiere of The Shining. The opera was an immediate sensation, selling out completely and earning critical raves. In cooperation with the Minnesota Opera, Classical Minnesota Public Radio is now pleased to present the complete streaming audio of The Shining, as performed live during that premiere run. This exclusive listening opportunity will be available for a limited time only: through Nov. 30.


Head over to their site to listen.

Thanks to Lou Sytsma

Hearts in Suspension Out Now!

Posted: November 8, 2016, 09:07
_
So, King’s latest book was released yesterday (my review is on its way) and this time it’s a special book. Hearts in Suspension is an Essay Collection released by University of Maine. Here is all the info you need about it.

This publication marks the 50th anniversary of Stephen King’s entrance into the University of Maine at Orono in the fall of 1966. The accelerating war in Vietnam and great social upheaval at home exerted a profound impact on students of the period and deeply influenced King’s development as a writer and as a man.

King’s fictional treatment of this experience in his novella “Hearts in Atlantis” (reprinted in this volume) tracks his youthful avatar, Peter Riley, through the awakenings and heartbreak of his turbulent first year at UMaine. In his accompanying essay, “Five to One, One in Five,” written expressly for this volume, King sheds his fictional persona and takes on the challenge of a nonfiction return to his undergraduate experience. The stereoscopic combination of these narratives, told with King’s characteristic blend of canny insight and self-deprecating humor, create a revealing portrait of the artist as young man and a ground-level tableau of this highly charged time.

In addition, twelve fellow students and friends from King’s college days contribute personal narratives recalling their own experience of those years. These recollections—engaged, irreverent, and affecting—bring dimension and texture to the collective witnessing of a formative time in their lives and a defining moment in the country’s history.

This book also includes four installments of King’s never-before-reprinted student newspaper column, “King’s Garbage Truck.” These lively examples of King’s damn-the-torpedoes style, entertaining and shrewd in their youthful perceptions, more than hint at a talent about to take its place in the American literary landscape.

A gallery of period photographs and documents augments this volume.

You can order your copy here.

Ep. 64 - Feeding Fuel to Firestarter

Posted: November 6, 2016, 23:24
_

Welcome to the Stephen King Podcast Constant and New Listeners!

NOTE - SPOILER ALERT!!! We discuss the leaked DT Trailer from 04:14 to 18:57 - so skip ahead if this is something you don't want to hear!!!!!!!!!!

Join your hosts - longtime Constant Readers - Hans Lilja of Lilja's Library and writer/podcaster - Lou W. Sytsma.

Welcome to Episode 64 of The Stephen King Podcast!

Apologies for the delay Constant Listeners. Technical problems and a clunky solution made putting the audio together an exercise in frustration. Apologies if the audio sounds a bit wonky but it is what it is. Enjoy!

This week we continue following in the footsteps of Stephen King Revisited and take a look at a work that is often over-looked when the top King novels are mentioned - Firestarter.

Firestarter (1980)

Historical Essay - by Bev Vincent
Richard’s Thoughts - by Richard Chizmar
Guest Essay by Ian Rogers

We talk about the book, the movie, and the TV sequel.

And that plus the latest Stephen King News!

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) 00:30 - Podcast Setup
3) 01:25 - News From The DeathRoom
NOTE - SPOILER ALERT!!! We discuss the leaked DT Trailer from 04:14 to 18:57 - so skip ahead if this is something you don't want to hear!!!!!!!!!!
4) 41:07 - Review - Firestarter
5) 1:20:24 - Podcast Signoff
6) 1:21:34 - Outro



-------------------------------------------------------------------
Intro Music - Don't Fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult

Outro Music - Stand By Me - Ben E. King
-------------------------------------------------------------------
iTunes - The Stephen King Podcast.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
RSS Feed - RSS.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Direct Download Link - The Stephen King Podcast - Episode 64
(Click to play, right click and Chose 'Save Link As' to save the file)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
You can find the podcast on the Internet at the following locations:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe on Android Listen to Stitcher Listen to Google Play Listen to iHeartRadio
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Support The Show - Thank You!

The Dark Tower Film Postponed

Posted: November 3, 2016, 16:41
_
Entertainment Weekly reported today that the filmversion of The Dark Tower, originally set to premier February 17 now has been pushed forward to Summer 2017.

Principal photography for the Nikolaj Arcel-directed film wrapped on schedule in late July, but the plan to have a completed film ready to screen six months later proved to be overly ambitious. Now, Sony Pictures and production company MRC have decided post-production can’t be finished in that timeframe and are about to inform theater owners of the change.

Sources close to the movie tell EW it’s a matter of needing deadline extensions on the visual effects, as well as more lead-up to promote the film.

Only four months from release, there’s still no trailer. And the film recently dropped out of EW’s PopFest a week before the fan gathering, with the studio indicating the footage set to be previewed wasn’t ready. Ever since, fans have been speculating that the movie might be wavering on its February target.

A new release date wasn’t available, the sources said, because a new weekend hasn’t been selected yet. A formal announcement is expected as soon as that’s settled.

Read the article here.

1922 Heading For Netflix

Posted: November 3, 2016, 08:33
_
News of a Netflix adaptation of King’s 1922 surfaced from nowhere today and apparently they are already filming. No release date is set but a good guess is sometime next year.


Thomas Jane and Molly Parker are starring in the latest adaptation of a Stephen King story, Netflix's adaptation of the author's novella 1922.

Zak Hilditch will direct from the screenplay he wrote based on King's 131-page story telling of a man's confession of his wife's murder. The tale is told from from the perspective of Wilfred James, the story's unreliable narrator who admits to killing his wife, Arlette, with his son in Nebraska. But after he buries her body, he finds himself terrorized by rats and, as his life begins to unravel, becomes convinced his wife is haunting him.

Jane is playing Wilfred James, while Parker is playing Arlette. Dylan Schmid, Kaitlyn Bernard, Brian D’Arcy James and Neal McDonough also are starring. Ross M. Dinerstein is producing the film via his Campfire banner. The project is currently shooting in Vancouver.


Thanks to Lou Sytsma & Herbert West

The History Of A Cover

Posted: November 1, 2016, 22:38
_
Vincent Chong who’s done the beautiful cover for the book Shining in the Dark: Celebrating Twenty Years of Lilja’s Library has posted the backstory to the cover as well as some sketches he did for it. A very interesting look at how a cover was created. Check it out over at his site.

You can pre-order the book here.

Shining in the Dark: Celebrating Twenty Years

Posted: October 31, 2016, 21:25
_
Finally, I can reveal what I have been teasing about for quite some time now. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Lilja’s Library Cemetery Dance will publish the anthology Shining in the Dark: Celebrating Twenty Years of Lilja’s Library.

The anthology will contain 12 stories by 13 great authors that I have selected. Six of the twelve stories have not been published anywhere (some are actually written with this book in mind) before this publication and of the six that have, most have only been published in magazines. So, chances are that you’ll read them here for the first time.

Table of Contents:
"Celebrating 20 Years of Lilja's Library (An Introduction)” by Hans-Åke Lilja
"The Blue Air Compressor" by Stephen King
"The Net" by Jack Ketchum and P. D. Cacek
"The Novel of the Holocaust" by Stewart O'Nan
"Aeliana" by Bev Vincent
"Pidgin and Theresa" by Clive Barker
"An End To All Things " by Brian Keene
"Cemetery Dance" by Richard Chizmar
"Drawn to the Flame" by Kevin Quigley
"The Companion" by Ramsey Campbell
"The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
"A Mother's Love" by Brian James Freeman
"The Keeper's Companion" by John Ajvide Lindqvist
"Celebrating 20 Years of Lilja's Library (An Afterword)" by Hans-Åke Lilja

For pre-orders and more info about all the authors and stories in Shining in the Dark: Celebrating Twenty Years of Lilja’s Library head over to www.ShiningInTheDarkAnthology.com

King Reading On November 16

Posted: October 24, 2016, 23:58
_
From King's site:

Princeton Reading November 16, 2016
Posted: October 24th, 2016 2:10:51 pm EDT

As part of the Althea Ward Clark W’21 Reading Series, bestselling author Stephen King and writer Eileen Myles read from their work on Wednesday, November 16, at 4:30 p.m. in the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center. The event is free, however tickets are required. Tickets will be available to the public beginning October 28th — more details will be posted at their site on that date.
Please note that King will not sign books following the reading, however presigned books (mixed titles) will be available for purchase.

No word on what King will read but it'll probably be from Hearts in Suspension.

Cookie Jar On BBC

Posted: October 24, 2016, 00:48
_
The BBC are adapting King's story Cookie Jar into a three part radio presentation for their Book at Bedtime slot on Radio 4. It is part of a season of Halloween themed stories called Friday Night Shorts which also includes The Rat King by John Connolly and The Mirror by Kate Mosse. The series kicks off with Cookie Jar at 22.45 (BST) on October 24th.


Thanks to Leon Russell

Special feature

30th anniversary wishes

King calendar

2026:
Stephen King: Not Just Horror (German ed.)
2026:
Stephen King: Stories From Five Decades of Storytelling (German edition)
October 2026:
Carrie TV Series
October 6, 2026:
Other Worlds Than These
2026:
Stephen King: Not Just Horror (Portuguese ed.)
2026:
Stephen King: Stories From Five Decades of Storytelling (Portuguese edition)
November 5, 2026:
An Exercise in Murder (Short story by Hill)
2026:
The Institute season 2
March 2, 2027:
Hunger (Joe Hill)

Latest interviews

Caroline Bicks
April 20, 2026
Rex Baluyot
February 4, 2026
Andy & Barbara Muschietti
February 2, 2026

Latest reviews

Locke & Key: Comic, TV, Dramatization & Keys
May 5, 2026
Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King
April 21, 2026
The Running Man
November 14, 2025

Stephen King The Actor

A complete list of all of Stephen King's cameos and actor credits.

Author Photo Quiz

How well do you know your King? Do the quiz!

King's best book

Vote for the best Stephen King book of all time...

Report errors

If you find errors considering links and images and such please report them along with detailed information about which page the error occurred.