Installment 29: The Year of Writing Collaboratively, Part One
2017 is promising to be another prolific year for Stephen King. There are at least two new books in the pipeline, with hints of a third. But what is unusual about this year is that all of these books are being written in collaboration with other writers.
The first is coming very soon, in ten days as this is being written. GWENDY'S BUTTON BOX, a slim little volume, is written with Richard Chizmar, whose Cemetery Dance Publications is publishing the book.
What makes the book particularly interesting, aside from its collaborative nature, is that King has returned to Castle Rock, the small Maine town made famous in such diverse works as THE DEAD ZONE, CUJO, and "The Body", and which was largely destroyed in NEEDFUL THINGS.
The story begins in the summer of 1974, where we meet Gwendy Peterson, a twelve year-old who has set herself the task of climbing the so-called Suicide Stairs -- a rickety iron stairway which runs from Pleasant Road in Castle Rock to Castle View, which lies atop a rocky cliff from whose summit people can overlook the town below. She is doing this in an effort to lose weight, and avoid being nicknamed Goodyear by her schoolmates.
On this particular day, she encounters a sinister stranger clad in black, calling himself Richard Farris. He calls her over to palavar, and gives her a box, festooned with buttons. One of them dispenses silver dollars; another produces chocolate candies which, he promises, actually help with losing weight. Other buttons can make things happen on the various continents, one can make anything happen that she wishes, and there is one which must never be touched under any circumstances.
Over the years, Gwendy keeps the box, mainly building up a stockpile of silver dollars and using the chocolate it provides. She does lose weight and becomes a star athlete. She no longer needs glasses and boys notice her.
Once, she pushes the South America button to see what would happen, and hears about Jonestown. Over the next ten years, Gwendy keeps her dark little secret until everything finally comes to a brutal climax.
There are echoes of other King works in the story. The man in the Black suit calls to mind the character in King's O Henry Award-winning story entitled (what else?) "The Man in the Black Suit". The box itself is reminiscent of the toy monkey in "The Monkey" or even the cookie jar in a recent short story.
As to the collaboration, it is hard to tell which parts were written by which writer, although King mentions in an interview accompanying the audiobook version of the story that he wrote the beginning of the story and Chizmar came up with the ending. The story passed back and forth between the two until the two styles blend together to the point that they are indistinguishable.
It's always nice to go back to Castle Rock, and readers will encounter a few old friends in reading this one. The book features full-page illustrations by Keith Minnion, along with spot illustrations, and a cover by Ben Baldwin. It is definitely worth checking out.
In the fall, King's next novel, SLEEPING BEAUTIES, will appear, marking his first collaboration with his son Owen King, himself the author of several noteworthy books. It has been described as a tale of a world without women, where all the women on the planet fall into a deep sleep, cocooned in a soft white material. When awakened, they turn into vicious creatures.
Not much is known about the story, except that it is set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women;s prison, and the among the main characters is Evie, a young woman who is apparently immune from the disease that is apparently afflicting the rest of the population.
Although King and his other son, Joe Hill, have collaborated on short stories in the past, this is the first time he and Owen have worked together. In Part Two of this piece, we will take a closer look at the novel once ARCs are available.
There have also been rumors that King and Peter Straub are to begin work on a third Jack Sawyer novel set in the world of their two past collaborations, THE TALISMAN and BLACK HOUSE. More on that as and if it develops.
The first is coming very soon, in ten days as this is being written. GWENDY'S BUTTON BOX, a slim little volume, is written with Richard Chizmar, whose Cemetery Dance Publications is publishing the book.
What makes the book particularly interesting, aside from its collaborative nature, is that King has returned to Castle Rock, the small Maine town made famous in such diverse works as THE DEAD ZONE, CUJO, and "The Body", and which was largely destroyed in NEEDFUL THINGS.
The story begins in the summer of 1974, where we meet Gwendy Peterson, a twelve year-old who has set herself the task of climbing the so-called Suicide Stairs -- a rickety iron stairway which runs from Pleasant Road in Castle Rock to Castle View, which lies atop a rocky cliff from whose summit people can overlook the town below. She is doing this in an effort to lose weight, and avoid being nicknamed Goodyear by her schoolmates.
On this particular day, she encounters a sinister stranger clad in black, calling himself Richard Farris. He calls her over to palavar, and gives her a box, festooned with buttons. One of them dispenses silver dollars; another produces chocolate candies which, he promises, actually help with losing weight. Other buttons can make things happen on the various continents, one can make anything happen that she wishes, and there is one which must never be touched under any circumstances.
Over the years, Gwendy keeps the box, mainly building up a stockpile of silver dollars and using the chocolate it provides. She does lose weight and becomes a star athlete. She no longer needs glasses and boys notice her.
Once, she pushes the South America button to see what would happen, and hears about Jonestown. Over the next ten years, Gwendy keeps her dark little secret until everything finally comes to a brutal climax.
There are echoes of other King works in the story. The man in the Black suit calls to mind the character in King's O Henry Award-winning story entitled (what else?) "The Man in the Black Suit". The box itself is reminiscent of the toy monkey in "The Monkey" or even the cookie jar in a recent short story.
As to the collaboration, it is hard to tell which parts were written by which writer, although King mentions in an interview accompanying the audiobook version of the story that he wrote the beginning of the story and Chizmar came up with the ending. The story passed back and forth between the two until the two styles blend together to the point that they are indistinguishable.
It's always nice to go back to Castle Rock, and readers will encounter a few old friends in reading this one. The book features full-page illustrations by Keith Minnion, along with spot illustrations, and a cover by Ben Baldwin. It is definitely worth checking out.
In the fall, King's next novel, SLEEPING BEAUTIES, will appear, marking his first collaboration with his son Owen King, himself the author of several noteworthy books. It has been described as a tale of a world without women, where all the women on the planet fall into a deep sleep, cocooned in a soft white material. When awakened, they turn into vicious creatures.
Not much is known about the story, except that it is set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women;s prison, and the among the main characters is Evie, a young woman who is apparently immune from the disease that is apparently afflicting the rest of the population.
Although King and his other son, Joe Hill, have collaborated on short stories in the past, this is the first time he and Owen have worked together. In Part Two of this piece, we will take a closer look at the novel once ARCs are available.
There have also been rumors that King and Peter Straub are to begin work on a third Jack Sawyer novel set in the world of their two past collaborations, THE TALISMAN and BLACK HOUSE. More on that as and if it develops.
The men of our world
are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman,
however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the
sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a
demon who must be slain?
Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women's prison, SLEEPING BEAUTIES is a wildly provocative, gloriously absorbing father/son collaboration between Stephen King and Owen King.
Copied from Lilja's Library: http://liljas-library.com/
Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women's prison, SLEEPING BEAUTIES is a wildly provocative, gloriously absorbing father/son collaboration between Stephen King and Owen King.
Copied from Lilja's Library: http://liljas-library.com/
A spectacular
father/son collaboration like no other, Stephen King and Owen King tell
the highest of high stakes stories: what might happen if women
disappeared from the world of men?
In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place...
The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain?
Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women's prison, SLEEPING BEAUTIES is a wildly provocative, gloriously absorbing father/son collaboration between Stephen King and Owen King.
Copied from Lilja's Library: http://liljas-library.com/
In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place...
The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain?
Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women's prison, SLEEPING BEAUTIES is a wildly provocative, gloriously absorbing father/son collaboration between Stephen King and Owen King.
Copied from Lilja's Library: http://liljas-library.com/
A spectacular
father/son collaboration like no other, Stephen King and Owen King tell
the highest of high stakes stories: what might happen if women
disappeared from the world of men?
In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place...
The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain?
Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women's prison, SLEEPING BEAUTIES is a wildly provocative, gloriously absorbing father/son collaboration between Stephen King and Owen King.
Copied from Lilja's Library: http://liljas-library.com/
In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place...
The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain?
Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women's prison, SLEEPING BEAUTIES is a wildly provocative, gloriously absorbing father/son collaboration between Stephen King and Owen King.
Copied from Lilja's Library: http://liljas-library.com/
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