Tony Petro

Review Time: “Cell”

“Cell” was my 62nd Stephen King novel. It was quick and pretty interesting but didn’t have enough to make it great for me.

A signal known as The Pulse is released through all cellphones into the brains of everyone who uses them. This signal drives the victims insane, making them primal.

“Cell” was released in 2006. This 350-page novel is King’s unique twist on zombies. As usual, King weaves in a very intriguing story with some incredible characters as well as an extremely creepy villain, Raggedy Man.

This novel had a very fun, very exciting start. Lots of gore, lots of action, lots of suspense.

The middle of “Cell” was a bit dry for me. It had a lot of explanations that played in later, but the actual events flew by almost too quickly. King, usually a very descriptive writer, decided to give an almost synopsis-like depiction of the characters journey from place to place.

The main character and main protagonist, Clay Riddell, a striving comic artist, was leaving a meeting in Boston where his artwork for a comic called “The Dark Wanderer” (sound familiar?) was just purchased, when The Pulse happened.

Clay does not own a cellphone. He makes friends and quickly gets out of Boston and heads north in search of his son.

Clay is easy to love. He is humorous, smart, and determined. The friends he makes along the way are great too. Specifically, Jordan. Like I said, King is great with characters.

“Cell” had plenty of moments where King would slow it down and spend some time in one area, and those moments were always awesome. Gaiten Academy, where we meet Jordan, being a personal highlight for me.

Jordan is a loyal and extremely smart young boy attending Gaiten Academy. He also didn’t own a cellphone but is a computer genius of sorts. Jordan’s character quickly became a favorite of mine due to his strength, courage, and brains. His theories on the phone crazies prove to be very useful and important.

Gaiten is also where we first see the creepy torn up leader of the phone crazies: Raggedy Man.

King does what everyone knows he’s good at: describing someone who will haunt you. Raggedy Man is that someone. He is a phone crazy but seems more aware. His physical description alone is creepy as hell, but some of his actions really made his scenes scary.

The end though… WOW. King packed a HUGE punch. The whole Kashwak scene was just INSANE! Talk about going out with a bang. The last few pages could have been done differently, but overall, I actually sort of liked the cliff-hanger.

“Cell” was adapted into a movie, starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, released in 2016. I watched it shortly after finishing the novel…

I wasted 97 minutes of my life.

Within the first five minutes of the film I was already angered. Changing small details that didn’t need to be changed, the effects were poor for a 21^st century movie, and the acting was Cheetoh’s level cheesy.

Don’t waste your time on the movie but do read the book. The book is at least cool.

“Cell” was pretty good, it just wasn’t great. I talked to a few people who follow my Stephen King Instagram page and discussed my issues. The last 100 pages or so made it better for me.

It felt like “The Stand’s” little cousin, but not nearly as good. There were a few “Dark Tower” nods that made me smile but the novel probably could have used another 100 pages and it would have been great.

This does seem to be a novel that people either love or hate, so read it and find out for yourself.

In the end, I give “Cell” a 3 out of 5, but it is a high 3… would probably be about a 7 out of 10 if we’re getting technical.

3 Out Of 5

Review Time: “Insomnia”

WOW “Insomnia” was my 61st Stephen King book and it’s the first one I am writing an official review for. So, here goes nothing:

READ THIS NOVEL

There, review done. Just kidding. Seriously though, read it. Preferably after you’ve read “IT” and “The Dark Tower” series.

“Insomnia” takes place in the fictional Maine town of Derry, where “IT” is set. “Insomnia” has a lot of references to the 1986 novel and it’s also pretty much a “Dark Tower” novel without having “The Dark Tower” in the title.

“In some ways – a lot of ways, actually – Derry wasn’t like other places.”

This novel quickly, slid itself into my top 5 King books (I will make a post about my King rankings soon). The “IT” and “Dark Tower” references alone made this an above average King book, but those weren’t even the half of it. After finishing, and wiping the tears off my face, I stared at my ceiling for a good ten minutes just digesting it.

Needless to say, I didn’t pick up my next read, “Cell,” until after a few days, and I still can’t stop thinking about “Insomnia.” The last time I had to do that with a King novel was after the “The Dark Tower” series finale.

“Insomnia” left me speechless. The book had EVERYTHING. King was like a witch throwing ingredients into a cauldron. He threw in a dash of horror, a little fantasy, a bit of drama, some politics, a touch of violence, a lot of emotion, a triple dose of excitement, and a whole lot of suspense. As usual, the characters and descriptions were superb.

This 787-page giant hit shelves in 1993. 787 pages seems like a lot, and there are a few instances where King seems to drone on or dialogue just crawls, but in all honesty, every word is necessary. Throughout the entire novel I never found myself anywhere close to boredom.

Quick synopsis: Ralph Roberts, the 70-year-old protagonist of the novel, begins to suffer from insomnia following the death of his wife. Ralph begins to see auras surrounding his neighbors. Little does he know these auras have a deeper meaning and they’re not just pretty colors

!!!!!!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!

Alright, here’s where the real review comes in *insert sly smile emoji here.*
Like I said before, I can imagine King just pulling snippets from every genre and every book he has written and sprinkling pieces into “Insomnia.” Okay, maybe not every book, but a few of them.

King made me cry within the first 100 pages describing the death of, Ralph’s, wife, even though we as readers had little to no interaction with her. Seriously how does he do it? Pretty sure I cried three times throughout this novel, so we’re not done with the water works yet.

Later Ralph has a confrontation with a neighbor who is spouting nonsense about colors, little bald doctors and the Crimson King… YEAH, THE CRIMSON FREAKING KING!

Ralph starts suffering from insomnia and begins seeing auras (colors) around people. He soon discovers these colors correspond to moods or intentions. Each aura has what Ralph describes as a balloon string, attached to the head.

The descriptions King puts into Ralph’s visions are so vivid. I absolutely loved reading these. Some people who weren’t fans of the novel describe them as acid trips. Now, I’ve never done acid so I wouldn’t know, but I found these visions to be very cool and honestly beautiful.

Ralph sees three little bald guys (doctors) and had a lengthy 45+ page discussion with two of them. He names the doctors after the three Fates in Greek Mythology. Clotho and Lachesis, who serve The Purpose, and Atropos, who serves The Random.

The Purpose is where everyone has a designated time of death and Clotho and Lachesis will show up, cut your balloon string and send you to your death peacefully. Atropos on the other hand, slices the string and you die in some sort of random act of violence, tragedy or accident: The Random.

“We are all bound together by the Purpose. That’s ka-tet, which means one made of many.”

The Crimson King has been working on Ralph’s neighbor for years and influenced him to go against the Purpose and Random and fly a plane, with a bomb inside, into the Derry Civic Center where a pro-women’s rights activist is speaking to a crowd of 2000+.

King sprinkles in large amounts of pro/anti-abortion and pro/anti-women’s rights political arguments throughout “Insomnia.” The politics are often cited as an area of complaint for some, but to me, they made the novel feel grounded and real.

Anyway, the Crimson King doesn’t care about pro or anti-women’s rights. He cares about a 4-year-old boy who got dragged to the convention center with his mother. This boy is Patrick Danville. Patrick is destined to save the life of a man trying to get into the Dark Tower.

For “Dark Tower” fans, this is the same Patrick Danville from the 7th “Dark Tower”, and the man he is destined to save? Yeah, that’s Roland. Crazy right? I mean I was absolutely mind-blown.

Little Patrick sits inside the civic center drawing a picture while the activist is speaking. His picture is of Roland outside the Dark Tower with the Crimson King at the top. I can’t even express how excited I was reading that passage. OH MY GOD.

“His name is Roland, Mama. I dream about him, sometimes. Him’s a King, too.” – Patrick Danville.

Before the Civic Center we get a mini adventure into the depths of Derry through a little cave at the base of a tree: Atropos’ lair. Here we see a maze of all the trophies he collects from those he kills, one of which is little Gage Creed’s shoe… yeah I got a bit misty reading that passage.

Anyway, Ralph redirects the plane saving Patrick and defeating the Crimson King… for now. Ralph marries his neighbor and they live happily for a few more years… until Ralph gets hit by a car while saving a little girl. COME ON, KING, WHY?!?!?! Yeah, I bawled. I mean cried my freakin’ eyes out.

Sorry this review got a little lengthy but “Insomnia” is THAT good. All I want to do is talk about it, and I hope when you read it, you’ll feel the same way. King is incredible and once again delivers a beauty.

5 out of 5

Stephen King’s poem “The Bone Church” to be adapted for TV

The next few years are shaping up to be pretty exciting for Stephen King fans after the rights to his narrative poem “The Bone Church,” were picked up by Cedar Park Entertainment. It looks like we’ll be seeing King’s name on our TVs or computer screens once again.

“If you want to hear, buy me another drink. …There were thirty-two of us went into that greensore, Thirty days in the green and only three who rose above it.”

Chris Long and David Ayer, founders of Cedar Park Entertainment, acquired the rights to Stephen King’s narrative poem “The Bone Church.” Long and Ayer plan to turn the eight-page poem into a TV series.

Chris Long is no stranger to King’s work. He was an executive producer on Audience Network’s adaptation of “Mr. Mercedes.” Long was programming chief at Audience for 18 years but left to form Cedar Park with Ayer.

David Ayer is best known for his work directing the DC comics film “Suicide Squad” as well as the hit Netflix movie “Bright.” After “Bright’s” success, Ayer signed a deal with Netflix to direct and write “Bright 2.”

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Stephen King wrote “The Bone Church” in the 1960s but didn’t publish it until 2009 in “Playboy Magazine.” The poem was later revised and republished in his 2015 short story collection “The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.”

“The Bone Church” is a tale of a drunk man telling a story about when he and 31 other explorers trekked into the jungle in search of the mythic Bone Church. Throughout the story, the narrator asks for more drinks and describes the deaths of every traveler except himself and two others. For the mathematically challenged, that’s 29 deaths.

As a poem, “The Bone Church,” is a different read but the style doesn’t take away from the creepy nature of the tale. This eight-page poem is guaranteed to give you chills. It is just one of 20 short stories in the “Bazaar of Bad Dreams” anthology. Other notable stories include:

“Ur” about a mysterious pink Kindle that contains books, newspapers, and other written works from other dimensions, and the future. This tale even has some connections to King’s magnum opus, “The Dark Tower.”
“Obits” is another good one about a young man who discovers he can kill people by writing their obituaries prematurely.
In “Mile 81” a young boy explores an abandoned rest stop and discovers a car that eats people. Sounds silly, I know, but it has little hints of King’s other car related novels, “Christine” and “From a Buick 8.”

Almost every story in “The Bazaar of Bad Dreams” is a hit and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some others getting their own adaptations soon.

“The Bone Church” joins a long list of King stories set to hit TV screens or movies theaters:

“Castle Rock” debuts this summer.
“IT” part one was a huge success in September 2017. Part two begins filming this summer.
In January, Mike Flanagan, director of the adaptation of King’s novel “Gerald’s Game,” signed on to adapt “Doctor Sleep,” the sequel to King’s famous novel “The Shining.”
“Mr. Mercedes” season one was a huge hit. Season two began filming in February.
The rights to a re-adaptation of King’s famous novel (and my personal favorite) “Pet Sematary” were picked up by Paramount in December 2017. The new movie is slated for an April 19, 2019 release.
Last, but certainly not least, following the film’s flop in the summer of 2017, “The Dark Tower” will be rebooted for TV thanks to Amazon.

In case I lost you up there, here is a list of the novels and short stories. These should get you ready for the adaptations out currently and all the hopefully amazing movies and TV shows we will see in the coming years!

“The Bazaar of Bad Dreams” (2015) (495 pages) (Collection of short stories)
- “The Bone Church” (8 pages) (no release date for TV show yet)
“IT” (1986) (1138 pages) (TV movie 1990) (film 2017, part one. 2019, part two)
“Gerald’s Game” (1992) (332 pages) (film 2017)
“Mr Mercedes” (2014) (436 pages) (TV show 2017)
- “Finders Keepers” (2015) (431 pages) (season 2 of Mr. Mercedes set for 2019)
- “End of Watch” (2016) (429 pages)
“The Shining” (1977) (447 pages) (Film 1980) (TV movie 1997)
“Doctor Sleep” (2013) (529 pages) (presumable 2019 or 2020 release)
“Pet Sematary” (1983) (374 pages) (film 1989) (remake 2019)
“The Dark Tower” (series of 8 novels) (1981-2004) (over 4000 pages) (film 2017) (TV show coming soon on Amazon)

You should know by now what I am about to say: read the books before seeing the movies or watching the shows! I know there is a lot of material listed there, but you can do it. Some were listed in previous posts anyway, so you should have a head start… right?

Amazon Saves The Day; Purchases Rights To “The Dark Tower”

Amazon has purchased the rights to “The Dark Tower” series; planning a complete reboot of Stephen King’s Mangum Opus.

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”

Amazon has purchased the rights to Stephen King’s expansive sci-fi/fantasy/western series, “The Dark Tower.” The intention is to create a TV series. This is great news to every King fan out there because the 2017 film adaptation just didn’t cut it.

After production finished for last summer’s film, starring Idris Elba as Roland Deschain, the last Gunslinger of Gilead, and Matthew McConaughey as The Man in Black, Roland’s nemesis, director Nikolaj Arcel announced he would be working on a TV series related to the backstory of Roland.

The film more or less tanked. It was a sad excuse for an adaptation and the 90-minute run-time didn’t nearly cover enough of the material from a SEVEN book series. Due to the films failure, plans for the series were dropped. In comes Amazon to the rescue!

The new show, rumored to be helmed by “Walking Dead” executive producer Glen Mazzara, is supposedly going to be a complete reboot of the series. HALLELUJAH!

“The Dark Tower” is Stephen King’s magnum opus. It is a seven book series which also includes an eighth book that is more of a side story.

“Magnum Opus: a large and important work of art, music, or literature, especially one regarded as the most important work of an artist or writer.”

What is “The Dark Tower?” Here’s a short synopsis: “The Dark Tower” series tells the tale of Roland’s search for the Dark Tower, a tower that stands at the center of the world, the axis from which everything else revolves around.

Roland’s world is dying, and he believes if he reaches the Tower he can fix it. Of course, there are people attempting to stop him; people who want to see the world destroyed; people like The Man in Black and the Crimson King.

Throughout his journey, Roland makes new friends; Eddie Dean, Susannah, Jake Chambers, Oy (a billy bumbler which is a sort of fox/raccoon-like creature). Together, they form a Ka-tet (definitions of all the weird words used are at the bottom).

Roland and his Ka-tet face many hardships on their journey to the Tower. They save lives, shoot bad-guys and travel between dimensions through doorways or portals. The series is a roller coaster from start to finish.

The seven book series, written from 1981 to 2004, contains over 4,000 pages of material and even expands into King’s other works. “The Dark Tower” is considered the center of King’s storybook universe.

Below, is a rudimentary diagram of how his other novels and stories connect to “The Dark Tower.” There are also more possible connections that haven’t been confirmed or denied yet.

If you have read previous posts, you may notice some familiar titles such as “One for the Road,” and a lot, if not all, of the Castle Rock stories.

Listed here are all “The Dark Tower” novels in order, but the diagram above features 19 other novels, 4 novellas and 8 short stories that have ties to the series. There are also 16 comics for the “The Dark Tower.” “Gwendy’s Button Box,” a novella by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar, was written after the diagram was created, but it also contains possible ties to “The Dark Tower.”

“The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger” (1981) (231 pages)
“The Dark Tower 2: The Drawing of the Three” (1987) (399 pages)
“The Dark Tower 3: The Wastelands” (1991) (509 pages)
“The Dark Tower 4: Wizard and Glass” (1997) (781 pages) This novel is mostly about Roland’s past
“The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Calla” (2003) (709 pages)
“The Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah” (2004) (411 pages)
“The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower” (2004) (830 pages)
“The Wind Through the Keyhole: A Dark Tower Novel” (2012) (307 pages) This novel is about Roland’s past and a fairy tale his mother used to tell him as a child.

As mentioned before, there are other novels and stories that may have connections to the series, but they have yet to be confirmed or maybe no one has noticed them yet. That’s on you to read, discover and theorize on your own (or find a group of King fans to nerd out with… trust me it’s fun).

“The Dark Tower” contains a plethora of strange words, phrases and places, so, as promised, here’s an extremely small list of definitions:

Ka: life force, consciousness, duty, destiny, fate
Ka-tet: a group of people summoned together by Ka
Thankee: thank you
Sai: sir or madam
Gilead: fabled city where Roland grew up, located in Mid-World
Mid-World: one of the many worlds or levels of the Tower. It is the world Roland inhabits
The Dark Tower: the center of all creation

As always, read the books before the show! Don’t even bother with the movie. The series is truly incredible, and the connections are endless. Once you get started, you will never want to put these books, or any King books, down. Enjoy, and as always feel free to leave comments and don’t forget to follow!

Buckle Up: “Mr. Mercedes” Season Two Begins Filming

Filming for the second season of the “Mr. Mercedes” series began on the 12th, so get your copies of Stephen King’s “Bill Hodges Trilogy” now.

Season two of the hit TV series “Mr. Mercedes” started filming on February 12, in Charleston, South Carolina. “Mr. Mercedes” is based on Stephen King’s murder mystery and suspense thriller series known as the “Bill Hodges Trilogy.”

Season one of “Mr. Mercedes” was adapted from the first novel (obviously) in the series, titled (you guessed it) “Mr. Mercedes.” The 10-episode series aired in 2017 on the Audience network, owned by AT&T.

Audience? Yes, I was confused at first too, but I found it and it was totally worth it! The show is not only one of the most accurate adaptations of a King novel, but everything about it was superb.

“Mr. Mercedes” garnered an 8.1/10 rating on IMDb and an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. Those are both really good numbers in case you didn’t know.

The show is directed by Jack Bender who has worked on the shows “Lost” and “Game of Thrones” (yeah nothing big). David E. Kelley adapted the story for television, and Stephen King himself co-produced the show with Kelley and Bender. King even makes a little cameo in one episode.

“Mr. Mercedes” is a dark and twisted thrill ride. A psychopath drives a stolen Mercedes through a group of people waiting in line to get jobs, killing 8 of them and injuring countless others.

Retired Detective Bill Hodges played by the one and only Brendan Gleeson, decides to come out of retirement when he receives threatening emails from the “Mercedes Killer” aka Brady Hartsfield, played by Harry Treadaway. The emails contain the wacky smiley faces you have seen and will see.

Brady, clearly mentally unstable, but extremely smart, taunts Hodges into a manhunt. Hodges enlists the help of his young neighbor Jerome Robinson, played by Jharrel Jerome, and Holly Gibney, played by Justine Lupe. Holly is a relative of the women whose Mercedes Brady stole. Together, the three gather clues and attempt to find Brady before he can kill again.

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Book two of the Bill Hodges Trilogy, presumably what season 2 of the show will be based on, is titled “Finders Keepers.”

In “Finders Keepers,” another psychopath (see a theme?) named Morris Bellamy, kills a famous author he was obsessed with, (a little reminiscent of King’s famous novel and movie, “Misery.”), and steals money from the authors safe as well as notebooks of unpublished novels. Bellamy buries the money and notebooks in a chest underneath a tree but before he can reap the rewards of his heist, he gets arrested and placed in jail for a different crime.

Years later, Pete Saubers finds Bellamy’s chest and uses the money to help his family recover from the financial hole they were in after Pete’s father was injured during the Mercedes Massacre (from “Mr. Mercedes”).

Bellamy gets released from jail and returns to dig up his chest, only to find it missing (Obviously he’s not happy). Meanwhile, Hodges, Holly and Jerome have started a private investigation company called Finders Keepers. They are called upon to help protect Pete and his family from Morris, who wants the contents of his chest back.

As I said before, filming for season two just started, so it is not yet known who will portray the new characters. Gleeson, Jerome, Lupe, and Treadaway are all set to reprise their roles, and Bender, Kelley and King are all producing/directing/writing season two as well.

Book three, and the final novel of the “Bill Hodges Trilogy” is called “End Of Watch,” (maybe, hopefully, there is a season three in our future?).

In the previous two novels, King surprised fans with a lack of anything supernatural, opting instead to thrill the readers with suspense, amazing and deranged characters, and intense storytelling.

In “End Of Watch,” however, we see King comfortably and seamlessly insert supernatural aspects and marry them with what worked for the previous novels. Brady Hartsfield has developed the ability to transfer his consciousness into other humans and electronic objects.

The members of Finders Keepers; Hodges, Holly and Jerome, are back and investigating a series of suicides around the (fictional) city of Bridgton, Ohio (where the previous novels also took place). The trail leads the three to a final showdown that has readers on the edge of their seats throughout the entire novel.

The final novel in the “Bill Hodges Trilogy” has a different feel from the first two, because of the supernatural aspects, but King is still able to keep it as intense and believable as he did with the first two… and book three may even bring a few tears out of you.

Anyway, before I get into too many spoilers, read the books! There are only three, and they aren’t even big! You will tear through them, I promise. After you read them, watch Mr. Mercedes season one and then get yourself ready for season two, and hopefully season three in the future! Remember, “The books are almost always better than the movie.” Or in this case, show.

Here are the books you will need:

“Mr. Mercedes” (2014) (436 pages)
“Finders Keepers” (2015) (431 pages)
“End Of Watch” (2016) (429 pages)

Enjoy and stay tuned for updates on season two! And as always, feel free to leave some comments, and be sure to hit the follow button!

“Castle Rock;” King Fans Most Anticipated Show and How You Can Be Ready For It

The new Hulu series from J.J. Abrams, Castle Rock, based off the world and ideas of Stephen King, is set for release this summer. Here’s how you can get ready for one of 2018’s most anticipated shows.

Most of Stephen King‘s stories are set in Maine, where he grew up and currently lives. Many of these stories take place in the fictional town of Castle Rock. This summer, director J.J. Abrams is releasing a ten-episode television series on Hulu based on King’s haunted town.

The show, titled “Castle Rock” (of course), is set to release this summer but no exact date has been announced yet (COME ON MAN). There is a lot of mystery surrounding the show, especially since it isn’t based off one of King’s novels, but rather his haunted city, his ideas and his world.

Constant Readers (for those that don’t know, this is the nickname King gave to his readers), are chomping at the bit to get any-and-all information they can about “Castle Rock” before its release. The theories surrounding the show’s possible events and story line are endless.

After viewing the trailers and checking the cast on IMDb a lot of King fans will recognize familiar names and faces.

Sissy Spacek is known in the King-world as the original “Carrie” from the 1976 adaptation of his very first novel by the same name. Spacek was nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars for her performance. In “Castle Rock,” she plays Ruth Deaver, the adopted mother of main character Henry Deaver, played by Andre Holland.

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Actor Scott Glenn is portraying every King fans favorite cop, Alan Pangborn. In King’s novels, “The Dark Half” and “Needful Things,” Pangborn was sheriff of the Castle Rock Police Department, but in the show, he looks to be a bit older and (most likely) retired.

Melanie Lynskey, who played Rachel Wheaton in “Rose Red” (a tv movie King wrote), plays Castle Rock real-estate agent Molly Strand.

Lastly, Bill Skarsgard, an actor returning to the King-verse who many, not just King fans, may know (especially the ladies). Skarsgard is known for his work on the Netflix tv show “Hemlock Grove,” and more recently as the horrifying clown Pennywise in the 2017 adaptation of King’s 1986 novel “IT.”

In “Castle Rock,” Skarsgard plays a death-row inmate at Shawshank Prison (yeah the same Shawshank that was featured in “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”). On IMDb, Skarsgard is cast as “Shawshank Prisoner,” creating even more mystery around the show and his character.

In other news, Skarsgard is set to reprise his role as Pennywise in “IT Part Two,” slated to hit theaters September 6, 2019.

**Side Note: This is not the first time Abrams and King have worked together. Abrams developed a series on Hulu in 2016 based on King’s novel “11/22/63” where a man travels back in time to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. (Another novel I highly recommend once you have gotten through the Castle Rock stories)**

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Now, back to the topic at hand: Some of you may be totally lost, and that’s understandable. You’re probably reading all this like, “’Castle Rock?’ What the heck, how am I supposed to get into a show I know nothing about?” That’s where the following list comes in.

As previously mentioned, “Castle Rock” isn’t based off any of King’s stories exclusively, rather a modern look at how King’s haunted city is doing nowadays. “Castle Rock” will take aspects from a lot of King’s work related to the city, so here is a list of novels and stories set in Castle Rock (many of which have been adapted into movies and shows) that you should get and read to prepare yourself for what looks to be the show of the summer.

“The Dead Zone” (1979) (426 pages) (Film released in 1983 and TV series released in 2002)
“Cujo” (1981) (319 pages) (Film released in 1983)
“The Dark Half” (1989) (412 pages) (Film released in 1993)
“Needful Things” (1991)(690 pages) (Film released in 1993)
- Subtitled “The Last Castle Rock Story” It is EPIC.
“Gwendy’s Button Box” (2017) (164 pages)
- King co-wrote this novella with Richard Chizmar, founder of Cemetery Dance Publications based out of Baltimore, Maryland. Chizmar recently released a novella, “Widow’s Point,” which he co-wrote with his son Billy.
“Elevation” (October 2018) (144 pages)

“Elevation” is set to release October 30, 2018. The novella will be the newest addition to the Castle Rock stories and King’s second literary release of the year after the novel “The Outsider,” hits stores May 22, 2018.

Anyway, enjoy the books and keep checking for more info on the show and updates on anything King-related. As always, feel free to comment with any questions, concerns or whatever else your heart desires!

How the Upcoming Film, “One For The Road,” Can Jump-Start Your Stephen King Collection

An adaptation of Stephen King’s short story, “One For The Road,” finished production in February 2018. Here’s how you can prepare yourself for the upcoming film and begin your very own Stephen King collection.

In 1975, Stephen King released the classic vampire horror novel, “‘Salem’s Lot.” In the novel, an author has to fight an ancient vampire who intends to take over the small fictitious Maine town of Jerusalem’s Lot.

Shortly after, in 1977, King released a collection of short stories, “Night Shift.” Clearly the ideas he had from “‘Salem’s Lot” were still with him because in this collection, two of the short stories, were directly related to the 1975 novel.

The short story “Jerusalem’s Lot” was a prequel to the novel describing the dark past of the haunted town. The short story “One for the Road” was a direct sequel to the novel where we see a family who has been trapped in a snow storm just outside the town, discover they are not alone.

In the 70’s King started allowing student filmmakers to buy the rights to his stories for $1. The filmmakers would make their adaptations and present them to King for approval before showing them at independent film festivals. These are called Dollar Baby films.

On February 6^th, a duo of independent filmmakers Joseph Horning and Curtis Case of CKC Quarterly Productions wrapped up filming of their Dollar Baby adaptation of “One for the Road.” They shot the film in South East Pennsylvania during the huge snowstorm in January.

“One for the Road” is slated for King’s approval viewing sometime in February 2018, and hopefully will be shown at a film festival shortly after. This is just the most recent of many Dollar Baby films.

The most famous Dollar Baby was an adaptation of King’s short story titled “The Woman in the Room” (a short story from “Night Shift”) directed by Frank Darabont. King liked Darabont’s adaptation so much that the two struck a “handshake deal” for Darabont to direct a film version of King’s novella “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” (from the collection “Different Seasons“).

You may have heard of this movie which turned into IMDb’s top rated film of all time: “The Shawshank Redemption.”

Speaking of “Different Seasons”… this is a collection of four short novels (novellas) released in 1982 containing the previously mentioned “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption,” “Apt Pupil” (adapted into another fairly successful film), “The Body” which was adapted into the well-known movie “Stand By Me” (you’ve seen it, its #192 on IMDb’s top 250), and lastly “The Breathing Method.”

Darabont also went on to adapt King’s novel (another one you may have heard of) “The Green Mile” (the film is #32 on IMDb’s top 250).

So, you may be thinking, “Cool? So what?” Yes, independent films are usually never as good as big Hollywood movies, but every director and producer started somewhere right? They need all the support you can give when they are at this early level, so watch those independent films, and donate to small production companies.

BUT, (yes, there’s a but), read the books first! You know the saying, “the book is always better than the movie.” Well, that saying is almost always true.

Here’s the deal, if you haven’t seen these movies yet, do so ASAP. If you have seen them (or haven’t), get the books!

Plenty of sites such as Amazon, AbeBooks and Ebay as well as stores like Barnes and Noble, offer King’s books at great prices!

Stephen King has had a plethora of his books adapted for the screen, whether that be television or movies. It is definitely worth it to find the books, read them, and collect them. The books not only look amazing, but they ARE amazing.

Start your King collection with the few books mentioned above… its only four, you can do it and once you start collecting and reading them, you will never stop… trust me.

In case you were just skimming through or already forgot which books you need to go get, here’s a list with their film counterparts:

“‘Salems Lot” (478 pages) (1975) – TV movie released in 1978 and a remake in 2004
“Night Shift” (a collection of 20 short stories; many have been adapted) (326 pages) (1977)
- “One For The Road” – film to be released in 2018
- “Children of the Corn” – film released in 1984
- “The Woman in the Room” – film released in 1983
- “Quitters Inc.” and “The Ledge” – both featured in the film “Cats Eye” in 1985
- (And a few others)
“Different Seasons” (Collection of four novellas) (518 pages) (1982)
- “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” – film released as “The Shawshank Redemption” in 1994
- “Apt Pupil” – film released in 1998
- “The Body” – film released as “Stand By Me” in 1986
- “The Breathing Method”
“The Green Mile” (399 pages) (1996) – film released in 1999