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Another King
Like father, like son — except when it comes to choosing a publisher. Owen King, the 27-year-old younger son of mega-author Stephen King, has just sold his first book, a collection of short stories and a novella called "We're All in This Together."
The buyer was Gillian Blake of Bloomsbury, who made the deal with Owen's longtime agent, Amy Williams of Collins, McCormick.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the advance is likely several zeroes short of those made by the elder King, who publishes with Scribner.
Still, Stephen King is known to take smaller advances than such contemporaries as John Grisham and Michael Crichton, preferring his contracts to pay a higher-than-average royalty rate instead.
Several publishers, including Little, Brown and HarperCollins, saw the younger King's debut. Scribner - at which, ironically, Blake worked as an editor until moving to Bloomsbury last year — did not.
"It just seemed best that father and son should not be published by the same house," one executive said.
The buyer was Gillian Blake of Bloomsbury, who made the deal with Owen's longtime agent, Amy Williams of Collins, McCormick.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the advance is likely several zeroes short of those made by the elder King, who publishes with Scribner.
Still, Stephen King is known to take smaller advances than such contemporaries as John Grisham and Michael Crichton, preferring his contracts to pay a higher-than-average royalty rate instead.
Several publishers, including Little, Brown and HarperCollins, saw the younger King's debut. Scribner - at which, ironically, Blake worked as an editor until moving to Bloomsbury last year — did not.
"It just seemed best that father and son should not be published by the same house," one executive said.
Comments
Anyone know of any place on-line that might have some of Owen's stuff? Anyone know anything about his style, genre of choice, etc.?
Blu (off to Google to see if he can answer his own *&!@# questions)
I was actually coming back to post that very link - great minds think alike, I guess!
Good story, and you can definitely see some of his father's influence in places. I'm looking forward to giving this book a shot.
Blu
A couple years ago when SKEMERs were in Bangor, we were having dinner at the Sea Dog brewery with the band Now-Is-Now playing on stage. Apparently Owen was there as well at the bar, only 5 feet away from us...I always found that cool.
You didn't know that Owen was there
at the Sea Dog Brewery! You must
have been paying too much attention
to Now is Now!
We had a really nice chat - spoke for
about 30 minutes or so. He made us promise
not to divulge who he was!
8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
[b]And you know what else he told us - this was really big new back then![/b]
.
.
.
.
.
Nuttin Honey cause I be dreaming right now!
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Owen King grew up in Bangor, Maine. He is a graduate of Vassar College and holds an M.F.A. from Columbia University, and his stories have appeared in Book Magazine and the Bellingham Review. He has been nominated for a National Magazine Award and is a recipient of the John Gardner Award for Short Fiction. He currently resides in Brooklyn.
Product Description:
Imaginative, gripping stories and a funny, poignant novella set in Maine after the 2000 presidential election make up this exciting literary debut.
Owen King is a writer interested in the choices we make when we're most conflicted. A young husband must decide whether or not to commit a ghoulish crime; a baseball player in a fantastic 1930s Coney Island is assailed by the guilt of an illicit romance; a nineteenth-century itinerant dentist finds himself snowed in with a group of trappers for a long evening of primitive surgery and laughing gas reveries. Whether they're set in the past or the present, tinged with the macabre, the solemn, or the absurd, all of the stories in this collection carry the weight of real emotion and revelation and showcase King's impressive versatility.
In his novella, King tells the story of George, the teenage son of a single mother, and the only grandson of a family of union organizers in Maine. George's grandfather Henry, obsessed with the outcome of the 2000 election, has planted a giant billboard of homage to Al Gore in his front yard that he suspects has been defaced by the paperboy, now a sworn enemy. Meanwhile, George's mother is about to marry Dr. Vic, who, besides being possessed of an almost royal obliviousness, may even have voted for George W. Bush. George is a nervous accomplice to his grandfather's increasingly unhinged behavior, and a righteous adversary at war with his mother over her marriage. George's struggle is a funny and moving parallel for our times: How will we fight? All together, or all alone? Funny, insightful, and always entertaining, We're All in This Together launches the career of an extraordinarily talented writer.
Thanks for the info everyone!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1582345856/052379122979/
Best,
Brian
I like the title, and I also like in the author description that they don't mention his dad. I think the lad should get the recognition he deserves without him being named as "King's son".
Will look forward to reading this book.