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You Like It Darker (2024)

Steve announced his 2024 book -- a collection called You Like It Darker. Mostly new stories, mostly longer, he says.

One of them is called "The Dreamer," which sounds chilling. Lovecraft crossed with Cormac McCarthy (who he was reading at the time and to whom it is dedicated).
willowloveGNTLGNTnot_nadineFlakeNoirKurben
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Comments

  • Where was this announcement?
    GNTLGNT
  • edited August 2023
    On the Talking Scared podcast. He says it's about 600 pages long. 
    willowloveGNTLGNTHedda GablerFlakeNoirKurben
  • ....bless you Bev, for gracing us with double good news.....
    FlakeNoirKurbenLou_SytsmaHedda Gabler
  • Two books next year?  This and the Holly book, perhaps?
    FlakeNoirKurbenGNTLGNTHedda Gabler
  • He's still working on the Holly book, so there's no guarantee it'll be next year.
    KurbenLou_SytsmaGNTLGNTHedda Gabler
  • Fingers crossed. And then Talisman 3 for 2025!   B)
    GNTLGNTFlakeNoirHedda Gabler
  • edited November 2023
    May 21st, 2024

    'You like it darker? Fine, so do I', writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life - both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel 'the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind', and in You Like it Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again.

    'Two Talented Bastids' explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills. In 'Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream', a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny's most catastrophically. In 'Rattlesnakes', a sequel to Cujo, a grieving widower travels to Florida for respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance - with major strings attached. In 'The Dreamers', a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored. 'The Answer Man' asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.

    King's ability to surprise, amaze, and bring us both terror and solace remains unsurpassed. Each of these stories holds its own thrills, joys, and mysteries; each feels iconic. You like it darker? You got it.
    Hedda GablerGNTLGNTFlakeNoirnot_nadineKurbenGrant87Lou_Sytsma
  • A sequel to Cujo?  Intriguing!
    GNTLGNTFlakeNoirKurbenHedda Gabler
  • ...already on pre-order through CD...... ;)
    FlakeNoirKurbenHedda Gabler
  • A sequel to Cujo?  Intriguing!
    It's gotta be Vic Trenton, right? A widower--that could be many years later. I can't think of any other character in the book who could be a widower.
    FlakeNoirGNTLGNTKurbenHedda Gabler
  • EW has an article on the book, linked below.  It lists all the stories (copied here), has a shot of the full cover (including the back) and has an excerpt from "Rattlesnakes", which does indeed feature Vic Trenton.

    Complete list of titles in You Like It Darker

    • "Two Talented Bastids"
    • "The Fifth Step"
    • "Willie the Weirdo"
    • "Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream"
    • "Finn"
    • "On Slide Inn Road"
    • "Red Screen"
    • "The Turbulence Expert"
    • "Laurie"
    • "Rattlesnakes"
    • "The Dreamers"
    • "The Answer Man"
    https://ew.com/books/stephen-king-cujo-sequel-you-like-it-darker/
    BevVincentGrant87FlakeNoirGNTLGNTKurbenHedda Gabler
  • I've read three of the stories. None of them seemed particularly long, so some of the others must be pretty long to account for the 500+ page count.
    GNTLGNTFlakeNoirKurbenHedda Gabler
  • The five new stories are all very long.
    KurbenHedda GablerGNTLGNTFlakeNoirGrant87
  • Behold the first review, from Booklist.  It's quite positive.

    Tucked away in King’s new collection of a dozen stories, many published here for the first time, is a previously unpublished novella that is, quite simply, a small masterpiece. “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream” features some of the author’s most compelling characters: Danny, whose frighteningly real dream upends his life; Jalbert, a detective whose obsession with Danny borders on the delusional; Davis, Jalbert’s partner, who struggles to believe the unbelievable. This absolutely spellbinding tale, all by itself, is worth the price of admission. But there’s so much more, stories about love, loss, tragedy, resilience, and—this is Stephen King, after all—unearthly creatures and the strange, unpredictable overlap between this world and another. A character from a classic early King novel makes a welcome return, too, in a beautifully imagined tale that will move readers to tears. This book features some of the author’s most engaging writing (“There’s plenty of get-along between them, but love ain’t in it”). King’s first book, Carrie, was published 50 years ago. He’s had a remarkable career, and You Like It Darker proves that he is still at the height of his powers. A triumph.

    HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With so many new and exceptional stories, this collection will have King’s legions of fans clamoring.

    — David Pitt

    BevVincentKurbenGNTLGNTFlakeNoirHedda Gabler
  • Behold the first review, from Booklist.  It's quite positive.

    Tucked away in King’s new collection of a dozen stories, many published here for the first time, is a previously unpublished novella that is, quite simply, a small masterpiece. “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream” features some of the author’s most compelling characters: Danny, whose frighteningly real dream upends his life; Jalbert, a detective whose obsession with Danny borders on the delusional; Davis, Jalbert’s partner, who struggles to believe the unbelievable. This absolutely spellbinding tale, all by itself, is worth the price of admission. But there’s so much more, stories about love, loss, tragedy, resilience, and—this is Stephen King, after all—unearthly creatures and the strange, unpredictable overlap between this world and another. A character from a classic early King novel makes a welcome return, too, in a beautifully imagined tale that will move readers to tears. This book features some of the author’s most engaging writing (“There’s plenty of get-along between them, but love ain’t in it”). King’s first book, Carrie, was published 50 years ago. He’s had a remarkable career, and You Like It Darker proves that he is still at the height of his powers. A triumph.

    HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With so many new and exceptional stories, this collection will have King’s legions of fans clamoring.

    — David Pitt

    Sounds VERY promising!!!
    GNTLGNTFlakeNoirHedda Gabler
  • ....I got all tingly reading that, can't wait for it's debut in my mailbox.....
    KurbenFlakeNoirHedda Gabler
  • It took a while, but here's review #2, from Library Journal:

    In King’s (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams) new collection of short stories, a rogue scientist tries to peer past the boundaries of the world by hypnotizing “The Dreamers”; “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream” becomes a nightmare when a police officer mistakes Danny for the murderer of a young woman; and the son of a famous author discovers how his father’s writing talent blossomed in midlife in “Two Talented Bastids.” There’s also a young lawyer in the 1930s who is trying to determine whether he should work at his family’s white-shoe law firm or open his own small practice; he’s lucky enough to fall into a fold of space and time to find “The Answer Man.” In fact, the lawyer will come to find the Answer Man three times in his life; will he like the answers he hears? Meanwhile, in “Rattlesnake,” the Constant Readers bump into a character from Cujo long after the events of that book, who is trying to outrun his own ghosts and the ghosts of others.
    VERDICT King explains in an afterword to the collection that short stories are hard for him to write, but readers will be thrilled by these tales. Some of the stories are darker and more poisonous than others, but they all have that King touch.
    Reviewed by Jennie Mills , Apr 01, 2024

    KurbenGNTLGNT
  • Tune in to the YouTube Premiere of Stephen reading an excerpt from his upcoming collection You Like It Darker on April 18th at 2pm EST.

    >>> Source
    GNTLGNTHedda GablerFlakeNoir
  • Award-winning narrator Will Patton will read the audiobook edition of YOU LIKE IT DARKER with select stories read by Stephen King.
    Hedda GablerGNTLGNTFlakeNoir
  • Review 3, by Kirkus, has arrived.

    A dozen tales from the master of creepiness.

    Do you like your short stories on the dark side? Enjoy having eerie images and unsettling plot points turn your dreams into nightmares? Take pleasure in jumping at shadows and feeling your heart beat faster after nightfall? If so, this beefy new collection is for you. In a dozen stories—some considerably longer than others—spanning about 500 pages, King gives the reader a host of things to fear: deadly snakes, ghoulish ghosts of long-dead children, man-eating alligators, stealthy serial killers, plummeting airplanes, mad scientists, mistaken identity. Along the way, he also offers insights about, among other things, the fickleness of talent, the power and pathos of unrealized dreams, the pain and pleasure of relationships, and the meaning and meaninglessness of life and, of course, death. In “Two Talented Bastids,” the son of a famous writer seeks out the source of his father’s success as well as that of his father’s best friend, an artist—and confronts his own limitations. In “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” a man’s dream about a dead body turns into a living nightmare of suspicion and disbelief. “The Answer Man” explores the value of knowing your future; “Rattlesnakes,” a sequel to King’s bestseller Cujo (1981), the importance of reckoning with the past. And while the book is not without an occasional misstep (“Red Screen,” about a cop with a nitpicking perimenopausal wife, say), King’s conversational prose, relatable characters, and knack for knowing precisely what you are afraid of will draw you in—page by page, horror by horror—and hold you fast.

    The disturbing stories in King’s latest collection will seep into your psyche and haunt you.

    GNTLGNTKurbenHedda Gabler
  • This is today?  Is there a link to right place? 
    GNTLGNTFlakeNoir
  • Tune in to the YouTube Premiere of Stephen reading an excerpt from his upcoming collection You Like It Darker on April 18th at 2pm EST.

    >>> Source
    I loved it, really fantastic.
    GNTLGNTHedda Gabler
  • It's a dark story -- the longest in the collection, I think.
    Hedda GablerGNTLGNT
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