Several weeks ago, I was contacted by Michael Small of the I Couldn’t Throw It Away podcast. Their series is a discussion about things he and his cohost, Sally Libby, rediscover. They then debate whether it’s junk to be Marie Kondo-ed or a valuable item to be kept. Michael, who was a reporter for People magazine, interviewed Peter Straub and Stephen King in 1984 about The Talisman and he recently stumbled upon the cassette tape of the full, unexpurgated recording of that session. He wanted to find someone to discuss The Talisman, so he went to ChatGPT and my name came up at the top of the list! I spent the better part of an hour chatting with them, and the episode Scary! Stephen King and Peter Straub’s lost interview is now live. In addition to Michael and Sally’s chat, they used large chunks of my interview and include the entire 1984 interview session, which is an interesting blast from the past. It’s especially nice to hear Peter’s voice again and to hear the two banter with each other and push back against some of Michael’s questions about who wrote what. Check it out—I had a great time talking with them.
The photo of Steve and Peter accompanying the podcast was taken by Jordan Hahn, beermaster and webmaster. When I mentioned Hurricane Beryl, which appears to be heading in our vicinity tomorrow, he immediately came up with Beryl Evans, the author of Charlie the Choo-Choo on one level of the Dark Tower!
The issue of SpeakUp magazine from Spain in which I am interviewed relative to the Spanish release of my King book, came out recently. It’s an interesting concept: an English print publication with high-level vocabulary to help people learn English, where they annotate certain terms and phrases.
To celebrate the release of You Like It Darker, The Losers’ Club unlocked their premiere episode of The Stephen King Archives in which the Losers dust off unpublished short stories, long-forgotten interviews, coffee-stained manuscripts, and alternate versions. I joined them to talk about 1956’s “Jhonathan and the Witchs,” 1963’s The Aftermath, and 1965’s “I Was a Teenage Grave Robber.”
In 1984, I was a graduate student at Dalhousie University, living in a dorm on the ground floor of Bronson House at Howe Hall in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I was working on my Ph. D. in chemistry and writing short stories that I never did anything with other than share them with some of my dorm neighbors. A few of those stories have been resurrected and published in recent years after heavy revisions. Yesterday, I pulled out another one of those 40-year-old stories, reread it and completely rewrote it, inspired by the guidelines to an anthology that seemed like a good fit. The original story was juvenile—I’m hoping the revised version is stronger. I have few regrets in my life, but one is that I never submitted any of my short stories back then. I would probably have broken every rule about how to do that, but I might have gotten some feedback and encouragement instead of waiting nearly two decades to start writing and submitting in earnest.
It was also in 1984 that I bought my first limited edition, which just happens to be the Donald M. Grant edition of The Talisman.
Also in 1984, I saw Beverly Hills Cop. Last night we enjoyed Axel F., which brings together most of the original cast in a new adventure. It has some of the same features as the earlier installments—lots of crashy car chases and shoot-outs, but it has the added poignance of Axel’s relationship with his now-adult daughter Jane. It’s pretty good. The only thing I missed was Axel’s contagious laugh from the original, which seems to have been a victim of time and/or age!
Once again I’m partnering with Village Books so people can order signed / personalized copies of the Young Adult version of Stephen King: His Life, Work, and Influences. I’ll also be doing an event with them at 3 pm on September 8. There was a nice review of the new edition this week.
My new/old story “The Heart that Fed” will be in About that Snowy Evening: Stories Inspired by Classic Poems, from Emily Dickinson to Walt Whitman and More, edited by Stephen Spignesi, Andrew Rausch and Keith Lansdale. My story was inspired by Ozymandias. The anthology should be available for order very soon.
Die Laughing: An Anthology of Humorous Mysteries was previously only available as a pricey hardcover. The anthology, which contains my story “The Vacuum Gang,” is now available in eBook format for under $10, which is a real steal given that it contains over forty stories.
Also on the horizon:
- The Fears of a Clown, Fear of Clowns: A Horror Anthology, Kangas Kahn Publishing, 2024
- A Tawny Brown Liveaboard, The Amber Waves of Autumn, October 1, 2024
What have I been watching lately? I quite enjoyed Bodkin (Netflix), which is about an American podcaster forced to team up with an Irish ex-pat journalist to investigate a decades-old disappearance in a small town near Cork. I also like the dynamic of the main characters in McDonald & Dodds on Britbox. I binged through all four seasons of that. Dark Matter (Apple TV+) messed with my mind, and I’m not entirely sure I’m happy with how it ended, but it was a helluva ride. I always enjoy John Simm, so it’s good to see him back in Grace (Britbox). Tracker (CBS) is lighter fare than most streaming series, but it was pretty good. The entire BAU seems to be going off the deep end on the latest season of Criminal Minds, and I’m sticking with Presumed Innocent in hopes that they’ll do something to differentiate it from the novel and original adaptation. This version of Rusty, though…not sure I like him very much.
I read and reviewed House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias. I read The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett to my wife—an interesting late-19th century collection of vignettes about a woman spending a summer vacation in a coastal Maine community. Currently reading Moonbound by Robin Sloan, a futuristic sci-fi/fantasy with shades of Douglas Adams and inspiration from the legend of King Arthur. I also reviewed Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay.
I really liked Godzilla Minus One (Netflix). I haven’t seen all that many Godzilla films, but this one hits all the right notes, combining a strong story with great action sequences. Speaking of action, Hit Man (Netflix) is a helluva lot of fun, a tribute to stuntmen and women with lots of callbacks to the Fall Guy TV series (hey, that was also on in 1984!) and Miami Vice (ditto). The title of the new movie has a nice double meaning. I also thought Under Paris (Netflix) was campy good fun. Wonka (Max) is a decent origin story for the character. I watched two documentaries since last time: Jim Henson: The Idea Man (Disney+) and Brats (Hulu). The former is intriguing and delightful. The latter, well, I guess some people have issues they grapple with all their lives while others who had similar experiences find way to make peace with them. I ended up feeling bad for McCarthy.
