Ann and Nancy Wilson serenaded us to sleep last night.
The Woodlands Pavilion is three miles away from us and on nights like last night, with low cloud cover, the sound travels. At first my wife thought we were hearing Led Zeppelin, but it was Jason Bonham doing his stuff. Then Heart came on. I could make out “Magic Man” quite clearly. It was almost like they were in the back yard. Not quite, but almost. Apparently Bonham joined them for “Stairway to Heaven.” I saw them at the Pavilion back in the 90s. It was probably pretty soggy on the hill last night, though—we had heavy rain for a few hours before the concert started.
I received a copy of the second edition of The Stephen King Illustrated Companion last night. What’s that, you say? A second edition? Yes, as opposed to a second printing, which this book already had. Earlier this year, I revised the existing text in a couple of places (the chapter on The Shining and the chapter on The Dark Tower), wrote a new chapter (“Changing the Past Isn’t As Easy As You Might Think”) and updated the conclusion. The changes to The Shining chapter are minor (a look forward to the sequel), and The Dark Tower chapter now makes note of The Wind Through the Keyhole. The new Chapter 13 is about projects that have their origins in the 1970s that were completed recently: Under the Dome and 11/22/63, along with some discussion of Doctor Sleep. The conclusion now mentions Joyland and looks forward to Mister Mercedes, and I updated the sidebar about Ghost Brothers of Darkland County.
It comes out on November 5, but Barnes & Noble has it listed for sale already. One other major change with this edition is that the removable documents have been, well, removed. Some are omitted completely and others are reproduced flat on the page. No little envelopes. Makes a great Christmas gift!
I’ve been letting my new short story percolate. Not on purpose, though. Needs must. I received the page proofs for another short story that will appear in a 2014 anthology that has not yet been announced, so I can’t say more except I’m really excited about this one. It’s one of those really pro anthologies. You know, the rare kind where there is a content editor, a copyeditor and a proofreader. Just like a real book! Stay tuned: I should be able to announce it in a few weeks.
I also had to format and edit a 7000-word document that a group of us are going to shop around for publication. And this morning I wrote my Storytellers Unplugged essay for this Saturday. And, of course, I had to spend some time fawning over the new copy of The Stephen King Illustrated Companion.
Watched the second episode of Broadchurch. I like it a lot. It feels a bit like The Killing.
