Stephen King News from the Dead Zone Archives - Page 9 of 13

News From The Dead Zone #70

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 15, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead Zone1408, Bev Vincent, Blaze, Featured, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The Dead ZoneLeave a comment

Everything changes this season on The Dead Zone on USA Network. One moment took his love, took his hope, took his future. Beginning this Sunday at 10/9C Johnny Smith takes it all back in the season six premiere.

George Stroumboulopoulos from CBC’s “The Hour” has posted his interview with King.

More Blaze reviews: London Telegraph, Times Picayune review. See also Lilja’s interview with Philippa Pride, King’s UK editor.

More 1408 articles and interviews: Fashion Wire Daily, UK Metro, IESB, MTV, SciFi.com. SPIKE TV is having “creepy hotel room” week on C.S.I. reruns, hosted by John Cusack with lots of promos for 1408. According to a producer, the key detail that took the fright out of making the film: “It cost $25 million. Anything over $30 million and we make a profit.”

Here is a preview for Gunslinger Born #6. The issue will be out on either July 4th or 5th, depending on if shops are open for the holiday. Peter David and Robin Furth will be attending HeroesCon 2007 this weekend.

News From The Dead Zone #69

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 11, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead Zone1408, Bev Vincent, Blaze, Featured, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Gingerbread GirlLeave a comment

Today is Blaze day. There are new reviews in these two publications: Miami Herald, USA Today.

1408 comes out next week, and there has been a lot of advanced publicity for it. Perhaps they’re trying to stave off the curse attached to horror movies of late. Here are video interviews with John Cusack and director Mikael Hafstrom, and a Shock Till You Drop interview with Hafstrom. Of the production, John Cusack told EW, “We all got Stockholm syndrome.” Here’s an article that speculates about the extra features on the DVD.

The Esquire issue with “The Gingerbread Girl” is out in most places now, and has been drawing a lot of media attention, thanks to an AP wire article that has been picked up everywhere. If you’re not sure where the story’s title comes from, refamiliarize yourself with the classic story The Gingerbread Man. “The gingerbread man did not look back. He ran on saying, ‘Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!'”

News From The Dead Zone #68

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 11, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead Zone1408, Ayana, Bev Vincent, Blaze, Featured, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Gingerbread GirlLeave a comment

King was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Toronto on Friday night. Here is his acceptance speech and part of Chuck Klosterman’s interview (video courtesy of Lou Sytsma, a frequent poster on my message board, who also posted these pictures of the event). King’s publisher, Susan Moldow, mentioned that he handed her the manuscript for a new (“personal and moving”) short story, “I, Anna,” that morning. The story probably won’t be published until next year, and was inspired by the recent family death. Here are a few articles that cover the event: Chronicle Journal, CBC, Toronto Star, Toronto Star (follow-up with James Patterson, who was the brunt of a less than flattering comment by King during his interview). The event will run on Canadian television at some point, perhaps on Bravo, and will later be posted on The Hour’s web site.

Here are 8 new film clips from 1408. Simon and Schuster is holding a contest associated with the tie-in reissue of Everything’s Eventual. Cinemablend has a podcast interview with the director, who also informed Bloody-Disgusting.com that King really likes the movie: “King was very pleased with the film, I’m happy to say. When you are adapting an author, especially one who has been around like he has, it’s very important that he approves. Even though the film contains more story, we are true to heart and soul of the short story.” King also doled out some specific praise for Cusack’s performance. Actress Mary McCormack told Bloody Disgusting that two endings were shot for the film, the original too much of a downer for mainstream audiences. The director said the DVD version will contain numerous deleted scenes.

Blaze comes out tomorrow. Here’s my review and Lilja’s review. Lilja is holding Blaze week at his web site, with contests, interviews and prizes.

Several people asked me how to get copies of the DVD of King’s interview with Charles Ardia at the Edgar Awards recently. It is available for purchase from the MWA web site. Click on Order DVD/CDs/Tapes.

I got a kick out of this: 50 reasons to love SK. Especially #26, which is so true it’s funny. Or vice versa.

I read “The Gingerbread Girl,” the 21,000-word thriller in the current issue of Esquire, over the weekend. It has no supernatural elements, but that doesn’t keep it from getting the pulse pounding and the heart thumping.

News From The Dead Zone #67

Cemetery Dance OnlineJune 8, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Blaze, Cell, Duma Key, Featured, Hard Case Crime, News from the Dead Zone, Rock Bottom Remainders, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The Gingerbread GirlLeave a comment

Tonight’s the night for “A Toast to Stephen King,” featuring Margaret Atwood, Clive Barker and George Stroumboulopoulos. The event takes place at 7:30 p.m. in John Bassett Theatre, 255 Front St. W., Toronto. King is presigning a limited number of books for the event, but there’s been no word yet about how they will be distributed. He will not be signing any other books.

The issue of Esquire featuring the new, long story “The Gingerbread Girl” is starting to show up in stores. Angelina Jolie is on the cover. “The Gingerbread Girl” takes up over 20 pages of the issue.

Blaze comes out on Tuesday. Scribner has launched a web site for the book and the first media review appeared in the L.A. Times.

The NY Times reviewed last week’s Rock Bottom Remainders concert. Rock On, But Hang Onto Your Literary Gigs. There’s video from their Good Morning America appearance on the ABC web site.

Check out my message board for a summary of what King has to say about his upcoming novel Duma Key during his recent interview with Hardcase Crime’s Charles Ardai.

Eli Roth has been talking about Cell quite a bit lately, including at Ain’t It Cool News.

You didn’t forget to pick up issue #5 of The Gunslinger Born this week, did you?

News From The Dead Zone #66

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 28, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBest American Short Stories 2007, Bev Vincent, Blaze, Featured, News from the Dead Zone, Rock Bottom Remainders, Stand By Me, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The Dead Zone, The Gingerbread GirlLeave a comment

For the first time in many years, Stephen King will be playing with the Rock Bottom Remainders again. The show takes place on Friday, June 1^st at Webster Hall in New York City. The show is being billed as their 15th anniversary “Still Younger Than Keith” concert. Other band members and guests include Dave Barry, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Mitch Albom, Frank McCourt, Andy Borowitz and Roger McGuinn from the Byrds. The concert is a benefit for 826NYC, the New York affiliate of the organization Dave Eggers founded to get kids writing; the AAP’s Get Caught Reading program; and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. On May 31, some of the RBR band members will be appearing on Good Morning America to talk up the charities the band is supporting.

Among those paying tribute to King at the gala in Toronto on June 8^th will be Margaret Atwood and Clive Barker, and former Spin editor Chuck Klosterman is handling the evening’s on-stage interview.

King’s newest story, “The Gingerbread Girl,” will appear in Esquire’s July issue, on stands June 15. Here’s how it’s described on King’s web site: “In the emotional aftermath of her baby’s sudden death, Em starts running. Soon she runs from her husband, to the airport, down to the Florida Gulf and out to the loneliest stretch of Vermillion Key, where her father has offered the use of a conch shack he has kept there for years. Em keeps up her running—barefoot on the beach, sneakers on the road—and sees virtually no one. This is doing her all kinds of good, until one day she makes the mistake of looking into the driveway of a man named Pickering. Pickering also enjoys the privacy of Vermillion Key, but the young women he brings there suffer the consequences…”

The Publishers Weekly review of Blaze is now up at Amazon. The Booklist review is available at Lilja’s Library. Publication date is June 12^th.

The King-edited 2007 Best American Short Stories is now up for pre-order at Amazon. It features 20 stories selected from over 400 King read last year, along with a list of 100 others worthy of mention that didn’t make the final cut.

On July 28, The Stand by Me Celebration and Rolling Roadshow invites fans to re-live the classic coming-of-age film in Brownsville, Oregon where it was filmed. Fans can re-live the film during a 1-day celebration that includes viewing the film on a giant outdoor screen, a blueberry pie eating contest, 1950s vintage car cruise-in, sock hop, and a scavenger hunt for the dead body. There will be guest appearances by cast members.

Issue 5 of The Gunslinger Born comes out on June 6th. Lilja has the sketch and variant covers on his web site.

The Dead Zone launches its sixth season on USA Network Sunday, June 17 at 10:00PM/9:00 Central.

News From The Dead Zone #65

Cemetery Dance OnlineMay 9, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead Zone1408, Bev Vincent, Faithful, Featured, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen KingLeave a comment

Rather than go head to head with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dimension has decided to move 1408 from it’s original release date of July 13 to June 22. Check out a very favorable report from an advanced screening at the Fangoria website.

According to Variety, HBO Films and HBO Sports are making a miniseries based on Faithful. Bill Diamond will write scripts for the program, which has been broken into six hour long episodes. The series will chronicle the Red Sox’s 2004 World Series win. Much of the program will also focus on the 86 year lag between wins.

News From The Dead Zone #64

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 25, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Featured, News from the Dead Zone, Rock Bottom Remainders, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The Dead ZoneLeave a comment

Marvel has a Q&A with Robin Furth at their web site. Lilja interviewed her for his Dark Tower week, too, as well as colorist Richard Isanove and scriptwriter Peter David. He reviews the upcoming fourth issue here.

King accepts his Grand Master Award at the Edgar Awards tomorrow night in NYC. Charles Ardai from Hard Case Crime interviewed King at a symposium that is part of the awards event today. DVDs or tapes of the event can be purchased from the MWA.

The New York Post reports that King will perform with the Rock Bottom Remainders at Webster Hall in NYC on June 1st as part of Book Expo America. This is the first time in several years that he has played with the band.

USA Network has picked up The Dead Zone for a Sixth Season of 13 one-hour episodes. The series returns Sunday, June 17 at 10/9C with a “dramatic premiere that will change everything in Johnny Smith’s world.”

News From The Dead Zone #63

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 17, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Blaze, Entertainment Weekly Column, Featured, News from the Dead Zone, Rock Bottom Remainders, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The MistLeave a comment

This is “Dark Tower Comic” week at Lilja’s Library. He started with an interview with Marvel’s editor-in-chief Joe Quesada on Monday and followed up with an interview with editor Ralph Macchio. Two other Marvel-related interviews are online, one with Robin Furth and the other with Jae Lee and Robin Furth.

Frank Darabont gave his first interview after wrapping The Mist to MTV.

We’re less than two months away from the publication of Blaze. Ron McLarty will read the audio version of this Bachman novel. The author photo is vintage King, from 1973.

King’s latest Entertainment Weekly column: How to Bury a Book.

Here’s a blast from the past: a bunch of classic RBR photographs.

News From The Dead Zone #62

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 4, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Blaze, Christine, Featured, Lisey's Story, Mrs. Todd's Shortcut, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The MistLeave a comment

Lisey’s Story won the Bram Stoker Award in the novel category at the HWA Banquet in Toronto last weekend.

Today is release day for Gunslinger Born #3. Here is a preview of the issue, and reviews from Comic Book Resources, Pop Culture Shock, and Lilja’s Library. Also check out this video from Marvel pertaining to the release of issue 1.

Frank Darabont and his crew set people on fire on Day 18 of filming of The Mist. See the Webisode here (Quicktime .mov, 6 MB). Quint from Ain’t it Cool News spent three more days on the set after our visit. His reports are here: Day 2.1, Day 2.2, Day 2.3.

Here is a nice long review of the Special Edition DVD of Christine. Speaking of our favorite haunted car, Disturbia co-writer Christopher Landon may be involved in a remake of the movie. “[Christine] has been all over the place,” he told Coming Soon. Apparently this was going to be a SciFi original or a movie for NBC. “If it happens or not we’ll see, but when I came in what I wanted to do was really go back to the book, the source material. I’m a fan of the Carpenter version, it is fun. But the book was much more of a possession story than it was just a killer car. That’s what made the book so great is that what was so terrifying was that it wasn’t just about an inanimate object running around and killing people, it was a boy who was sorta being taken over by the former owner of the car – and there was something more terrifying about that. Also, I just love the dynamics of the characters and so forth. Right now it’s way too soon say anything else about it. We’re so in the thick of deal-making, I don’t want to blow anything else!”

The paperback edition of Blaze will be released on December 26, 2007. The cover art for the hardcover, due out in June, appears here. Yes, that’s a red mitten you see underneath the E in the title.

A while back I mentioned that Michael Marshall (Smith) would be adapting a King story for a UK TV series. At World Horror in Toronto last weekend he said that the story is “Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut.”

News From The Dead Zone #61

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 27, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBest American Short Stories 2007, Bev Vincent, Cell, Featured, Graduation Afternoon, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The Mist, The Science of Stephen KingLeave a comment

Rich Chizmar and I got to visit the set of The Mist in Shreveport, Louisiana on Thursday and Friday last week. I posted a lengthy “travelogue” of the trip on my Live Journal. While I was in Shreveport, this article was published in the local newspaper: A bad day at the market’ is fun for creators of The Mist I’m writing a set visit report for Rue Morgue magazine, which will probably be in their next issue. Set videographer Constantine Nasr put together a video blog (a webisode) from day 10 of filming that premiered at Ain’t It Cool News and later appeared at Jo-Blo.

I was interviewed recently for this article about the Dark Tower in the LSU Reveille. It seemed apropos that I was in Louisiana when it appeared. Also apropos that I took exit 19 from the highway to get to The Mist set every morning.

Amazon has a page up for The Science of Stephen King: From Carrie to Cell, The Terrifying Truth Behind the Horror Masters Fiction by Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg, due out from Wiley at the end of August. I had a chance to read this book in manuscript a few weeks ago, and my lengthy blurb is available on the Amazon page, along with comments from Peter Straub, Stephen Spignesi and F. Paul Wilson.

Postscripts 10 should be shipping soon, with the new King story “Graduation Afternoon.” I strongly recommend that you skip King’s introductory paragraph until after you read the story itself, because it reveals an image that is best left undiscovered until you get to that part of the story.

King is the editor for the new edition of The Best American Short Stories, an anthology that is organized by a well-known guest editor each year. King said he picked 20 stories to be featured in the 2007 edition, which will be out in October, after reading more than 400. King also said the book will contain a list of 100 short stories that weren’t chosen for the collection but made the “honor roll.” He wrote in the introduction to the collection: “There isn’t a single one … that didn’t delight me, that didn’t make me want to crow ‘Oh man, you gotta read this!’ to someone. I knew it would be that way. That’s why I took the job. Talent does more than come out; it bursts out, again and again, doing exuberant cartwheels while the band plays ‘Stars and Stripes Forever.'”

The Gunslinger’s Guidebook, a concordance for the Marvel graphic novel series, has been pushed back to August. Co-author Anthony Flamini posted this on the Marvel DT board: “Yeah, The Gunslinger’s Guidebook was originally envisioned as a handbook focusing on Roland’s Hambry adventure and everything that occurred prior to that. But as Robin Furth and I discussed things in greater detail, we decided that we also wanted to feature profiles on the all-new Mid-World characters who would be debuting for the first time in the comic adaptation following the Hambry story arc . . . characters such as the ferocious General Grissom (of the blue-faced barbarians). So that’s the primary reason for the book’s delay — but you’ll be getting a superior product packed with much more original content! The wait will be worth it!”

The first issue of The Gunslinger Born has been reprinted with a new Quesada cover. I don’t know how frequently this happens in comic-dom. Issue 3 will be released next Wednesday.

Eli Roth told SCI FI WIRE that King endorsed his version of Cell. “My first question when I adapted it was can I deviate from the book?” Roth said. “It’s Stephen King. Am I going to piss off Stephen King? He was mad at Stanley Kubrick, I don’t want him mad at me. And, finally, Stephen King was like, ‘Do whatever you want.'” Roth warned that he would be making changes to the story. “I love the opening [scene],” Roth said. “But I also want to keep, … not necessarily that same chaotic tone, but I want to keep the tension of the opening 40 pages of the book going throughout the whole film and introduce other elements. Because I think the book, for me, where it loses tension is where suddenly you don’t feel like the phone crazies are trying to kill them. … I find that it’s finding other ways to make it so you still feel the tension that any second you could get killed [and] carrying that throughout the whole film.” He hopes to get King to do a cameo. “There’s always room. That’s the good thing about Cell. Because it’s like crazy people running around trying to [kill you] It’s like everybody gets a cameo.” He hopes to shoot the movie in his native Boston, where the book is set.

News From The Dead Zone #60

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 9, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead Zone1408, Bev Vincent, Black House, Blaze, Children of the Corn, Dreamcatcher, Featured, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The MistLeave a comment

Quint from Ain’t it Cool News reports from the set of The Mist. Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 & Day 4 (with photos). Frank Darabont will provide fans with news about The Mist at the next West Coast edition of FANGORIA’s Weekend of Horrors convention, May 18-20, 2007 at Burbank’s Marriott Airport Hilton.

Here’s a very brief interview with King in the NY Post. Quint’s interview is much longer.

In an interview with Michael Marshall (author of The Straw Men and The Intruders, which I’m currently reading) I found this line: “At the moment, I’m about to start a television adaptation of a Stephen King short story.” After a little detective work, I turned up the name of the story he’s adapting, but I’m not allowed to say anything about it yet since the deal isn’t signed. Stay tuned!

JJ Abrams had this to say to Wired News in a recent interview in response to a question about him directing The Dark Tower: “This is something that we are just now talking about with Stephen, so it’s too early for me to say that we’re even officially doing it yet just because the thing is in the early stages of discussion. I love what the The Dark Tower is. Damon Lindelof is obsessed (with it). We met Stephen, who was just the greatest, and hit it off. What’s exciting to me about it is that it is a very edgy epic. You could . . . say it’s his Tolkien Ring series, but I feel like it has a potential of being a lot more. I think that sense of that great hero, that sort of Western, iconic, almost spaghetti-Western-type hero in this landscape is just an amazing—it feels iconic to me.”

Moviehole.net reports that Dimension is gearing up to remake Children of the Corn. Not a sequel, a remake, with Saw III director Lynn Bousman attached.

Here’s an article about the artists involved with Gunslinger Born: Illustrators make `Tower’ stand out. Issue two came out this week, in case you missed it.

In a recent interview with Movies Online, Lorenzo di Bonaventura admitted that they haven’t yet shot the ending for 1408. “It was a really interesting idea because the idea of doing a real time movie in a hotel – one man in a one-bedroom suite for 80 minutes of real time. We didn’t know how you’d come out of that. Like do you need bigger or do you need smaller? What do you need? Or do you feel like he should die or do you feel like he should live? What do you feel? And so we wrote like 15 different endings because Stephen King’s short story doesn’t really have an ending. It just sort of ends and it’s not a cinematic ending. I’ll say it that way. So that’s the last piece of the puzzle, but it’s really fascinating to have done a movie all in a room and we all went sort of crazy.”

Here is the publisher’s description of Blaze, posted at Amazon/UK: “At 6’7″and just under 300 lbs, Clay Blaisdell is one big mother, but his capers were just small-time until he met George Rackley. George introduced him to a hundred cons and one big idea: kidnapping the child of rich parents. The Gerards are filthy rich, and the last twig on the family tree could be worth millions. There’s only one problem: by the time the deal goes down, the brains of the partnership is dead. Or is he? Now Blaze is running into the teeth of a howling storm and the cops are closing in. He’s got a baby as a hostage, and the crime of the century just turned into a race against time in the white hell of the Maine woods.”

The March selection of a signed book through The Haven Foundation will be Dreamcatcher (hardcover). The price will be $60 plus shipping. The books will go on sale beginning at 12 noon Eastern Standard Time on March 12th. They have a total of 25 copies available and will be offering them in small lots at random times throughout the day so that they will not sell out within the first 2 minutes of going on-sale as they did in January. The April selection will be Black House (hardcover) signed by both Stephen and Peter Straub for $80 plus shipping.

News From The Dead Zone #59

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 27, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Blaze, Cell, Duma Key, Entertainment Weekly Column, Featured, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The Mist, The StandLeave a comment

February 27, 2007: Stephen King confirmed at New York Comic Con last weekend that he had granted the option to make a Dark Tower movie to J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindeloff (LOST) for $19.

King also addressed the persistent rumor that he might go back and rewrite the rest of the Dark Tower books, as he did with The Gunslinger. “Yes, that’s correct. It’s a first draft. It was written over a long period of time, and I look at it as a work that’s still in progress. That’s why I re-did the first book. The vision that I had of what was going on got clearer as it went along. So, for instance, I looked back at the first book and I said to myself ‘there’s a lot of things I can do with this now, now that I know how everything turns out in the end.’ I’m a really instinctual writer—I don’t work with an outline. I did have an outline of some of The Dark Tower stuff way back when, when I started, when I was stoned, and I lost it. I didn’t have a clue, and I couldn’t remember what was going on, and I had that poem by Robert Browning to draw on, to start, so I knew certain elements that I wanted to be in it, that were in the poem. So, when I got done, and I looked at it, I said This Horn of Eld should be there at the front. That’s what you when you rewrite a book. I’ve got a book now called Duma Key, and there’s a woman who has some bracelets and the bracelets are important, but they’re not there until the end of the book. What I’m saying is, I know now some things I could do. The Dark Tower is one book, and I’d like go back and fix it up. Who knows—I might end up novelizing their comic book.”

He also suggested that The Stand would make a good project for a comic book adaptation. Here are some reports about the panel, including some with photos:

Eric Roth also stated that Cell would be his next movie project after Hostel II. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood and 1408) are working on the script. “By the time I finish Hostel Part II the script should be ready. I really want to read it.”

Lilja has a nice photo courtesy of Frank Darabont from The Mist set at his web site.

Don’t forget that issue 2 of The Gunslinger Born will be out on March 7th. Each of the first five issues will be released on the first Wednesday in the month. No word yet on the release schedule for the July issue, since the first Wednesday is July 4th.

Thanks to King’s praise of Meg Gardiner, both on his website and in Entertainment Weekly, there’s been a run on her books at second hand outlets and her agent told Publishers Lunch that publishers are lining up to make book deals with her in the U.S., where she is currently unpublished.

Here are more details about Blaze, which is now up for preorder at Cemetery Dance:

Blaze: A Posthumous Novel
By Richard Bachman
Foreword by Stephen King

List Price: $23.00
Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4165-5484-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5484-4

Here’s a short “interview” with King as part of a series where celebrities talk about credit cards.

News From The Dead Zone #58

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 19, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Blaze, Desperation, Dolan's Cadillac, Dreamcatcher, Entertainment Weekly Column, Featured, Hearts in Atlantis, News from the Dead Zone, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The TalismanLeave a comment

Lilja reports that Scribner will publish the next Richard Bachman novel, Blaze, on June 12.

Everyone got excited last week when Hollywood Reporter announced that King was in talks with J.J. Abrams to bring the Dark Tower to the screen. Abrams is well known for his work on LOST, and he and King have formed sort of a mutual admiration society. However, it must be emphasized that this is very, very, very preliminary, and nothing might ever come of it. Keep in mind how long a movie based on The Talisman was in discussion before it showed any promise of becoming reality.

I finally had a chance to read through the Marvel Spotlight on the Dark Tower series. It has a two-page letter from King and interviews with Robin Furth, Jae Lee, Richard Isanove and Peter David. The Road to the Dark Tower even gets a couple of mentions, including in Peter David’s interview. Peter David wrote on his website about his experience at the midnight signing at Times Square, and took part in a TV interview at WCSH (Portland, ME) that was up on the web site last time I checked. The same page had an archival interview with Tabitha King if you scroll down to the bottom.

Newsarama released the conventional cover for issue #4 of Gunslinger Born. They also got the David Finch variant artwork for issue 2. See right and click on the images for larger views.

Two new Entertainment Weekly columns: The Secret Gardiner and A Modern Fairy Tale.

Dennis Hopper is in negotiations to star in Dolan’s Cadillac, a movie that was in preproduction a few years ago with Kevin Bacon and Sylvester Stallone attached to it. Then there were rumors of Freddie Prinze, Jr. The report said that production would begin in a couple of months. We’ll see.

The February selection of a signed book through The Haven Foundation will be Hearts in Atlantis (hardcover). The price will be $60 plus shipping. The books will go on sale beginning at 12 noon Eastern Time on February 23rd. Haven has a total of 25 copies available and will be offering them in small lots at random times throughout the day so that they will not sell out within the first 2 minutes of going on-sale as they did in January. The March selection will be Dreamcatcher (hardcover), also at $60 plus shipping, and the April selection will be Black House (hardcover) signed by both Stephen and Peter Straub for $80 plus shipping. NOTE: Anyone who has purchased a signed Stephen King book through The Haven Foundation will not be eligible to purchase another signed copy. There is a one signed book per household lifetime limit in order to give as many people as possible the opportunity to get a signed book.

Award news from this past weekend: Stephen King’s Desperation won The Art Directors Guild’s Excellence in Production Design Award for best TV movie or mini-series. John Stokes (TNT’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King) won for television movie/miniseries/pilot at the 21st Annual American Society of Cinematographers’ Outstanding Achievement Awards.

News From The Dead Zone #57

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 8, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Entertainment Weekly Column, Featured, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Dark TowerLeave a comment

Jae Lee’s original drawings from Gunslinger Born are available for sale here.

Here are a few reports about the midnight openings at various comic stores across the country to launch the graphic novel.

Peter David’s report
Midnight Opening at Earth 2 (with pictures)
Richmond’s Velocity Comics

In Entertainment Weekly, King had this to say: ”There are some that are an interesting hybrid between the superhero comics and the novels that I read as an adult.” And while many would like to see The Dark Tower on the big screen, King is wary. To a degree. ”If Peter Jackson came along and said, ‘I made up with New Line and they want to spend billions of dollars on this,’ I’d say sure, knock yourself out.” In other words, fans, don’t look for that movie anytime soon.

If you’re in the Portland, ME area, Peter David will be signing Gunlsinger Born at Casablanca Comics on Friday, February 9th from 3-6 PM. WCSH (Portland channel 6) will have an interview with Peter tonight at 7 p.m. local time.

There’s also a new entry at the Marvel Blog and Quint reviews #1 at AICN.

Lilja has an excellent in-depth interview with Frank Darabont at Lilja’s Library.

News From The Dead Zone #56

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 5, 2007July 12, 2016Stephen King News from the Dead ZoneBev Vincent, Fangoria, Featured, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Breathing Method, The Dark Tower, The MistLeave a comment

The Gunslinger Born is almost here! Marvel announced today that due to the tremendous popularity of the variant cover program, each issue of The Gunslinger Born will feature a sketch cover, as chosen by Jae Lee, and an all-new variant cover by one of the top artists in the industry. Issue #2 will feature a variant cover by David Finch (New Avengers, Moon Knight) and a sketch cover by Jae Lee (shown here). Stay tuned to Marvel.com for more on who the other variant cover artists will be. Jae Lee takes the T.M.I. quiz.

“We have more than exceeded our initial forecast numbers. With the first issue looking to surpass 200,000 units in sales, this is by far the biggest selling non-super hero comic event in recent memory,” said Dan Buckley, president and publisher of Marvel Entertainment. At present, newsstands, including Barnes & Noble and Borders, can’t carry the comic. Foreign translated version deals are being worked through..

“These comics aren’t junk food; they’re more like delicacies,” King said. “Sushi for the mind, if you like. You have to teach yourself how to read ‘adult comics,’ which are actually comic/novel hybrids. and even then you have to give yourself to the experience, which means accepting the idea that you’ll need to work a bit as you do with any good novel. This is, in a sense, an ‘origin’ story, and interesting in its own right These are not just retellings of books that have already been written. The books serve as a launching pad—and a resource center, I suppose—but the flight is into brand new territory. People curious about the Crimson King will find things to interest them here. And give them some nightmares, I hope. They—Marvel, and especially Robin Furth, who worked with me on the later [“Tower”] books, keeping the proliferating details straight—broke out a simple story line that might be called Teenage Gunslingers and How They Grew,” King said. “The basis was Wizard and Glass, the only novel in the series that comes close to being a stand-alone. I modified their outline, and have had a chance to tinker with the dialogue and narration of each issue before it gets graven in stone. I don’t tell anyone what or how to draw, though. I know my limitations.”

Advanced reviews:

Lilja reports these new additions to the cast of The Mist: Frances Sternhagen (Misery, The Golden Years), Alexa Davalos, Sam Witwer, Bill Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile), Jeff DeMunn (The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, Storm of the Century) and Brian Libby (The Woman in the Room).

A press release about a new film company from Fangoria mentions that Brian Witten, under his Witten Pictures banner, is producing a feature based on The Breathing Method.

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