Joyland - New Stephen King novel for Hard Case Crime

A new novel by Stephen King, Joyland, is to be published by Titan Books imprint Hard Case Crime in June 2013.

The book will be released as a paperback first, with e-book to follow at a later date. King said: "I loved the paperbacks I grew up with as a kid, and for that reason, we're going to hold off on e-publishing this one for the time being. Joyland will be coming out in paperback, and folks who want to read it will have to buy the actual book."

The title, set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

Hard Case Crime editor Charles Ardai bought world English rights in the title, with King's novel The Colorado Kid previously released under the imprint. The deal does not affect King's relationship with his usual UK publisher, Hodder.

Ardai said: "Joyland is a breathtaking, beautiful, heartbreaking book. It's a whodunit, it's a carny novel, it's a story about growing up and growing old, and about those who don't get to do either because death comes for them before their time.

"Even the most hardboiled readers will find themselves moved. When I finished it, I sent a note saying: 'Goddamn it, Steve, you made me cry.'"

Source : http://www.thebookseller.com/news/new-stephen-king-novel-hard-case-crime.html

New Novel Doctor Sleep by Stephen King - First Look

The cover for Stephen King's new novel Doctor Sleep, which features Danny Torrance from The Shining, has been released.

It shows a picture of a white cat surrounded by smoke and is available online in an interactive animated version. The innovative format allows fans to find out more about the book, watch a video of King reading an extract and share their thoughts through social media.

Doctor Sleep will be released in September. The novel returns to the characters and territory of King's 1977 bestseller, The Shining, about a little boy, Danny Torrance, who is haunted after his family move to a remote hotel.

The cat on the cover references one of King's early influences for the novel – Oscar, a therapy cat who was able to predict the deaths of terminally ill patients in a nursing home in America by sitting on the beds of people who died shortly after.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, King said the cat "was the transmission and Danny was the motor". The now middle-aged Danny, or 'Dan', works with the cat in a nursing home where he provides final comfort to the dying, becoming known as "Doctor Sleep".

King described writing Doctor Sleep as a "real challenge" because of its connection to The Shining, which he wrote before he was 30. Now 65, the author said he wanted to "go back to the real creepy scary stuff" in the new novel.

Doctor Sleep also shows how Dan has grown up after his experiences in the Overlook Hotel and whether he has inherited the alcoholism that haunted his father Jack in The Shining. King has introduced a "surrogate child" character, Abra Stone, to mirror the fatherhood theme which was a cause of such fear in the Seventies bestseller.

Stone also has "the shining", which puts her at risk from a tribe of people who live off the "steam" that those who "shine" produce when they are tortured to death. The novel follows Dan's attempts to save her from this terrible fate.

Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9943326/Stephen-Kings-new-novel-Doctor-Sleep-first-look.html