Book Bucket List | NOS4A2

Scary stories are one of my favorite guilty pleasures.  I can't stand to sit through any horror movies though, and when I've tried I end up covering my face so I can't see it anyway. But scary books?  I love them and can't get enough, especially around this time of year.

Recently, I learned that one of the kings of creepy chillers, Stephen King, has a son that also writes frightful books.  Joe Hill, born Joseph Hillstrom King, also has a successful writing career.  Joe is pretty active on his website and updates his readers frequently on his works in progress.  He has written four novels with his latest being the very creepy NOS4A2.

NOS4A2 is about the child abductor Charles Manx who drives around in his 1938 Rolls Royce and steals children.  Not only is he a child abductor, which is creepy enough, but he then turns those kids into demons.  Victoria McQueen, who has some supernatural powers of her own, barely comes away from a brush with Manx unscathed.  Many years later, Vic comes across Manx again,and this time, her son is involved.

Book Bucket List | Doctor Sleep

Since it's almost Halloween, I've been keeping an eye out for creepy books.  We recently got a shipment of new books that had a few copies of something that a lot of our patrons had been waiting for for a long time. Stephen King's newest novel, Doctor Sleep was released this September and is a sequel to his famous work The Shining.

In 2009, King mentioned to his fans that he was considering writing a sequel to The Shining, and later left it up to them if they wanted him to write it.  In December 2009, King launched a poll on his website to determine what he would write next, The Shining's sequel or the next book in the Dark Tower series.  In a very close race, The Shining sequel won with 5,861votes to the Dark Tower's 5,812 votes.  (I bet the Dark Tower fans weren't so pleased.)  King released some information about the book, like reading the prologue and some excerpts, but the majority of the plot points remained hidden.

The story follows the character of Dan Torrance, who was the child in the first book.  Now in his forties, he is working at a nursing home and helps people with the use of his psychic powers.  However, a mysterious group begins to threaten those with "the shining" and Dan has to face them head on.

So Happy October!  If you're a Stephen King fan, or just wanting to try something new, put yourself on the hold list for this chilling new book!

Books On Film | Stephen King

In honor of Halloween, I'll spend the month of October talking about several spooky adaptations of adult and children's books!

Stephen King has been publishing books for thirty-eight years and the large majority of what he's penned has been adapted into films, many of which are now considered horror classics. 

 

Hollywood Movies

His first novel, Carrie (published in 1974), was adapted into a film starring Sissy Spacek and with that, the title wave of Stephen King adaptations began. Some of his most famous big screen horror films are The Shining (1976) with Jack Nicholson, Firestarter (1979) with Drew Barrymore, and Misery (1987) with Kathy Bates. He also penned movie classics The Shawkshank Redemption (1981) and The Green Mile (2006) with Tom Hanks.

Television Movies & Miniseries  

Not only have his novels been made into big screen movie productions, but also into television movies by network and cable channels. Some of the most famous television horror adaptations include Salem's Lot (1975), IT (1986) with Tim Curry, The Tommyknockers (1987), and The Langoliers (1989).

Television Shows

King's stories have also been adapted into several television shows. The most well known adaptation is the USA Network series based on The Dead Zone (1976), starring Anthony Michael Hall. 

If you take a look at Stephen King's catalog of titles you will be very surprised at just how many of your favorite movies are based on his books.

Do you have a favorite Stephen King book or movie? Comment below! 

 
Bibliographic Source: StephenKing.com - The Library
[Cover images courtesy of LibraryThing]