I'll admit that I fell off the Stephen King bandwagon a long time ago--somewhere around Four Past Midnight, if memory serves. Too many obsessively repeated catchphrases, too many dangling plot threads and fizzling climaxes. Yet the Boston Red Sox' most famous fan is up to something rather ingenious these days, which I thought I'd share with you guys.
King's newest short story anthology, Just After Sunset, hits bookstores November 11. One of the tales included is called "N", and is a very Lovecraftian little yarn about the thin veil between reality and...something else. In order to both promote the book and delve deeper into the story, King and Marvel Comics have teamed up to create something quite unique and interesting. It's a series of webisodes based on King's original story and illustrated by Alex Maleev, the guy who does all those nifty drawings seen on Heroes.
It's kind of a hybrid between an online comic and a series of short films. I'll let Mr. King explain it a little better:
Exclusive interview: Stephen King talks about “N.”
The series wrapped up at the end of last month, and because I'm such a nice guy, I'm making all the episodes available right here. Enjoy, if so inclined:
Marvel will also be producing a comic book limited series version of "N" printed on good old-fashioned paper, sometime next year. Maybe King is on the way back to the cutting edge of the genre, after all. This is definitely the coolest thing he's done since that time he bought the minivan that hit him and announced he would destroy it with a sledgehammer. I'm not the only that remember that, am I?
I still love King, and have since a very early age. I don't love all his stuff (I have several unfinished, awful books lying around) and I know he's not the world's greatest writer (often times I groan aloud while reading) but nonetheless he has written some of my favourite works of fiction. I'm rooting for him and am eager to check this new stuff out.
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