Tag: Stephen King (31-35 of 35)

Oct 29 2009 07:15 AM ET

Stephen King's 'Under the Dome': Exclusive trailer!

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We’re delighted to bring you an exclusive sneak peek at the trailer for Stephen King’s long-awaited epic novel Under The Dome, which goes on sale Nov. 10 (you can pre-order it here). More than 30 years in the writing, this sprawling, 1072-page supernatural thriller brings to life the town of Chester’s Mill, Maine, the day that an invisible force-field seals it off from the rest of the world. “Every time I went back and picked it up again, science had changed,” says King (who is a regular contributor to EW), noting that he asked good friend Russ Dorr to spearhead the book’s research, nailing down details about everything from cell phone technology to portable generators.

Want more? You can read an exclusive 4,000-word excerpt of Under The Dome in the current issue of Entertainment Weekly, which goes on sale tomorrow. Also, come back tomorrow for another Shelf Life exclusive: a video clip of King reading a passage from the book. In the meantime, check out the official Under the Dome site here.

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Oct 23 2009 12:26 PM ET

Stephen King on the delay of his e-book and the $9 price wars - can bookstores survive?

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44574551In the latest skirmish in the e-book war, Scribner announced this week that it will delay the e-book release of EW columnist and perennial best-seller Stephen King’s new novel, Under the Dome, until Dec. 24. That’s almost six weeks after the hardcover edition goes on sale November 10. “We think that this publishing sequence gives us the opportunity to maximize hardcover sales and at the same time allows people who receive a reading device or gift certificates as a holiday gift to enjoy the digital edition,” says  Adam Rothberg, a spokesman for Scribner (an imprint of Viacom’s Simon & Schuster). In an exclusive comment to EW, the author himself was more blunt: “It’s time to give the smaller bookstores a little breathing room (although not much chance of that, with Walmart offering Dome for nine bucks.)” He’s referring to the fact that Walmart (as well as Amazon and Target) this week began offering his book, along with nine hot titles, for as little as $8.98. The retail price of King’s book is $35, which means these retailers are taking a loss on each book.

King is not alone in his concern about the impact the $9 price wars will have on traditional booksellers. The recent price-chopping has led the American Booksellers Association, which represents independent bookstores, to file an official complaint with the U.S. Justice Department, charging that the three retail behemoths are engaging in “illegal predatory pricing.” In a letter released yesterday, the ABA went on to say that the practice was “damaging to the book industry and harmful to consumers.” A top publishing executive tells EW: “They had no choice. Bookstores are simply under siege. On one side, they’re facing the threat of e-books, and on the other they’re staring in the face of these three ugly superpowers.” David Young, the CEO of Hachette Book Group USA (publisher of James Patterson’s upcoming I, Alex Cross, another one of the $8.98 titles), told the New York Times: “I do think this massive devaluation of the industry’s crown jewels could very quickly be extremely harmful. And I would not be alone in thinking that.”

How can traditional bookstores compete against giant retailers who are willing to sell books at a loss (a luxury that books-only retailers can’t afford to do)? And is it fair for publishers to fight back by delaying the release of e-book versions of new titles like Under the Dome? What do you think?

Oct 9 2009 10:55 AM ET

'Clerks' director Kevin Smith on his 'filthy' new book and his unlikely collaboration with Mitch Albom

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kevin-smith-book_lPotty-mouthed auteur Kevin Smith wants you to know that he feels bad about being a book author. “Yeah, I feel a little guilty,” says Smith in his Manhattan hotel room. “I feel like a carpetbagger. Or, at worst, a f–king fraud, man. Because an author’s John Grisham. Or Stephen King. Dude, I‘m sure even Ann Coulter sits down and writes her f—ing psycho-babble.” Smith, on the other hand, did not deliberately set out to write any of his three books. 2005’s Silent Bob Speaks was a round-up of previously penned essays while 2007’s My Boring A– Life was a round-up of his blogging. Smith’s new publication, Shootin’ The Sh– with Kevin Smith, involved even less writing than the previous two tomes. The book features transcriptions of the regular podcast (or “Smodcast,” to use the preferred nomenclature) Smith conducts with his producer Scott Mosier in which the pair consider such weighty topics as how soon they would start having sex with each other if they found themselves on the Lost island.

Smith also has a presumably lucrative sideline as a comics writer—his Batman: Cacophony collection is currently the bestselling graphic novel in the country—though the director insists that profit is not his primary goal when it comes to his publishing endeavors. “It’s always nice to have a an extra little scratch” says the man who brought us Clerks, Dogma and the forthcoming A Couple of Dicks, which stars Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. “But, let’s be honest, it’s not like there’s a f—ing shit ton of money in publishing. I do it because I slap it in front of the wife and she’s like, ‘Wow.’ She’s impressed by literature. She’s not really impressed by film. Or, if she is, she’s not really impressed by my films.”

After the break, Smith uses more salty language (and we really can’t emphasize that point enough) to discuss the book, why Ben Affleck is unlikely to ever feature on his podcast, and his surprising collaboration with Five People You Meet in Heaven author Mitch Albom.  READ FULL STORY »

Sep 29 2009 02:39 PM ET

Leonardo DiCaprio as Travis McGee: Good idea, or a deep blue good-bye?

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The Variety report this morning that Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to star in a film adaptation of John D. MacDonald’s The Deep Blue Good-Bye probably has some readers saying, “Leo playing Travis McGee?” and others saying, “Who’s Travis McGee?”

The Deep Blue Good-Bye, from 1964, was the first of MacDonald’s many books about Travis McGee, a tough-guy amateur detective (a “salvage consultant” is his preferred euphemism) who lives on a Florida houseboat called The Busted Flush. The McGee series is written in the first person, and the tone is hard-boiled and knowing. MacDonald put McGee through a lot of tough scrapes, and Stephen King is among MacDoanld’s many admirers, referring to the author as “the great entertainer of our age, a mesmerizing storyteller.”

Thing is, most people nowadays probably have no idea who this character is. Which probably works in DiCaprio’s favor, since the slim, sensitive-looking actor is not at all what most of us think about when we read a Travis McGee novel. Although MacDonald was smart about almost never describing what McGee looked like, I always pictured a brawny guy who could simultaneously pilot a boat and cuff a bad guy over the side into the ocean with ease.

In 1970, a blocky Rod Taylor played McGee in an adaptation of another novel, Darker Than Amber:

But Taylor didn’t quite have the magnetism that DiCaprio has. There was also a TV version of McGee, played by dolorous, mustached Sam Elliott in 1983, who had the laid-back part down, but not the man-of-action. (This McGee never made it past the TV-movie stage.)

Which raises the questions: Who’d make a better McGee? My colleague Thom Geier suggests Russell Crowe (he’s beefy enough) or Matthew McConaughey (excellent idea, since Matthew has the beach-bum aspect nailed). Any other suggestions?

Beyond that, are there movie stars you imagine when you read your favorite thriller writer? Have you ever imagined what leading man would make a good Jack Reacher from Lee Child’s books? Or Kay Scarpetta in Patricia Cornwell’s series? Or for that matter, Nathan Zuckerman in Philip Roth’s novels?

Sep 23 2009 09:05 AM ET

How much would you pay for a first edition?

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salems-lot-stephen-king-front-angleOne time in college, while browsing in an old-timey bookstore in Evanston, Ill., I came upon a first edition of my favorite book, John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. I thought to myself, “Wow, it would be cool to own this!” Of course, that was before I flipped it over, discovered the $100-something price tag, and immediately thought, “Wow, it would be cool to have money!”

But compared to the price of a first edition of Stephen King’s 1975 book, Salem’s Lot, $100 is nothin’. Just how much is the asking price for a true first edition of King’s novel? According to AbeBooks.com, $90,055. That’s two years of Ivy League tuition, folks. Three brand-new cars. Ninety-thousand bags of M&Ms.

Now, there’s a reason the asking price is so high: Apparently, because of a last-minute price change by Doubleday, there are only four known copies of the book that feature the original price stamp, which was $8.95. But it would sure make you feel like a sucker (no pun intended) to have that price tag looking you in the face when you’ve paid nearly $100,000 for the book, huh?

Tell me, Shelf Lifers, do you think this first edition will sell, especially when you consider the vampire craze that’s taking over our nation? Would it even be worth it? And how much would you pony up for a first edition of your favorite book?

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