Stephen King Reveals Continuation Of Fan-Favorite Story
Beloved horror author Stephen King has hinted that he may be willing to continue the Talisman series, which is a collaboration between him and the late Peter Straub. King spoke about the potential third installment of the two-book series on a recent appearance on the Talking Scared podcast, sharing that Straub shared some ideas he had for a third book before his passing. King said, “he gave me a really cool idea, and I had some ideas of my own,” adding that it would be a “long book” if he ended up writing it (via The Guardian).
Stephen King and Peter Straub released The Talisman in 1984. It follows a young boy named Jack Sawyer who heads out on a quest to find a talisman that will save his dying mother’s life. Along the way, he enters a parallel medieval universe known as the Territories, where there are parallel versions of everyone from his universe known as “twinners.” Jack also learns that the Queen, his mother’s twinner in the alternate universe, is also dying.
Stephen King and Peter Straub followed up The Talisman with Black House, which follows Jack Sawyer in his 30s as a retired LAPD detective, who is drawn back into the detective life by a series of murders. For those who enjoy when King connects his various universes, Black House is definitely a treat. Both The Talisman and Black House are well-loved epics from King’s catalog, so fans of the series would undoubtedly be excited to see where things could go in a third installment of the series.
While Stephen King is incredibly prolific and pumps out new books like few other working authors, it may still be a while before we see this third installment if it’s going to be as long as King indicated. In the meantime, King also clued fans in on his upcoming short story collection titled You Like It Darker. That short story collection is set to hit shelves in 2024 and has over 600 pages of creepy stories from the mind of King.
Interestingly, it seems like Stephen King may have found a way to go even creepier than normal in this short story collection, as he revealed that one story in particular titled The Dreamers was “so creepy” that he “couldn’t think about it at night.” King also said that he doesn’t usually get scared by his own tales, so this might be one to watch out for if you’re a horror fan. King gave a sneak peek of what we could expect from the story, saying that there’s an unsettling image of a man on some kind of drudge who “opens his eyes and they turn black, and these tendrils start to come out of his eyeballs.”
Stephen King also said The Dreamers is influenced by and dedicated to the late Cormac McCarthy, who recently passed away. King is also currently working on a new book titled We Think Not, which features the character Holly Gibney. Holly Gibney most recently appeared in King’s book Holly, which was released in September, and has also appeared in his books Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch, and The Outsider.
