Stephen King Fills 2017 with His Brand of Horror

Written by Jon Williams

Call it a hunch, but we’re guessing that a lot of your patrons are Stephen King fans. Luckily for those patrons, there’s plenty of recent and upcoming King material to keep them quivering in fear for quite some time.

To start, we need to go back almost to the very beginning. Now, of course, King is a well-known, bestselling author with more than fifty books to his credit, but that wasn’t always the case. The Dead Zone was just the fourth novel King published under his own name. Released in 1979, it deals with a young man both gifted and cursed with psychic abilities after a catastrophic car accident. The novel spawned both a 1983 movie and a 2002 TV series that ran for six seasons, but it has never been available in audiobook format until now. This classic is narrated by actor James Franco.

There’s also plenty of new material from King. His latest release, out this week, is Gwendy’s Button Box, a novella written with help from publisher, editor, and fellow horror writer Richard Chizmar. The story takes place in Castle Rock, Maine, a familiar setting for King fans. The Dead Zone was set in Castle Rock, as were Cujo, The Dark Half, and a number of novellas and short stories scattered throughout his collections. The 1991 novel Needful Things was originally billed as “the last Castle Rock story,” but apparently he wasn’t done with the little town after all.

And that’s not the only collaboration King has on his docket. Coming this September is Sleeping Beauties, a new novel written in tandem with his son Owen King. It details a dystopian future in which all women (except one!) fall prey to a strange cocooned state while they sleep, and men are left to their own devices. Of course, King is no stranger to this type of collaboration, having teamed up with his other son, author Joe Hill, for the short stories “Throttle” and “In the Tall Grass.”

As popular as his books are, when it comes to Stephen King, they’re only part of the story. Another part is all the adaptations that have taken his work from the page to screens both big and small. In that regard, there’s a pretty full slate on the horizon. First up is The Mist, a ten-episode series premiering on Spike on June 22. The novella, available on its own or collected with other short stories in Skeleton Crew, was previously made into a movie in 2007. Then, on August 9, Mr. Mercedes comes to the Audience Network, based on the first book of a trilogy King wrote about a retired detective facing off against a twisted killer.

In addition to regular TV, fans can also look to the streaming services for some upcoming adaptations. Coming to Netflix later this year is Gerald’s Game, the story of a woman who is trapped handcuffed to a bed after her husband dies suddenly. Much of the novel takes place within main character Jessie Burlingame’s head, so it will be interesting to see how it translates to the screen. Also coming to Netflix in 2017 is 1922, about a man who is convinced his murdered wife is haunting him. It’s based on a novella in Full Dark, No Stars, which also contains the story that was the basis for the movie A Good Marriage. Then, beginning production later this year with no set debut date, is the Hulu series Castle Rock. Not much is known about it other than the setting, the small Maine town mentioned above, but the first teaser contained elements of King classics like Misery and plenty of others.

And speaking of King classics, one of the biggest (both literally and figuratively) is coming to theaters on September 8. It, the epic novel about a shape-shifting creature that feeds on children and the gang of outcast kids that decide enough is enough, has engendered a fear of clowns in readers since its release in 1986. It’s a whopper: the print edition comes in at over 1,000 pages, and the audiobook narration takes up 35 discs. A previous adaptation came in the form of a 3-hour miniseries in 1990, and this time around will be split into two feature films, with the second installment coming in 2018.

And then there’s The Dark Tower…but we’ll have more to say about that soon. In the meantime, make sure you have plenty of Stephen King material on your shelves for patrons to explore and enjoy as these new works and adaptations come along. And don’t be surprised if some of them ask you if they can check out a nightlight, too.

Midwest Tape Introduces Customers to the New SmartCart™

In an effort to increase usability and functionality, Midwest Tape has developed a revolutionary new SmartCart™.  This new cart will serve as the quintessential selection and acquisition function for Midwest Tape customers.

 

On Saturday November 7^th, 2009, Midwest Tape will transition all current SmartCart users to the new SmartCart.  As one of these users, when you view your cart, you’ll receive an informational pop-up (see below) that introduces users to the new SmartCart and also details where users can find a helpful PDF guide and video tutorial.  (Please note that through this transition all your current carts and data will remain intact.)

Following this initial transition, we’ll work in stages to shift all users over to the new SmartCart.  If you’re a Normal Cart user and you’d like to transition to the new SmartCart yourself, simply click the icon shown below, which is now located in the upper right-hand corner of your Normal Cart. (All your current cart data will remain intact when you make the switch.)

With the new SmartCart, you’ll be able to:

Customize your columns

You can select which columns you want to see and which ones you don’t.  Additionally, we’ve added new columns: Artist/Author, Fund, Shopper, MARC Brief, Subtotal, etc.

Transition titles to different carts

We’ve added a column of check boxes that allows users to manipulate more than one item at a time. Previously, a user had to change titles one at a time or all at once. This column will now allow a user to delete, move, or copy (with more utilities to come) any number of titles in an easy-to-use grid interface.

Arrow through titles on your keyboard

With this function, you can key through titles using the up and down arrow keys without having to click on each individual product line.

Select from a wide array of options in the Menu Toolbar

We’ve organized art, product, and cataloging options into structured dropdown menus, so you can make changes to your cart efficiently.

Complete your Selection and Acquisition process more quickly

We’ve increased the speed of the SmartCart feature and also eliminated restrictions on the size of your carts.  The new SmartCart allows for any size cart.

We invite you to log onto our website today to see how these changes create a more efficient and effective online shopping experience.  As always, please share your thoughts with us and other libraries by posting your feedback here as comments.  You may also contact our Customer Service department with any comments or questions (1.800.875.2785).