Recommended reading - Danse Macabre (2012):

Danse Macabre

By Stephen King.

Published by Hachette Book Group.

Paperback.

Published 2012.

ISBN-10: 9781444723267

ISBN-13: 978-1444723267

Description:

From the author of dozens of #1 New York Times bestsellers and the creator of many unforgettable movies comes a vivid, intelligent, and nostalgic journey through three decades of horror as experienced through the eyes of the most popular writer in the genre. In 1981, years before he sat down to tackle On Writing, Stephen King decided to address the topic of what makes horror horrifying and what makes terror terrifying. Here, in ten brilliantly written chapters, King delivers one colorful observation after another about the great stories, books, and films that comprise the horror genre—from Frankenstein and Dracula to The Exorcist, The Twilight Zone, and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.

With the insight and good humor his fans appreciated in On Writing, Danse Macabre is an enjoyably entertaining tour through Stephen King’s beloved world of horror.

The author whose boundless imagination and storytelling powers have redefined the horror genre, from 1974’s Carrie to his new epic Under the Dome, reflects on the very nature of terror – what scares us and why – in films (both cheesy and choice), television and radio, and, of course, the horror novel, past and present.

Informal, engaging, tremendous fun, and tremendously informative, Danse Macabre is an essential tour with the master of horror as your guide; much like his spellbinding works of fiction, you won’t be able to put it down.

Recommended reading - On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000):

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

By Stephen King.

Published by Scribner.

Published 2000.

This edition published in 2020.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1982159375

ISBN-13: 978-1982159375

Description:

"A one-of-a-kind classic." – The Wall Street Journal.

"On Writing had more useful and observant things to say about the craft than any book since Strunk and White's The Elements of Style." – Roger Ebert.

"This is a special book, animated by a unique intelligence, and filled with useful truth." – Michael Chabon.

“The best book on writing. Ever.” – The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

“Long live the King” hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999 – and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it – fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.

On this day in movie history - Stand by Me (1986 movie & book):

Stand by Me

directed by Rob Reiner,

written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon,

based on the novella The Body by Stephen King,

was released in the United States on August 22, 1986.

Narrated by Richard Dreyfuss.

Music by Jack Nitzsche.

Cast:

Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, Kiefer Sutherland, Casey Siemaszko, Gary Riley, Bradley Gregg, Jason Oliver Lipsett, Marshall Bell, Frances Lee McCain, Bruce Kirby, William Bronder, Scott Beach, Richard Dreyfuss, John Cusack, Madeleine Swift, Popeye (the dog, as Chopper), Geanette Bobst, Art Burke, Matt Williams, Andy Lindberg, Dick Durock, O.B. Babbs, Charlie Owens, Kenneth Hodges, John Hodges, Susan Thorpe, Korey Scott Pollard, Rick Elliott, Kent W. Luttrell, Chance Quinn, Jason Naylor, Sky Siewerski.

Recommended reading:

Different Seasons

By Stephen King.

Published by Scribner.

First published 1982.

ISBN-10: 1501143484

ISBN-13: 9781501143489

Description:

A “hypnotic” (The New York Times Book Review) collection of four novellas – including the inspirations behind the films Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption—from Stephen King, bound together by the changing of seasons, each taking on the theme of a journey with strikingly different tones and characters.

This gripping collection begins with Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, in which an unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge – the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award-nominee The Shawshank Redemption.

Next is Apt Pupil, the inspiration for the film of the same name about top high school student Todd Bowden and his obsession with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town.

In The Body, four rambunctious young boys plunge through the façade of a small town and come face-to-face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. This novella became the movie Stand By Me.

Finally, a disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death in The Breathing Method.

“The wondrous readability of his work, as well as the instant sense of communication with his characters, are what make Stephen King the consummate storyteller that he is,” hailed the Houston Chronicle about Different Seasons.

Stephen King, on writing:

In both writing and sleeping, we learn to be physically still at the same time we are encouraging our minds to unlock from the humdrum rational thinking of our daytime lives.

- Stephen King.

Stephen King, on writing:

Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art.

The water is free.

So drink.

Drink and be filled up.

- Stephen King.

Stephen King, on reading:

Few things are as lovely as having an uninterrupted hour with a good book.

- Stephen King.

On this day in movie history - The Shining (1980 movie & novel):

The Shining

directed by Stanley Kubrick,

written by Stanley Kubrick and Diane Johnson,

based on the novel by Stephen King,

was released in the United States on May 23, 1980.
Music by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind.

Cast:

Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Barry Nelson, Philip Stone, Joe Turkel, Anne Jackson, Tony Burton, Lia Beldam, Billie Gibson, Barry Dennen, Lisa Burns, Louise Burns, David Baxt, Manning Redwood, Robin Pappas, Alison Coleridge, Burnell Tucker, Jana Shelden, Kate Phelps, Norman Gay, Pauline Chamberlain, Ina Clare, Maxwell Craig, Paul Desbois, Lynda Fisher, Charlie Gray, Aidan Harrington, Alan Harris, George Holdcroft, Barrie Holland, Vivian Kubrick, Aileen Lewis, Bertha Lynn, Derek Lyons, Peter McNamara, Cathy Munroe, Eddie O'Dea, Jennifer O'Neill, Chris Parsons, Glenn Rinker, Bunny Seaman, Guy Standeven, Reg Thomason, Brian V. Towns.

Recommended reading:

The Shining

By Stephen King.

Filmed as:

The Shining (1980), movie directed by Stanley Kubrick.

The Shining (1997), TV miniseries directed by Mick Garris.

Published by Hodder.

First published 1977.

ISBN 13: 9780340920930

ISBN 10: 0340920939

ASIN: 0340920939

Paperback.

Description:

Danny is only five years old, but he is a 'shiner', aglow with psychic voltage. When his father becomes caretaker of an old hotel, his visions grow out of control. Cut off by blizzards, the hotel seems to develop an evil force, and who are the mysterious guests in the supposedly empty hotel?

Somewhere, somehow there is an evil force in the hotel and that too has begun to shine...