What’s a year without a new book from Stephen King?
This year, King delivered the outstanding Holly, featuring the character first introduced in his 2014 novel Mr. Mercedes. Though Holly Gibney was only supposed to be a side character in the author’s crime noir tale, she wound up capturing King’s heart, and has been a regular star in many of his subsequent novels and short stories.
As I said in my review back in October, “as a longtime Constant Reader, I found myself immediately and consistently engaged with the book. Perhaps because it felt different from King’s last book, the massive Fairy Tale, which was the fantasy side of the author come out to play. Holly is far closer to the first two books in The Bill Hodges Trilogy, in that it’s far more a piece of detective fiction than anything supernatural. “
You can order Holly here.
Another King-related title released this year comes from the graphic novel side of the author’s world. After following their initial publication via Marvel Comics, the rights to King’s The Dark Tower series shifted to Gallery 13. The bad news with that is that The Drawing of the Three books never received the gorgeous omnibus treatments that both the Beginnings and The Gunslinger volumes did. Those sets came in slipcases and extra volumes of ephemera (covers, pencils, etc.) that are well worth tracking down.
The good news is Gallery 13 has not only compiled those two previously published titles in new attractive if less weighty editions. but they’ve also collected Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three into its own omnibus for the first time, one that looks as great as you’d hope.
Adapted by King and The Dark Tower expert Robin Furth, scripted by comic storyteller extraordinaire Peter David, and illustrated by Piotr Kowalski and Jonathan Marks, this final illustrated instalment (so far) builds on the backstory of the original novel, introducing us to Eddie Dean and Odetta/Detta, as we watch Roland build out the Ka-Tet that will see him though his quest.
While neither of the next two books were released in 2023, both of them would make for great King-related titles for the Constant Readers in your life. The first, which made our guide last year, is The Stephen King Ultimate Companion: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences by noted King expert and collaborator Bev Vincent. The book is a lavishly illustrated look at King’s career from someone who knows of which he speaks, and goes all the way up to the September 2022 release of King’s novel, Fairy Tale.
You can order The Stephen King Ultimate Companion: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences here.
And finally, I can’t help but recommend one of my own contributions to Stephen King literature, The Art and Making of The Stand. Published by the fine folks at Titan, the book is an in-depth look at the making of the 2020 mini-series that aired on Paramount+ in the United States and Amazon Prime in Canada. It features loads of behind-the-scenes pictures, concept art, Easter eggs, interviews with the stars and creators, as well as the script King wrote for the final episode of the series, which you can’t find anywhere else. Complete with storyboards, it’s worth the price of admission alone, even if I may be a little biased.
You can order The Art and Making of The Stand here.