What To Actually Get A Stephen King Fan

First, if you're really a Stephen King fan, you know we're really called "constant readers."  I spotted a short article of suggestions to give various people on a Christmas list.  Of course, of  the Stephen King "fan" the writer suggested Doctor Sleep.  Problem here?  Well, yeah -- see, if you're really into Stephen King, you already have a copy of Doctor Sleep!

The truth is, the latest book by Mr. King may not be the best Christmas gift.  Here are some ideas of cool things for a Stephen King reader:

1. Any first edition of the Doubleday books.  (Carie, The Shining, The Stand)
2. Books published by Cemetery Dance.  Who cares if they already have one -- these books are so cool that you can't really get enough.  I love my copies of IT, Doctor Sleep and FDNS.  What would we do with another copy?  Take if off the shelf  and read it!
3. Odds and ends.  There is a lot of strange Stephen King junk out there that is the perfect stocking stuffer.  How about a Christine matchbox car?

Here is one of the coolest Stephen King Christmas gifts I've gotten:
(From my December 24, 2012 blog  entry talkstephenking.blogspot.com)

Here's something pretty cool I got for Christmas, a paperback edition of The Raft.  According to Amazon, it was actually a pamphlet inserted into Nov. 1982 Gallery.  It looks fuller than it really is -- just 26 pages in a glossy cover.   I like it!

Funny thing, my mother in law got it for me.  "He wants an older paperback book?" she questioned my wife.  "You know, they have that same story in collections."  My wife reassured her that it was the old paperback I wanted.

So I looked up  what "Gallery" was, thinking the entire magazine might be of interest.  It's  porn!  Glad I didn't ask my mother in law for that!

Interesting, huh?  I liked  it.  For a collector, we like anything we don't already have, even if it's cheap!

SO here's my question: What do you think would be a great gift to a Constant Reader?

(Reposted from December, 2013)

Things Get Scary When News Mirrors King

Do news stories ever remind you of Stephen King?  Alexis Shaw's artile, "Dark Sheen on Lake Michigan a 'Strange Phenomenon,' (HERE) reminds me of Stephen King's story The Raft.  In  The Raft, a strange blob  in the water turns out to be a sea creature.

Get this from Shaw's article, "Officials remain baffled as to how a dark, slick substance that forced dozens of swimmers out of the water at a northwest Indiana beach mysteriously vanished."  and, "They checked the beach, and they can't find any evidence of it."

Shaw cites Porter Fire Department Deputy Chief Jay Craig who said that the lake water looked "slick with what appeared to be oil. Upon further inspection, the substance was a gun-metal gray with metal flakes in it."  And  then this line (it's great), "Craig said you could tell how deep someone had been in the water depending on where their bodies were stained with the dark residue."

A conservation officer said she was "completely baffled" and Indiana Dunes State Park Manager said that in eight years they had never had to close the water because of "an unknown substance like this."

Do news stories ever make you think of tales from Mr. King?  Tell me. . .

THE RAFT paperback

Here's something pretty cool I got for Christmas, a paperback edition of The Raft.  According to Amazon, it was actually a pamphlet inserted into Nov. 1982 Gallery.  It looks fuller than it really is -- just 26 pages in a glossy cover.   I like it!

Funny thing, my mother in law got it for me.  "He wants an older paperback book?" she questioned my wife.  "You know, they have that same story in collections."  My wife reassured her that it was the old paperback I wanted.

So I looked up  what "Gallery" was, thinking the entire magazine might be of interest.  It's  porn!  Glad I didn't ask my mother in law for that!

Here is the back of the booklet: