New story: The Little Green God of Agony

[mae]

http://www.liljas-library.com/article.php?id=2364


Stephen Jones has an all-original anthology released September 29th called A Book of Horrors and the first story is an all new Stephen King story called The Little Green God of Agony.

http://stephenjoneseditor.com/forthcoming01.htm#A%20Book%20of%20Horrors


Open this book at your own peril! That is because this volume is exactly what it say on the cover—A Book of Horrors contains all-original stories by some of the most successful and exciting names in modern horror fiction. For the first time in many years, here is an original anthology of horror and dark fantasy in all its many and magnificent guises—from classic pulp-style tales of Dark and Stormy Nights, through more contemporary and psychological terrors, to the type of cutting-edge fiction that only the very best horror fiction can deliver. Brought together from around the world by World Fantasy Award-winning editor Stephen Jones, one of Britain's most acclaimed and experienced anthologists of horror fiction, here are many of the authors who have helped shaped the genre in all of its forms, along with terrifying tales of unease by a new generation of storytellers devoted to the Dark Side. But be warned: once you begin to delve within these pages, your imagination and senses will be assaulted by terrors both grim and gruesome, literary and lethal, that will stay with you long after you have closed its covers and tried to put aside the images and situations which have wormed their way deep within your mind. Don't blame us for the bad dreams or cold sweats that these tales will induce. We did tell you—this is A Book of Horrors, and once you open it there is no way that these scarifying stories will ever be forgotten... no matter how much you wish that the nightmares will just go away!

[Garrell]

Question is how do I get it? Coolest cover ever maybe:evil:

[jhanic]

Any idea on the publisher?

John

[Ari_Racing]

Jo Fletcher Books.

Not yet available on Amazon or the publisher's website.

[Ben Staad]

Thanks Ari. It looks like they are an imprint of Quercus Books (UK) and their website just lists it as forthcoming.

http://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/books.php?search=stephen+jones

Edit: Preorder just popped up here..http://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/book.php?id=9780857388087

[jhanic]

I just pre-ordered from Amazon.co.uk.

John

[biomieg]

Me too! Thanks for the heads up! I'm not a big fan of anthologies but I gladly make an exception for a brand new King story.

[Ben Staad]

Question is how do I get it? Coolest cover ever maybe:evil:

It is a pretty cool cover but it has an even better line-up of authors. I'm curious what the actual cover will end up looking like as the one shown is (I think) just a computer rendered version.

[DanishCollector]

Could King's story be an excerpt from The Wind Through the Keyhole? The title sounds kinda Dark Tower-ish to me.

[Bev Vincent]

Limited hardcover and leatherbound deluxe editions from Cemetery Dance (http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/PROD/jones02)

[Mr. Rabbit Trick]

Also available direct from the publisher in the UK. PS Publishing own the rights.

[you ever seen a ghost?]

just to answer the question, King's story is not a DT excerpt.

-justin

[jhanic]

Thanks, Justin. With that title, I was kind of wondering!

John

[herbertwest]

CD's copies of the limited are sold out... while there are still some left from PS Publishing.

[mae]

http://charnelhouse.tripod.com/littlegreengod.html

King’s new story, “The Little Green God of Agony,” screams with pain. It’s a little shocking how different this is from his recent short work: “Premium Harmony” seems of a piece with King’s more existential Everything’s Eventual work, “Ur” is optimistic science fiction, and while both “Morality” and “Herman Wouk Is Still Alive” are jolting, its horror comes from human choice and desperation. It would be an error to call this “a return to classic horror” for King – both Just After Sunset’s “N.” and the Full Dark, No Stars addendum, “Under the Weather” are very much in the horror wheelhouse – but “Green God of Agony” finds King very much in the realm of the Gothic story for the first time in awhile. All the “Fall of the House of Usher” indications are here: there’s a big, rambling mansion; a thunderstorm powerful enough to shut all the lights; a wise older character who knows things, in direct opposition to our rational, modern character who trusts science and the things she can see. (Oh, and the older fellow is a healer, and his name is Rideout, as in “ride out the pain”; King hasn’t used a name this symbolic since Max Devore in 1998’s Bag of Bones.) In the middle of it all, we have the injured, agonized Mr. Newsome, who only wants his pain to go away.

There’s also a monster. While it is introduced symbolically, the little green god of agony is very much a real monster, plunging into King’s spooky-cozy Gothic story and transforming it into a creature feature. It is to King’s immense credit that this shift in tone and intent is just gradual enough that the changes feel organic. He’s also using one of his best weapons here: classic, effortless characterization. We identify at once with caretaker Katherine MacDonald, who believes much of Mr. Newsome’s pain is psychosomatic, and we are fascinated with Rideout, who doesn’t want the ten million dollars Newsome offers to cure him Ö only enough to repair his church. The meat of stories like this is in the details, and King draws out enough of them so that we believe in each of these people without being bogged down in minutiae.

The finale is one of King’s best last beats; like the epilogue of Pet Sematary, the last sentence is, literally, dreadful. It’s not that one doesn’t expect scary from Stephen King, but moments like this remind us just how scary he can be when he wants to be. In some senses, “The Little Green God of Agony” recalls classic body-horror stories like “I am the Doorway,” and “Gray Matter,” but in final estimation is very much its own dark tale. It’s refreshing that King’s take on “traditional” horror seems so fresh, so unique, and so viscerally frightening.

[jhanic]

I'm skipping that review. Just a glance at it makes me think there are major spoilers within. I could be wrong, but I'd rather err on the side of caution.

John

[Ben Staad]

I'm skipping that review. Just a glance at it makes me think there are major spoilers within. I could be wrong, but I'd rather err on the side of caution.

John

Me too. I did a cursory read and realized right away I didn't want to read more!

[Bev Vincent]

Yeah, I think there's more there than you probably want to read in advance of getting the story.

[Mr. Rabbit Trick]

...they all die in the end.

[Bev Vincent]

They were on the Earth all along...and it's people they're eating...and he's been dead all along...and...

[DanishCollector]

they lived forever...in Hell...

[jhanic]

I just got my copy from Amazon.co.uk a few minutes ago. It arrived in perfect condition.

John

[Ben Staad]

I just got my copy from Amazon.co.uk a few minutes ago. It arrived in perfect condition.

John

Mine arrived today from the book depository in great shape as well. I know what I will be reading tonight! :)

[Bev Vincent]

Selected by Ellen Datlow for The Best Horror of the Year Volume Four (http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/382656.html)

[herbertwest]

Exclusively on StephenKing.com, Web Comic of The Little Green God of Agony To Launch on Monday
Posted: October 13th, 2012 10:00:00 am EDT

Noted comic artist Dennis Calero (co-creator of Xmen Noir and Devil Inside) has adapted Stephen’s “The Little Green God of Agony” for serial installments to appear Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the next eight weeks!

“It rocks most righteously,” Stephen says of Calero’s finely-drawn adaptation. Calero’s take: “I have been a huge Stephen King fan for as long as I can remember. To be able to work on ANYTHING with him is an honor.”

Tune in. Stay tuned.


>>>>> http://www.stephenking.com/promo/little_green_god_of_agony/

[Ben Staad]

Very cool. Thanks for the update.

[Ari_Racing]

Episode 1 is online:

http://www.stephenking.com/promo/little_green_god_of_agony/ep1.html