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herbertwest
04-21-2013, 12:07 PM
New non-fiction in "Hard Listening"? Have anyone heard of it before?
The newsletter on the website, to which i registered, says that it's by the Rock Bottom Remainders...


>>> http://www.coliloquy.com/products/hard-listening/

Shannon
04-21-2013, 01:17 PM
I would think it's a nonfiction book, like Mid-Life Confidential was.

herbertwest
04-22-2013, 01:03 AM
Sorry, that's what i meant. I'll rename the thread.

mae
04-22-2013, 05:05 AM
Interesting, thanks. Would be nice to see the table of contents, maybe there's a new King story included.

you ever seen a ghost?
04-22-2013, 08:56 AM
i think everyone will be very happy. the publisher wasn't clear on what is or isn't privileged information, so i'm just going to keep my mouth shut. i am sure there will be announcements soon and i don't want to blow my chance at getting an ARC (which would be digital, i assume).

-justin

Bev Vincent
04-22-2013, 09:23 AM
Yes, this sounds quite interesting -- it's all new material.

herbertwest
04-23-2013, 12:17 PM
The publisher told me that it could be shared, so :
"Stephen contributed a new essay, and a new short story. Fans will likely enjoy our writing contest -- several of the authors (including SK) contributed horror short stories written in Stephen's style. Readers then get to vote on which piece was actually written by Stephen, before seeing the results."

Ari_Racing
04-23-2013, 01:18 PM
Got the same info :) Can't wait!

Shannon
04-23-2013, 04:03 PM
Very interesting. :)

mae
04-24-2013, 12:48 AM
New fiction, awesome!

jhanic
04-24-2013, 09:55 AM
I've subscribed. I wonder how long we'll have to wait.

John

Bev Vincent
04-24-2013, 10:19 AM
They're preparing electronic galleys in the next week or so and then handing off to a PR firm. I imagine we'll get a pub date shortly thereafter.

herbertwest
04-25-2013, 01:47 AM
I was told that the release should be in june or july, but it will be announced once the date is set.

skyofcrack
04-25-2013, 04:18 PM
Saw this on Firewire from 4/24: http://firewireblog.com/2013/04/24/hard-listening-an-interactive-ebook-about-the-rock-bottom-remainders-coming-soon/

Hard Listening is an interactive eBook that will be digitally published by Coliloquy about the band, The Rock Bottom Remainders.

The book is described as follows:

“Over 350M books sold. 40 New York Times #1 Bestsellers. One lousy band.

In 1992, a cadre of the world’s bestselling authors formed a rock band. Twenty years later, they’re hanging up their guitar picks, drumsticks and leather whips, but not without a look back on two decades of friendship, love, writing and the redemptive power of rock’n’roll.

Hard Listening is a voyeuristic view into the private lives of your favorite authors, combining essays, fiction, candid email conversations, Q&As and interactive parlor games.

See Stephen King, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, Dave and Sam Barry, Roy Blount Jr., Mitch Albom, James McBride, Ridley Pearson, Matt Groening, Greg Iles, and rock legend Roger McGuinn at their most unguarded.”

Stephen King contributed a new essay, a new short story, and several candid email exchanges to the book. The essay is called ‘Just a Little Talent’.

King’s fans will also enjoy the writing contest in which several of the authors (including SK) contributed short stories written in Stephen’s style.

The 4 stories are ‘Robert Johnson’s Flattop,’ ‘The Rock and Roll Dead Zone,’ ‘In the Woods,’ and ‘Black Mambo’.

Readers then get to vote on which piece was actually written by Stephen, before seeing the results.

Shannon
04-25-2013, 05:01 PM
I choose ... "Black Mambo."

Bev Vincent
05-17-2013, 02:22 AM
The release date is June 18.

In 1992, a cadre of the world’s bestselling authors formed a garage band called the Rock Bottom Remainders. For two decades the band played proudly (and terribly) to sold out crowds across the country and raised more than $2 million dollars for charity. Last summer, they hung up their guitar picks, drumsticks and leather whips, mourning the tragic passing of their beloved founder, Kathi Kamen Goldmark.

Now, for the first time, these authors share the behind-the-scenes, uncensored story of their two decades of friendship, love, writing, and the redemptive power of rock’n’roll in a first-of-its-kind interactive nonfiction e-book: HARD LISTENING: The Greatest Rock Band Ever (of Authors) Tells All by Stephen King, Scott Turow, Mitch Albom, Amy Tan, Matt Groening, Dave Barry, Roy Blount Jr., James McBride, Ridley Pearson, Greg Iles, Sam Barry, and Roger McGuinn, edited by Sam Barry and Jennifer Lou (Coliloquy : to be released on June 18, 2013; available for iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, Android, and NOOK).

HARD LISTENING, with its collection of essays, stories, musings, group email exchanges, candid conversations, compromising photographs, and audio and video (semi-musical) clips, as well as interactive quizzes, is unlike anything else available when it comes to the e-book experience. Fans will delight in its direct access to the brilliant, wacky minds of these popular and talented authors. There’s plenty of teasing, riffing and ragging on each other, but at the heart of the book are these writers’ innermost sentiments about the friendships formed, the love found, and the tragedy of losing to cancer the person who brought them together, Kathi Kamen Goldmark.

Of particular interest to fans of The King: Stephen King’s contributions to the book include a new essay, a new short story, and several candid email exchanges. There is also a featured writing contest, in which several of the authors (including King) contributed short stories written in the author’s style. Readers then get to vote on which piece was actually written by King before seeing the results.

*All author proceeds from the sales of HARD LISTENING will be donated to offset the late Kathi Kamen Goldmark’s medical bills.

>>> Promo page (http://www.stephenking.com/promo/hard_listening/)

ChristineB
05-18-2013, 06:23 AM
So this is just an ITunes thing?
If so count me out... I do not drink that perticular cool aid.

herbertwest
05-18-2013, 07:55 AM
Indeed, it will be digital only. So i was said.

Bev Vincent
05-20-2013, 06:48 AM
Digital only, but not exclusive to iTunes, I believe. Here's a preview (http://www.coliloquy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Hard-Listening-Excerpt.pdf)

ChristineB
05-20-2013, 06:59 AM
It's not listed on Amazon so far, need to go inquire to Marsha I guess, just too lazy to do so atm.

mae
05-20-2013, 07:01 AM
Short excerpts, sure, but which one's King's? :) "Black Mambo" sure reads like King to me... But then again so does "Robert Johnson's Flat-Top".

Bev Vincent
05-20-2013, 02:42 PM
I'm reading it now. On an iPad it's quite cool as it is multimedia. Some of the "photos" in the text are embedded videos. There's a great one of everyone in the green room getting a laught out of Mitch Albom's Elvis wig. Steve is rolling on the floor with laughter.

herbertwest
06-05-2013, 12:58 PM
I'm reading it now. On an iPad it's quite cool as it is multimedia. Some of the "photos" in the text are embedded videos. There's a great one of everyone in the green room getting a laught out of Mitch Albom's Elvis wig. Steve is rolling on the floor with laughter.

Ok, so that explains the size of it ! Currently getting it.
Official release date is : 18th of june.

Bryant Burnette
06-05-2013, 01:05 PM
I wish there was a print edition, but this sounds too good to pass up.

Bev Vincent
06-07-2013, 01:51 PM
My new FEARnet essay (Stephen King’s Enhanced eBooks (http://www.fearnet.com/news/review/news-dead-zone-stephen-king%E2%80%99s-enhanced-ebooks)) covers this release (as well as the iBooks version of Ghost Brothers).

Bev Vincent
06-18-2013, 02:15 AM
This was posted on King's message board:


I'm one of the editors of Hard Listening, along with Sam Barry. We're super excited for the upcoming release so if you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask!

To address two questions that came up in this thread:

from Spideyman, regarding Kindle pre-orders:
The book will be available on all platforms on June 18, 2013. We're working with Amazon to get it listed for pre-order, but it's not quite as easy as you might think! I'll let you know if we get it set up.

from mstay, regarding what features other versions will have.

We're releasing interactive versions for iPad, Kindle Fire/HDs, NOOK Tablet/HDs, and all Android devices through Google Play. The functionality and interactivity is the same across all of those devices, but the iPad version has some more elegant design elements.

The non-interactive versions (for E Ink Kindles, E Ink NOOKs, iOS, and Kobo) do not have video or audio, but do include photos and interactive polls. So you will still get to vote for the story you think was written by Stephen King!

mae
06-18-2013, 05:30 AM
So we don't yet know the title of King's story? maybe we should run a poll?

Bev Vincent
06-18-2013, 06:13 AM
I know, but I'm not saying! As soon as you vote in the book you find out the results.

Ari_Racing
06-18-2013, 06:18 AM
The book, after you vote, tells you which was King story.

Bryant Burnette
06-18-2013, 05:42 PM
I was pleased with myself; I not only guessed which one was King's story, I correctly guessed who wrote the others three!

That said...

I kinda wish the one Greg Iles wrote had actually been the King story, since it is by far the best of the group. King's was...not his finest-ever effort. The essay he wrote was vastly more entertaining.

On the whole, though, I thought Hard Listening was pretty great. I immediately wanted to go out and buy every book ever written by the other authors; I'm not really familiar with any of their works (with some mild exceptions in the cases of Pearson and Dave Barry). But I sense that is a mistake on my part.

mae
06-18-2013, 07:05 PM
How long is the story?

subie09lega
06-18-2013, 08:43 PM
Has anyone purchased the Enhanced version and the non-enhanced? I curious what y'all's's opinions are of the two different editions.

Bryant Burnette
06-18-2013, 11:13 PM
I got the enhanced version for iPad. It's cool, but the video clips are mostly very short; less than two minutes, generally. If you can't get or use the enhanced version, personally I'd say to not put a whole lot of emotion into worrying about it. It's the essays that are the main attraction.

Bryant Burnette
06-18-2013, 11:18 PM
How long is the story?

It's...uh, I never really know how to talk about these things regarding e-books. It's seven screens long on the iPad. I'm gonna estimate that would translate to three or four pages of print. It's an amusing story, but it's very obvious that all it was to King was a joke. It's kind of like a better, more advanced version of something like "The King Family and the Farting Cookie," if you've ever read that.

mae
06-19-2013, 12:42 AM
Wonder if it's something King will collect in the next collection of short fiction.

Bryant Burnette
06-19-2013, 12:46 AM
Wonder if it's something King will collect in the next collection of short fiction.

I would almost be willing to bet money that that will be a no. It really wouldn't fit at all alongside the stories that will presumably form that collection.

That said, "Head Down" doesn't really fit in Nightmares & Dreamscapes, and yet there it is. Awesome essay; really out of place. So who knows?

Bryant Burnette
07-02-2013, 10:54 AM
Anybody else read this e-book? Kinda seems like everyone has just looked at it and shrugged.

Ari_Racing
07-02-2013, 10:59 AM
I finished it a couple of days ago. I really enjoyed it a LOT! The fun the members seem to had is contagious.

Bev Vincent
07-02-2013, 11:05 AM
I read it in one sitting -- it's a lot of fun, and very funny. Dave Barry's brother is as funny as he is. It's also for a good cause.

Bryant Burnette
07-02-2013, 05:20 PM
Yeah, I thought it was terrific. I'd think it was terrificer if there was a print edition, but either way I enjoyed the hell out of it.

mae
07-02-2013, 06:59 PM
So what was King's story?

Bryant Burnette
07-02-2013, 11:21 PM
So what was King's story?

"The Rock And Roll Dead Zone," which has a few laughs in it but is not one of King's better stories, to put it in politic terms. But I get the feeling it was written as complete lark, so it would be a mistake to judge it the same way you judge, say, "Batman and Robin Have an Altercation."