New short story: Red Screen

[Bev Vincent]

In this unsettling short story, a city detective interrogates a deranged plumber who just murdered his wife, only to discover something far more insidious.

https://www.bevvincent.com/messageboard/uploads/editor/rp/n5dil3x1tmfa.jpg

"RED SCREEN" is available in eBook format exclusively from Humble Bundle for one week only starting September 9th. Humble Bundle is a digital content retailer that builds charitable donations into each and every sale. Since 2010, The Humble Community has contributed over 199 million dollars to causes across the globe. In this special solo offering, 100 percent of proceeds will go to the ACLU, a charity handpicked by Stephen King.

"RED SCREEN" on Humble Bundle (https://stephenking.com/n/l/1C5HkZwJVPmlBIsL2892iA0A/0zaXUIVVH892VNQVaQekhYag/bRMOBVoFYsDCeZRvZVC763ig)

[herbertwest]

Thanks bev!

[mattgreenbean]

How long is this story?

[Bev Vincent]

About 3000 words.

[RichardX]

The ACLU is a charity?

[CyberGhostface]

The ACLU is a charity?

Yes.

https://www.charitywatch.org/charities/american-civil-liberties-union-aclu

https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/136213516

[RichardX]

The ACLU is a charity?

Yes.

https://www.charitywatch.org/charities/american-civil-liberties-union-aclu

https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/136213516

They are a quasi-political, non-profit organization. Giving money to kids with cancer is a charity. I'll pass.

[St. Troy]

They are a quasi-political, non-profit organization. Giving money to kids with cancer is a charity.

Yep.

[fitomad]

About 3000 words.

Or 189 locations on a Kindle book. Whatever it means. :-)

[CyberGhostface]

The ACLU is a charity?

Yes.

https://www.charitywatch.org/charities/american-civil-liberties-union-aclu

https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/136213516

They are a quasi-political, non-profit organization. Giving money to kids with cancer is a charity. I'll pass.

I figured you would.

[CyberGhostface]

Thanks to everyone who bought “Red Screen” as a Humble Bundle (I always want to say Humble Bumble). You raised $100,000 for the ACLU. If you want to join in, the story is available for another 3 days.

https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1437373046655000580

[RichardX]

The ACLU is a charity?

Yes.

https://www.charitywatch.org/charities/american-civil-liberties-union-aclu

https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/136213516

They are a quasi-political, non-profit organization. Giving money to kids with cancer is a charity. I'll pass.

I figured you would.

Yes, a silly PR stunt by an aging, rich white guy trying to stay relevant in the woke world. Tiresome in its repetition. All the more ironic in that if any person that the ACLU defends got within a mile of one of King's mansions, his private security force would drag them off to a cage.

[Kingfan24]

The ACLU is a charity?

Yes.

https://www.charitywatch.org/charities/american-civil-liberties-union-aclu

https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/136213516

They are a quasi-political, non-profit organization. Giving money to kids with cancer is a charity. I'll pass.

I figured you would.

Yes, a silly PR stunt by an aging, rich white guy trying to stay relevant in the woke world. Tiresome in its repetition. All the more ironic in that if any person that the ACLU defends got within a mile of one of King's mansions, his private security force would drag them off to a cage.

The ACLU is about as much a charity as the Southern Poverty Law Center.

[CyberGhostface]

Yes, a silly PR stunt by an aging, rich white guy trying to stay relevant in the woke world. Tiresome in its repetition.

You call it a PR stunt as if King actually made it a PR stunt. He didn't give any interviews about how great he was, he released a story with proceeds going to the ACLU and that was it. The media didn't care about this at all. It's obvious your main issue is that he raised money for the ACLU period.

Also King could have retired twenty years ago and he’d still be ‘relevant’ today. He could just sit back and watch TV all day in his underwear and Hollywood would still be digging through his backlog to see if there’s something they can make money off of. King writes because he wants to.


All the more ironic in that if any person that the ACLU defends got within a mile of one of King's mansions, his private security force would drag them off to a cage.

Based on... what? The giant house in Maine with the spider fences that people take pictures in front on a regular basis without his security force dragging them away? King isn't Trump.

[mae]

So, has anyone read the story? What's it about?

There haven't been that many stories since 2015's Bazaar of Bad Dreams, so I figure I'll read it once it's part of King's next collection, but that might still be a while away. We have ten published stories since then (Cookie Jar; The Music Room; Thin Scenery; Laurie; The Turbulence Expert; Squad D; The Fifth Step; On Slide Inn Road; Red Screen; Willie the Weirdo). I believe the usual average time between short story collections has been 7 years, but King's short stories over the last few years have slowed down a little. So normally we'd be looking at a 2022 short story collection, and we still might, though it'd be smaller than usual, and I know King prefers them to be pretty full. Maybe he could add more previously uncollected stuff that still remains, which is plenty. Or just brand new stories, too.

[CyberGhostface]

So, has anyone read the story? What's it about?

A detective interviews a guy who killed his wife. The guy says it wasn’t his wife he killed but something else inhabiting her body.

It’s alright. He’s written better short stories. There’s still a few creepy moments.

[mae]

I love how King tries different release media all the time.

[joanrazo]

I just got it the other day!

[Curly]

A first post with a HTTPS link. Dodgy.

[herbertwest]

Reported it so that the admin teams can delete it