The Constant Reader Podcast - The Canon of Stephen King
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© Richard Sheppard
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Everything Stephen King, from Carrie to The Institute, from the novels to the short stories, from the small screen to the big screen. Each month we take a deep dive into one book from the bibliography of the King of horror fiction, while also charting the byways of King's forays into other genres (The Dark Tower series, On Writing etc) and also casting an eye on the many TV and film adaptations of King's work.
Recorded live from the UEA media suite, Richard Sheppard interviews writers, academics, superfans and anyone with a passion for the work of Stephen King.
Recorded live from the UEA media suite, Richard Sheppard interviews writers, academics, superfans and anyone with a passion for the work of Stephen King.
42 Episodes
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Lindsey Anderson Beer's 2023 prequel to the 2019 reboot of Pet Sematary got something of a kicking by most critics on its release. There are the bones of a good film in their somewhere though, and the look and the soundtrack of the film, plus an eclectic cast, make it an interesting curio if nothing else.
Joining me to discuss it is N.P. Cunniffe, the author of the new folk horror/Gothic novella The Weejee Man. It's a great, classically spooky story with an interesting format and some chilling twists. Plus, the book itself is a beautiful artifact, with a cover design by the author himself. I urge you to pick up a copy here, before the Wee Gee Man comes looking for you....
Thanks to Stephen L Parkes for tech, as always. Contact us on theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com
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We're back (again) after a long hiatus, but what a return. One of the most listened to episodes of this podcast were the two-part epic discussions between me and Andy Stanton a few years ago. We both kicked around the idea of a rematch, and what other book could we cover but the 1990 edition of Stephen King's The Stand? Whilst other podcasts displayed depressingly lateral thinking of covering the book during the COVID 19 outbreak, Andy and i took the high ground.
As you will hear, Andy has lived with The Stand in his head and his heart for most of his life, and he brings his blend of wit, insight and passion to this talk.
Unsurprisingly, it was too much to fit in one episode, so this is just the first part of our conversation, stay tuned for part two in a few months' time.
We also discuss Andy's new book, Benny the Blue Whale. A meditation on AI and the creative process, it is well worth a look. Naturally, it also contains a few references to Stephen King.
Next month we talk to NP Cunniffe about Pet Sematary: Bloodlines and his new book, the Irish folk horror tale, The Weejee Man.
Thanks to Stephen L Parkes for tech, as always. Contact us on theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com
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We unearth a real curio in the King canon today, as the teleplay for Sorry, Right Number gets a good grilling. Originally filmed as part of the Tales From The Darkside television series, the teleplay was then reproduced in the 1993 short story collection, Nightmares and Dreamscapes. My guest and I discuss how much of this is autobiography, how much a cry for help, and how much just an effective, gut-punch of a tale.
I am joined on the other end of the line by Adam Z Robinson, a multi-talented actor, writer and theatre manager whose work focuses on the supernatural, human relationships and what makes us truly afraid.
His website is here, and you can book tickets to his winter tour here and sign up for his ghost story masterclass, where i will also be in attendance, here.
Thanks to Stephen L Parkes for tech, as always. Contact us on theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com
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It should be unsurprising that Stephen King, as the world's most popular writer, should have such a pervasive presence online. More than any other author, the number of his fan-sites is in the thousands.
However, only one fan-site has achieved the kind of dominance that Lilja's Library has. Indeed, it is a resource in producing this podcast every month. I sat down to talk to the man known as Lilja (because i can't pronounce Hans-Åke) about his life, his website, the past present and future of all things Stephen King and plenty more besides.
Lilja was a most gracious guest, and i highly recommend you check out his website here, and check out his books here
And don't forger (like there's a chance you would) that King's new book Holly is now for sale here
Thanks to Stephen L Parkes for tech, as always. Contact us on theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com
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Daphné Baiwir is the writer and director of a new documentary, Stephen King on Screen. When I read the description of the documentary, I knew I had to talk to her. She has assembled not only a list of filmmakers and fans (including previous guest Tom Holland) that promise real insight, but it opens with an easter-egg filled introduction that will have King fans freezeframing for years to come.
Stephen King on Screen will get a limited theatrical release on August 11 followed by On Demand and Blu-ray on September 8, and is well worth checking out.
Thanks to Sabastian Astley for setting this up. Thanks to Stephen L Parkes for tech, as always. Contact us on theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com
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I had the pleasure of being a guest on Kim C's podcast, The Year of Underrated Stephen King, a few months ago. It was such a fun, lively conversation, and Kim C was such a knowledgeable, charming host that I took the liberty of inviting her to come on the Constant Reader Podcast to discuss the monolithic 11.22.63. It was a pleasure to dive back into this book, which is a real outlier for King - part sci-fi, part romance, part historical novel, with a big heart. I liked this book even more on a re-read, and the longueurs that occur in the middle of the book (including THAT Derry revisit) made a lot more sense.
Kim C's podcast can be found here https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tyousk and is well worth checking out.
I am hosting a book launch for local East Anglian author Sally Harris's new novel, Seahurst. I loved her first novel, Haverscroft, a classic ghost story for modern audiences, and this one seems just as good. If you're in the UK, get a ticket and come along here
Thanks to Stephen L Parkes for tech, as always. Contact us on theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com
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I am joined by Ally Wilkes on an expedition very few Stephen King fans will forget - into the heart of darkness and autocannibalism in Survivor Type. This grisly morsel was the grossout highlight of King's collection Skeleton Crew. It was recently turned into an animated episode of Shudder's Creepshow to pretty good effect. Once read, this one isn't easily forgotten, certainly not by Ally Wilkes, the writer of one of my favourite books of last year, All the White Spaces.
Ally and I talk eating long pig, arctic expeditions and the ineffable lure of the unknown spaces for a writer. I am really looking forward to her next book, the similarly chilly sounding Where the Dead Wait, and thoroughly recommend you pick up All the White Spaces in preparation....
Find her website here
Thanks to Stephen L Parkes for tech, as always. Contact us on theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com
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This month we take a look at the torments of the writing process through the lens of Rob Reiner's 1990 adaptation of 1987 King novel Misery. Like last month's Shawshank Redemption it was a favourite of critics and audiences alike, mainly due to the bravura performances of James Caan and Kathy Bates. Joining me to talk about it is screenwriter and film buff Justin Stanley, who has written about the tempestuous process of writing in the 2017 film Black Butterfly, starring Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
Justin and I will also be present for the upcoming screening of the grindhouse double bill at Norwich Cinema City on March 21st 2022. Justin has been advocating for Hollywood 90028 since it's restoration, and he has paired it with the sleazy classic Death Game for an unforgettable night. I will be pitching in to help host, and we will have contributions from film historian (and previous guest) Dr Linda Sheppard, writer/director Eli Roth and writer/director Ti West. Tickets are available here, but please act quickly, as there aren't many left....
Apologies to Ally Wilkes for bumping her this month (in favour of Annie Wilkes, strangely), but our conversation will now be out on April 1st. No fooling.
Thanks to Stephen L Parkes and the Wonder Machine for editing.
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Apologies for the hiatus, now back at full strength and we have a full slate of episodes for 2023 lined up, including some TBC guests making their own Stephen King adaptations, as well as some of the geniuses behind some big-name books and TV shows, plus fellow podcasters from within the Stephen King podcasting community.
James Michels is a great guest to kick off the year. His experiences working in correctional facilities makes him qualified to discuss 1994's The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont. He is also an author, whose work can be found here, and his personal website can be found here. We discuss his new book, Life's Dark Corners which gives the reader five short, sharp jolts in a noir package. Heartily recommend it.
See you next month, when we will be talking to the author of one of my favourite debuts, All the White Spaces, Ally Wilkes, and i will try not to call her Annie Wilkes too much.....
Thanks to SLP for all kinds of support.
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Isaac Thorne is a man with a serious imagination. Hell Spring, his most recent novel contains (amongst much else) a killer Marilyn Monroe, cataclysmic floods, self-mutilation, time travel and monstrous phalluses. Who better to investigate one of King's more off-kilter, leftfield novels, the fantasy epic The Eyes of the Dragon? We discuss this charming anomaly's place in the King canon, which features some of his most complex, interesting and well drawn characters, as well as the dangers of writing genre fiction and not having it seem overplayed.
Thanks to Isaac for coming on, Hell Spring can be found here, and is definitely worth your time.
Tech wizardry by SLP, thanks as always.
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Please note that we discuss the publication of Lauren's new book Death Lines at length, as well as its original publication date. That date has now been pushed back, but I urge you all to go here and pre-order a copy now!
In this episode we venture into Stephen King's rare excursions outside the United States, and revisit the short story Crouch End. Originally part of the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection, this homage to Lovecraft and hate letter to London is a fan favourite. Based on his experiences living in London and writing the Talisman with the late, great Peter Straub, this story still has the power to chill the blood.
Who better to be my guide than expert in horror and London, Lauren Jane Barnett? The aforementioned Death Lines is out soon, but in the meantime catch up with her podcast here
Technical wizardy as always is by SLP, thanks very much.
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Still having a few issues with Zencastr, so this is another Skype special. Audio quality doesn't dictate guest quality, however, and talking to Sean Hogan was a blast. We discuss King's old-school ghost story, Bag of Bones, and how the gothic and the modern turn into an underrated King tour-de-force. I was a huge fan of Sean's book England's Screaming, which we discuss at length, and we get some tasty indicators of where the sequel, Twilight's Last Screaming is going.
Sean Hogan is a UK writer and filmmaker. He has written award-nominated books of cinema metafiction Twilight's Last Screaming, The Fatal Shore, England’s Screaming and Three Mothers, One Father, and his feature credits include the films Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD, The Borderlands, and The Devil’s Business. Check out his blog for Arrow films here and his blog here.
Thanks to everyone at Black Shuck Books for setting this up, and thanks to SLP for the tech production.
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Back after a brief sabbatical, we pick up our deep-diving trawl through Stephen King's oeuvre with one of my new favourite writers, Matt Wesolowski. Here's some blurb: -
"Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- and US-based anthologies, such as Midnight Movie Creature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick, and film rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller. Changeling, the third book in the series, was published in 2019 and was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. His fourth book, Beast, won the Amazon Publishing Readers’ Independent Voice Book of the Year award in 2020. Matt lives in Newcastle with his partner and young son, and is currently working on the sixth book in the Six Stories series. Chat to him on Twitter @ConcreteKraken."
What it doesn't mention is the Matt is also a huge Stephen King fan, with a special place in his heart for the Peter Straub/Stephen King novel Black House. We take a trip to French Landing and discuss serial murder, sequels, hipster bikers, the Scott King novels and whether he will ever get a Stephen King tattoo before he runs out of space on his body.
I really enjoyed this one, as you can probably tell. Matt's books are genuinely eerie in a way that is all too rare. I highly recommend you start your Six Stories as soon as you can right here
Big thanks to fellow Wesolowski fan Stephen Leslie Parkes for his technical wizardry. Thanks to Cole Sullivan for setting this up.
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1Much gratitude to Julia Marchese of the Horror Movie Survival Guide and the director and guiding light behind the forthcoming 'Dollar Baby' adaptation of Stephen King's shot story I Know What You Need. Together Julia and I battled technical difficulties (after my interview with Stewart O Nan I think I might be jinxed, or at least have gremlins in the recoding equipment) and we eventually got around to talking about King's cult novella of death, sex and sports, The Long Walk. Julia explained how a book written in the 1960s still reads fresh, and we both marvel at how just darn good that King fellow could write, even as a teenager.
Find more about Julia here: -
http://www.juliamarchese.com/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/horror-movie-survival-guide/id1260663982
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/i-know-what-you-need-a-stephen-king-adaptation#/
And a huge thank you to The Long Walk obsessive Pat Coston for his tireless research into the novella, it was invaluable.
This episode was hosted by Richard Sheppard, with research and support from Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical and sound production by "The Mad Professor" Stephen L. Parkes. Please like, subscribe, rate, review and recommend this podcast, and feel free to get in contact with us at theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram at /the_constant_reader_podcast/
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Duma Key, an epic of recovery, talent, murderous secrets and the Florida Keys gets a deep dive today. I was recently a guest on the SFF Chrons podcast hosted by fan of the show Dan Jones and co-hosted by today's guest, Christopher Bean. Duma Key hits hard for Christopher, in ways that we discuss in depth on this episode. Thanks to Christopher for coming on and talking about this slice of what he has dubbed 'beach-horror', and please check out his podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chronscast/ and the message board at https://www.sffchronicles.com/. Christopher's own writing can be found at beanwriting.com
This episode was hosted by Richard Sheppard, with research and support from Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical and sound production by "The Mad Professor" Stephen L. Parkes. Please like, subscribe, rate, review and recommend this podcast, and feel free to get in contact with us at theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram at /the_constant_reader_podcast/
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Stewart O'Nan's new book, Ocean State, has recently been released in the United States to wide acclaim. However, today we are going to look at one of his earlier books - 2001's The Speed Queen. In a change from our usual format, this isn't a book or an adaptation of a Stephen King text, but instead a novel that uses Stephen King as a character. King is the (unnamed but highly guessable) recipient of the last testament of Marjorie Standiford, mother, daughter, drug addict, sex addict, speed freak and apparent killer. On death row, who else but Stephen King would listen to her side of the love triangle that put her on a collision course with capital punishment?
Stewart O'Nan is also the writer of Faithful and A Face in the Crowd, both co-authored with Stephen King. His website can be found here
Apologies if my audio sounds a little janky, had to record this one on skype. Many thanks to Stewart for taking part, it was a thrill for me to talk to him.
This episode was hosted by Richard Sheppard, with research and support from Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical and sound production by "The Mad Professor" Stephen L. Parkes. Please like, subscribe, rate, review and recommend this podcast, and feel free to get in contact with us at theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram at /the_constant_reader_podcast/
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The return of author, columnist, minister and podcaster Peter Laws to the podcast, taking a dive into the George Romero/Stephen King collaboration Creepshow (1982). We take part each episode of this mixed bag of gory tales, touching upon George Romero's career, soundtrack obsessives, the beast within and the cockroaches in the wall.
Peter can be found at https://www.peterlaws.co.uk/, and his new podcast, Frightful, can be found here
This episode was hosted by Richard Sheppard, with research and support from Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical and sound production by "The Mad Professor" Stephen L. Parkes. Please like, subscribe, rate, review and recommend this podcast, and feel free to get in contact with us at theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com or find us on instagram at /the_constant_reader_podcast/
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Buyer beware in Castle Rock, as Leland Gaunt only wants a little of your money, and all of your soul. Stephen King's 1994 novel Needful Things gets a dismantling with returning guest Dan Jones. One of our mutual favourites, and one of the stories that signposted the interesting development King's work would take in the 1990s, as he starts to leave Maine behind (in explosive fashion) and branches out to weirder climes....
Dan Jones is the author of Man o' War, published by Snowbooks which can be purchased from amazon, forbidden planet.......and he has his own website www.danjonesbooks.club, he is also the co-host of the SFF Chrons podcast, a new pod dealing with deep dives into the classics of the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. I am going to be guest soon talking about An American Werewolf in London, and am very excited to be part of this new series. More info at http://www.anchor.fm/sffchronscast
This episode was hosted by Richard Sheppard, with research and support from Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical and sound production by Stephen L. Parkes and Dylan Hickman. Please like, subscribe, rate, review and recommend this podcast, and feel free to get in contact with us at theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com
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Apologies for the wait on this one, thanks for your patience. We will be returning to our celebration of Epix TV's Chapelwaite soon, but for now I was luck enough to sit down with Alex Grass, author of Dreck, about addiction, the writing life, and Stephen King's novel Doctor Sleep.
Alex is a fascinating chap, and a fine writer, and I urge you to seek out his work here.
Thanks to Goran Grmusa at the Dickinson Publishing Group for facilitating this interview.
Back to Chapelwaite soon, and in the coming weeks I will be talking to Evan Lampe of the Hundred Pages podcast about the original short story, as well as talking to Steph Mckenna (The Thirst, Evolution of Horror) about the TV series.
This episode was hosted by Richard Sheppard, with research and support from Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical and sound production by "The Mad Professor" Stephen L. Parkes. Please like, subscribe, rate, review and recommend this podcast, and feel free to get in contact with us at theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com or find us on instagram at /the_constant_reader_podcast/
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We begin a month long appreciation of the newest Stephen King adaptation, EPIX TV's Chapelwaite. Based on the short story Jerusalem's Lot from the Night Shift anthology, Chapelwaite stars Adrien Brody, Emily Hampshire and genre favorite Julian Richings. Mixing in elements of the short story with mythology established in the novel Salem's Lot, this is a gothic treat for all fans of haunted houses, period drama and well made television.
I was lucky enough to sit down and talk with series co-creator Peter Filardi about the show, how it came to be, and what might be the future for Chapelwaite.
https://www.epix.com/series/chapelwaite
In the coming weeks I will be talking to Evan Lampe of the Hundred Pages podcast about the original short story, as well as talking to Steph Mckenna (The Thirst, Evolution of Horror) about the TV series.
This episode was hosted by Richard Sheppard, with research and support from Dr Linda Sheppard, and technical and sound production by "The Mad Professor" Stephen L. Parkes. Please like, subscribe, rate, review and recommend this podcast, and feel free to get in contact with us at theconstantreaderpodcast@gmail.com or find us on instagram at /the_constant_reader_podcast/
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