Cover Reveal: Stephen King And Richard Chizmar’s Novella ‘Gwendy’s Button Box’

Entertainment Weekly has revealed the cover for Gwendy’s Button Box, an upcoming novella co-authored by Stephen Kind and Richard Chizmar, a fellow horror writer and founder of Cemetery Dance Publications. The novella will take place in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine, which King last used as a setting in his 1991 novel Needful Things.

EW provided this summary of what we can expect from the new story:

There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974 twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong (if time-rusted) iron bolts and zig-zag up the cliffside.”

At the top of the stairs, Gwendy catches her breath and listens to the shouts of the kids on the playground. From a bit farther away comes the chink of an aluminum bat hitting a baseball as the Senior League kids practice for the Labor Day charity game.

One day, a stranger calls to Gwendy: ‘Hey, girl. Come on over here for a bit. We ought to palaver, you and me.’

On a bench in the shade sits a man in black jeans, a black coat, like for a suit, and a white shirt unbuttoned at the top. On his head is a small neat black hat. The time will come when Gwendy has nightmares about that hat…”

Source: RichardChizmar.com

Source: RichardChizmar.com

Chizmar and King have a close working relationship, and Cemetery Dance often publishes King’s short fiction. In a statement about the new novella, King said, “I had a story I couldn’t finish, and [Chizmar] showed me the way home with style and panache. It was a good time, and I think readers will have a good time reading it. If they are left with questions, and maybe have a few arguments, all the better.”

And for the final reveal:

gwendys-button-box-cover-high-res

Source: Amazon

Gwendy’s Button Box will be published by Cemetery Dance this May. You can preorder your copy here!

YouTube Channel: Blank on Blank

 

Featured image via RT Book Reviews

h/t Entertainment Weekly