A Collection Of Forewords and Afterwords?

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Arbitrary Refrain

Active Member
Jan 5, 2016
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Apologies if this has been done before, but...
Does anyone else think it would be cool if Stephen King published an edited collection of his forewords and afterwords from his work?

I have always enjoyed these immensely - his explanations and anecdotes really develop a rapport with us constant readers, and as someone who has read most of his books I love the idea of having all of his thoughts about his work in one place. It would be a behind the scenes view, and a memoir of sorts too - a lot of them are true products of their time.

For me, the best parts of On Writing are written in this style, so you could argue that he has already done this in a way. But I still think it would be fascinating, especially if he decided to annotate or add to the originals, and add context to the context!
 

fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
71,642
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120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
Apologies if this has been done before, but...
Does anyone else think it would be cool if Stephen King published an edited collection of his forewords and afterwords from his work?

I have always enjoyed these immensely - his explanations and anecdotes really develop a rapport with us constant readers, and as someone who has read most of his books I love the idea of having all of his thoughts about his work in one place. It would be a behind the scenes view, and a memoir of sorts too - a lot of them are true products of their time.

For me, the best parts of On Writing are written in this style, so you could argue that he has already done this in a way. But I still think it would be fascinating, especially if he decided to annotate or add to the originals, and add context to the context!

Funny, I mentioned this very thing in The Crate thread last night. The Crate was in a collection called The Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural and SK wrote an introduction to the collection as well as contributed The Crate. A long time ago, I think there may have even been a list floating around here that listed various introductions etc in various books. It sounds like a good idea to me.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
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Cambridge, Ohio
Somehow I am seeing a tie-in with Dreamcatcher...
flaming_shit_weasel_by_omegamarc24x.jpg
 

Arbitrary Refrain

Active Member
Jan 5, 2016
25
113
42
Funny, I mentioned this very thing in The Crate thread last night. The Crate was in a collection called The Arbor House Treasury of Horror and the Supernatural and SK wrote an introduction to the collection as well as contributed The Crate. A long time ago, I think there may have even been a list floating around here that listed various introductions etc in various books. It sounds like a good idea to me.

That would be great to read - is it hard to get hold of?
 

Arbitrary Refrain

Active Member
Jan 5, 2016
25
113
42
I have the 2000ish paperback edition of Michael Connelly's The Poet and he wrote an introduction exclusive to the paperback edition. What would be so hard to detail all of the introductions is that many may only appear in certain editions of books like the paperback edition of The Poet.

I see what you mean - might be nightmare to do the relevant deals with his old publisher etc
 

fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
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120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
That would be great to read - is it hard to get hold of?

You should be able to get the book on e-bay or the Amazon used market. If you just type the title into the amazon system, you should get some options. The book is divided into sections called grand masters and modern masters so half the stories are the old guys like Poe and the other half are modern (1981 was modern then).
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
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There are some interesting essays in Secret Windows. I think that was a BOMC exclusive (could definitely be wrong about that, though). I liked that book quite a bit. My favorite vignette was about him getting ready to go on a book tour and one of his boys (not remembering which one) asked him with a sigh if he had to go be STEPHEN KING again. :)
 

Arbitrary Refrain

Active Member
Jan 5, 2016
25
113
42
You should be able to get the book on e-bay or the Amazon used market. If you just type the title into the amazon system, you should get some options. The book is divided into sections called grand masters and modern masters so half the stories are the old guys like Poe and the other half are modern (1981 was modern then).

Thanks, I'll check it out.
 

Arbitrary Refrain

Active Member
Jan 5, 2016
25
113
42
There are some interesting essays in Secret Windows. I think that was a BOMC exclusive (could definitely be wrong about that, though). I liked that book quite a bit. My favorite vignette was about him getting ready to go on a book tour and one of his boys (not remembering which one) asked him with a sigh if he had to go be STEPHEN KING again. :)

Random anecdotes come back to me at odd times, but I rarely remember which book they are from. The death of Bachman with the Beatles analogy, the amount of money to be made from a short story after you've paid everyone, the explanation for a revised and expanded The Stand, what it means to be labelled a horror writer, commentary on the progression of the dark tower series. I find that even the shorter afterwords are insightful, shedding some light on what the author intended in the story.