'A Face in the Crowd' by Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan (first time in hardcover.) Dean Evers, an elderly widower, sits in front of the television with nothing better to do than waste his leftover evenings watching baseball. It's Rays/Mariners, and David Price is breezing through the line-up. Suddenly, in a seat a few rows up beyond the batter, Evers sees the face of someone from decades past, someone who shouldn't be at the ballgame, shouldn't be on the planet. And so begins a parade of people from Evers' past, all of them occupying that seat behind home plate. Until one day Dean Evers sees someone even eerier. (58 pages) 'The Longest December' by Richard Chizmar (expanded version.) Bob and Katy Howard are a typical middle-aged couple living the good life in the suburbs. They're happily married, have successful careers, and a grown son starting college. Their recently widowed next-door neighbor, James Wilkinson, is practically a member of the Howard family. When police show up at the Howard's doorstep one snowy December morning with the news that they have been investigating Wilkinson for a series of violent crimes, Bob and Katy are left in shock and disbelief. The elderly James Wilkinson they know and love is kind and gentle. He shared their Thanksgiving table just a couple weeks earlier. He couldn't possibly be responsible for the gruesome deeds of which he's being accused. Or could he? 'The Longest December' (a revised and expanded version of Chizmar's acclaimed novella, 'A Long December') is a cat-and-mouse, Hitchcockian thriller that will shock you with its brutal twists and turns while also breaking your heart. Stephen King calls it "...a really terrific piece of work. I couldn't put it down. Chizmar played his cards with great craft. I'm an old hand at this, but I kept chasing the red herrings." (86 pages) This will be another World's First Edition from Cemetery Dance Publications: a unique new book published in hardcover in the style of the old Ace Doubles. Two novellas in one book! Read one story and when you're done, just flip the book over and read the other. There are two "front covers" and a unique design, so it's a really fun concept. Trade Hardcover Edition. • Printed on acid-free paper. • Bound in cloth with colored head and tail bands. • Featuring hot foil stamping on the front boards and spine. • Wrapped in a full-color dust jacket.
Authors
Stewart O'Nan is the author of eighteen novels, including Emily, Alone; Last Night at the Lobster; A Prayer for the Dying; Snow Angels; and the forthcoming Ocean State, due out from Grove/Atlantic on March 8th, 2022. With Stephen King, I’ve also co-written Faithful, a nonfiction account of the 2004 Boston Red Sox, and the e-story “A Face in the Crowd.” You can catch me at stewart-onan.com, on Twitter @stewartonan and on Facebook @stewartONanAuthor
Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged. Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums. He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines. Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies. In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
Richard Chizmar is a New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Amazon, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author. He is the co-author (with Stephen King) of the bestselling novella, Gwendy’s Button Box and the founder/publisher of Cemetery Dance magazine and the Cemetery Dance Publications book imprint. He has edited more than 35 anthologies and his short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, including multiple editions of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and The Year’s 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. He has won two World Fantasy awards, four International Horror Guild awards, and the HWA’s Board of Trustee’s award. Chizmar (in collaboration with Johnathon Schaech) has also written screenplays and teleplays for United Artists, Sony Screen Gems, Lions Gate, Showtime, NBC, and many other companies. He has adapted the works of many bestselling authors including Stephen King, Peter Straub, and Bentley Little. Chizmar is also the creator/writer of the online website, Stephen King Revisited. His fourth short story collection, The Long Way Home, was published in 2019. With Brian Freeman, Chizmar is co-editor of the acclaimed Dark Screams horror anthology series published by Random House imprint, Hydra. His latest book, The Girl on the Porch, was released in hardcover by Subterranean Press, and Widow’s Point, a chilling novella about a haunted lighthouse written with his son, Billy Chizmar, was recently adapted into a feature film. Chizmar’s work has been translated into more than fifteen languages throughout the world, and he has appeared at numerous conferences as a writing instructor, guest speaker, panelist, and guest of honor.
