2013 The Year of The King

The Wonderful Charles Ardai just made my day, as not only have we Stephen King’s follow-up to The Shining titled Dr Sleep coming in 2013 – but just in my inbox is the cover image for Hard Case Crime’s JOYLAND by Stephen King, and imprint from British Publisher Titan Books also due in 2013

As reported earlier in The Guardian -

The master of horror has announced he will be sticking to print for his new novel, Joyland, so that "folks who want to read it will have to buy the actual book".
The story of a college student who comes to a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, only to confront "the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever", Joyland will be published next June by independent pulp crime press Hard Case Crime.

"I love crime, I love mysteries, and I love ghosts," said King. "That combo made Hard Case Crime the perfect venue for this book, which is one of my favourites. I also loved the paperbacks I grew up with as a kid, and for that reason, we're going to hold off on e-publishing this one for the time being. Joyland will be coming out in paperback, and folks who want to read it will have to buy the actual book."

Hard Case Crime previously published King’s The Colorado Kid, as well as many ‘lost works’ by luminaries of the crime / thriller genre.

Mark your diaries accordingly as King’s Joyland is out in June 2013, which was first mentioned in an interview by Neil Gaiman earlier this year.

Cover of ‘Joyland’ © 2012 Hard Case Crime / Glen Orbik