The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

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King story turns to video

28.07.08 Anna Richardson

Scribner and Simon & Schuster Digital in the US are releasing a series of videos based on a previously unpublished Stephen King short story, for download online and by mobile phone users.

The publishers have teamed up with Marvel Entertainment and CBS Mobile to produce the 25 short video clips based on King's "N", which will appear in the Just After Sunset collection in November and as part of a comic book miniseries by Marvel in 2009.

Starting on 28th July, the episodes can be viewed free by CBS mobile subscribers or over the internet, or purchased at iTunes and Amazon Unbox for $0.99 per clip. New two-minute episodes will be released on consecutive weekdays for five weeks, and a limited-printing collector’s edition, featuring the book and a DVD of all the video episodes, will be made available when Just After Sunset goes on sale in the autumn.

The videos feature sophisticated production values, and were drawn by comic book artist Alex Maleev, whose work has also appeared in TV show "Heroes", and coloured by José Villarrubia, best-known for his collaborations with Alan Moore. They were adapted by Marc Guggenheim, with creative oversight from Stephen King. 

King said: "I'm always interested in new delivery systems for stories and always curious about how those systems work with the old storytelling verities. This one, it seems to me, works extraordinarily well."

US Media Anna Richardson Stephen King Simon and Schuster Scribner Global