298 – Stephen King & The Final Turn of the Big Combination

Neil McRobert (0:11)

Hello, and welcome to Talking Scared. I'm your host, Neil McRobert, and this has been a week of big highs and crushing lows.

Stephen King is back on the podcast, and that's about as high as a high get for an Uber fan like me, to talk to my literary hero for the third time about the third and final book in the Talisman series, Other Worlds Than These. It's a saga that means so much to me, and has ever since I was a heartbroken 12 or 13 year old reading The Talisman in my grandmother's front yard and weeping for all that is lost. And this closing volume has been long awaited by millions of constant readers just like me. So, imagine the abyssal low when we lost half the recording of this conversation. I was bereft, wandering my house, staring into space, yelling at the dog.

But then, Steve reached out and offered to re-record the second part. So high of highs, because not only do I get to release a full episode for you, with all its talk of Jack Sawyer and Wolf grief, and the presence of Peter Straub and links to The Dark Tower and hints of what's next from King, but also, I got to do it better the second time around. Now, I promise there are no overt spoilers for T3, other than the main talking points already included in the Jacket Synopsis. And for those of you making your first way to the tower with Nat and Chris and me, rest assured that nothing is ruined there either. I even edited out a major spoiler that Steve just gave away, just to keep things safe for you. That way, everyone can enjoy. And if you do enjoy this show, then please review on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen. And to help me keep making Talking Scared, you can become a Patreon subscriber. You get ad-free episodes, so much bonus stuff to listen to, full reviews of every book covered and Discord access. Plus, the warm, fuzzy feeling of knowing you specifically help me do amazing things, like Chapter King, and attend junkets to record conversations with Daniel Krauss and Brian Duffield about the Whalefall movie. That's an episode coming soon. Just rest assured that patrons help so much, and you can join up at patreon.com/talkingscaredpod.

But right here and now, take a drag of some cheap sour wine and flip with me to another world. It's a place you'll remember, if hazily, of terror and wonder. And it may be the last time we go there.

So let's talk scared.

Steve, welcome back to Talking Scared. I hope you're well.

Stephen King (3:08)

No, no, I'm not bad. I'm not bad. I have the usual old people problems, but today I have a sore throat and kind of a funky ear.

Neil McRobert (3:18)

Right. Well, we'll try and make this as pain free as possible for you. As ever, I'm going to jump straight in with you because I have just too much to ask you in too little time. So I'll just dispense with the small talk.

Stephen King (3:29)

No, it's all small talk. You know.

Neil McRobert (3:34)

I don't see it that way. You've got to understand what this means to me and my listeners.

Stephen King (3:38)

You're looking great.

Neil McRobert (3:40)

Oh, thank you. I will take that. Thank you very much.

Stephen King (3:42)

Go ahead. Ask away.

Neil McRobert (3:46)

This is the third in our trilogy of conversations, which is fitting because, as everyone knows, your new book is the third and final installment in the Talisman series.

I'm going to reiterate my promise to the audience with your blessing right here and your buying that we will not do any spoilers here for T3 and also we'll do no spoilers for the final conclusion to The Dark Tower because I'm doing that whole read-along thing and I'd hate to ruin it for my listeners when we're so close to climbing the tower. So are you okay to not spoil those two things?

Stephen King (4:18)

No spoilers.

Neil McRobert (4:20)

Okay, excellent. For those who can't see, Steve is covering his mouth. But that leaves us plenty of talk about, and I want to jump in at the obvious place, which is right back at the beginning, because I realized something. I've never read anything about how this partnership between you and Peter Straub came to be in the first place.

What was the genesis of the whole thing? How did it begin?

Stephen King (4:44)

Well, the first thing was, I read a book called Julia by Peter that knocked me out, and I blurbed it, and I wrote a big long letter about it.