Stephen King is always working. The man just will not stop, which is good news for us Constant Readers because he’s been on a roll lately. His latest book, a collection of short stories called You Like It Darker, is a straight up banger, and his crime fiction has some of the sharpest writing of his career.
When appearing on the Talking Scared Podcast, King was asked by host Neil McRobert about what he’s working on next and instead of playing coy, King just decided to go ahead and tell him everything.
King is still enamored with the character of Holly Gibney, the protagonist of The Outsider, If It Bleeds, and the aptly titled Holly, and the next book will be called Always Holly.
“I thought to myself, what’s Holly doing now? What’s Holly up to now? The first thing that came to mind isn’t in the book. I thought about Lady Gaga’s dogs being kidnapped. And I thought, this could be a case for Holly because Holly’s dealt with dogs before, but it didn’t work out. But later on, it came to my mind that maybe Holly gets a job as a bodyguard for a woman who’s a flashpoint in American politics. And I thought, oh, that’s a good idea… All you’ve got to do is add a stalker and stir. So that’s at least one part of what the book’s about.”
Holly Gibney was first introduced in Mr. Mercedes, King’s first real stab at crime fiction. She was intended as a side character helping the retired detective at the center of that story, but King was immediately taken by his creation. There was something about this woman, constantly dealing with OCD and a traumatic childhood, that captured his imagination and she has been a central figure in his work ever since.
McRobert also got a little more info out of King about a possible return to The Talisman, the fantasy series King co-wrote with the late, great Peter Straub. The series features werewolves, haunted houses, and a lead character who can flip between realities.
Before his passing, they were in the very early stages of coming up with a third book and King is currently investigating continuing that solo, a process that involved him re-reading The Talisman and taking copious notes.
“I’ve got to read Black House, that comes next. Peter [Straub] sent me a letter and I found some notes about it in my back files. He wanted to do a thing about a serial killer that was based on Charles Starkweather in the ‘50s. Maybe something will happen. Maybe it won’t. I never know.”
Sounds like King is taking the prospect of a third Talisman book seriously enough to do some legwork on it, but he’s always been a writer who goes where the creative winds blow.
Always Holly appears to be completed in some form. What comes after that? Maybe a third Talisman book or maybe something else. We just know that King is always writing.
