Gwendy's Button Box

Summary

Gwendy's Button Box is a horror novella by American writers Stephen King and Richard Chizmar.[1] It was announced by Entertainment Weekly on February 28, 2017.[2] The American edition published by Cemetery Dance included illustrations by Keith Minnion. The French edition, released by Le Livre de Poche in September 2018, reproduced those illustrations with brand new ones by the same artist.[3]

Gwendy's Button Box
First edition cover
AuthorStephen King,
Richard Chizmar
Audio read byMaggie Siff
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Gwendy's Button Box Trilogy
GenreHorror
PublisherCemetery Dance
Publication date
May 16, 2017
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages175
ISBN978-1-58767-610-9
Followed byGwendy's Magic Feather  

A sequel titled Gwendy's Magic Feather, penned solely by Chizmar, was released in November 2019.[4][5] In November 2020, Chizmar announced that he and King were writing a third installment in the series titled Gwendy's Final Task, this time as a full-length novel.[6][7] It was published in 2022.

Plot edit

The story takes place in King's fictional town of Castle Rock in 1974. Twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson encounters a stranger in dark clothes and a black hat who invites her to "palaver."

Conception edit

"I had a story I couldn't finish, and [Chizmar] showed me the way home with style and panache," King said in a statement. In describing the writing process, Richard Chizmar said, "Steve sent me the first chunk of a short story. I added quite a bit and sent it back to him. He did a pass, then bounced it back to me for another pass. Then, we did the same thing all over again – one more draft each. Next thing you know, we had a full-length novella on our hands. We took a free hand in rewriting each other and adding new ideas and characters. The whole process took about a month."[2]

References edit

  1. ^ "Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar!". Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b "See the Cover for Stephen King and Richard Chizmar's New Castle Rock Novella". Entertainment Weekly. 28 February 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  3. ^ "Gwendy et la boite à boutons". 8 September 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  4. ^ "Return to Stephen King's Castle Rock in Gwendy's Magic Feather". WBOC. September 18, 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-11-23. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  5. ^ "Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy Book Review: Gwendy's Magic Feather by Richard Chizmar. Cemetery Dance, $25 (336p) ISBN 978-1-58767-731-1". Publishers Weekly. November 1, 2019.
  6. ^ Richard Chizmar [@RichardChizmar] (November 29, 2020). "She's back" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ^ Stephen King [@StephenKing] (January 26, 2021). "Reading CHASING THE BOOGEYMAN , by my sometime collaborator, Rich Chizmar (GWENDY'S BUTTON BOX and the forthcoming GWENDY'S FINAL TASK). BOOGEYMAN is creepy and engrossing. You'll believe it" (Tweet) – via Twitter.