Richard Chizmar: “Steve and I have been friends for a long time—since back in the early 1990s—and have done a lot of business in the book world, but I never dreamed I would one day write something with him. We email a lot about a variety of subjects ranging from books and movies to sports and family. One afternoon, we were emailing about round-robin books and collaborations. That general discussion led to Steve telling me about a story he had started but had been unable to finish. The next morning, Gwendy’s Button Box showed up in my email along with a note reading, ‘Do what you wish with it.’ And that’s how it happened.”
Meg: “That’s my dream!”
Richard Chizmar: “Logistically, it was a pretty simple process. I picked up where Steve left off with the story, added about ten thousand words or so, and sent it his way. He added a chunk and sent it back to me. And then we played ping-pong with the manuscript, back-and-forth, until we were finished. We each enjoyed total freedom with the direction we took the story and rewrote each other’s work to find one singular voice. It was a blast.”
Kelly: “You have since written Gwendy’s Magic Feather, solo. We imagine it would be quite an honor to “borrow” Castle Rock and infuse your own style and creativity. It’s quite a unique writing challenge! How did you approach such a feat?”
Richard Chizmar: “It was a huge honor and responsibility. On one hand, having cowritten the first book with Steve really prepared me for the challenges of Magic Feather. On the other hand, the second book is set in 1999, so a lot of things had changed since the end of Button Box (not the least of which is that Castle Rock was supposed to be completely destroyed earlier that decade at the conclusion of Needful Things!). My main concern was getting the facts straight—people, places, times. I knew this was sacred territory for King’s constant readers, and I didn’t want to mess that up. For accuracy, I relied on my friends—and longtime King experts—Bev Vincent and Brian Freeman to give the various drafts a close read. And they did a terrific job. The rest was all about letting myself get lost in the story, lost in the small Maine town of Castle Rock, and following Gwendy wherever she took me. I’ve come to really trust her instincts.”
Meg: “Your career has spanned short stories, screenplays, novels, and everything in between! What sort of research do you prepare when working? Is it important for you to be scientifically or historically accurate, even in supernatural projects?”
Richard Chizmar: “It really just depends on the project. I’m writing a book now that is set back in 1988 in the town I grew up in. It’s crucial to the story that I get the time period correct. Geographically, socially, economically, right down to the movies and music and trends of the time period. It’s been a lot of fun and a lot of research. Other stories I’ve written, that kind of accuracy is not as important to the characters or plot. They could be set pretty much anywhere at any time.”
Kelly: “Since the inception of Cemetery Dance over thirty years ago, would you say horror literature has changed? Or, as an editor and reader, does it still come down to the same aspects of talent?”
Richard Chizmar: “I think it still comes down to the same aspects of talent. For me, it’s still all about story and narrative drive and caring about the people and places and moments that I’m reading about. Take me away to another place, another time, and (as a reader) I’m yours.”
Meg: “Do you get a particular satisfaction in discovering authors and then watching them flourish in their career? How would you describe that feeling?”
Richard Chizmar: “I love the feeling that kind of discovery brings. How to describe what that process actually feels like? Hmmm, I’d say a mixture of pride (for that particular writer seeing a dream come true and so much hard work realized) and gratitude (that I’m in a position to help do that) and awe (that, even after all these years, it feels like I’m doing exactly what I was put on this Earth to do).
Kelly: “Cemetery Dance Publications has published Stephen King’s work, including limited editions, as well as books about him. Recently there has been talk that Stephen King’s work is finding a new, younger audience, thus the sudden boom of television and film adaptations. Do you believe we are living in a ‘King Renaissance’ or that he has had a ‘comeback’ as some media assert?”
Richard Chizmar: “I absolutely believe he is experiencing a renaissance. I often give talks at local high schools. A decade ago, the majority of the students I spoke with only knew Stephen King through the film adaptations of his work. They loved Carrie and It and The Shining, but knew nothing about the books they were based on. That has all changed now. The sheer number of King projects, plus online marketing and publicity, has steered it all back to the books. I love what is happening.”
Meg: “Can you tell us about your future projects? What can we look forward to?”
Richard Chizmar: “I have a couple of graphic novels due late in 2020, as well as a relatively slim nonfiction collection and a not-so-slim collection of my first nineteen Stephen King Revisited essays. I’m currently working on a novel now that should (hopefully) come out sometime in 2021, as well as a collection of four novellas. Plus, as always, a handful of stories and scripts.”
Kelly: “What is your favorite work by Stephen King? The one book or story that has stayed with you, above all.”
Richard Chizmar: “My all-time favorite is It. Reading that novel when it first came out (I was in college at the time) cemented in my mind that this is what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. It didn’t just open that door for me—it broke the door down. And I’ve never looked back.”
We agree with Richard Chizmar that It is a King masterpiece! It was a pleasure to ask questions of someone who is not only a colleague of Stephen King, but also an impressive author, editor, and screenwriter in his own right.
At the end of Gwendy’s Button Box, Gwendy, now in college, has had her time with the mysterious box and must give it up to the next person deemed suitable to handle it. She has proven herself to be noble, only using the box to murder, once, and for a justified reason. It leaves us curious to find out what happens in Gwendy’s Magic Feather. And we can’t help noticing that King has given Chizmar the same sort of responsibility, allowing him to write within the strange and enigmatic town of Castle Rock.
SECTION FOUR
The 2000s
CHAPTER TWENTY
Dreamcatcher
Stephen King was struck by a vehicle while walking in 1999 and his world changed forever. His right hip was fractured, his right leg was broken in nine places, and one of his lungs collapsed. He notes in 2001’s Dreamcatcher that he was never so grateful to be writing than while writing this novel. Suffering from physical pain, he relished the opportunity to handwrite the entire book, saying it put him back in touch with language. The story has several supernatural elements to it including telepathy, aliens, and body possession. King recalled using oxycontin for the pain from his accident. “I was pretty stoned when I wrote it, because of the Oxy, and that’s another book that shows the drugs at work.”1