Reel Horror

Stephen King isn’t throwing in the towel after all. Winterfall LLC, creator of the HARD CASE CRIME line of pulp-style paperback noir novels, today announced that a new book by King will be the lead title of the brand’s second year. King’s original novel THE COLORADO KID, due this fall, tells the story of two veteran newspapermen and their investigation into a man’s mysterious death on an island off the Maine coast.

Launched last September by novelists and pulp buffs Charles Ardai and Max Phillips (and recently nominated for two Edgar Allan Poe Awards by the Mystery Writers of America), HARD CASE CRIME revives the storytelling and garish cover style of the much-loved pulp paperbacks that reigned on newsstands from the 1940s through the ’60s. The line features a thrilling mix of lost pulp masterpieces from some of the most acclaimed crime writers of all time and gripping new novels from the next generation of hardboiled authors, all with original painted covers (some by early 007 poster legend Robert McGinnis) in the grand pulp tradition. Authors range from current best-selling scribes such as Lawrence Block, MOMMY’s Max Allan Collins, Ed McBain and THE STEPFATHER’s Donald E. Westlake to Golden Age pros such as Erle Stanley (PERRY MASON) Gardner, Donald (MATT HELM) Hamilton, Wade (TOUCH OF EVIL) Miller and David (TO CATCH A THIEF) Dodge.

"Steve is an extraordinary writer, and as much a fan of classic paperback crime fiction as we are," says editor Ardai in a statement. "We originally contacted him to see if he’d be willing to write a blurb for our line, and he decided that what he really wanted to do was write a book for us instead. We’re thrilled that he wanted to be part of HARD CASE CRIME, and we’re very excited to get to introduce the world to the baffling mystery of THE COLORADO KID."

"This is an exciting line of books," Stephen King says in a release, "and I’m delighted to be a part of it. HARD CASE CRIME presents good, clean, bare-knuckled storytelling, and even though THE COLORADO KID is probably more bleu than outright noir, I think it has some of those old-fashioned kick-ass story-telling virtues. It ought to; this is where I started out, and I’m pleased to be back."

THE COLORADO KID will be published through Winterfall’s ongoing collaboration with Dorchester Publishing (home of Leisure’s ongoing horror tomes) in October 2005. The book will be released in the classic pocket-sized mass-market paperback format in which hundreds of millions of books were sold during the heyday of pulp fiction. THE COLORADO KID will also be available in audiobook and e-book editions from Simon & Schuster, publisher of King’s work since 1998. HARD CASE CRIME is scheduled to publish nine books in 2005, increasing to a schedule of one title per month in 2006. The label’s next two titles, due in stores this month, are HOME IS THE SAILOR by 1950s pulp master Day Keene and KISS HER GOODBYE, an original novel set on the mean streets of Edinburgh, by the rising young Scottish noir stylist Allan Guthrie.

For information about these and other forthcoming titles or to sign up for the HARD CASE CRIME mailing list, visit www.HardCaseCrime.com.

SOURCE: Fangoria