SUMMARY: Trisha McFarland is a plucky 9-year-old hiking with her brother and mom, who is grimly determined to give the kids a good time on their weekends together. Trisha's mom is recently divorced, and her brother is feuding with her for moving from Boston to small-town Maine, where classmates razz him. Trisha steps off the trail for a pee and a respite from the bickering. And gets lost. Trisha's odyssey succeeds on several levels. King renders her consciousness of increasing peril beautifully, from the "first minnowy flutter of disquiet" in her guts to her into-the-wild tumbles to her descent into hallucinations, the nicest being her beloved Red Sox baseball pitcher Tom Gordon, whose exploits she listens to on her Walkman. The nature writing is accurate, tense, and sometimes lyrical, from the maddening whine of the no-see-um mosquito to the profound obbligato of the "Subaudible" (Trisha's dad's term for nature's intimations of God). Our identification with Trisha deepens as we learn about her loved ones: Dad, a dreamboat whose beer habit could sink him; loving but stubborn Mom; Trisha's best pal, Pepsi Robichaud, vividly evoked by her colorful sayings ("Don't go all GIRLY on me, McFarland!"). The personal associations triggered by a full moon, the running monologue with which she stays sane--we who have been lost in woods will recognize these things.<

EDITORIAL REVIEW: Set in the 1930s at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary's death-row facility, *The Green Mile* is the riveting and tragic story of John Coffey, a giant, preternaturally gentle inmate condemned to death for the rape and murder of twin nine-year-old girls. It is a story narrated years later by Paul Edgecomb, the ward superintendent compelled to help every prisoner spend his last days peacefully and every man walk the green mile to execution with his humanity intact. Edgecomb has sent seventy-eight inmates to their date with "old sparky," but he's never encountered one like Coffey -- a man who wants to die, yet has the power to heal. And in this place of ultimate retribution, Edgecomb discovers the terrible truth about Coffey's gift, a truth that challenges his most cherished beliefs -- and ours. Originally published in 1996 in six self-contained monthly installments, *The Green Mile* is an astonishingly rich and complex novel that delivers over and over again. Each individual volume became a huge success when first published, and all six were on the *New York Times* bestseller list simultaneously. Three years later, when Frank Darabont made *The Green Mile* into an award-winning movie starring Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan, the book returned to the bestseller list -- and stayed there for months. And now -- with a new introduction by King's foreign agent Ralph Vicinanza, as well as the author's own foreword -- we have the first hardcover edition of this magnificent novel in which "King surpasses our expectations, leaves us spellbound and hungry for the next twist of plot" *(The Boston Globe).* With illustrations and a new frontispiece for this edition by Mark Geyer.<

EDITORIAL REVIEW: This is a collection of four stories on the theme of 'midnight', the moment when the familiar world gives way to an alternative reality, and a new and terrifying world is revealed. It is written by the author of "Carrie", "The Shining" and "The Dark Half".<

SUMMARY: The ruling Asharites of Al-Rassan have come from the desert sands, but over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, their stern piety has eroded. The Asharite empire has splintered into decadent city-states led by warring petty kings. King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, aided always by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan -- poet, diplomat, soldier -- until a summer afternoon of savage brutality changes their relationship forever. Meanwhile, in the north, the conquered Jaddites' most celebrated -- and feared -- military leader, Rodrigo Belmonte, driven into exile, leads his mercenary company south. In the dangerous lands of Al-Rassan, these two men from different worlds meet and serve -- for a time -- the same master. Sharing their interwoven fate -- and increasingly torn by her feelings -- is Jehane, the accomplished court physician, whose own skills play an increasing role as Al-Rassan is swept to the brink of holy war, and beyond. Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassan is both a brilliant adventure and a deeply compelling story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when hardening beliefs begin to remake -- or destroy -- a world.<

SUMMARY: This 4,000 copy Limited Artist Edition is numbered and is signed by Michael Whelan. It is issued in a foil stamped slipcase. Published in a larger format than the Dark Tower series which enhances Michael Whelan's thirteen full color plates and overtwenty three black & white designs."The Man in Black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed." This is our introduction to Roland Deschain, the last Gunslinger, published by Donald M. Grant in THE DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER in 1982. Twenty years later Stephen King revised and expanded this volume. In his own words: "What I did want to do was to give newcomers to the tale of the Tower (and old readers who want to refresh their memories) a clearer start and a slightly easier entry into Roland's world. I also wanted them to have a volume that more effectively foreshadowed coming events.This volume contains that expanded version as well as the novella THE LITTLE SISTERS OF ELURIA which chronicles an earlier adventure of Roland's as he persued the Man in Black.<

EDITORIAL REVIEW: On the first day of May, one hundred teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as "The Long Walk." If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying.<

EDITORIAL REVIEW: ***THE MAN IN THE BLACK SUIT* FOUR UNABRIDGED DARK TALES FROM ** **STEPHEN KING** *The Man in the Black Suit* Read by John Cullum ***"...the face of the man in the black suit grows ever clearer, ever closer, and I remember every word he said. I don't want to think of him, but I can't help it, and sometimes at night my old heart beats so hard and so fast I think it will tear itself right clear of my chest." *** A haunting recollection of a mysterious boyhood event, *The Man in Black Suit* read by John Cullum leads off this masterful collection from Stephen King. Other dark tales include: *All That You Love Will Be Carried Away* read by Peter Gerety, in which a man checks into a Lincoln, Nebraska Motel 6 to find the meaning in his life; *That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French* read by Becky Ann Baker presents the ultimate case of déejàa vu; and *The Death of Jack Hamilton* read by Arliss Howard -- a blistering tale of Depression-era outlaws on the run. Whether writing about encounters with the dead, the near dead, or about the mundane dreads of life, Stephen King's *The Man In The Black Suit: Four Dark Tales* is intense, eerie and instantly compelling.<