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DISCOVERY OF NEW STORIES FROM STEPHEN KING

At the launch today of the `The Complete Guide to the Works of
Stephen King' by Rocky Wood, David Rawsthorne and Norma Blackburn, a
5110 page book published on CD-ROM, it was revealed that ten
previously unknown stories by best-selling writer Stephen King have
been discovered.

These stories were hidden in the archives of his alma mater, the
University of Maine at Orono, where Mr King has lodged many of his
papers at the Special Collections Unit of the Raymond Fogler Library
over the years. Today, 74 boxes of manuscripts, papers, proofs and
other material are available to researchers, although some boxes have
restricted access, requiring written permission from Mr King.

"We were delighted and amazed to discover these new stories while
researching our Guide", co-author, Rocky Wood said at the launch.
Full details of each story have been included in the CD-ROM.

"It is well known that there are over a dozen unpublished King short
stories, screenplay and novels," said Mr Wood, who travelled from
Australia to Orono, Maine late last year to read many of those works,
which are only available at the Library. He spent several weeks
combing every item in each box.

"I felt like an archaeologist discovering a hidden tomb when I came
across the first unknown story," Mr Wood said. A number of other
manuscripts were found and researched with the assistance of Mr
King's office but were shown not to be his work. "It was really like
being a private investigator combing through the boxes then hours of
research to ensure the credentials of each work".

Completed works are `Mobius', a 3600 word complete Science Fiction
story and `They Bite' is a 116 page Screenplay in an Alien/Science
Fiction style and appears to have been written about 1976.

Incomplete, are a selection of works including the longest story,
untitled by Mr King but given the name `The Huffman Story' by the
Guide's authors. "There are 71 well developed pages in this story,
which is eerily reminiscent of the murders in `The Dead Zone' and of
King's mythical town, Castle Rock, Maine," Wood said. "King's
trademark of characters the reader is immediately interested in is
very apparent in this piece." Another unfinished piece, `Comb Dump'
is a mystery story set in a Maine psychiatric hospital.

Stephen King is famous for his journals where he writes thoughts and
stories, some containing up to ten different pieces of work. Four of
the incomplete stories were found in King's handwriting in such a
journal. "Strangely, this was the very last box I checked and there
they were, four more gems", Mr Wood commented. Using King's titles
in the journal they have been dubbed `Muffe', `The
Evaluation', `Movie Show' and `Chip Coombs'. "It is stunning to
observe how clean and clear King's writing is in his first
handwritten draft," Mr Wood said.

The two other partial stories were started with King's sons, Owen and
Joseph. `But Only the Darkness Loves Me' is headed `by Stephen and
Joseph King'. `I Hate Mondays' is headed, `by Stephen and Owen King'.

`The Complete Guide to the Works of Stephen King' is available on-
line at www.horrorking.com for US$49.95. It is the result of three
years' work by the three King experts and is expected to set a
standard as the key King reference work for many years to come. Full
details about the Guide are available at the site.

Dave
http://www.horrorking.com

P.S. I'm 2/3 the way into redesigning Horrorking with a new look. I
hope to be finished by the end of May. Look out for the new look &
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