Stephen King’s next book: when is horror author’s new anthology You Like It Darker, with Cujo sequel, out?

American horror author Stephen King is set to release his next book this year, an anthology called You Like it Darker, and it will feature a sequel to one of his earliest and most iconic novels.

King is one of the highest selling American authors of all time, with an estimated 400 million copies sold worldwide, whilst some of the biggest horror films in history are direct results of his creepy work.

Most of his works exist in a shared universe, with characters and events crossing over between stories, for instance his more recently published novel, Holly, is based around a character from his Mr. Mercedes trilogy, and his upcoming collection includes a sequel to his ninth novel, Cujo.

What is Stephen King’s next book about?

You Like It Darker is a new anthology of 12 short stories which, in typical Stephen King fashion, explore the dark side of the human condition and the natural world. Some of the stories in the collection have previously been published in various forms - The Turbulence Expert was a part of the 2018 horror anthology Flight or Fright, which King edited, and Laurie was published on his own website in the same year.

Red Screen and Finn have previously been released exclusively as e-books, and The Fifth Step, Willie the Weirdo, and On Slide Inn Road have all appeared in magazines. However, five of the stories - Two Talented Bastids, Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream, Rattlesnakes, The Dreamers, and The Answer Man will all be published for the first time in the collection.

Does You Like It Darker include a Cujo sequel?

One of the novellas in You Like It Darker is a sequel to King’s 1981 novel, Cujo, about a rabid dog of the same name. The new story, called Rattlesnakes, is set in 2020, and is told from the perspective of Vic Trenton, the protagonist of the first novel.

Vic is an advertising executive who is on a work trip when his wife, Donna, and son, Tad, are attacked by Cujo in the original story - his wife survives but Tad dies of dehydration after being trapped in a car. The 1983 film version took a major departure from the source material, with both mother and son surviving.

In Rattlesnake, the story is set in 2020 and narrated by Vic, now 72 and living on Rattlesnake Key on the Florida Gulf Coast. It is likely that the story will explore the trauma that Vic went through when his young son died.

How many books has Stephen King written?

King has written around 66 novels so far - his debut was Carrie, published in 1974 and adapted into the cult horror film two years later, cementing his status as an acclaimed horror writer.

His other well known novels include The Shining, Salem’s Lot, Pet Semetary, the Stand, and It, each of which have been adapted into films and/or TV shows. 

Alongside his novels, King has written more than 200 short stories, many of which have been published in 12 anthology collections. Several films have also been adapted from these stories, including The Shawshank Redemption, widely considered one of the greatest films of all time. Additionally, the writer has penned five non-fiction novels, and more than a dozen screenplays. 

When will Stephen King’s next book be released?

You Like it Darker will be released globally on May 21 2024, and you can preorder the book now.