It was only recently that one of Stephen King’s classic stories was to be expanded with an anthology based on the world of The Stand, and now one of King’s earliest tales is getting a sequel in a new story collection.
Life in the Old Dog, Yet?
ClubStephenKing picked up the story from the Talking Scared podcast, where King himself revealed his next book would be titled You Like it Darker, a collection of 12 short stories due to release in early 2024. The most intriguing part is that it features a sequel to the 1981 novel Cujo, King’s tenth full-length book.
In that story, a mother, Donna Trenton, and her son, Tad, are attacked and trapped by a rabid Saint Bernard named Cujo. The new story, titled Rattlesnakes, will feature Donna moving to Florida to escape her grief. But unforeseen matters change everything.
There are currently details on five of the stories, including Rattlesnakes.
- Two Talented Bastids explores the long-hidden secret of the two eponymous gentlemen and how they obtained their talents – ‘
- Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream features a brief, unexpected psychic flash that disrupts the lives of dozens of people, and Danny’s life catastrophically
- Rattlesnakes is a sequel to Cujo, in which a grieving widower travels to Florida to find respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance, with important attendant connections
- The Dreamers, in which a taciturn Vietnam War veteran responds to a job offer and learns that there are corners of the universe it would be better not to explore
- The Answer Man asks the question of whether knowing the future is a good or bad thing, and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be important
Cujo, like a lot of Stephen King stories, was turned into a movie. Lewis Teague directed Cujo in 1983. It starred Dee Wallace as Donna Trenton.
You Like It Darker is reportedly out May 21, 2024.
