Hail to the King, baby

So it's Stephen King mania for the next month. Good times.

• The Dark Tower, the seventh and final book in the epic Dark Tower series, is released tomorrow. This is the book people have been waiting for for decades now, and it's finally here. I'm interested to see how King writes himself out of the, shall we say, unique conclusion to the sixth book, which was a little surprising to say the least.
• To celebrate the tenth anniversary of its release, The Shawshank Redemption, one of the great films ever made (adapted from King's novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption"), is coming back to theaters this Friday. Signs don't indicate a release anywhere near me, but if it happens, I'm so totally there; if not, I can just pick up the new DVD set. Either way, expect a review for the Essentials list soon.
• And a new film, Riding the Bullet, based upon the King novella of the same name (it was released as an e-book a few years ago, and published later as part of the Everything's Eventual collection), hits screens on October 5th.

And if memory serves, tomorrow is King's 57th birthday. So to help celebrate, either go out and buy The Dark Tower, or simply indulge yourself in one of his older works.

it's a thousand pages, give or take a few