The Dark Man by Stephen King featured in USA TODAY

I guess it’s to be expected because it’s Stephen King, but I’m still thrilled when a project I’ve worked on for the last six months is featured over at USATODAY.COM in their Book Buzz section:

“Beware, for the Dark Man cometh! That is, the book The Dark Man by Stephen King, reigning master of scary tales. Cemetery Dance Publications will publish a hardcover edition of the title on July 30. It’s a change of pace for the author: The Dark Man is an 88-page poem featuring artwork by Glenn Chadbourne. Considered something of a prequel to his apocalyptic epic The Stand, it was written in 1969 when King was a student at the University of Maine. It appeared in literary magazines while he was in college, but has never before been published for the general public.”

There was a very specific rhythm to the poem that we wanted to convey through the blending of the text and the artwork, and Chadbourne skillfully used his illustrations to create a kind of mixed media story.

Feedback from early readers has been fantastic, with some saying they never expected a poem to make their heart race with terror and horror the way the ending of The Dark Man does.

This certainly isn’t going to be a book for everyone — not even every Constant Reader! — but for those who dig what we’ve tried to do, I think you’ll enjoy it a lot.