Flood Destroys Original Stephen King Manuscripts

Stephen King enjoyed one of the biggest years of his career in 2017 thanks to a variety of his stories being adapted into other mediums. Unfortunately, things are off to a rough start in 2018 as some of the author's original manuscripts for stories like Dolan's Cadillac, Maximum Overdrive and The Eyes of the Dragon have been destroyed due to flooding.

For 20 years, Gerald Winters had traveled the world collecting first- and limited-edition King books, galleys, signed copies, prints in different languages and other assorted rare items. When a water main burst in front of his shop, Gerald Winters & Son, his basement became flooded and destroyed thousands of books.

Winters claimed that knowing how rare many of these books were, he normally kept them stored safely on the upper level, but he temporarily moved most of his collection to the basement for some reorganization. The store owner claimed that only 10% of his collection remained intact.

The Bangor Daily News reported that countless friends, family members and customers attempted to contact Winters to see if the flood had affected his store.

"I don't even want to talk to them, because I don't know what to tell them," Winters confessed. "It's a mess."

A Bangor, Maine resident himself, Stephen King said he'd help Winters in whatever way he could.

The year might be off to a rough start for King's publishing history, but there's hope for the future in the world of live-action adaptations.

"Well, [film rights] on everything are basically taken. I think just about everything I've written was in some kind of development, or under option," King revealed to Entertainment Weekly. "I'm not bragging, I'm just…you know. It ain't bragging if it's true!"

The first King adaptation fans will get this year is the Hulu series Castle Rock, which takes place in the fictional town that serves as the epicenter of many of King's stories. The Dark Half, Needful Things and Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption all reference the town in some way, so we can expect the series to have nods to all of these stories, and many more.

Fans are also looking forward to a new Pet Sematary adaptation and a sequel to IT coming to theaters in 2019.

[H/T Bangor Daily News]