One of the most engaging elements of Stephen King stories is how many of his adventures, now matter what the subject matter, can connect to one another in unexpected ways, with a new story in his upcoming collection You Like It Darker serving as a sequel to his 1981 novel Cujo. The new story, “Rattlesnakes,” follows the widower from Cujo embarking on a trip to Florida for an inheritance that comes with some major catches. King shared last year that he was working on a Cujo sequel, with these details about the new story confirming how it connects to its predecessor. Given the insular nature of the original Cujo story, this sequel might not quite be the type of experience audiences are expecting, but knowing King, he’ll surely find a way to keep us on our toes and get under our skin. You Like It Darker is expected to hit shelves on May 21, 2024.
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Per Entertainment Weekly, the stories contained in the new collection include:
- “Two Talented Bastids”
- “The Fifth Step”
- “Willie the Weirdo”
- “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream”
- “Finn”
- “On Slide Inn Road”
- “Red Screen”
- “The Turbulence Expert”
- “Laurie”
- “Rattlesnakes”
- “The Dreamers”
- “The Answer Man”
Stephen King’s website describes Cujo, “The Cambers’ once-friendly St. Bernard turns into a killer after being bitten by a rabid bat. Donna Trenton’s husband is in New York trying to contain a disastrous ad campaign. Feeling abandoned by her workaholic husband, who is frequently out of town, Donna Trenton embarks on an affair with a local handyman. Left to fend for herself, she takes her ailing Pinto to Joe Cambers’ garage for repairs only to be trapped with her son Tad in the sweltering car by the monstrous dog.”
Like many of King’s earliest stories, it was a quick turnaround for the story to be adapted into a feature film, as Cujo was unleashed in theaters in 1983.
Arguably one of King’s most well-known sequels that came years after the original story and pivoted into unexpected directions was his 2013 novel Doctor Sleep, which was a sequel to 1977’s The Shining. While the original story focused on supernatural forces in the isolated Overlook hotel driving Jack Torrance to attack his family, much of Doctor Sleep saw the now-adult Danny Torrance coping with alcoholism and finding a young girl who also had the telepathic “shine” he himself discovered he had at a young age.
You Like It Darkerย is expected to hit shelves on May 21, 2024. ย
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