Stephen King: The Institute, If It Bleeds and his inspirations
Stephen King fans, rejoice! The master of horror has two books coming up and the similarities of one of these with the real world is terrifying.
It’s a great time to be a Stephen King fan, or a good time to become one. Not only is IT: Chapter 2 just a few days away from release, but there are a bunch of other King stories in development and waiting to be released, such as Doctor Sleep. But because that’s not enough (and because Mr. King is always creating), he also has two books coming up, and one of them truly sounds terrifying.
His last novel was Elevation, published in 2018. The story followed Scott Carey, who has a mysterious illness that has some really weird effects on his body. Life is good and King is preparing for the release of a new sci-fi horror thriller, and lucky us we’re just a few days away from its official release date, so why not sharing some details about it?
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Stephen King talked about his upcoming book The Institute and how it mirrors some current social (and political) issues in the US, even though he began writing this novel before a new president was elected. The Institute follows twelve-year-old Luke Ellis who is kidnapped and taken to a facility deep in the woods. In this place there are other kidnapped kids, and they all have special talents, such as telekinesis and telepathy. Can you sense the similarities now?
King shared that he “can’t help but see similarity between what’s going on in The Institute and those pictures of kids in cages”, and that “sometimes fiction outpaces fact”. And that’s the truly scary part of it all. But the story might also remind some readers of Stranger Things, which as Rolling Stone points out, is heavily inspired by King’s works, especially IT (remember Bob’s story about the clown?
More from Stephen King
- 31 Days of Horror: Stephen King’s The Boogeyman thrills
- 31 Days of Horror: Christine- Two masters of horror deliver an underrated classic
- The Boogeyman is a scream-filled reflection on grief
- Looking back at Stephen King’s creepy cult classic Children of the Corn
- The 3 Stephen King movies releasing in 2023 (so far)
Yeah, Bob lived in Maine when he was a kid. Never forget). King shared that he thinks “kids are sort of magic”, and he used to draw inspiration from his kids, and now that inspiration comes from his grandchildren.
The Institute is just a few days away from publishing, but 2020 will also see the arrival of another book from Stephen King: If It Bleeds, which continues Holly Gibney’s (Mr. Mercedes, anyone?) detective series. See? It’s a great time to be a King fan. Oh, and he already has an idea for a book after that one, so yes, there will be a lot more stories in the near future.
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The Institute will be published on September 10, 2019. If It Bleeds doesn’t have a release date yet but it’s expected to be out sometime in 2020.
What is your favorite Stephen King book? Let us know in the comments.