Another Summer, another Stephen King read….
Well, sort of.
I’ve got in the habit of reading a Stephen King at the beginning of the Summer. Not quite sure how it happened, but it seems to have become a tradition, or at least a habit for me. Rather like Horror books at Halloween, Ray Bradbury in the Autumn… but I digress.
This one’s been sat in the pile for a while, actually. Again, I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps it was because I was waiting for me to pick it up in a Summer, perhaps that it was not ‘full-fat’ Stephen but a collaboration, perhaps that it was short… 175 pages.
But I was looking for an SK book to read, picked this one up on a whim… and pretty much read it in one sitting.
I shouldn’t have worried too much about the collaboration aspect. Richard has not only been the owner and editor of the much-respected Cemetery Dance magazine and publisher of Cemetery Dance Publications for a while now, but a well-respected writer in his own right.
As I understand it, this was a story that Stephen started, got to the point where he felt he couldn’t finish and then left it in his work-pile for another day. Until Richard came along, asking if Stephen wanted to collaborate on something. King gave Richard this one, and this novella is the result.
Mind you, it’s clearly been worked on between the two authors. I couldn’t spot a join, if that’s what you were thinking!
The plot centres around Gwendy Peterson, a young girl who lives in an often-used King setting, the New England town of Castle Rock. We begin the story when Gwendy is twelve. Climbing up to Castle View as part of her daily exercise routine, she meets at the top of the hill a man in a dark suit and hat who clearly knows her, even when she doesn’t know him.
In true Twilight Zone fashion, she is given a present by the man, who names himself ‘Richard Farris*’. It is a box with six special buttons, the pressing of any of which could have enormous consequences. Gwendy is also shown two other benefits of being given the responsibility of looking after the box – one is that the box can produce chocolate that on eating will limit Gwendy’s appetite, the second is that the box will occasionally produce a silver coin, a Morgan silver dollar, as a thank you.
The rest of the story is about what happens as Gwendy grows up, and the effect that the box has on her life.
This is a surprisingly short story, but one which encapsulates all of those things that I love about King’s work. There’s the descriptions of what I imagine small-town America to be like, combined with a strange Twilight Zone element. Gwendy herself is that typical character, a young, almost-teenage girl, with her life ahead of her. The tension throughout is created by Gwendy possibly being put in jeopardy and as she grows up we wonder what the motives for her having the box are, and what the consequences of it will be – for as we know, there’s always a price to be paid for any unsolicited ‘gift’…
Although it is not a solo work, I’d be pleased to pass this one on for someone who is unsure about King’s work to try. It covers so many of the elements that I like in a King story. The main issue was that I felt it wasn’t long enough – not always a bad thing. I understand that there are other Gwendy stories, that I will be keen to pick up.
It’s a good choice for my Summer King read. Recommended.
*It is possible that this character is another better-known King villain, although it isn’t clear.
GWENDY’S BUTTON BOX by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar
Published by Cemetery Dance, 2017
175 pages
ISBN: 978 1 58767 610 9
