Different Seasons

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Different Seasons (1982) is a collection of four novellas, markedly different in tone and subject, each on the theme of a journey. The first is a rich, satisfying, nonhorrific tale about an innocent man who carefully nurtures hope and devises a wily scheme to escape from prison. The second concerns a boy who discards his innocence by enticing an old man to travel with him into a reawakening of long-buried evil. In the third story, a writer looks back on the trek he took with three friends on the brink of adolescence to find another boy's corpse. The trip becomes a character-rich rite of passage from youth to maturity.

These first three novellas have been made into well-received movies: "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" into Frank Darabont's 1994 The Shawshank Redemption (available as a screenplay, a DVD film, and an audiocassette), "Apt Pupil" into Bryan Singer's 1998 film Apt Pupil (also released in 1998 on audiocassette), and "The Body" into Rob Reiner's Stand by Me (1986).

The final novella, "Breathing Lessons," is a horror yarn told by a doctor, about a patient whose indomitable spirit keeps her baby alive under extraordinary circumstances. It's the tightest, most polished tale in the collection. --Fiona Webster

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Book Description
A collection of four novellas by the bestselling master, three of which became the basis for the hit films Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and Apt Pupil. So varied in tone that "you have to compare King to Twain, Poe-with a generous dash of Philip Roth and Will Rogers thrown in." -Los Angeles Times


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It doesn't get any better than Frank Muller reading vintage Stephen King! In Apt Pupil, this master of suspense treats his readers to a sinister plot in which a 13-year-old boy, Todd Bowden, becomes completely absorbed by the life and true stories of a former Nazi, Kurt Dussander. When Todd uncovers the identity of a war criminal hiding out in his town, he blackmails Kurt into telling, and reliving, all of the concentration camp horrors so Todd can almost feel what it was like to have been there. The more involved the two become, the deeper and harder it is for Todd to remain the "apt pupil" that he once was. And, of course, the author's (Bag of Bones, Audio Reviews, LJ 12/98) plots always have twists. This audiotape is pure, unadulterated Stephen King; it's "must- have audio" at its best. Highly recommended.--Kristin M. Jacobi, Eastern Connecticut State Univ., Willimantic Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.


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