Stephen King and Peter Straub's Talisman trilogy is soon to come to a bittersweet end with Other Worlds Than These, the last in the series started by the pair back in 1984.
Publishing on October 6 via Scribner, Other Worlds Than These is the follow up to the fantasy novel The Talisman and its 2001 sequel Black House, both of which were written by King and Straub. As sadly Straub passed away back in 2022, King finished the final novel himself, working from ideas that both he and Straub had come up with to finish the story, as he revealed to Fango's own THE KINGCAST – an extra poignant episode where King speaks of Straub's passing not long after the death of Kingcast co-host, the great Scott Wampler.
Speaking with Esquire, who have today revealed an exclusive excerpt from the book, King ‘channeled Peter throughout like crazy' while working on Other Worlds Than These, as well as checking in with Straub's widow and children for approval throughout.
Other Worlds Than These will continue the story of Jack Sawyer, a homicide detective who can “flip” between parallel worlds. An official logline reads:
Jack must stop a rampaging gang of infected teenagers from America-side, and the forces of the mysterious Gullet at the edge of Mid-World, before it destroys our world and all worlds. Jack is older now; his Ka-tet (a King-specific word for a group of people who join together on a quest) is fraying; and his task, nearly impossible
Other Worlds Than These also features illustrations by artist Gabriel Rodriguez, who contributed images to King’s 2022 book Fairy Tale and collaborated with King’s son, Joe Hill, on the Locke & Key graphic novels.
If you're not familiar with The Talisman trilogy already then we obviously don't really suggest starting two books in, as King's work tends to be quite lore-heavy. However, the man himself says that knowledge of The Talisman and Black House “isn’t necessary for your enjoyment of this tale of menace and adventure,” meaning Other Worlds Than These could theoretically serve as an introduction to the series.
Other Worlds Than These is now available for preorder. Read a snippet of Esquire's first excerpt below, and then head over for the full piece.
Other Worlds Than These
By Stephen King and Peter Straub
Chapter 1
Right here and now (as an old friend used to say), we are in the fluid present, so see this and see it well.
It’s a man standing on a balcony, behind a waist-high balustrade made of pink stone—what’s called kinna stone in this part of Mid-World. He’s wearing faded jeans and an equally faded tee-shirt advertising Kingsland Ale—which, according to the slogan, is THE KING OF ALES. This man has sampled many bottles of Kingsland and is more than willing to vouch for the slogan. Not just because it’s good, but because dear friends of his used to brew it in a town called French Landing. That town is in another world.
We know this man. He’s not the boy of twelve we met in September of 1981, but the resemblance to that boy, first encountered in the town of Arcadia Beach, New Hampshire, is undeniable. That boy was at the start of a great adventure, although he didn’t know it. All he knew in September of 1981 was that his mother was sick. How sick, he didn’t know, but an interior voice whispered Very sick, very sick.
