''Gwendy's Button Box'' is a

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

by American writers

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

and

Richard Chizmar Richard Thomas Chizmar (born 1965) is an American writer, the publisher and editor of '' Cemetery Dance'' magazine, and the owner of Cemetery Dance Publications. He also edits anthologies, produces films, writes screenplays, and teaches writin ...

. It was announced by '' Entertainment Weekly'' on February 28, 2017. The American edition published by Cemetery Dance included illustrations by Keith Minnion. The French edition released by Le Livre de Poche in September 2018, reproduced those illustrations with brand new ones by the same artist. A sequel titled ''Gwendy's Magic Feather'', penned solely by Chizmar, was released in November 2019. In November 2020, Chizmar announced that he and King were writing a third installment in the series titled ''

Gwendy's Final Task ''Gwendy's Final Task'' is an adventure novel by American authors Stephen King and Richard Chizmar. It was published on February 15, 2022. This is the third installment of the ''Gwendy's Button Box'' trilogy. Previous installments include ''Gwe ...

'', this time as a full-length novel. It was published in 2022.

Plot

The story takes place in King's fictional town of

Castle Rock Castle Rock may refer to: Geography Islands * Castle Rock (Alaskan Island), an island off the coast of the U.S. state of Alaska * Castle Rock, Hong Kong (螺洲白排), an island of Hong Kong, part of the Po Toi Islands * Castle Rock (Massachusett ...

in 1974. Twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson encounters a stranger in dark clothes and a black hat who invites her to "palaver."

Conception

"I had a story I couldn't finish, and hizmarshowed me the way home with style and panache," King said in a statement. In describing the writing process, Richard Chizmar said, "Steve sent me the first chunk of a short story. I added quite a bit and sent it back to him. He did a pass, then bounced it back to me for another pass. Then, we did the same thing all over again – one more draft each. Next thing you know, we had a full-length novella on our hands. We took a free hand in rewriting each other and adding new ideas and characters. The whole process took about a month."

References

Novellas by Stephen King American horror novels 2017 American novels Collaborative novels Cemetery Dance Publications books {{2010s-horror-novel-stub