''Gwendy's Button Box'' is a
horror novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...
by American writers
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
and
Richard Chizmar. It was announced by ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' 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 Trilogy''. Previous installments include ''Gwendy's Butt ...
'', this time as a full-length novel. It was published in 2022. After a book box release, containing all three installments, the trilogy was named ''
The Gwendy Trilogy''.
Plot
The story takes place in King's fictional town of
Castle Rock 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
External links
''Gwendy's Button Box'' at StephenKing.com*
{{The Dark Tower
2010s novellas
Fiction set in 1974
Novels set in the 1970s
Novels set in Maine
Novellas by Stephen King
American horror novels
Collaborative novels
Cemetery Dance Publications books