Stephen King "Different Seasons" Slipcased First Edition, First Printing [Fine/NF+]

Different Seasons is especially collectible for its literary and cultural significance. It is unique in King's bibliography because it contains four novellas, three of which became major films. These stories helped redefine King as more than just a horror writer, showcasing his literary range.

The Viking Press 1982. Stephen King "Different Seasons". First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover book with dust-jacket. Original dust-jacket is not price-clipped, still showing $16.95. "First published in 1982 by the Viking Press" as required on the copyright page with without a number line to indicate later printing. New archival acid-free Mylar sleeve. Includes custom matching slipcase.

Original and genuine - a rare vintage collectible book. Collector's grade quality. First Edition copies in Fine condition with an intact dust jacket are especially valuable.

The first edition of Different Seasons by Stephen King is especially collectible for several key reasons:

1. Literary and Cultural Significance. Different Seasons is unique in King's bibliography because it contains four novellas, three of which became major films:

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption → The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Apt Pupil → Apt Pupil (1998)

The Body → Stand by Me (1986)

These stories helped redefine King as more than just a horror writer, showcasing his literary range.

2. Limited Print Run for First Editions. The original first edition, published by Viking Press in August 1982, had a relatively modest print run compared to King’s later works. Fewer copies mean higher demand among collectors.

3. First Appearance of Iconic Stories. It's the first appearance in book form of these now-iconic stories, which further increases its importance.

4. Stephen King's Legacy. As one of the most influential and bestselling authors of the 20th and 21st centuries, early and first editions of King's works are highly sought after.

Different Seasons

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, non-horrific 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.

Includes the stories “The Body” and “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”—set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine

A “hypnotic” (The New York Times Book Review) collection of four novellas—including the inspirations behind the films Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption—from Stephen King, bound together by the changing of seasons, each taking on the theme of a journey with strikingly different tones and characters.

This gripping collection begins with “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,” in which an unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge—the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award-nominee The Shawshank Redemption.

Next is “Apt Pupil,” the inspiration for the film of the same name about top high school student Todd Bowden and his obsession with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town.

In “The Body,” four rambunctious young boys plunge through the façade of a small town and come face-to-face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. This novella became the movie Stand By Me.

Finally, a disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death in “The Breathing Method.”

“The wondrous readability of his work, as well as the instant sense of communication with his characters, are what make Stephen King the consummate storyteller that he is,” hailed the Houston Chronicle about Different Seasons.

Reviews

"Hypnotic." ― The New York Times Book Review

"To find the secret of his success, you have to compare King to Twain and Poe, with a generous dash of Philip Roth and Will Rogers thrown in for popular measure. King’s stories tap the roots of myth buried in all our minds." ― Los Angeles Times

"Buy Different Seasons. I promise you’ll enjoy it… King creates people who are so alive, you can almost sense them." ― Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"The wondrous readability of his work, as well as the instant sense of communication with his characters, are what make King the consummate storyteller that he is." ― Houston Chronicle

"Riveting, irresistible… a zestful delight to read." ― Los Angeles Herald Examiner

"Fast-paced page turners…an unqualified success." ― People

"Clever and triumphant... Stephen King remains a master." ― The New York Times

"Cause for rejoicing." ― Washington Post Book World

"Ok, let’s face it, the man is good…wondrous reading." ― Denver Post

"No demons chortle from the closet, no vampires droll beneath the moon. Instead King’s ragged claws reach from ambush into the wholesome light of daily life--what could be more frightening than that?" ― Cosmopolitan

"A horror quartet by a spellbinding storyteller, master of suspense who leads you into plots like a guide through minefield." ― Portland Oregonian

"A spellbinding storyteller… A feast of horror fit for a king." ― San Diego Union

"Enjoyable…filled with surprise, humor and insight." ― Wichita Falls Times

Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Widely known for his horror novels, he has been crowned the "King of Horror". He has also explored other genres, among them suspense, crime, science-fiction, fantasy, and mystery. Though known primarily for his novels, he has written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in collections.

His debut, Carrie (1974), established him in horror. Different Seasons (1982), a collection of four novellas, was his first major departure from the genre. Among the films adapted from King's fiction are Carrie (1976), The Shining (1980), The Dead Zone and Christine (both 1983), Stand by Me (1986), Misery (1990), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Dolores Claiborne (1995), The Green Mile (1999), The Mist (2007), and It (2017). He has published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman and has co-written works with other authors, notably his friend Peter Straub and sons Joe Hill and Owen King. He has also written nonfiction, notably Danse Macabre (1981) and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000).

Among other awards, King has won the O. Henry Award for "The Man in the Black Suit" (1994) and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller for 11/22/63 (2011). He has also won honors for his overall contributions to literature, including the 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2007 Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the 2014 National Medal of Arts. Joyce Carol Oates called King "a brilliantly rooted, psychologically 'realistic' writer for whom the American scene has been a continuous source of inspiration, and American popular culture a vast cornucopia of possibilities."