Lilja - Liljas Library: the world of Stephen King

Liljas Library:

The World of Stephen King

Hans-ke Lilja

CEMETERY DANCE PUBLICATIONS

Baltimore

2010

Copyright 2010 by Hans-ke Lilja

Cemetery Dance Publications Edition 2010

ISBN-13: 978-1-58767-248-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author, or his agent, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a critical article or review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper, or electronically transmitted on radio or television.

Cover Art: 2010 by Glenn Chadbourne

Cover Design: Gail Cross

Typesetting and Design: Bill Walker

Digital Formatting: DH Digital Editions

Cemetery Dance Publications

132-B Industry Lane

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Forest Hill, Maryland 21050

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First Digital Edition

For my family. I love you!

Contents

Foreword

Last year, Cemetery Dance released the book version of Liljas Library and let me tell you, it was nicesurreal, but niceto hold a hardcopy version of the website I have worked on for 15 years in my hands. To be able to open it, smell it and flip through the pages But now its time for the next stepto release Liljas Library as an eBook.

There are obviously huge differences between a printed book and an eBook, both having their respective advantages and disadvantages. But some of the things I like most about eBooks include that they are [physically small], easy to bring from place to place and that they are searchable. The last quality is something I think the eBook version of Liljas Library will benefit from; I realize its not a book everyone wants to read cover to cover and that many people might just want to pick it up to read it every now and then. Maybe youre looking for something someone said in an interview? Doing so will be a lot easier to find in the eBook version.

I asked Cemetery Dance if I could write a foreword for this eBook edition and they told me to go right ahead, so thats what I did! What I want to do is to thank each and every one of you for all the support you have given Liljas Library: The World of Stephen King. I have been running the site for more than a decade now and, I will admit, there have been many times I have considered closing it and starting something else. But my love for Kings work and the support from all my readers convinced me that the site has a purpose and that its not time to shut it down just yet. I doubt that itll be here for 15 more years but who knows

So, thank you so much for all of your support. It has meant more than I can ever say and I hope you will enjoy the eBook version of Liljas Library: The World of Stephen King as many others have done with the printed version. Feel free to send me your comments about it, good or badI want to hear them all. You can reach me through the website, Facebook or Twitter.

Enjoy!

Lilja

January 21, 2011

www.Liljas-Library.com

Part 1Introduction

Liljas Library: Introduction

By

Bev Vincent

I dont know Hans-ke Lilja. Weve never met. Weve never spoken on the phone. Though I have seen pictures of him, I probably couldnt pick him out of a police lineup.

And yet weve corresponded for over a decade. Im not sure when we first started e-mailing each other, but my archive contains messages that date back to 1997. I couldnt possibly guess how many notes weve exchanged over the years. Thousands, certainly.

When you think about it, his website, Liljas Library, is an astonishing accomplishment. Started in the mid-90s during the internet boom, it was just one of a vast number of sites that gathered and posted news about Stephen Kings upcoming publications, films, interviews and reviews.

Who would have guessed that, all these years later, a website in Sweden would be the one that survived? More than survivedflourished. Its success is a tribute to its creators devotion to the subject.

The look of Liljas Library has evolved over time. Its top banner currently features a new mascot, Marv the Library Policeman, designed by Glenn Chadbourne, whose illustrations you will find within these pagesand an interview with him, too. At its core, though, the site has remained true to its original visionas a place where fans can find out whats going on in the Stephen King universe. Outside of stephenking.com, Liljas Library is the go-to place for up-to-date news.

Publishers, directors, and authors have come to respect Liljas Library. British publishers sending galleys to a reviewer in a foreign countryunheard of. American television publicists mailing advance screeners of highly anticipated projects to a fan in a country where they will never be airedsimply amazing. King himself has mentioned the site as a place he visits on the internet, and it was recently featured in a cameo in the Marvel adaptation of The Stand. These are all indicators of how Lilja Librarys reputation has grown.

Lilja (as most of us know him) has landed interviews with a dizzying array of people, including two lengthy interviews with King. Among his other conquests are interview-shy people like Kings personal assistant, Marsha DeFilippo, directors Frank Darabont and Mick Garris, authors Stewart ONan and Peter Straub, and actors from Ed Begley, Jr. to Steven Weber. He has interviewed the entire creative team behind the Marvel Dark Tower graphic novel series, one at a time.

Did I mention that he did all this from Sweden?

Lilja would be the first to admit that English isnt his first language. For all I know it isnt even his second or third, but his command of English is much better than he gives himself credit for, and its vastly superior to my Swedish, which is at about the same level as the chef from The Muppets. He has communicated with people like King, Darabont, and Straub over the telephone in a foreign language, across half a dozen time zones, and always come away with interesting and informative results.

These interviews, conducted over the past nine years, take up the first half of this volume. He never dilutes them with commentary or contexthe simply presents them as raw question and answer sessions, verbal tics and asides included. His zeal and fascination with his subject shines through in every transcript.

The rest of The Book of Lilja contains his reviews of books, movies, TV shows, and audio books. Lilja approaches reviewing from the fans perspective. He places himself front and center and writes in a conversational tone. Hes not interested in literary merit or overly concerned with cinematography. Does he like something and does he think fans will like itthose are the questions he tries to answer. If theres anything about a work that he doesnt care for, he makes no bones about it. (For the record, I would have preferred footnotes to endnotes in The Road to the Dark Tower, too, but I was outvoted.)

What lies ahead for the little website that couldand did? Who knows? In the meantime, enjoy your time exploring The Book of Lilja. I have no doubt that you will come away from this volume with a new respect for the accomplishments of the guy who single-handedly built the most popular Stephen King fan site on the internet.

In Sweden.

Amazing.

Part 2Interview with Lilja

By Bev Vincent

Bev Vincent: When did you first start reading Stephen Kings work? Did you start reading him in English or in Swedish?

Lilja: I started to read King in the mid-80s when I got a copy of Carrie in Swedish. I think I actually got it as a Christmas gift. Then I read other books, but not that regularly. It took maybe a couple of years until I started to seek out his other books and read and collect them.