When a peddler inspired Stephen King's masterpiece

Stephen King, the undisputed king of modern horror, is a master of turning the most everyday frames of real life into the most terrifying literary nightmares. But you might be interested to know that behind the scenes of one of the darkest stories of dealing with the devil in the "Total Darkness, Starless" series is a simple itinerant hawker standing by the airport fence.

Iran's Ambassador Arjan International Service - Ilaha Shams: King, who was born in September 1947 in Portland, Maine, has traveled a legendary path in literature since the publication of his first short story, "The Glass Floor" in 1967; A name that has pinned masterpiece film adaptations such as Carrie, The Shining, Misery and works such as The Mist and The Long Walk to the visual memory of the world. However, King is not just a master novelist; His genius in long stories and novellas with the same terrible and tangible rhythm is unrepeatable.

"Fair Extension", which was published in 2010 in the form of "Full Dark, No Stars" book, is a different retelling of the literary archetype "Man's Deal with the Devil". The story revolves around Dave Streeter; A family man struggling with incurable lung cancer. The path of Dave's life is completely changed when, on his way back home, he is enchanted by the presence of a mysterious vendor on the side of the road leading to the airport.

The peddler, who claims to have lived for hundreds of years, puts a tempting and unusual offer on the table: to give new years of life in exchange for 15% of the demon's income, on a terrible condition; The demon must choose a victim so that all his sufferings, sickness and darkness will be dumped on his head. Dave immediately targets his old friend and fellow student, Tom Goodhue; Someone who spent all his childhood doing his homework on Dave so he could get good grades, kidnapped Dave's lover in college and bonded with him, and now he's awash in wealth and has a wonderful wife and three perfect children.

With the signing of this ominous deal, the bottom of the scale shifts in a shocking way; Dave's cancerous tumor miraculously subsides, he gets successive promotions and his family life takes off. On the other hand, Goodhue's hell begins: his wife succumbs to breast cancer, his business empire collapses, and the fate of his children falls into ruin.

King never reveals the end of this bitter game to the audience, but he reveals the secret that sparked the birth of the story; A direct confession from his own words:

"In Bangor, right where I live, there's a road called Hammond Street Extension that goes around the airport wall. In the middle of this route and next to the airport fences, there is a sandy plot of land that has been a hangout for roadside peddlers for years. The most popular of them for me was a man whom the locals called "the golf ball man"; The one whose head was found right at the beginning of spring. When the heat came, he would go to the Bangor Municipal Golf Course and pick up hundreds of balls left under the winter snow and sell them. The day I looked at him on the side of the road, the idea of writing "Fair Extension" ignited in my mind. Of course, I took the events of the story to the fictional city of Deri; The eternal home of Pennywise, the infamous and sinister clown, as the door is none other than Bangor himself wearing a mask."

Hossein Nazami was elected as the secretary general of this newly established organization by the decisive vote of the members of the Media Assembly (Majors).

Cinematheque of Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts examines 6 films of Stanley Kubrick, an important film maker of cinema from a philosophical point of view, under the title "Kubrick and the Cinema of Machines: From the Milling Machine to the Machine of Enslavement".

Zanjan - The 11th Zanjan Book Fair set a new record by selling more than 15,000 books and registering a figure of nearly 5 billion Tomans in the shadow of 30% discounts and the enthusiastic reception of book lovers.

Zanjan - The 6th day of the 11th book fair of Zanjan became one of the most popular and dynamic days of this great cultural event, with the celebration of the culture and history of Soltanieh, the unveiling of research works of architecture and screenwriting, the holding of a poetry evening and the enthusiastic presence of the people of Qalam.

Zanjan - In the era of the fragrance of books and thought, the age of "Zangan" poetry and the ritual of honoring the pioneers of literature of this country, at the same time as the 11th national book exhibition of Iranian publishers in Zanjan, a gathering of seals and words was created.

Zanjan - Following the reception of the 11th Zanjan Book Fair by various people, the executive secretary of the event announced the increase of visiting hours on Friday and the one-day extension of the exhibition until the end of Saturday.

Radio show in the radio show "What am I talking about?" He went to the life of Haruki Murakami, a famous Japanese novelist; A writer who made running a part of his life and found a meaningful link between loneliness, endurance and persistence in running and writing.

The book "Director's meeting with the script" is a guide to better understand the script and turn it into a spectacular work.

The Executive Secretary of the 11th Zanjan Book Fair announced the one-day extension of this event. Therefore, this exhibition will continue its activity on Saturday, 25 Mehr (1405).

The American Library, which operated in 1330 on Shah Abad Street (current Republic), in front of Naderi Cafe, gave a new face to Western cultural diplomacy in Iran.

The book "Secrets of reading: Ali Asghar Amirani according to the narration of documents" written by Turan Mansouri and Mohsen Saeed, is an enlightening, unbiased work full of first-hand historical facts. Beyond recounting the life of a journalist, this work dissects the mechanism of survival in a closed political environment, the relationship between the yellow and serious press, and the methods of deceiving public opinion by the power centers.

Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh, the prominent figure of political geography and prominent professor of Persian Gulf studies, died in London at the age of 81 after a period of illness.

Amini said: My initial reception of the text was very impressive. It's rare to get upset or teary-eyed while reading a play, but I cried while reading this one.

Collecting and introducing works related to Hazrat Zainab (PBUH) can provide a basis for cooperation between researchers in different fields. Historians, literature researchers, religious studies researchers, and culture and society specialists can follow different questions about the life and historical position of the Holy Prophet by referring to the identified sources.

Hazrat Zainab (pbuh) is not the only witness to the events of Karbala; Rather, in historical narratives, it is a character who takes responsibility for conveying the message of that event in difficult circumstances. From this point of view, his courage and stability can be examined in connection with awareness, responsibility and standing against forgetting the truth.

Rafiq Shami's novel, beyond a narrative, is a testimony of human survival in the most difficult conditions. A work that crosses language boundaries and has been translated into more than thirty languages, now with a Persian version, brings a global experience of hope and suffering to the library of Iranian audiences.

A grave has been discovered in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, the date of which is estimated to be around ten thousand years BC. The land of Iraq, known in the past as Mian-Rodan or Mian-Dorud, together with the Anatolian plateau and the land of Levant, were known as the center of human civilizations. Humans started farming and animal husbandry in these areas for the first time during the Neolithic period. Also, in these lands, for the first time, the manufacture of utensils and tools with stone, plaster and lime began.

In the last week, the market of paper and printing supplies showed a decrease in the price of writing paper and a slight drop in the price of some types of paper and cardboard.

Khorasan Razavi- Seyyed Hossein Khadiojam, a writer, translator, researcher and ghazal scholar, was very fond of books because he considered entering the National Library of Iran and becoming a librarian one of his dreams.

Maryam Hosseini, a researcher of literary criticism and textual studies, called the book "Literary Schools" by Reza Seyed Hosseini "the cornerstone of literary schools in Iran" and said: "Any researcher in this field cannot present a valuable work without studying it." Praising Seyyed Hosseini's mastery as a translator and his translations of Malraux, Sartre, Camus and Balzac, he considered the two gaps in the book to be the lack of modernism and postmodernism and the imbalance of the chapters.

The book "Yadegar Nik" reflects part of the Zoroastrian society's efforts in preserving the culture and history of Iran and Yazd and shows the cultural and social alignment of Zoroastrians and Muslims of Yazd. "Good souvenir" reminds us of the memories, smells, tastes, sights, heard and names that were and are gone.

Ilam - Director General of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Ilam Province announced that 135 books of the 8th edition of the Book of the Year Award of the province have been sent to Iran Book and Literature House for judging and evaluation.

The commemoration ceremony of the 100th birthday of "Reza Seyed Hosseini", the late translator and cultural writer, was held on Tuesday 21 Mehr with the cooperation of Soroush Publications at the center of the Islamic Encyclopaedia. Mahshid Nonhali called him "a world of love for the culture of this land", Seyyed Ali Al Dawood spoke of his collaboration in "Culture of Artifacts", Mehdi Firouzan mentioned his visit at the book fair in 1364, and Ahmad Masjidjamei called him "a child of suffering and humility". At the end, a documentary by Mehrdad Doferi was broadcast.

The book "From the Beginning to the End of Babylon Civilization" is a narrative of a historical journey; From the birth of Babylon by the Euphrates to the reign of kings such as Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II, from the bloody battles with Elam and Assyria to its sudden conquest by Cyrus the Great.

Zanjan - The Executive Secretary of the 11th Zanjan Book Fair announced the extension of visiting hours until 10:00 PM on the final days of the exhibition and praised the unprecedented reception of citizens and cultural campaigns.

Lorestan - Director General of Lorestan Public Libraries said: A collection of 10,000 audio book titles was added to the resources of the blind section of the central library of the province.

Lorestan - Literary and cultural circles of Lorestan province celebrated Hafez Memorial Day by holding various programs including academic meetings and poetry evenings, focusing on preserving the Persian language and explaining his thoughts.

"Blind Owl" is not one of those books that you can just read and then close and put away. Some novels stay in the mind after they are finished because they told a good story or created a memorable character. But the owl remains blind in a different way. This book settles something in the reader, something like air, taste, darkness, and a kind of vague familiarity with a wound that may have been in the person before, but it didn't have a name.

Fars - the book "Lari Coins; From the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean" compiled, compiled and translated by Fatemeh Qomlaghi, was unveiled in the Larestan Pavilion at Shiraz Expo 2026.

An evening meeting with Fereydoun Majlisi was held on Wednesday (October 21, 1405) at Badragh Javidan Publishing House under the pretext of publishing the book "Discussions in New York, Machiavelli in Isfahan", from the series of Asr Roshan meetings organized by Marvarid Publishing House.

Dehdashti writer Aftab Afridon believes that instead of analyzing the contradictions of the power structure in Ail, the tensions caused by facing the transition period and class divisions, most of the local writers have turned to creating decorative images and postcards from the past.

"Doctor Zhivago" by Boris Pasternak and its film adaptation directed by David Lane are among the most significant examples of the connection of literature, history and cinema in the 20th century. This work, beyond a romantic narrative in the context of the Russian Revolution, reflects a fundamental question, the fate of the individual and personal morality in a world overshadowed by history and ideology.

Professor Perigarina has received numerous international awards and honors from Pakistan, India and Iran, among them the gold medal for the best Persian language teacher from the Iranian government before the Islamic Revolution and the World Book of the Year Award of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the translation of the Masnavi in 2009.