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Donald J. Trump has been working to mend fences with many of his detractors, but among literary luminaries it is looking like it will be a tough sell. A group of more than 400 writers, including big names such as Stephen King, David Eggers, Amy Tan, Junot Díaz and Cheryl Strayed, released an online petition on Tuesday to express their opposition to Mr. Trump’s candidacy on the grounds that he is appealing to the darkest elements in American society. “The rise of a political candidate who deliberately appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society, who encourages aggression...

This is in some respects a political show, and we are in the throes of hands-down the most insane presidential race in history. What do you make of it, and more specifically, of the rise of Donald Trump? It seems to me that, given the relentless 24-hour news cycle, it was only a matter of time before we had a media-savvy reality star ascend to this perch. Man, I don't know! Trump leaves me speechless. When he came down that escalator to announce that he was going to run for president, I thought to myself that it was a smart...

According to horror master Stephen King, Donald Trump is actually not all that scary compared to other options running for president of the United States. King believes that Ted Cruz winning the election is the "scarier" of the two options since "Cruz is a fundamentalist Christian," which King compares to an Islamic Imam....

US President Barack Obama called former President Shimon Peres over the weekend to wish him well, after Peres suffered a heart attack. In the conversation, Obama thanked Peres for their long friendship, according to a press release on Saturday night from Peres's office. "I was lucky to be treated by a dedicated medical team that worked around the clock, not only to open and improve my artery but to improve my heart. I left hospital stronger than I entered," said Peres in the phone call. He also lauded Obama for sealing the controversial Iran nuclear deal, even as it has...

They reveal how Nicholson, despite his maniacal performance and playboy reputation, acted as a father-figure and mentor for the then 10-year-old girls from London, England. The pair say Nicholson took naps on the floor between scenes to stay in character, talked about missing his daughter Jennifer from his first marriage to Sandra Knight and appeared to be a more devoted family man than his public image ever personified. Lisa, who today is a lawyer and Louise, a published scientist, both 46, also revealed their role in the hit flick did more harm than good to their fledgling acting careers. They...

“Until responsible gun owners support responsible gun control laws, innocent blood will continue to flow. How many times must we see this?” Mr. King, who has openly supported banning semiautomatic weapons, tweeted to his 743,000 followers Thursday evening. “Too many closed minds on gun control. Worse, far too many PROUDLY closed minds. Meanwhile, the American shooting gallery remains open,” he wrote. “According to Bloomberg Business, gun deaths will exceed traffic fatalities in America this year. Can’t put a seatbelt on a semi-automatic.”

In a brilliant tweet, the horror master perfectly sums up the state of the 2016 presidential race. Stephen King has unloaded on the Republican presidential field on Twitter — the horror master’s latest dive into savvy GOP bashing. This tweet takes on the nightmare that is the current field of right-wing senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. Stephen King ✔ @StephenKing Cruz, Paul and Rubio, all running for President. Hey, I thought I was supposed to write the horror stories. 2:25 PM - 16 Apr 2015 In recent weeks, King has jumped into the debate over Indiana’s religious...

Liberal novelist Stephen King regrets asserting that if you don't learn how to read, you'll end up in "the Army, Iraq." The comment, widely seen as a shot at the military, was first publicized six years ago on NewsBusters. In an interview with the Huffington Post, King was asked if he stood by the remarks. The author lamented, "No. That was just a case of misspeaking and also having one of those brain cramps that you realize that you're no longer living in the world that you grew up in...If I could take one remark back, that would be the...

Dennis Rader, the Kansas serial killer known as the "BTK killer," told a Wichita newspaper that he's cooperating with Katherine Ramsland, an author writing a book about his crimes. Rader murdered 10 people in the Wichita area from 1974 to 1991, and his victims ranged in ages from 9 to 62. He gave himself the nickname "BTK," which he said stood for "bind, torture, kill." Rader is serving 10 consecutive life sentences for the slayings, and won't be eligible for parole until 2180. In a letter to Wichita reporter Roy Wenzl, Rader claims he's cooperating with the book project in...

We at the Observer would advise skipping this story if you plan on sleeping without horrific nightmares ever again. If social media is to be believed, there is a man dressed as a clown wandering around Staten Island at night. Witnesses describe him as bald, wearing a trademark blue and yellow clown suit, holding balloons and OH MY GOD LOOK AT THIS PICTURE. The clown, which has reportedly been spotted hanging around the Grasmere and Richmond Valley train stations according to the SI Advance, has been snapped three times and uploaded to Twitter and Instagram, providing both internet buzz and...

It's scary enough watching Carrie wreak havoc with her telekinetic powers on a movie screen. Imagine what it would be like to see it while you were ordering a latte. For some unsuspecting patrons of a New York City coffee shop, a scary confrontation straight out of a Stephen King novel (and its two movie adaptations) happened right before their eyes.

Ron Howard and Brian Grazer‘s original plan for adapting Stephen King‘s The Dark Tower series was to do it as a series of movies bridged by a few seasons of TV. It always struck me as ambitious to the point of arrogance, while also rich in potential and, actually, quite exciting. But I wasn’t surprised when both Universal and Warner Bros. turned them down. Since then, they managed to lock a deal with MRC to produce a single film, with the possibility of more if it turns out to be a hit. That’s the way these things usually go, of...

PORTLAND, Maine — Stephen King and his wife have made a donation to a Maine group advocating for stricter gun control laws. King says the gift was "five figures" but doesn't want to say more about it because "charity's supposed to be a private thing." The Coalition for a Safer Maine says King is a gun owner and a defender of the Second Amendment who supports expanded background checks on gun sales and a ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines.....

"One only wishes Wayne LaPierre and his NRA board of directors could be drafted to some of these [violent] scenes, where they would be required to put on booties and rubber gloves and help clean up the blood, the brains, and the chunks of intestine still containing the poor wads of half-digested food that were some innocent bystander’s last meal." So wrote horror writer Stephen King in a Kindle essay Friday entitled "Guns." "Plenty of gun advocates cling to their semi-automatics the way Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson clung to the shit that was killing them," King wrote in his...

<p>"One only wishes Wayne LaPierre and his NRA board of directors could be drafted to some of these [violent] scenes, where they would be required to put on booties and rubber gloves and help clean up the blood, the brains, and the chunks of intestine still containing the poor wads of half-digested food that were some innocent bystander’s last meal."</p>

BANGOR, Maine — On Thursday afternoon, Dale Duff and Clem LaBree were preparing for their 4 to 6 p.m. sports talk show on Bangor radio station WZON-AM 620. At 1:30 p.m., Duff was editing and cutting highlights of Wednesday night’s Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics games. Fifteen minutes later, Duff and LaBree were told they were out of their jobs immediately. Duff, who writes a blog for Bangor Daily News, was the sports director and sportscaster and LaBree was a reporter and sportscaster. Duff was hired by station owner and best-selling author Stephen King 19 years ago to be...

Stephen King is offering an antidote to what he sees as the biases of right-wing radio talk shows by hiring a former Green Party vice presidential candidate to co-host a morning talk show on two stations he owns. In a rare public appearance, the horror writer held a news conference Tuesday in Bangor, Maine, at the headquarters of his three-station Zone Radio network. "The Pulse Morning Show" will be co-hosted by 50-year-old Pat LaMarche and 43-year-old Don Cookson, a former television reporter. LaMarche ran for vice president as a member of the Green Party in 2004. During the news conference...

Who better to weigh in on the issue of nightmarish debt spending and the blood-curdling notion that a country can tax its way to prosperity than one of the masters of the horror genre? In Florida recently, author Stephen King, out of concern for the well-being of the middle and lower classes, expressed a willingness to financially martyr himself when he said, “As a rich person, I pay 28 percent tax… what I want to ask you is, why am I not paying 50?” The crowd applauded in appreciation at King’s willingness to throw more of his income down the...

<p>SARASOTA — Horror novel writer Stephen King is no fan of Florida Gov. Rick Scott.</p> <p>Speaking at a rally Tuesday in Sarasota against state budget cuts, King bashed Scott's leadership. King criticized Scott's rejection of federal dollars for a high-speed rail between Tampa and Orlando.</p>

Javier Bardem is apparently the strong contender to play Roland Deshain in "The Dark Tower". After he was mentioned as frontrunner along with Viggo Mortensen, he is now reported to have been officially offered the lead role. Deadline Hollywood says formal negotiations haven't yet begun but the filmmakers have shown great enthusiasm that they have found the right actor.