[DL_Snell]

I’ve only read the first chapter of Cell, but . . . when I attended Mr. King’s Portland Arts and Lectures appearance, he mentioned the book. He said he got the idea when he saw a woman in a power suit get on her cell phone; this was in New York. He wondered what would happen if the lady got some kind of message that made her psychotic. I guess he found out: that woman actually finds her way into the book, except, if I’m not mistaken, the city is Boston, not New York--he said he didn’t want to piss off any New Yorkers by, for example, having his characters get off the train in a place where the train normally doesn’t stop; as anyone whose read the Dark Tower series knows, King is notorious for goofs in his research.

King also explained the genesis of his newest book, Lisey’s Story. I guess he got the idea when he returned home after a near-fatal bout of pneumonia: his wife had cleaned out his office because she was going to refurnish it, so the rug was rolled up to one side, and all of his stuff was boxed up in the corner; King realized that this is what his office will look like when he dies.