

King and longtime researcher Russ Dorr prepared for the novel by reading many historical documents and newspaper archives from the period, looking at clothing and appliance ads, sports scores, and television listings. The book contains detailed minutiae such as the 1958 price of a pint of root beer (ten cents) or a haircut (forty cents). Instead of people who read horror stories, people who read The Help or People of the Book might like this book." In a piece in the magazine titled "An Open Letter From Stephen King", he writes about possible original ideas for comics:Ĭommenting on the book as historical fiction, King said: "This might be a book where we really have a chance to get an audience who's not my ordinary audience. King first talked publicly about the idea in Marvel Spotlight issue The Dark Tower (January 27, 2007), prior to the beginning of the ongoing comic book adaptation of King's Dark Tower series. However, he felt a historical novel required more research than he was willing to do at the time and greater literary talent than he possessed. Like his novel Under the Dome (2009), he abandoned the project, returning to the story later in life. It was really strange at first, like breaking in a new pair of shoes." Īccording to King, the idea for the novel first came to him in 1971, before the release of his first novel, Carrie (1974). The novel required deep research to accurately portray the late 1950s and early 1960s. King commented on the amount of research it required, saying "I've never tried to write anything like this before. 11/22/63 won the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller and the 2012 International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the 2012 British Fantasy Award for Best Novel and the 2012 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. It stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for sixteen weeks.

A short excerpt was released online on June 1, 2011, and another excerpt was published in the Octoissue of Entertainment Weekly. The novel was published on November 8, 2011 and quickly became a number-one bestseller. The novel was announced on King's official site on March 2, 2011. You may be looking for 11.22.63 (TV Series).ġ1/22/63 is a novel by Stephen King about a time traveler who attempts to prevent the assassination of President John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy, which occurred on Novem(the novel's titular date).
