Welcome to the 6th annual Stephen King Summer! This year you have the option to opt out of all SKS content if you’re not participating. CLICK HERE for a tutorial for how to adjust your settings in Secret Stuff. If you DO want to follow along - actively or passively - you don’t need to do anything extra! As long as you’re a monthly or annual member of Secret Stuff, you’re automatically on the SKS list.

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Let’s get this party started!

Okay, it’s already June and I know several of you have already jumped into HOLLY, but our first official zoom for Stephen King Summer 2026 is happening:

Sunday, June 7 at 4pm PT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET

with a zoom hangout followed by a watch along of the first episode of the 2017 television series Mr. Mercedes.

THIS WILL NOT BE RECORDED FOR REPLAY

So you gotta be there for the fun!

*note that all book club meetings WILL be recorded, but watch alongs never are

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We did it, guys. 😂 After much pleading and some resistance, we’ve finally bullied Laura into tackling a book from King’s detective era (aka Laura’s least favorite of Kings eras). We will be kicking off Stephen King Summer with…. Holly!

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT ALL OUR STEPHEN KING SUMMER PICKS:

Holly is a crime-horror thriller by Stephen King, published in September 2023. It centers on Holly Gibney, one of King’s recurring characters, who first appeared in Mr. Mercedes (and features in that entire trilogy) and later showed up in The Outsider. In Holly, she becomes the clear lead character for the first time.

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The best time of year is upon us! 🤡

The 6th annual STEPHEN KING SUMMER Book Club starts next week and I cannot wait for another few months of deep diving on my favorite author of all time.

I’ll get into more details below, but here are the most important things you need to know:

• We will be reading Holly, The Life of Chuck, and CUJO

• We will be watching Mr. Mercedes (episode 1 of the 2017 tv series), the 2025 movie The Life of Chuck starring Tom Hiddleston, and the 1983 classic CUJO

• Each book club meeting will be recorded for REPLAY if you can’t attend live, but the watch alongs will not be recorded

• If you’re already a paid member of Secret Stuff, you’ll get all of the STEPHEN KING content automatically, no need to do anything extra.

I answer most of your FAQ’s HERE and if you’d like a little background to my deep love of Stephen King, I highly recommend listening to Ep 22 of the 10 Things To Tell You podcast called Stephen King Starter Kit.

You can also purchase your Stephen King Summer MERCH HERE.

THE SELECTIONS:

HOLLY

published in 2023

449 pages

Audio read by Justine Lupe, who plays Holly in the Mr Mercedes tv series

Our first book for Stephen King Summer 2026 will be HOLLY, a newer novel that is in contrast to most of our previous SKS selections (and definitely a wide swing from the I’ve been co-hosting for the last 6 months).

I’m on the record (over and over again) stating that King’s last 15-ish years of crime novels have not been my favorite phase of his genre-hopping. I prefer outright horror and generally his older stuff. However, you can’t study King and his cultural impact without taking a good look at what he’s been doing in these last couple of decades.

The Holly Gibney character shows up originally in Mr Mercedes, the first book in the Bill Hodges trilogy. She’s also a main character in The Outsider and in the novella If It Bleeds. King has said that Holly is one of his favorite characters he’s ever written and finally in 2023 he gave her her own novel.

Despite the character overlap, Holly can be read as a stand alone book. There is a spoiler to the Mr Mercedes trilogy at the beginning of HOLLY, but the story itself stands alone. We could do a whole summer on just Holly Gibney, but since we’re not going to do that, I chose the book I thought we’d get the most understanding possible out of this quirky private investigator.

Since HOLLY is our June pick, we’re kicking off the summer with a watch along of the first episode of the of Mr Mercedes tv series adaptation that debuted in 2017. Holly herself doesn’t appear in episode 1, but it will be an introduction to the universe where she lives. Of course you’re welcome to continue watching the rest of the series and feel free to discuss it in the Secret Stuff chat:

THE LIFE OF CHUCK

published in the If It Bleeds collection in 2020 // published as a stand alone novella in 2025

128 pages

The Life of Chuck is a novella told in 3 acts, where we see 3 distinct scenes from Charles Krantz’s life. It’s a tale told in reverse, with a lot of meaning.

I chose The Life of Chuck because I thought it would be a good dip into Stephen King for those who hate horror or don’t want to read a long novel. I also think it’s important to understand that King is (always) doing something more than scaring us.

Because this story is so short, and the movie starring Tom Hiddleston has so much acclaim, we’ll be discussing and watching The Life of Chuck all in one meeting at the end of July. (The book club discussion will be recorded, the watch along will not.)

CUJO

Published in 1981

399 pages (reprint version)

The name CUJO is now synonymous with a rabid (or aggressive) dog and it’s a shorthand in pop culture even if you’ve never read or watched this psychological thriller. But now we will! Try not to read any synopsis of CUJO before we start.

This book is rough and scary and sad, but it will give us a LOT to talk about. King is doing something really interesting in CUJO and it’s worth noting that he wrote this novel at the height of his addiction issues, and has mentioned several times that he doesn’t even remember writing it. I think you will find this particularly fascinating while reading.

I chose CUJO because I want to work our way through King’s most famous novels and because one of the stories in his recent short story collection You Like It Darker is a CUJO follow up, which reminded me of how vivid this novel is.

We’ll end the 2026 SKS with a CUJO watch along of the 1983 adaptation.

MERCH

Ready to join in?? The SKS merch is totally optional but a VERY fun addition to have for the meetings.

SHOP SKS HERE

SCHEDULE

Mark these dates in your calendars!

You can also bookmark the dedicated SKS Schedule post HERE.

Besides our official selections, Stephen King Summer is filled with chatter all summer long about King and how his work is impacting us and our culture.

Since our selections this year are across three different genres, I know we’ll also talk a lot about form.

Stephen King Summer is for anyone who:

🤡 Has never read Stephen King but is curious what all the hype is about

🤡 Is a Stephen King super fan (or casual fan!)

🤡 Is neutral on Stephen King but LOVES a good literary discussion

🤡 Has FOMO after YEARS of hearing how great Stephen King Summer is

Jump in for just one of the selections or for all of them. Only do the watch alongs if you don’t want to read! SKS newbies and SKS alumni are welcome in whatever way works for you.

I’m not a Stephen King expert, but I am an official fangirl and really passionate about what this one single author has done to the literary landscape and culture at large. It’s really fun to look at it from a different angle each year.

Stephen King Summer officially starts June 1!

Hope to see you there!!

PS - if you’re a Secret Stuff member, you WILL be able to opt out of SKS emails and posts starting June 1. You will continue to get all the other normal Secret Stuff content. 😘

Welcome to the best part of the Secret Stuff Book Club - STEPHEN KING SUMMER!

I am so excited to read and discuss Holly, The Life of Chuck, and CUJO with you this year.

If this is your first time jumping into Stephen King Summer with me - welcome! We’ll spend the next three months discussing and dissecting the greatest living storyteller and my personal favorite author Stephen King.

Think you’re not interested in Stephen King? I challenge you to join us for just ONE of the selections this summer before you dismiss him entirely. (The Life of Chuck is a novella that’s just over 100 pages, so it might be a good choice.) But make sure you stick around as other Secret Stuff content will proceed as normal this summer, like my reading roundups and Symposiums, etc.1 You can also find more details and FAQs about Stephen King Summer HERE.

A Stephen King Summer repeat participant? THANK YOU for trusting me on this one. I hear year after year from you how this is your favorite part of Secret Stuff and I AGREE.

Later this week I’m going to put out more details about the books we’re reading and the kickoff watchalong happening on June 7, but I wanted you to have these dates for the summer to put in your calendars!

STEPHEN KING SUMMER 2026 SCHEDULE:

SUNDAY, JUNE 7 at 4pm PT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET

Stephen King Summer official kickoff!

We’ll spend the first half hour chatting about Stephen King (sharing our favorites, I’ll answer any questions, etc) then we’ll do a watchalong together of Episode 1 of the Mr Mercedes television series.

I chose this because Mr Mercedes is where we first meet Holly Gibney - the title character of our June book pick

TUESDAY, JUNE 30 at 5pm PT / 7pm CT / 8pm ET

Book Club Meeting to discuss HOLLY

**please note that summer hours are a bit earlier than we meet the rest of the year!

SUNDAY, JULY 26 at 4pm PT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET

Book Club Meeting to discuss The Life of Chuck followed by a movie watchalong of the 2025 film!

TUESDAY, AUGUST 18 at 5pm PT / 7pm CT / 8pm ET

Book Club Meeting to discuss CUJO

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30 at 4pm PT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET

Movie watchalong of CUJO

As always, I try not to make changes to our meeting schedule unless I absolutely have to, but life does happen. I’ll let you know as soon as I can if needed.

Stay tuned for more details on each selection.

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And if you’re just dying for more Stephen King Summer merch, you can find that HERE (and I’m still adding a few more things this week).

This is gonna be SO FUN.