University of Maine Professor (and the Stephen E. King Chair in Literature, by the way) Caroline Bicks spent a year combing through King's original manuscripts at his own personal archive and that resulted in an essential book for King obsessives: Monsters In The Archives that gives us new insights into King's process and illuminates paths not taken on some of his most iconic stories, like The Shining, Pet Sematary, Carrie, Night Shift, and 'Salem's Lot.

These bonus episodes are usually exclusive to The Kingcast Patreon, so if you want more of this make sure to sign up over at www.patreon.com/thekingcast.

Also make sure to order your copy of Monsters in the Archives at your local bookstore or at www.carolinebicks.com.

Screenwriter Jeremy Slater (Moon Knight, The Exorcist, Mortal Kombat II) returns to The Kingcast to talk about... not Stephen King. Well, not directly, anyway. The topic up for discussion is Joe Hill's 2025 epic horror tome King Sorrow which contains many familial references and those don't just include his famous father.

The story centers a group of college friends who uncover the ability to summon a dark force to combat their enemies, but like most dark forces this protection comes at a price.Hill tells this story over multiple decades and litters the narrative with nods to many King titles, from The Dead Zone to The Dark Tower.

We discuss the book without spoilers for the first half of the conversation and dig into some of the more spoilery stuff in the back. Don't worry, make it very clear when we're transitioning to spoiler territory.

Make sure to catch Mortal Kombat II written by our guest Jeremy Slater in theaters this weekend!

The very funny Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney had never seen David Cronenberg's The Dead Zone, so naturally we had to make them watch it and report back. You know Nick & Brian collectively as BriTANiK from their sketch work at SNL, their writing on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the two movies they have coming out this April: Pizza Movie, which they wrote and directed and is out now on Hulu, and Over Your Dead Body, hitting theaters this very weekend.

So, what did they think of Cronenberg's film? Well, you'll have to listen and find out, but I will say that had just as many questions for Vespe and Breznican as the hosts had for them.