Stephen King's Introduction to the New Re-Issue of The Poet by Michael Connelly

New York: Little, Brown & Co, 2004. First Edition. Fine. 3 pages, stapled. In the press packet for Michael Connelly's The Narrows.

This is an obscure and virtually unknown Stephen King publication that meets all the requirements for a bibliographical "A" item, meaning a publication that is a separate item and published for the first time. More on that below.

Stephen King wrote an introduction for the mass market edition of Connelly's novel The Poet. This new edition of The Poet was released to tie-in with a new Connelly Bosch novel, The Narrows, also featuring the Poet serial killer character. While the introduction is widely known, this separate publication is not.

This press packet, in a red folder, includes many promotional items for The Narrows. The two most important are the text of King's introduction, reproduced from typescript on three, double-spaced pages, stapled at the top left corner. Thus, this is a separate item produced by a publisher. Second, as evidence that this was included in the press packet and is not just something typed up by a random person, there is a letter dated April 2004 from a Little, Brown publicist that specifically mentions the inclusion of the Poet introduction: "A new introduction to the mass market re-issue of THE POET (Warner; in stores April 27, 2004) by author Stephen King, also makes clear that Michael Connelly's heroes and villains are not easily forgotten (enclosed)."

This letter makes clear two important facts. As mentioned before, the King introduction was included in the original press packet and the press packet was introduced PRIOR to the publication of The Poet with King's introduction (otherwise the publicist would not need to tell the media when the book was coming out, if it was already available).

The complete contents are: 1) A color 8-1/2 by 11 inch, two-sided flyer for The Narrows. 2) A photocopy of a forthcoming New York Times Magazine article titled "Watching the Detectives"; 3) A one-page About Author sheet; 4) A photocopy of "The Killer Inside Him," from GQ magazine; 5) A folding color brochure for The Narrows; 6) Letter from Little, Brown publicist; 7) King's Introduction to The Poet; 8) Blue Neon Night flyer; 9) The Narrows book tour schedule; 10) An excerpt to the new Afterword by Connelly written for the limited edition of The Poet

So there you have it, a previously unknown (or virtually unknown) Stephen King publication, produced in very small quantities for the media as a promotional item for another author. A fine copy of the press packet.