Shock! King, Straub plan a 'scary' sequel
Be afraid. But how afraid? Stephen King and Peter Straub, co-authors of the million-selling fantasy novel "The Talisman," are planning a sequel they warn could get a little scary."Our intention is to make the story a little harder and darker than the first book, more horror than fantasy," Straub said in a statement Wednesday.
Straub and King have signed a multimillion-dollar deal for the still-untitled novel, which will be published by Random House and is expected to come out in 2001.
"The Talisman," published in 1984, tells the story of 13-year-old Jack Sawyer's quest for a talisman that will save his mother's life. The new book is expected to portray Jack as an adult.
Nevermore! Michael to play Poe in movie
The Gloved One is getting ghoulish.
Michael Jackson plans to make the leap from pop star to movie star in the role of Edgar Allan Poe, co-executive producer Gary L. Pudney said Tuesday.
Production of "The Nightmares of Edgar Allan Poe" was expected to begin next fall in Canada and the film's theatrical release was set for 2002.
Madonna gets in dig at real estate agents
Madonna is buying a house in a fashionable London neighborhood for $8 million and getting in a shot at the city's real estate agents in the process, The Times reported Wednesday.
The pop star bought the five-bedroom, four-story mansion in South Kensington directly from the unidentified seller, The Times said.
The direct sale deprives real estate agents of their standard 2 percent commission, and that was sweet revenge for Madonna, because they had made her life "a misery" during the 18 months she had been shopping, the newspaper said.
"It's a very ordinary house," said real estate agent David Forbes. "It's got a very nice garden. . . . It needs a lot of work doing to it and her designer and decorator are in there at the moment."
Bob Hope will light up season at Disneyland
He may be slowing down, but Bob Hope can still light up Christmas.
The 96-year-old entertainer and his wife, Dolores, will be guests of honor at Disneyland on Monday to turn on all of the park lights for the Christmas season.
No broken bones about it: Film is fun
Casper Van Dien didn't tell anyone he had broken a finger while filming a fight scene for the movie "Sleepy Hollow."
He reset the bone himself, and "then I kept fighting and riding horses for the next eight days," he said in USA Weekend magazine.
Van Dien, who plays a rival of Johnny Depp's character Ichabod Crane, said he had good reason for not complaining: "I was having fun. I was in a Tim Burton film. I was in a scene with Johnny Depp."