# The Talisman (King and Straub novel)
**The Talisman** is a 1984 dark fantasy novel written jointly by [Stephen King](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-king) and [Peter Straub](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-straub) and published by G.P. Putnam's & Sons in November 1984. It follows twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer on a cross-country quest to find a magical object that will save his dying mother's life, a search that carries him into the Territories, a parallel medieval world where the people of our universe have counterparts called "twinners."
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Publication | November 1984, G.P. Putnam's & Sons; hardcover, paperback, limited edition, Kindle, and audio formats[1](https://stephenking.com/works/novel/talisman.html) |
| Protagonist | Jack Sawyer, twelve years old, walking from the seacoast of New Hampshire toward the California coast[1](https://stephenking.com/works/novel/talisman.html) |
| Parallel world | The Territories, a world little removed from Earth's Dark Ages, whose inhabitants have analogs called "twinners"[1](https://stephenking.com/works/novel/talisman.html) |
| Stakes | The Talisman can save Jack's dying mother and her twinner, the dying Queen Laura of the Territories[1](https://stephenking.com/works/novel/talisman.html) |
| Early sales | Well over a million hardcover copies distributed at $18.95 each by early 1985; Steven Spielberg bought the film rights[2](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/07/stephen-king-and-peter-straub-join-dark-forces-archive-1985) |
| Sequel | *Black House* (2001), with Jack Sawyer in his late thirties, retired early from the LAPD and living in Wisconsin[3](https://stephenking.com/works/novel/black-house.html) |
| Third volume | *Other Worlds Than These*, published by Scribner on October 6, 2026, with a posthumous credit for Straub, who died in 2022[4](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a70269081/stephen-king-peter-straub-the-talisman-other-worlds-than-these-excerpt-2026/) |
## Plot
Jack Sawyer is sent on a quest across the American continent and its parallel reality to find the Talisman, which can save his cancer-ridden mother and her twinner, the Queen of the Territories, and so secure the safety of both worlds[1](https://stephenking.com/works/novel/talisman.html). In the Territories, which the publisher's synopsis describes as little removed from Earth's Dark Ages, Jack finds dying Queen Laura, the twinner of his own imperiled mother[1](https://stephenking.com/works/novel/talisman.html).
Only a few people can "flip" from one world to the other. Jack's late father could do it, the malevolent Morgan Sloat can, and Jack himself develops the ability[1](https://stephenking.com/works/novel/talisman.html). Jack's nemesis is Morgan Sloat, his dead father's evil business partner, known in the Territories as "Morgan of Orris"[5](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/stephen-king/talisman-3/).
The journey west is marked by paired dangers in both worlds. Jack is held captive in an Indiana home for wayward boys run by a sadistic religious fanatic, and he suffers sudden, murderous attacks by enemies of Queen Laura in the Territories[1](https://stephenking.com/works/novel/talisman.html). The quest begins at a seedy Atlantic-coast "Funworld," where an old man tells him about the Territories, the Talisman, and the twinners[5](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/stephen-king/talisman-3/).
## Genre and influences
The novel combines aspects of several genres, including horror, fantasy, fairy tale, science fiction, and the Gothic[6](https://trepo.tuni.fi/bitstream/10024/80063/1/gradu03053.pdf). A 1985 critical study identifies two kinds of literature as basic to its plot and development: [Mark Twain](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-twain)'s Huck Finn and [Tom Sawyer](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-sawyer) books, including the little-read *Tom Sawyer Abroad*, and heroic or quest literature such as the story of Jesus, the story of [King Arthur](https://www.edgepedia.org/king-arthur), and *Sir Gawain and the Green Knight*[7](https://www.enotes.com/topics/peter-straub/criticism/criticism/bernadette-bosky-essay-date-1985).
Both authors were horror bestsellers, but their styles differed sharply. King, a New Englander with a pop style, wrote to rock music; Straub, who spent much of his literary life in England, wrote with stately cadences King described as "cool, rational, almost disconnected from any kind of emotional base"[2](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/07/stephen-king-and-peter-straub-join-dark-forces-archive-1985).
## Writing and publication
The two authors talked about collaborating for years before finally beginning the novel, which took nearly two years to write. Its central idea came from a dream King had had, and the Territories were added to the plot from there[6](https://trepo.tuni.fi/bitstream/10024/80063/1/gradu03053.pdf). In a 1985 interview King described the physical process: "I'd write a chunk for a month or so at my house and then Peter would continue another chunk at his"[8](https://www.enotes.com/topics/peter-straub/criticism/criticism/michael-small-interview-date-28-january-1985).
The book became one of the biggest American bestsellers of its year, with well over a million hardcover copies distributed at $18.95 each without book-club help, and the film rights bought by [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg) after long negotiations[2](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/07/stephen-king-and-peter-straub-join-dark-forces-archive-1985). The authors' confidence was built into the contract itself: one clause required King and Straub to pay $100,000 apiece for advertising if the book fell short of a minimum sales figure. Reviews were what Straub described as "mixed" and what King, with what the interviewer called perverse pride, called "the worst I've ever gotten"[9](https://www.enotes.com/topics/peter-straub/criticism/criticism/charles-leerhsen-review-date-24-december-1984). A Kirkus review found the fantasy elements likely to irritate readers expecting King's horror, describing the book as "pretentious, verbose, psycho-gothic/philosophical"[5](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/stephen-king/talisman-3/).
## Sequels and the trilogy
King and Straub returned to the material in 2001 with *Black House*, a sequel in which Jack Sawyer, now in his late thirties and retired early from the LAPD, retreats to a small town in Wisconsin and is drawn back to the Territories[3](https://stephenking.com/works/novel/black-house.html). Straub wrote the first 50 pages of that book because it is set in Wisconsin, his home state, and he told the *Deseret News* that reading *The Talisman* is not necessary to understand and appreciate *Black House*[10](https://www.deseret.com/2001/10/28/19613710/sequel-collaboration-is-a-frightful-delight-for-king-and-straub/).
A third volume had a long gestation. Straub had an idea for a final book in 2013, drawing, as *Black House* does, on a real-life series of murders, but King did not take it up then, and Straub died in 2022[11](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/oct/07/other-worlds-than-these-by-stephen-king-and-peter-straub-review-a-self-indulgent-finale-to-the-talisman-trilogy). King later found an old email from Straub containing the suggestion, partly involving the real-life teenage spree killer [Charles Starkweather](https://www.edgepedia.org/charles-starkweather), who terrorized the Midwest in the late 1950s[4](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a70269081/stephen-king-peter-straub-the-talisman-other-worlds-than-these-excerpt-2026/). The resulting novel, *Other Worlds Than These*, was published by Scribner on October 6, 2026, as the conclusion of the trilogy, with Straub receiving a posthumous credit[4](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a70269081/stephen-king-peter-straub-the-talisman-other-worlds-than-these-excerpt-2026/). It is the first book in the series that King wrote solo[4](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a70269081/stephen-king-peter-straub-the-talisman-other-worlds-than-these-excerpt-2026/).
## Screen adaptation
The novel has confounded Hollywood for decades. Spielberg spent some 35 years trying to adapt it as a film without success, and a 2019 movie announcement involved Mike Barker, director of *The Handmaid's Tale*[12](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/horror-movies/upcoming-stephen-king-movies-and-tv-shows/). In 2021, [Amblin Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/amblin-entertainment) partnered with Netflix and the [Duffer brothers](https://www.edgepedia.org/duffer-brothers), creators of *Stranger Things*, to develop a streaming series with writer Curtis Gwinn as showrunner[12](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/horror-movies/upcoming-stephen-king-movies-and-tv-shows/). That Netflix project was quietly canceled in December 2025, but in 2025 the 1984 novel was reported to be headed to streaming as a TV series, and the project remains in active development[12](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/horror-movies/upcoming-stephen-king-movies-and-tv-shows/). The book has received a graphic novel treatment but has never been seen on screen[13](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/5-stephen-king-adaptations-i-want-netflix-or-prime-video-to-greenlight-right-now).
## References
1. [The Talisman, Stephen King official site](https://stephenking.com/works/novel/talisman.html)
2. [Stephen King and Peter Straub join dark forces – archive, 1985, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/07/stephen-king-and-peter-straub-join-dark-forces-archive-1985)
3. [Black House, Stephen King official site](https://stephenking.com/works/novel/black-house.html)
4. [Stephen King and Peter Straub's 'The Talisman 3' excerpt, Esquire](https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a70269081/stephen-king-peter-straub-the-talisman-other-worlds-than-these-excerpt-2026/)
5. [The Talisman, Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/stephen-king/talisman-3/)
6. [The Gothic Family: thesis, University of Tampere](https://trepo.tuni.fi/bitstream/10024/80063/1/gradu03053.pdf)
7. [Bernadette Bosky, Stephen King and Peter Straub: Fear and Friendship (1985), eNotes criticism](https://www.enotes.com/topics/peter-straub/criticism/criticism/bernadette-bosky-essay-date-1985)
8. [Michael Small interview with King and Straub (January 1985), eNotes criticism](https://www.enotes.com/topics/peter-straub/criticism/criticism/michael-small-interview-date-28-january-1985)
9. [Charles Leerhsen, The Titans of Terror (December 1984), eNotes criticism](https://www.enotes.com/topics/peter-straub/criticism/criticism/charles-leerhsen-review-date-24-december-1984)
10. [Sequel collaboration is a frightful delight for King and Straub, Deseret News (2001)](https://www.deseret.com/2001/10/28/19613710/sequel-collaboration-is-a-frightful-delight-for-king-and-straub/)
11. [Other Worlds Than These review, The Guardian (October 2026)](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/oct/07/other-worlds-than-these-by-stephen-king-and-peter-straub-review-a-self-indulgent-finale-to-the-talisman-trilogy)
12. [Upcoming Stephen King movies and TV shows in 2026 and beyond, GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/horror-movies/upcoming-stephen-king-movies-and-tv-shows/)
13. [5 Stephen King books that would make for a killer Netflix show, Tom's Guide](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/5-stephen-king-adaptations-i-want-netflix-or-prime-video-to-greenlight-right-now)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Prose fiction › Novel series and sagas › Fantasy and science fiction novel series › Urban fantasy, horror, and paranormal series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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