The Talisman

About The Talisman

Twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer sets out across America to find the Talisman, a mystical object that can save his dying mother -- and quickly discovers he can 'flip' into the Territories, a parallel medieval world where every person in his world has a double. The Talisman (1984), King's first collaboration with fellow horror novelist Peter Straub, is a cross-country coming-of-age quest crossed with dark fantasy, its structure indebted as much to The Wizard of Oz as to either author's usual horror. Black House (2001) catches up with Jack seventeen years later: he's a retired LAPD detective living quietly in Wisconsin, trying to forget the Territories, when a serial child-killer forces him back into both worlds at once -- a plot that also threads in a reference to King's Dark Tower mythology, tying the Territories into that larger multiverse.

Other Worlds Than These, the long-promised third volume, has an unusual publication story: Peter Straub died in September 2022 with the book unwritten, but King discovered an email Straub had sent him years earlier outlining ideas for it, and used that material to write the novel himself, retaining Straub's co-author credit. It is scheduled for release on 6 October 2026, completing a trilogy written across more than four decades.

How to read this series

Read in publication order: The Talisman, then Black House, then Other Worlds Than These when it releases. The Talisman stands alone as a complete story and works fine as an introduction to both authors, but Black House assumes you already know Jack Sawyer and the rules of the Territories from the first book. Black House also connects to King's Dark Tower series -- readers deep into that series will recognize additional layers, but it isn't required background to follow this trilogy on its own terms.