“The most important things are the hardest things to say.”
Wil Wheaton has returned to the story that helped launch his career by narrating the new audiobook of Stephen King‘s The Body.
Wheaton — who, of course, starred alongside River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O’Connell in Rob Reiner’s 1986 adaptation Stand By Me — kicks off the story in our exclusive excerpt below.
The first standalone audiobook edition of King’s seminal coming-of-age novella releases on March 24 via Simon & Schuster.
Set in 1960, The Body takes place in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. When a boy from a nearby town disappears, 12-year-old Gordie Lachance and his three friends set out on a quest to find his body along the railroad tracks.
During the course of their journey, Gordie, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio come to terms with death and the harsh truths of growing up in a small factory town that doesn’t offer much in the way of a future.
“Narrating The Body by Stephen King, the story that became Stand By Me, has been an extraordinary and deeply meaningful experience for me,” said Wheaton. “This story has stayed with me my entire life, and revisiting it in this way is something I’ve hoped to do for a long time. It’s truly a full-circle moment for me and a dream come true.”
The Body was originally published in King’s 1982 short story collection Different Seasons.
Stand By Me returns to theaters for a one-week engagement in celebration of its 40th anniversary beginning March 27.
Copyright © 1982 by Stephen King. Audio excerpt courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio from the audiobook The Body, read by Wil Wheaton, published by Simon & Schuster Audio, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Used with permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
