Stephen King has suggested that he may write a third instalment of the two-book Talisman series, which he co-wrote with the late Peter Straub. Asked on a podcast if his days of writing “epics” were in the past, King replied “never say never”. “Before he died, Peter sent me this long letter and said we oughta do the third one, and he gave me a really cool idea and I had some ideas of my own,” he said.

Speaking as a guest on an episode of the Talking Scared podcast, King added that the volume – which would follow The Talisman and its sequel, Black House – “would be a long book”.

King also revealed that a new story collection titled You Like It Darker, running at more than 600 pages, will be released in 2024. He said that though it’s very rare that he scares himself with what he writes, a story in the upcoming collection titled The Dreamers was “so creepy” that he “couldn’t think about it at night”.

“I had this image of a man who is under some kind of drug, and he opens his eyes and they turn black, and these tendrils start to come out of his eyeballs,” he said. “It just creeped me out.” The story was influenced by and is dedicated to the author Cormac McCarthy, who died last June.

King said that he is working on a new book titled We Think Not, which is about Holly Gibney, the protagonist of King’s forthcoming novel Holly, due to be released in September. It might be a “fairly long” work, said the author, adding that currently there are “too many stories” in the novel. “I feel kind of like the mad juggler. I’m trying to keep all the balls in the air and not drop any of them.”

Asked what “really, truly” scares King, the author said that he used to say spiders because the “alien” creatures “absolutely horrify” him. “But I think as I get older the thing that frightens me the most is losing my mind. My mind is my tool, it’s what I have. The idea of Alzheimer’s, dementia, senility, what Shakespeare calls the slippered pantaloon – it’s not a thing I like to think about, and I hope it won’t happen.”