斯蒂芬‧金，一九四七年出生于美国缅因州波特兰市，后在缅因州州立大学学习英国文学，毕业后因工资菲薄而走上写作之路。自一九七三年出版第一部长篇小说《魔女嘉莉》后，迄今已著有四十多部长篇小说和二百多部短篇小说。其作品是近年来美国畅销书排行榜上的常客，还被翻译成三十多种语言。有超过百部影视作品取材自他的小说。他因此被誉为“现代惊悚小说大师”。

彼得•斯陶伯 ，一九四三年生于美国威斯康辛州密尔沃基市，现居纽约。曾留学英伦，获得博士学位，并在英国出版了第一本小说。他以诗人身份步入文坛，但以恐怖小说闻名。著有二十多部恐怖小说，被翻译成二十多种语言，其中包括《迷失男女》、《夜屋》等。他曾五次获得恐怖小说界最高奖项斯托克奖、两次获得国际恐怖文学协会奖、两次获得国际奇幻大奖，以及一次英国奇幻大奖。

On a brisk autumn day, a thirteen-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: his father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But for Jack everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey back across America–and into another realm.

One of the most influential and heralded works of fantasy ever written, The Talisman is an extraordinary novel of loyalty, awakening, terror, and mystery. Jack Sawyer, on a desperate quest to save his mother’s life, must search for a prize across an epic landscape of innocents and monsters, of incredible dangers and even more incredible truths. The prize is essential, but the journey means even more. Let the quest

begin . . . .