I’ve been writing about Chuck Verrill’s work as the editor of IT these past weeks in my PhD, so I thought I’d take the time to express my appreciation here for Stephen King’s long-time editor, agent, and friend. Verrill passed away a little over a year ago, on the 9^th of January 2022.

King first met Verrill as the assistant to Alan Williams, King’s first editor at Viking, who edited The Dead Zone (1979), Firestarter (1980), Cujo (1981), Different Seasons (1982), Christine (1983), and The Talisman (1984), before leaving Viking for Putnam. Williams’ exit meant a promotion for Verrill at Viking, and I believe IT might have been the first King novel that Verrill edited—the first of many.