Tim Lebbon - Kong - Skull Island

“What’s your most frightening moment?” Gunpei asks. He speaks English, and Marlow speaks Japanese, and their talk is usually a flowing merger of the two languages.

“Today took the biscuit,” Marlow says. “You?”

Gunpei is silent for a long time, staring into the flames. He’s quiet for so long that that Marlow thinks he might have forgotten the question and let his mind wander, and he’s fine with that. It happens to them both. With so much time to fill, their imaginations have become fertile ground.

“Our first day here,” Gunpei says at last.

“When we first saw Kong,” Marlow says.

“No. My most frightening moment was the one just before he appeared, when I almost murdered my best friend.”

Marlow remembered his surprise at Gunpei’s comment. It wasn’t like Gunpei to be so personal, or so vulnerable. Up until now, it was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him.

He opened the cab door at last and walked along the Chicago street. It was autumn, and leaves whispered along with him on the gentle breeze. He liked the idea of having seasons again.

They were expecting him, but that didn’t make this any easier. His wife could have moved on for all he knew, and his son also had a son of his own. He’d flown out of their lives, and now he was stepping back in. No one could guess how things might change.

Come on, Marlow , he thought. You’ve fought monsters. This should be easy .

He reached the door, but before he could knock it opened. A young man stood there. He was tall and strong and proud, and Marlow felt his vision beginning to blur.

The young man reached out and took his hand, and said the nicest thing. “Dad.”

TIM LEBBON is a New York Times -bestselling writer from South Wales. He’s had more than thirty novels published to date, as well as hundreds of novellas and short stories. His latest novel is the thriller The Family Man , and other recent releases include The Hunt , The Silence , Coldbrook , Alien: Out of the Shadows , and The Rage War trilogy.

He has won four British Fantasy Awards, a Bram Stoker Award, and a Scribe Award, and has been a finalist for World Fantasy, International Horror Guild, and Shirley Jackson awards. Future releases include the Relics trilogy from Titan Books, and fantasy novel Blood of the Four (with Christopher Golden).

A movie of his story Pay the Ghost , starring Nicolas Cage, was released in 2015, and several other projects are in development for television and the big screen.

Find out more about Tim at his website www.timlebbon.net

The Art and Making of Kong: Skull Island goes behind the scenes and reveals how this monster-sized production was brought to the screen. Featuring incredible concept art and on-set photography, this deluxe book is a rare treat for fans as key cast and crew tell the story of how Kong was given a whole new lease of life.

TITANBOOKS.COM

Kong: Skull Island – The Official Movie Novelization

Print edition ISBN: 9781785651380

E-book edition ISBN: 9781785651397

Published by Titan Books

A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd

144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP

First edition: February 2017

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

© 2017 Legendary

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.