By Neal Justin

Stephen King, who comes to Minneapolis NOv. 18 for a currently sold-out appearance, has another reason to salute our city. According to Variety, King is turning his novella, "The Colorado Kid" into an hourlong series. No US broadcaster has been announced. The series, "Haven," is about an FBI agent sent into (where else?) Maine to sort out curses. ABC had looked at it at one point and passed.

Here's the local connection: Sam Ernst and Jim Dunn are the head writers. You may not know the names, but you may know their work. They were the owners of Table of Contents, once one of my fave local restaurants, as well as Red Fish Blue. They left their success behind several years ago, to try to make it as Hollywood writers. Success took some time. In fact, I was going to write about them quite a while ago, but nothing seemed to be really popping for them at the time, and I had to table it.

Looks like I'll have to dig out my notes. Sam and Jim, who also write for another King project, "The Dead Zone," are terrific guys, especially since they gave me oodles of time for a story that still hasn't materialized. Here's hoping this latest project isn't "cursed."