The Plant

After using every kooky plot device on earth, Stephen King is now making drama out of publishing his newest tale, The Plant, by selling it exclusively online (www.stephenking.com) for a dollar per installment. The eight-part novella is set, appropriately, in a pulp publishing house that receives a manuscript, along with snuff photos, from a florist's assistant — and student of the black arts--named Carlos Detweiller. The story (in the form of interoffice memos, love letters, and hate mail) is seeded with just enough questions to get you to return for the next installment, due Aug. 21. Whether there will be a third update in King's online experiment is contingent on how many people pay for the first two (the figures look promising thus far). So whether or not this thorny type of spook fiction grows on you, it's worth spending a Washington just to ensure that electronic publishing doesn't wither on the electronic vine. A