All tales have a beginning and an end, usually in that order. But, in the case of Stephen King's new audio short story, “Drunken Fireworks,” and Tim Sample's experience recording it, it is tale that must be told in the reverse.

“Drunken Fireworks” is a story centered around an annual Fourth of July fireworks rivalry between a family of Mainers and a family of PFAs (people from away) on Lake Abenaki. King's story also plays up a few of the characteristics Mainers are “known” for: telling stories and drinking (in this case during the summer, the strange names some drinks have, i.e., Allen's coffee brandy and milk is also known as Gorilla Milk and Double Wide, among other names.

So, to that story: Alden McCausland and his mother have themselves a three room cabin on the lake thanks to a lucky scratch lottery ticket and money received from an unexpected life insurance policy after his father dies. But, across the lake, is the Massimo family's “cottage” complete with a guest house and tennis court.

When we first meet Alden, he is being debriefed at the local police station about the explosive events that have transpired. Alden is recounting the events, and answering questions in true Maine storytelling fashion.

“He's from a small town, like Boothbay Harbor, where everybody kinda knows everybody. And small town storytellers are always and forever going off in different directions ‘into the weeds’; it's comic and it's authentic to Maine,” Sample said. “And that's what Alden does, and the policeman has to keep bringing him back on topic. He (Alden) tells 'em, 'I'm gonna tell it the way I'm gonna tell it and if you don't like it you can ...'”.

(Listeners can probably fill in the rest of that line.)

And the way Sample tells it, you're gonna like it.

Although Sample developed the character voices and the sounds of the fireworks, he didn't rehearse. The story was recorded right in Portland at The Studio in about nine hours.

The audiobook “Drunken Fireworks” is being released on June 30, but on Thursday, July 2, Simon & Schuster Audio and Play.It will stream the short story nationwide for 24 hours.

Hear it for yourself via Play.It, an on demand audio platform recently launched by CBS. There is no fee to listen to “Drunken Fireworks.” No app is needed. Just type or paste the following web address into your browser: www1.play.it/audio

“Drunken Fireworks” is also one of the short stories included in King's latest collection of stories entitled, “The Bazaar of Bad Dreams,” being released on Nov. 3.

“Steve absolutely nails the quirky dynamics and tension in this rivalry,” Sample said. “And what's really brilliant is just about the time you think you know where it's going, it goes somewhere else; there's this plot twist that is pure Stephen King.”

Folks attending Sample's annual show at the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor will be hearing a few anecdotes about the experience and others tied to some of the columns written for the Boothbay Register and Wiscasset Newspapers in his latest book, “Answers to Questions Nobody Was Askin.”

“I love doing the opera house shows ,” Sample said. “There's always a good crowd. I have a level of comfort there .. I never know what I'm going to say.”

Sample takes the stage in his hometown (one of 'em, anyway!) on Thursday, June 25 at 7:30 p.m.