Amazon is widely expected to release the latest version of its Kindle electronic book reader today, and one of the highlights could be an exclusive deal for the Kindle with horror story master Stephen King.

The internet trader will reportedly announce a deal it has made with horror author Stephen King to exclusively release his new book, for the time being at least, on Kindle 2, the Wall Street Journal.

This will be King's first tech-related deal. During the dot-com boom in the mid 1990's to 2000, the best-selling author posted chapters of a serial novel, The Plant, on the Internet in a bid to see if readers would pay voluntarily for what they were reading. He later suspended the work in late 2000 after the sixth installment.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO will also be present at the event which is due to take place at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York.

Tech watchers are fervently guessing the new Kindle's features, speculating that the device will have a larger viewing area, faster screen refresh rates and higher storage capacity.