some great, some not so, some not even suspense

 A Century of Great Suspense Stories

I got this one to listen to on drives more than thirty minutes. You can basically hear one short story each way. It is a mixed bag, both in quality and presentation. It should be noted that the audible version of this book only includes seventeen stories, the first half of the book. The rest of the book’s nineteen tales are missing. Maybe the second half is also available as a book on tape. Maybe I’ll check.

The stories have been gathered by author Jeffrey Deaver (The Bone Collector). Many of the stories were previously published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. A lot of the stories have that twist ending reminiscent of The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and similar anthology shows. Deaver includes one of his own short stories, “The Weekender,” which also happens to be one of the best ones. Other highlights include “Missing: Page Thirteen” by Anna Katharine Green and “The Gentleman in the Lake,” by Robert Barnard. The absolute highlight of the collection is “Quitters Inc.” by Stephen King, which rounds out the collection.

A Century of Great Suspense Stories, edited by Jeffrey Deaver (warning, a lot of the authors listed here aren’t in this truncated collection)

What is especially difficult is the inability to search through the collection as you’re listening to find a story or skip a story. You can fast forward, but it is a very clunky presentation. The readers of each story were mostly good. Some of the more detective noir-ish readings were a bit much, maybe, but that could have been the stories, too. I found the classic American detective stories to be the most dated. The Erle Stanley Gardner was especially tough going.

It took a lot of hunting online, as there is no complete list of authors and stories with the book on tape, but here is the complete list of the contents:

“Gentleman in the Lake” Robert Barnard
“Life in Our Time” Robert Bloch
“Batman’s Helpers” Lawrence Block
“Girl Who Married a Monster” Anthony Boucher
“Wench is Dead” Fredric Brown
“Cigarette Girl” James M. Cain
“Matter of Principal” Max Allan Collins
“The Weekender” Jeffery Deaver
“Reasons Unknown” Stanley Ellin
“Killing Bernstein” Harlan Ellison
“Leg Man” Erle Stanley Gardner
“One of Those Days, One of Those Nights” Ed Gorman
“Missing: Page Thirteen” Anna Katharine Green
“Voir Dire” Jeremaih Healy
“Chee’s Witch” Tony Hillerman
“Interpol: The Case of the Modern Medusa” Edward D. Hoch
“Quitters, Inc.” Stephen King

Review on Cannonball Read 13

favorite movie #87 - halloween edition: the shining

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #87 - The Shining (1980) - I didn't actually like this film much when it first came out, but it has really grown on me. Jack Nicholson's performance as Jack Torrance has become iconic. As much as I like Stephen King's original novel, this adaptation by Stanley Kubrick stands on its own as a brilliant, separate artwork. So many wonderful, symmetrical shots. Redrum!!!

Related:

the shining

room 237 — wheels within wheels

doctor sleep and the lure of the sequel

stephen king's on the night shift again

doctor sleep and the lure of the sequel

While I was reading Doctor Sleep I was bouncing back and forth between my memories of the novel, written by Stephen King in 1977, and the movie adaptation by director Stanley Kubrick, from 1980. I suspect King may have had both in his mind as well. Although it is well-documented that King didn't love the film version, Jack Nicholson's portrayal of Jack Torrance was indelible, as were Shelley Duvall as his wife Wendy and the Overlook Hotel itself. The sins of the father will play out in his gifted son.

The grown-up Dan Torrance, a recovering alcoholic, just like dear old dad, now uses his ability to "shine" to help the dying cross over peacefully. He is contrasted with a young girl named Abra, who may shine even more strongly than young Dan ever did. Complicating matters are a bunch of creepy supernatural folks who seem to thrive on the energy of young shiners. Uh oh.

All of the literary links and in-jokes  relating to The Shining aside, the central compelling story of Dan's link to Abra, and their desire to use and understand their abilities while staying human is what really works in Doctor Sleep. King has always got people, and how they talk and interact. The spooky stuff is actually the least interesting aspect of this novel.

plumbing the future and the past for thrills

I read these two books in close succession to one another.

James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge - Zoo

Zoo cover art

Patterson and friends' book are always a quick, fast, beach read, and Zoo was pretty entertaining in parts. Taking what humans have done to the world - pollution, deforestation, cell phone towers, etc. - and taking to the nth degree how all of that technology might affect the world's animal populations is a clever concept. But ... the overall book was a bit clunky. I felt like the some of the chapters might be out of order, and the main protagonist, Jackson Oz, and his ability to save the world (or not) didn't seem very plausible to me. Plus, he hooks up with a gorgeous and brilliant French scientist, Chloe, who in the latter part of the book is relegated to his baby mama while he runs off to high-level meetings with the heads of state. Really? The television series based on the book, which I just started to catch up with on Netflix, has done a much better job with Chloe all of its characters. There is supposed to be a Zoo sequel coming. Maybe if Patterson takes a cue from TV's Zoo I'll check it out.

Stephen King - 11.23.63

Stephen King, center, with 11.23.63 actor James Franco (L), and producer J.J. Abrams (R)

Stephen King's 11.23.63 was also a quick read, but a much more satisfying one. His characters and concept stayed with me days after I finished the behemoth of a book. King pulls out all the stops - time travel, political intrigue, and even romance. His protagonist, Jake Epping, is asked very early in the book, "What if you could go back in time and prevent President John F. Kennedy from being assassinated?" For many people who can remember that day, that world event still has sad echoes. King presents a time portal without too much complicated explanation -it's a way into a great story. Jake decides to do just that - and maybe right some other wrongs of the past along the way. He visits some familiar King territory - the town of Derry, Maine, in particular, the setting of his horror novel It. Some folks, like myself, may not be thrilled to find themselves back in the home town of Pennywise the clown. But Jake's main focus, and ultimate target is Lee Harvey Oswald. Will he be able to determine if Oswald acted alone, debunking future conspiracy theorists everywhere? It's a tense, gripping read, with a truly touching romance thrown in to boot. It's also a miniseries on Hulu, starring James Franco, so my viewing queue just got a little bit bigger.

throwback - 70s paperback books based on movies - thursday

Movie novelizations were a big thing when I was a kid. I remember everyone reading the books of the top movies that were out, whether they saw the movie or not. Not surprisingly, these were all horror or science-fiction novels.

I read each of these books, some which preceded their film versions.

The Deep — I think my dad like Jacquie Bisset (and her wet t-shirt) so much he took us all to see The Deep, although we never saw Jaws, which also started as a book by Peter Benchley. I'm pretty sure I read that one too, but this made more of an impact on me, with the sex and the archaeology subplot of the young couple finding undersea treasure.

Jacqueline Bisset and Nick Nolte in The Deep

Close Encounters of the Third Kind — Everyone had to see this film, with Richard Dreyfuss unforgettable as a regular guy whose life is changed by a very special alien encounter. Who could forget the mashed potato Devil's Tower? I guess I had to relive the movie with this novelization, which credits Steven Spielberg as the writer.

Stephen King's Carrie got passed around my Civics class. I'm not sure I read the whole thing, but I do remember the infamous girls' locker room period scene.

The Omen — This book was actually very scary, and I loved trying to unravel the supernatural puzzle along with the protagonist, Ambassador Thorn, played by Gregory Peck in the movie.

Lee Remick tries to shield Damien (Harvey Stephens) in The Omen

Dracula — Where it all changed for me was falling for Frank Langella's sexy Count Dracula on film and then wanting to read the original Bram Stoker novel. This was no mere movie novelization, but an introduction into gothic horror, which I still love to this day.

room 237 — wheels within wheels

The documentary Room 237, dealing with possible hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film The Shining is sure to be fun for conspiracy theorists and film buffs — at least, at first. But as the 102-minute movie runs on, viewers may get more and more impatient as each theory is proposed, one more outlandish than the next.

Much is made of the pattern of the carpet in the Overlook Hotel

Kubrick's stylistic and chilly adaptation of Stephen King's novel centers around writer Jack Torrance, a recovering alcoholic who agrees to take a job as the caretaker at the scenic but very isolated Overlook Hotel during the off-season. He moves there with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and young son Danny (Danny Lloyd). Danny can "shine" — he has psychic abilities, and can see ghosts and people and events from the past. As time passes Jack begins drinking again and gets more and more distant from his family and drawn closer and closer to the supernatural inhabitants of the hotel.

King couldn't even make it all the way through the documentary:

"Yeah. Well, let me put it this way – I watched about half of it and got sort of impatient with it and turned it off. ... These guys were reaching. I've never had much patience for academic bullshit. It's like Dylan says, 'You give people a lot of knives and forks, they've gotta cut something.' And that was what was going on in that movie."

There are quite a few different theories proposed, but the ones that seem to get the most airtime are:

• The genocide of Native Americans (supported supposedly by the Western-themed decorations in the Overlook Hotel, and shots of cans of Calumet Baking Powder, which feature the head of a Native American.
• That a travel poster may be referencing the myth of the Minotaur (although the skier in the poster doesn't even remotely resemble the half-man half-beast).
• That the film is about the Holocaust (Jack is using a German typewriter).
• That the film proves that the Apollo 11 moon landing was faked (Danny wears a sweater featuring the Apollo 11 rocket).

Can you spot the Calumet baking powder? But then what does the Sanka and Tang mean???

There is an interesting section towards the end of Room 237 that shows how similar some of the shots are in the film whether you run it forwards or backwards, with footage running the images together in both directions at the same time. That is the sort of thing that the biggest fans of Kubrick will love. Does it prove anything about The Shining? Not really, but it does point out how elegantly Kubrick framed his shots and mirrored his scenes.

transformed

The lights started flickering around 10:25 pm. At first I thought it was just a bulb about to blow in my mother's bedroom, but then I noticed that the living room lights were sputtering as well. I called downstairs, to the doorman, and we both theorized that it might be the weather — it's been very windy the past few days.

But then one of the other building residents was talking in the background and the doorman said that they had figured it out — it was a transformer, and he'd call me back. A few moments later there was a muffled boom and then total blackness.

It's odd how quiet everything becomes when there is no light. No hum of electricity or machines. How used to it, to the white noise of electricity, we have become. Although I know that this will get fixed, I can't help but have an eerie feeling, as if I have suddenly found myself in the middle of a Stephen King short story — or maybe a novella. I'm reminded of another story, by Ray Bradbury, from The Illustrated Man (I think)*, when the machines take over. My iPhone is only half charged ...

My first instinct was to grab a flashlight and go investigate. I've seen enough horror movies to know that's not such a hot idea. Besides, it 's cold out — we're experiencing a cold snap here in Florida — and I don't fancy walking down four flights of stairs just to hear what I already know — the building's dark.

But until when? At least this happened late enough that we should all sleep through most of the blackout. The kid was already in bed. I was more concerned about my mom, who lately wants to sleep with a light on, but I gave her one of the bigger flashlights to brighten her room. Hopefully the lights will be restored before the batteries wear out.

So here I am typing, not sleepy, and thinking about the dark. There's a big bright full moon outside tonight. It's brighter out there, in the cold, than in here.


Addendum: It was a transformer, and the buildings power wasn't restored until 12:30 p.m. the next day. The kid had to spend a cold spring break afternoon amusing herself without electronics, just like Little House on the Prairie, and I had to throw out all the perishables in the fridge.

* Actually I was thinking of "There Will Come Soft Rains" from The Martian Chronicles

bookshelf as personal history

I thought it might be fun to visually document my bookshelves, a bookshelf as personal history of sorts. That we might be the sum of what we've read, re reading, or are planning, hoping someday to read. Even the books that we thought we might like to read, but gave up on. I'll post a photo and a list from time to time, as a way to keep track. My only fear is that as I rediscover some of my old favorites I might want to start re-reading them and my to-read pile will never get any smaller ...


'Salem's Lot, Stephen King - this was the first book I read by Stephen King as an adult. As a teen in high school we all passed around Carrie. It's still my favorite of his books so far. I love the quick but accurate character sketches of the people of 'Salem's Lot and their small town life, which quickly turns very, very scary and creepy.

The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens - this was my father's book. I took most of his books when he died. He was very into poetry in his later years, and Stevens was one of his favorites, along with Elizabeth Bishop and Emily Dickinson.

The Naked Man, Claude Lévi-Strauss - this book was so important for me when I was doing more visual art, painting, drawing, and collage. I loved Joseph Campbell and his ideas about how so many myths from so many different cultures and religions have similar themes, but somehow this book by Lévi-Strauss really made that argument more clearly and more interesting for me. Focusing on North and South American Indan mythology, The Naked Man is a scholarly text, but also fascinating and involving.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson - I love short stories, especially ones with supernatural or ghostly themes. This is a paperback that I picked up and forgot about, so now having unearthed it, I will finally read it — it's moved from the bookcase to the bedside table — that's progress in the to-read pile.

Catwings Return, Ursula K. Le Guin - I loved reading these books with my daughter and am now reminded that I need to dive into Le Guin's Earthsea series, which has also been in my to-read stack for way too long.

Looks like I have some books to read ...

gaiman and king on writing

Neil Gaiman has shared the wonderful interview that he did with the ever-prolific Stephen King for the UK Sunday Times Magazine on his blog.

“I got the idea for the writer in Bag of Bones having books because somebody told me years ago that every year Danielle Steel wrote three books and published two, and I knew Agatha Christie had squirrelled a couple away, to put a final bow on her career. As of right now, if I died and everybody kept it a secret, it would go on until 2013."

King is always practical and engaging when he talks about his work, and reading him in conversation with another writer like Gaiman is a special treat. He also included a shout-out to writer John D. MacDonald, a personal favorite, which was appreciated, even more so now that I live in his adopted home of Florida.

I start to tell King my theory, that when people in the far future want to get an idea of how things felt between 1973 and today, they'll look to King. He's a master of reflecting the world that he sees, and recording it on the page. The rise and fall of the VCR, the arrival of Google and smartphones. It's all in there, behind the monsters and the night, making them more real.

King is sanguine. “You know what you can’t tell what is going to last, what’s not going to last. There’s Kurt Vonnegut quote about John D. MacDonald saying “200 years from now, when people want to know what the 20th century they ll go to John D. MacDonald”, but I’m not sure that’s true – it seems like he’s almost been forgotten. But I try and reread a John D. MacDonald novel whenever I come down here.”

Of course the downside to reading this interview is that I now have to add some more books to my enormous to-read pile — Bag of Bones, Different Seasons, 11/22/63. Plus his The Shining sequel, Dr. Sleep, is on the way ... oh, boy.

stephen king's it — 25th anniversary collector's edition

Article first published as Book Review: It 25th Anniversary Special Edition by Stephen King on Blogcritics.

To coincide with its 25th anniversary, Cemetery Dance Publications, a specialty press publisher of horror and suspense stories, has published a special limited edition of Stephen King's It. Other authors published by Cemetery Dance Publications include Dean Koontz, Ray Bradbury, Peter Straub, and Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child. It is being released as three different hardcover collector's editions — an unsigned gift edition (2,750 copies, which I reviewed), a signed edition (750 copies), and a signed and lettered edition (52 copies). Each version features a new dust jacket illustration by Glen Orbik, and interior black and white and color illustrations by Alan M. Clark and Erin Wells. Of especial interest to fans is a new afterword by Stephen King, discussing what inspired him to write the novel.

The book is quite large and substantial, measuring 7 x 10 inches. Chapter sections are printed in two colors throughout and make for a handsome piece. The hardcover gift edition comes with a slipcase. The many illustrations peppered throughout do add to the package, although the color illustrations tend to verge on the gruesome side. But for serious collectors of King's work this special edition of It is definitely something they would want to add to their bookshelves.

“'Who is that trip-trapping upon my bridge?' Miss Davies spoke in the low, growling tones of the troll in the story. Some of the little ones covered their mouths and giggled, but most only watched her solemnly, accepting the voice of the troll as they accepted the voices of their dreams, and their grave eyes reflected the eternal fascination of the fairy tale: would the monster be bested ... or would it feed?”

Stephen King's It is a monster of a book. He intended to write a very long book, and on that score — length — he was more than successful. It is also ambitious in its scope. King pulls in lots of characters and horrors to help explore his central theme, the transition from childhood to adulthood. At times, however, his truly interesting ideas and characters just get buried under his desire to throw in anything and everything he imagines as part of Derry, Maine's history. If this 1000+ page novel had been introduced to a bloody red pencil it would only be the better for it. Is reading It worth the substantial time investment? I would say yes. But the reader should be warned that there is a lot of effluvia to wade through to get to a conclusion that some may ultimately find disappointing.

It jumps back and forth through time, between the summer of 1958, when a series of child murders in Derry, Maine spur seven 11 year-olds, the self-proclaimed "Losers Club," to try to track down the creature responsible; and 28 years later, 1985, when the killings start again. Like the twin time zones of the major characters, King also serves up twin monsters — Pennywise the Clown, or It, a demon with a thousand faces that has been operating in Derry for a very long time, and Henry Bowers, an older classmate of the Losers and a sadistic bully who spends most of his free time terrorizing anyone he deems weak or in his way.

George Denbrough, illustration by Alan M. Clark and Erin Wells

The Losers are:

"Stuttering Bill" Denbrough, whose brother George was the first of Pennywise's victims murdered in 1958. The de facto leader of the Losers Club, he becomes a successful horror novelist and is clearly the author's stand-in. I found Bill the least sympathetic of the group, however. All of the characters hero-worship him, but I couldn't see why. 

Beverly Marsh, the only female member of the Losers. The six Losers are all in love with Beverly, as much for her beauty as for her plucky attitude. She has an abusive father and later an abusive husband. I wasn't convinced by a lot of Beverly's actions. She was viewed as smart and strong by her pals, but King frequently had her acting weak and unsure of herself and too dependent on the closest male in the vicinity.  

Ben Hanscom, an overweight kid who has no friends until he meets the Losers in their play space, the Barrens, a thickly wooded, almost jungle-like area of town. The most well-rounded and sympathetic character, Ben has an innate sense of how things work and grows up to become a successful architect. 

Richie Tozier, a fast-talking kid who likes to do "Voices" and who later becomes very successful West Coast radio DJ. Some of the voices King has him do — all racial stereotypes — a black servant's voice, a Foghorn Leghorn-like white Southern gentleman, and a Mexican right out of Treasure of the Sierra Madre seemed more than a little questionable, but Richie is still a likable character. His humor is something that is proven to be effective against It, but King introduces that fact and then drops it.

Eddie Kaspbrak, a 90-pound weakling with an over-bearing, over-protective mother who has convinced him he has asthma. Eddie travels everywhere with his inhaler, which although a placebo, also proves as an effective weapon against It. As an adult he manages a successful limousine service. 

Stan Uris, a Jewish kid who has an interest in birdwatching. He becomes a successful accountant as an adult, but was always hyper-sensitive and the one most affected emotionally by his encounter wth It. 

Mike Hanlon, an African American kid who completes the group when they rescue him from a violent attack by crazed bully Henry Bowers. Mike is the only one who stays in Derry. He becomes the town librarian and compiles a hidden history of the town relating to It.

When we meet the Losers 28 years later, all grown up and successful, their childhood adventures and friends have been completely forgotten. But the murders have started in Derry again, and the one person who stayed, Mike, has called them all together to honor a promise they made — but first they must remember the past.

“Maybe there aren't any such things as good friends or bad friends - maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you when you're hurt and who help you feel not so lonely. Maybe they're always worth being scared for, and hoping for, and living for. Maybe worth dying for too, if that's what has to be. No good friends. No bad friends. Only people you want, need to be with; people who build their houses in your heart.”

Dust jacket illustration by Glen Orbik

In the afterword King says, "I worked on the book in a dream. I remember very little about the writing of it, except for the idea that I'd gotten hold of something that felt very big to me, and something that talked about more than monsters ..." He also says that the book could be considered his "“final exam on famous Monsters.” The creature, It, that terrorizes the children in the story has many faces, and can appear as whatever its victim fears most, which gave King the opportunity to play with the Teenage wolfman, the Crawling Eye, The Mummy, and many other of his favorite film horrors from his own childhood. But Pennywise the Clown is still the creepiest incarnation.

“I started after him...and the clown looked back. I saw Its eyes, and all at once I understood who It was." 

"Who was it, Don?" Harold Gardner asked softly. 

"It was Derry," Don Hagarty said. "It was this town.” 

...................... 

Mike Hanlon, "Can an entire city be haunted?"

Like so many of his other books, location is all-important. In this case, the town of Derry. King based the fictional town of Derry on Bangor Maine, which is bisected by a large canal — again echoing the dual nature of the narrative. The fate of It and the town of Derry are inextricably entwined, but for all of the anecdotes that King creates to form Derry's past, I never felt I knew it, that I was there, the way I knew the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, or the town of 'Salem's Lot. So many of the History of Derry stories — the burning of the Black Spot Lounge, the rampage of logger Claude Heroux, the Bradley Gang, were interesting in themselves, but didn't really add to the overall story. They might have worked better in a short story collection.

I found It more gruesome than scary. King catalogues pretty much every gory and disgusting aspect of the killings that he can, which makes for a gross-out read, but is It really frightening? The elusive nature of the beast actually makes it less threatening as the novel goes on (and on and on). In the last quarter of the story it seems that King himself may have lost interest in the monster, or at least a sure sense of what exactly It is supposed to be.

There are some great moments when the boogeyman in the closet does become horribly real, but no matter how many killings It has done, it's hard to compete with the lethal psycho that King created in the bully, Bowers. It makes me wish that he instead made It just something in the water, some local intrinsic evil rather than a physical entity. Then maybe all those other anecdotes would have made more sense. But I don't want to rewrite It. I'd just like to edit the hell out of it.

Related:

The Shining

Still Scary After All These Years — 'Salem's Lot

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stephen king's duma key

I've been reading a bit of Stephen King lately and picked up Duma Key because it was about an artist (I was a painting major in college) who relocates to Florida (I live in Florida) with some supernaturally creepy results. Duma Key started off slow, picked up a bit, and then started to slow down again. It's clear that King was more interested in the trials of the artist, which are the best part, the central section, of the book. When the bodies started to pile up in the last third of the novel it became a less compelling read. I began to wish that he had an editor who wasn't afraid to wield a red pencil — and get bloody with it. I didn't want to abandon the book. I wanted to finish it and see how things came out, but I have to admit that it got tough at times to hang in there.

"How to Draw a Picture. Start with a blank surface. It doesn't have to be paper or canvas, but I feel it should be white. We call it white because we need a word, but its true name is nothing. Black is the absence of light, but white is the absence of memory, the color of can't remember."

Cover art by Mark Stutzman

Duma Key evokes The Flying Dutchman and King's own The Shining, as it follows protagonist Edgar Freemantle as he tries to recover from a devastating on-the-job accident — the loss of his right arm and a head injury — and nurture his artistic talent by relocating to a remote location, Duma Key, off the west coast of Florida, near Sarasota.

Stephen King's writing always evokes a wonderful sense of place. He can write about a location, a house, an atmosphere, so well that no matter how creepy it may turn out to be, you still want to be there with the characters. This is not touristy Florida, but an old-world, isolated, overgrown with vegetation, Florida. Edgar's house, "Big Pink," in Duma Key may be the port of call for all sorts of not-so-nice psychic energy, but I still got into its relaxed, beachy vibe.

The more Edgar paints, the more he gets in touch with the supernatural forces that seem to surround Duma Key. He discovers that his inspiration to paint is tied directly to his missing right arm when he experiences a phantom limb sensation whenever he is working. His paintings begin to tell him things about people, and  by painting specific objects and scenes he finds he can affect people's lives. His paintings pack such power that just owning them may be dangerous.

King does a wonderful job describing Edgar's work process and his body of work. In fact he describes Edgar's surrealist Dali-influenced paintings and drawings so well that the reader can see the Edgar's step-by-step progress and visualize the finished artwork. We even get wrapped up in his first art show and crowning as the next great thing to hit the Sarasota art scene.

Edgar befriends former lawyer Jerome Wireman, the caretaker of an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease, Elizabeth Eastlake, who also happens to own most of the real estate on the island. The three are all linked inextricably to Duma Key, which has a special attraction and affection for damaged goods. They are three people who have escaped death by receiving some sort of head injury, and have been granted psychic powers.

“I felt it and knew: the three of us were here because something wanted us here.”

Edgar's injuries are never far from the surface of the story or King's mind. It is hard not to relate Edgar's struggles to King's own long road to recovery after being horribly injured when he was hit by a van in 1999. His exploration of mind and memory also resonates. As the daughter of someone with dementia (who also was a painter who dealt with primarily Florida-themed subject matter), I found it difficult to read about Elizabeth's failing health as she slipped further and further into her disease. King has either done his research here, or been directly affected by someone he loves with memory issues.

As much good as there is in the novel, it also had some disappointments. There is so much foreshadowing of both past and future spooky events, that the secrets as ultimately revealed, and the monster, feel rushed and disappointing. When Edgar, like in a classic Twilight Zone episode, finds whatever he paints he can make happen, I immediately began to wonder why he didn't start to manipulate his talent more. He is able to help one character who is near and dear to him by painting their portrait, so why doesn't he try to help another who is very much in need of help? Why does he seem in control of his gift at some times, and at others his talent is just a tool, a conduit for some evil force?

I can't say that I loved the ending. It may have worked, fit the road that the book was relentlessly following, but I still wasn't satisfied with what happened to many of the characters. But despite its problems, there is a lot to enjoy in Duma Key, especially the description of Edgar's process and the obsession of the artist. Edgar's paintings are so vividly described that it is a shame to realize that we can only attend his grand art opening and visit his painting studio in our minds.

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still scary after all these years — 'salem's lot

Article first published as Book Review: 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King on Blogcritics.



The recent paperback release of 'Salem's Lot, Stephen King's second published novel, is a wonderful old-school vampire story, where the vampires aren't sparkly, or romantic, or James Dean cool — they are rampant, foul-smelling, and very, very evil. 'Salem's Lot is also a vampire novel where the vampires aren't exactly secondary, but a symptom of what King poses is going wrong in the world.

The Nosferatu-influenced Kurt Barlow, from the 1979 television miniseries directed by Tobe Hooper, based on King's novel.


The town of Jerusalem's Lot, or 'Salem's Lot, for short, is, by its isolated nature, the perfect breeding-ground for evil. King asks the reader, can a place draw evil, due to its own moral corruption? In an interview with Highway Patrolman magazine, King said, "In a way it is my favorite story, mostly because of what it says about small towns. They are kind of a dying organism ... I have a special cold spot in my heart for it!"

King takes his time sketching out the town's geography, inhabitants, and history, until the reader has as much invested in 'Salem's Lot as protagonist Ben Mears. Ben is a novelist who lived in 'Salem's Lot as a child. He has come back to town to exorcise a childhood memory of a frightening supernatural experience at the local haunted house, the Marsten House. He hopes to turn his bad memories into a best-selling novel.

Ben quickly gets sidetracked when he meets and falls in love with local girl Susan Norton, but also when he starts to notice that something very wrong is going on in the town — and that all roads lead back to the house of his nightmares, the Marsten House. Two young brothers, Ralphie and Danny Glick, have disappeared. It at first seems like there may be a child-murderer in the area. Ben and Susan team up with young Mark Petrie, a schoolboy friend of the Glicks with an encyclopedic knowledge of movie monsters, high school teacher Matt Burke, doctor Jimmy Cody, and local Catholic priest Father Callahan to investigate the growing number of deaths — and disappearing corpses.

King does his usual wonderful job of quick-sketching memorable characters. The eccentric, laid-back, and sometimes cantankerous people who live in the Lot come easily to life. Unfortunately for them, and thanks to the other newcomers to the Lot, the mysterious Mr. Straker and his unseen partner Mr. Barlow, they are also as easily dispatched.

King's take on contemporary (1975) politics, like Watergate and the gas crisis, which he believes have eroded people's values, is an undercurrent throughout the novel. The mysterious and possibly infused-with evil Marsten House, which physically presides over the town, provides another level of corruption. He also explores the exponential possibilities of vampire creation. Their ranks keep growing, and growing and growing ...


'Salem's Lot is a time capsule of sorts. So many of the main characters are working in the dark from one another. King could never have written the novel in the age of cell phones. Clearly a product of the '70s, it is no less a scary read today. 'Salem's Lot packs the same punch, the same apprehension, whether read late at night or in the clear light of day. As scary as it is, there is also something incredibly sad about the novel.

King pulls 'Salem's Lot apart piece by piece. We watch the town disappear. The horror the reader experiences, the inevitability of the story and the characters' fates, is in exact correlation to Ben and his friends' dread at their eventual confrontation with Kurt Barlow.

King spares no one. The elderly, children, animals, and even main characters are all up for grabs where the vampire is concerned. There are thrilling scenes, but the true horror takes place between the lines, with the reader imagining the worst — which usually proves to be true. Before settling down with 'Salem's Lot, you might want to check your windows to see if they are securely locked, and look through your jewel box for a cross or religious medal to keep on hand while you are reading. Just in case.

the shining

"The whole place was empty. But it wasn't really empty. Because here in the Overlook things just went on and on. Here in the Overlook all times were one. ... It was as if the whole place had been wound up with a silver key. The clock was running. The clock was running. He was that key, Danny thought sadly."

In Stephen King's The Shining Jack Torrance is a man with many issues. He is a recovering alcoholic who battles his desire to drink every day. He has a temper and is prone to flying off the handle at anyone who challenges his sense of personal worth or authority. He recently lost his teaching position after getting in a physical altercation with a student. He is an aspiring writer with a play he can't seem to quite finish. His wife Wendy hasn't trusted him since he broke their son Danny's arm in a drunken rage. He is practically unemployable, and their savings are just about nil. In a last-ditch attempt to try to finish his play and salvage his relationship with his wife and son he accepts a job at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado, as the caretaker during the winter season when the hotel is closed to guests and visitors. Very bad idea.

Jack Nicholson gave an unforgettable performance as Jack in Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining

Jack's son Danny isn't a typical five year-old. He sees things — both from the past and the future. He can read minds, and speak to others who share his ability, who "shine," as the Overlook's chef, Dick Hallorann, calls it. But as a child, Danny is essentially powerless. He has to go to the Overlook, a place he knows to be dangerous, because his parents say so. But he is also the most powerful person in the novel because of his ability to shine. His parents may close their eyes to his abilities, but the entity that is the Overlook is very aware of Danny's power and desperately wants to control him. Hallorann, who shares the ability to shine, although to a lesser degree, is Danny's only true ally, as his parents work out their marital issues and the hotel takes more and more control of their lives.

Even if Danny didn't shine, all signs point to the fact that Jack should not take the job — or if he does, he at least shouldn't take his family there with him for the winter. As Stuart Ullman, the manager of the hotel, tells Jack at his job interview, "During our first winter I hired a family instead of a single man. There was tragedy. A horrible tragedy."

King brings many shades to what at first seems a simple haunted house tale. The supernatural forces at work, and Danny's (and maybe the rest of his family's) ability to see them. How alcoholism affects a person, his ability to create, and his family. A close-up look at the dissolution of a marriage. The difficulties of parenting.

Jack has a tendency towards violence, whether drunk or sober. He thinks he knows better than everyone ("Father knows best") and is constantly excusing himself, his judgments, his jealousies. The reader learns that his father was abusive, to the point of almost killing his mother, which helps fill in some of Jack's blanks, but King never excuses any of his behavior. If the Overlook was holding a casting call, it couldn't have picked anyone more suited for the job of caretaker-gone-mad than Jack. King writes about Jack's ability to connect with both the hero and villain in his play. The reader can connect with all of the characters in The Shining. Jack, when he is in his craziest most dangerous moments, is to some degree sympathetic. He also has a wicked sense of humor, “The boiler’s okay and I haven’t even gotten around to murdering my wife yet. I’m saving that until after the holidays, when things get dull.”

The Overlook was based on the Stanley Hotel

It is well-known that King himself was an alcoholic (and was at the time of writing The Shining). One can't help but feel that his love/hate for the character of Jack Torrance is his own beating up of himself and his demons. Parenting is hard and there are times, no matter how much you love your child, that they drive you nuts and make you angry. This is taken to extremes in Jack's story, but one of his defining moments is when he broke Danny's arm. This violent act haunts Jack as much as any of the other creepy things that inhabit the Overlook. King keeps Jack's feelings ambiguous. Was evil always inherent in Jack, and the Overlook able to hone it, bring it out? Or is alcohol mostly responsible for his violent tendencies? Is the Overlook King's metaphor for alcoholism? Are the ghosts Jack's alcoholic demons made real? The Shining can incorporate all of these elements and still just be a darn good ghost story.

King switches back and forth between the viewpoints of his main characters, which can sometimes be dizzying, but also adds to the claustrophobic nature of the Torrances and their life at the Overlook. Jack and his family seem trapped long before they ever get to the hotel. What at first simply appears to be cabin fever gradually reveals itself as the hotel's mounting campaign to ensnare its latest residents. I've always thought of the Eagles' song Hotel California in tandem with The Shining (which, coincidentally, came out in the same year as the novel — 1977), "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave." The Overlook and its axis of evil always seems to be looking for new blood.

Wendy in the novel is far from the doormat wife that is depicted in the film version. Although she knows in her heart that her marriage has been dead for quite some time, she is still unwilling to let go, to leave Jack. Because of the family's dire financial circumstances, the Torrances all feel dependent on this job. She may still feel some enduring love for her husband, but she is hesitant to separate Danny from Jack, from the very strong bond she knows that father and son share.

The Shining drags a bit, is too long. I think if it was tighter, it would have been even scarier. But there is no denying that there are some genuinely frightening sequences. I was kicking myself at one point for reading it late at night. When Stephen King wants to scare you, you get properly scared: Danny in a sinister snow-covered playground. Jack and Wendy's confrontation in the lobby and chase up the stairs. Danny discovering what really lies behind the door of Room 217. The wasp's nest. The Overlook is one of the most interesting characters in the novel. But I would have liked a little more of the why and not the what of its evil history.

When King is writing from Danny's point of a view the language at times is far too elaborate. A five year-old, even a psychic one who shines would not be so adult in his perceptions or conclusions. There are inappropriate sequences, too. The hotel (and author) expose Danny to sexual imagery for no really good reason except to shock. There is also lots of use of negative, racist slurs in relation to the African American character of Hallorann, which instead of portraying certain characters as racist, just gives a racist cast to parts of the book. It was King's third novel. It's not perfect, but it is indeed, in parts, quite chilling.

Book vs film:

There are so many things in Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining that I like. The tightening-up of the story, the ominous and influential use of Steadicam. "Redrum" is more skillfully handled than it was in the book, where it became a bit repetitive and clunky (and obvious).  

But Kubrick sacrifices a lot of what I like about King's novel — Jack's wavering back and forth between his love for his family and the violent path the hotel wants him to follow. He believes he can change, can be a better man, can succeed. In the film, once Jack (Jack Nicholson) starts going down the path to madness it's a one-way street with no looking back.  

King creates some frightening imagery with the menacing topiary animals, but they appear too often, so for me, the scares became diluted. Kubrick's changing of the topiary animals to a hedge maze was an improvement. The scene where Danny tries to hide in the maze, stepping backwards in his footsteps in the snow in order to elude his pursuer, is one of the greatest moments in horror film.

The chase through the maze is unforgettable. 

Kubrick completely screws up the character of Hallorann and subjects him to a very unnecessary and cheap shot at the end of the film, which is most definitely not in the book. 

I missed the creepy Grady girls in the book, as they were so visually powerful in the film, and have become indelibly connected to The Shining.

Could the Torrances have escaped their fates? Is The Shining really about human weakness? Anyone who spent the winter or any extended time at the Overlook Hotel would be exposed to its ghostly, evil atmosphere. But why do the Torrances all feel like they can't leave? Jack wrestles back and forth with wanting to be there, become part of its history, to wanting to leave, to protect his family. Wendy feels trapped in her relationship with Jack because she has no other safe harbor (she is estranged from her only other living relative, her mother). Danny loves his daddy so much that he doesn't want to leave him, even when he has seen what is coming, who will come after him.

Stephen King is reportedly writing a sequel, Dr. Sleep, with a 40 year-old Danny using his abilities to help terminally ill patients cross over. And then he runs into some psychic vampires ... It is likely that someone like Danny, if he caught the attention of the malevolent forces at the Overlook would run across something like that again. The Shining dealt with a lot of the issues that King was battling at the time. Both he and Danny are older now. It will be interesting to see what happens next and if he finds himself in another environment like the Overlook.

stephen king on writing

Whether you consider yourself an aspiring writer or not, Stephen King's On Writing — A Memoir of the Craft is an engaging read. It is part autobiography, part instruction manual, but mostly a writer talking about his love of writing and how intrinsic a part of his life his writing has always been.

As he outlines what he thinks all writers should do — devote hours every day to their craft (his daily quota is 2000 words, but that might be difficult for those of us with day jobs), read, read, and read some more (he doesn't watch much television and reads a lot), and not worry too much about the critics:

I spent a good many years since — too many, I  think - being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction and poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all.

King can write as engagingly about his growing up with his mother and brother as he can effortlessly sketch out memorable characters in his popular novels. He began writing at an early age, and submitting stories, too. He combined a love of pulp novels and fantasy and horror stories and movies with an insatiable appetite to read all genres.

He is unstinting in his look at his own battles with pills and alcohol, and how that featured in books like The Shining and Misery. He also details the harrowing accident he had in 1999 and its subsequent recovery period, when he was a victim of a hit and run. He writes in such a practical manner that you almost forget how much of his work deals with things out of the ordinary. That may be the key to his success, his blending of the natural and supernatural. His prose may be basic, but it is smart and funny as well:

I don't want to speak too disparagingly of my generation (actually I do, we had a chance to change the world and opted for the Home Shopping Network instead) ...

Fans of King's writing will get some nice anecdotes about the origins of characters Carrie White and Annie Wilkes.

Annie was coke, Annie was booze, and I decided I was tired of being Annie's pet writer. ... The idea that creative endeavor and mind-altering substances are entwined is one of the great pop-intellectual myths of our time. ... Substance-abusing writers are just substance abusers - common garden-variety drunks and druggies, in other words. Any claims that the drugs and alcohol are necessary to dull a finer sensibility are just the usual self-serving bullshit.

It helps if you have read his books, but it isn't strictly necessary, as he writes about writing and inspiration and the hard work behind his prolific output. He writes mainly with the aspiring or practicing fiction writer in mind, but I would think that his no-nonsense advice would help any writer. I'm sure it's helped me. His identification of common traps that bad writers fall into may be beneficial for readers as well as  writers. He's a huge fan of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. I'll never think of adverbs the same way again after reading On Writing.

What I also really like about On Writing is his booklist by other authors — books that he has enjoyed. Who doesn't like a suggested reading list? It's fun to see shared favorites, like Paul Bowles's The Sheltering Sky, Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, and J.K Rowling's first three Harry Potter novels, as well as to-read books by favorite authors like T. Coraghessan Boyle, Ruth Rendell and Michael Chabon, and a host of other books and authors to check out.

As much as he talks about his own work, he doesn't overtoot his own horn. I haven't read a ton of Stephen King. I grew up reading more of the mystery genre than horror. But the ones I have read I've liked very much — The Stand is a great book. I also enjoyed 'Salem's Lot and The Girls Who Loved Tom Gordon, a very recent read. I read Carrie a long time ago, when a group of girls was passing it around in my high school civics class — pretty appropriate setting, huh? I've been avoiding The Dark Tower series, but now may have to give it a try.

... put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support-system for art. It's the other way around.

On Writing doesn't just make me want to polish up my writing (and beware of over-adverbiage), but, as I'm sure King would be happy to hear, makes me want to read more, because for Stephen King, the reader and the writer are inextricably linked.

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