stephen king c/d?

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I read "the mist" today and it was really scary!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:51 (9 years ago) Permalink

from the ages of 10-15 he was the C of C.

now, eh, i'm sure i'd enjoy rereading some of the good ones.

― Viva La Sam (thatgirl), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:56 (9 years ago) Permalink

i am looking forward to this new movie, "secret window" which stars johnny depp and john turturro.

oh yeah and know what's annoying? the american version of lars von trier's "the kingdom" is called motherfucking "STEPHEN KING'S KINGDOM HOSPITAL"!!! what the fuck is that shit?!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:59 (9 years ago) Permalink

like you'd think he'd be embarrassed about that!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:59 (9 years ago) Permalink

and "kingdom hospital" alone would be such a stupider title, even

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 03:59 (9 years ago) Permalink

he wrote secret window? that looks cool.

― Viva La Sam (thatgirl), Monday, 23 February 2004 04:01 (9 years ago) Permalink

of course he wrote it, it's about a writer in maine haunted by a supernatural dude in a hat who accuses him of plagiarism!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 04:04 (9 years ago) Permalink

don't really get all of that from the commercials. just that it's spooky and has john turturro.

― Viva La Sam (thatgirl), Monday, 23 February 2004 04:07 (9 years ago) Permalink

i hope it's good but the last stephen king movie was "dreamcatcher," and whew boy, that was something else.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 04:13 (9 years ago) Permalink

they aren't even advertising this film as by Stephen King, so maybe they've realized that his name attached to a film = box office death these days.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Monday, 23 February 2004 04:20 (9 years ago) Permalink

then why "stephen king's kingdom hospital"?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 04:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

(which i presume he adapted)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 04:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

"Dreamcatcher" had the worst ending I have ever seen in a film.

"I read the Mist today, and boy was it scary!"

If you can find it, there's a audio dramatization of the Mist available on cassete. The cool thing about it is that it's in three-dimensional sound, which gives the story an extremely spooky effect.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 23 February 2004 04:32 (9 years ago) Permalink

did you see the "original ending" on the dreamcatcher dvd? it was so much better, i have no idea why they chose to go with the alternate.

― Emilymv (Emilymv), Monday, 23 February 2004 05:20 (9 years ago) Permalink

it was! i liked that in the non-original ending the movie ended with dude saying "jonesy!" though.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 05:21 (9 years ago) Permalink

from the ages of 10-15 he was the C of C.

This is so true. His were the first "adult" books I got into reading, as a kid. (I remember learning about most aspects of sex -- except the nuts and bolts, of course, which my mom taught me -- from Stephen King books.) And I think he made for a pretty good segue into the more usual fiction, when I became a preteen... (Because, y'know, he writes about couples and relationships and people musing about their lives and all that shit... just with monsters.)

And I remember "It," which I read in sixth grade, as being one heck of a great book.

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Monday, 23 February 2004 06:07 (9 years ago) Permalink

He was always somebody I knew of growing up -- he was that big by the late seventies when I first heard of him thanks to The Shining's adaptation, and he still is, Harlan Ellison called him sui generis and I think he nailed it. But I never really got into him -- it wasn't that I didn't like his work as I read it, I just tended to look elsewhere. But what few short stories I've read of his capture a certain beautiful atmosphere of the physical land itself are gripping, and it occurs to me that some of his greatest strengths aren't the obvious ones.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 23 February 2004 06:11 (9 years ago) Permalink

I will throw in a few more cents: those Dark Tower books (the few that I read -- first three or four?) = disappointing dud; the first half of "The Stand" = awesome, but the 2nd half = dud; a few of those "Bachman Books" = Classic. "Eye of the Dragon" (is that what it's called?) = totally classic.

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Monday, 23 February 2004 06:24 (9 years ago) Permalink

Stand by Me = classic. No question. period. end. over. The Best.

― sunjammerr, Monday, 23 February 2004 06:49 (9 years ago) Permalink

Oh, duh! Secret Window was in Four Past Midnight. I knew it looked familiar.

I think his stuff in the last decade or so is unbearable nostalgic crap, I still think his first 15 years had a few genuinely great novels (The Dead Zone and Pet Sematary seem to stand up the best) and a boatload of really scary scenes (the Lincoln Tunnel sequence in The Stand, Ben's Hubie Marston nightmare in 'Salem's Lot).

At this point, though, I'd wager that most of his stuff made for better movies, at least when real directors (as opposed to Frank Darabont) were at the helm. Carrie, The Shining, and Christine are all way beyond the source material. And Cujo, The Dead Zone and 'Salem's Lot are all great movies in their own right.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 23 February 2004 07:34 (9 years ago) Permalink

Pet Sematary is a great horror novel, one of the few that has actually creeped me out.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 23 February 2004 07:37 (9 years ago) Permalink

I always liked his short stories. The one with the tiny army men, and the one about the kid's dad with the bad 6-pack of beer and the cats in the wall... I haven't read The Mist since I was in that 10-15 age range. I liked it a lot then. Does it hold up?

― Stuart (Stuart), Monday, 23 February 2004 07:38 (9 years ago) Permalink

Oh and the one where the evil oil slick pulls the guy through the CRACK between the BOARDS on the RAFT holy SHIT.

― Stuart (Stuart), Monday, 23 February 2004 07:39 (9 years ago) Permalink

There's an audio-CD of the Mist that's great. You have to listen to it with headphones, but they did a great job with the surround sound (for ~1993 when I heard it).

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 23 February 2004 07:47 (9 years ago) Permalink

The raft scared the pants off me.

― luna (luna.c), Monday, 23 February 2004 07:54 (9 years ago) Permalink

Just keep your hair out of the water and you'll be fine.

― Stuart (Stuart), Monday, 23 February 2004 07:56 (9 years ago) Permalink

"There's an audio CD of the Mist..."

Dude, did you see my post upthread?

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 23 February 2004 08:06 (9 years ago) Permalink

Haha, no. Amazon still had the CD as of a couple of years ago.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 23 February 2004 08:10 (9 years ago) Permalink

At 15, C of C, OTM. The Shining, Christine, The Stand, and It. And Misery.

I stopped caring before the first chapter of Delores Claiborne ended (tho that movie was good).

― weather1ngda1eson (Brian), Monday, 23 February 2004 08:58 (9 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, Bachman books - classic. The 4 stories in "Different Seasons" are pretty good. The only one not made into a movie was my favourite - The Long Walk. Basically a near-future-reality-show concept piece. Very simple: 100 people (mostly young) start walking down a highway. If you drop below 4 miles per hour, you get a warning. After the 3rd warning, you are shot dead (the military follow your progress). Last one alive "wins" (you get whatever you want). I almost hope reality TV goes this way someday...

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 23 February 2004 10:07 (9 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, Salem's Lot and The Mist scared the piss out of me as a young'un.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 23 February 2004 10:08 (9 years ago) Permalink

You could just take them out of the running instead of shooting them. Some people might argue that only the threat of death can provide sufficient motivation to determine the "real" winner. Anyway, 4mph isn't very fast.

― Stuart (Stuart), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:14 (9 years ago) Permalink

Average normal pedestrial walking speed is like 3.375 mph.

― Stuart (Stuart), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:17 (9 years ago) Permalink

Are you getting Different Seasons confused with The Bachman Books, Rob? The Breathing Method is the only story out of DS that wasn't filmed: The Running Man is the only one of BBs that was.

Short stories: great. Dark Tower also good in principle (the first one was only good enough to get me vaguely interested in the seond one, which was great), but if it turns out that I'd have to read all his other books to understand the next volume, I'll be pissed off.

You have to reckon he's jumped the shark when he starts making TV miniseries of all his longer stories, including The Shining. Apparently the film was fine, but not what he was looking for.

And Christine to thread!

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:37 (9 years ago) Permalink

Good things about Stephen King:

1. The Shining
2. The Strand was good as I recall though the middle 500 pages dragged a bit
3. He wrote some book about dragons. I forget what it was called but dragons are so awesome.
4. His short stories I think are generally excellent, and much different from his fiction. They're published in the New Yorker and other such magazines quite often. He had an excellent one about highway restroom graffiti.
5. Also he got hit by a truck, which is so crazy. Then he wrote lots of memoirs about being hit by a truck. The one celebrity we have in the whole state of Maine gets mauled by a drunk driver. I thought we should have put his giant creepy head on our state quarter, but apparently that wasn't taken into consideration.

― j c (j c), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:45 (9 years ago) Permalink

The Stand I mean. The Strand is a bookstore I have to go to this afternoon. Apologies.

― j c (j c), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:46 (9 years ago) Permalink

least scary element in a bad s.k. novel: killer coke machine in the tommyknockers. course, he was high on coke at the time, so it makes sense. i kinda love the fact that he doesn't remember writing cujo. If you had asked me what the great american novel was 20 years ago i would have said The Stand. I love everything up until the novel he doesn't remember writing. it was touch and go after that. hate when he takes a short story idea and adds an extra 700 pages a la Insomnia.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:46 (9 years ago) Permalink

Eye of the Dragon - about the prince locked up in the tower who steals threads from napkins and weaves them into a rope using the tiny loom in his doll house.

― Stuart (Stuart), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:49 (9 years ago) Permalink

>Are you getting Different Seasons confused with The Bachman Books, Rob
Yes. Yes I am. It's been a while...

>Anyway, 4mph isn't very fast

True. This is the beauty of the contest. The 100 starters can go on for quite a while before the 1st person is shot, which is obviously a sobering event for the remaining 99. Only after about 48 hours things start to go a bit crazy. People start to freak out, as one would expect. Dunno why that story stuck with me for so long - it's a disturbing concept.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:51 (9 years ago) Permalink

they aren't even advertising this film as by Stephen King, so maybe they've realized that his name attached to a film = box office death these days.
-- anthony kyle monday
then why "stephen king's kingdom hospital"?

-- s1ocki

Stephen King signing on to the Kingdom remake is the only thing that got it made; it's been in and out of production for years, so I assume they're tagging it with his name because they aren't confident in it except as a King vehicle (whereas a Johnny Depp movie is a Johnny Depp movie, and you really don't need the Inspector 13 tag.

I haven't seen Dreamcatcher and don't know if I will, but coming so soon after the extended discussion of "trunk novels" in Bag of Bones (which, love it or hate it, is considerably different in scope, tone, and approach), and King's subsequent accident and public difficulties with returning to writing, I half-assumed it was a trunk novel itself. It certainly reads like one.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:54 (9 years ago) Permalink

I recall something about the first story in the Bachman books (Rage) causing a stir because it depicted a fed-up high school kid coming to school with a gun and having a little kill-fest. Apparently it was reading material for a real-life high-school-rage-murder tragedy, but don't recall when/where.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:56 (9 years ago) Permalink

He's great at writing a near-perfect example of a sub-genre. IE Rage is a great "high school shooting" story, The Long Walk is just one beautiful idea, "Survivor Type" is a great cannibal story..

(xpost)

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:57 (9 years ago) Permalink

"Incidently, 'Rage' is the only novel that King admits he wishes he never wrote. Several similar incidents have occured across the United States, and Rage has been mentioned in connection with them. Considering how sympathetic King is to his protagonist, it's easy to see how disillusioned teens could come to identify with its themes"

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:58 (9 years ago) Permalink

oh, but classic! cuz even though i don't read his new stuff i still dig him. he's such a kook, and he never makes me cringe really. which is more than i can say for most people who have been in the public eye as long as he has. search:Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Shining, Rage, Night Shift, The Stand, The Dead Zone, Danse Macabre, Firestarter, Different Seasons, Needful Things, The Dark Half, Pet Semetary, Misery, Skeleton Crew, and Thinner (even if you are older than 10-15)

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:59 (9 years ago) Permalink

he never makes me cringe really

No, we have Dean Koontz for that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 23 February 2004 15:52 (9 years ago) Permalink

Classic, what a way with a trashy yarn! Search: THE LANGOLIERS esp part one of the TV novella. Destroy: Cujo. I mean, it was a bit shit wasn't it.

― Sarah (starry), Monday, 23 February 2004 15:58 (9 years ago) Permalink

That Mist dramatization is floating around on soulseek.

― Stuart (Stuart), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

The best Stephen King audio I've heard -- although the person I heard it with says The Mist one is great, too -- is "1408," the haunted hotel room story from Blood and Smoke, his audio-only thing. The first time I heard it was in the middle of the night, in the middle of a ten hour road trip through east Texas and southern Louisiana, which probably added a lot to the overall effect.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

the langoliers is really cool too.

i mean the thing with stephen king is he's really good at writing really readable stuff, and he has some neat ideas, but man oh man does he repeat himself. which is kind of interesting in a way, i guess. it's like he applies whatever good idea he has to the basic mold of "writer in maine" and lets it rip.

(obviously that applies more to the novels)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 17:02 (9 years ago) Permalink

you know what else is good? "the juant"

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 17:09 (9 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 699 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

ha xpost

― here is no telephone (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 15:42 (4 months ago) Permalink

xpost Honestly, I think publishing "On Writing" did his reputation a world of good. I know several writers who love that book, who also gained a newfound respect for King after reading it.

Also, coincidence or not, both "Dome" and "11/22/63" were based on discarded or unpublished works from the '70s. And, of course, marked a return to full-time writing after the accident. Older, wiser, etc.

I've never called King racist or any of those things. I also totally get where he's coming from, though I was born in the '70s and rarely came across the n-word or anti-Semitic stuff (though homophobia was more rampant, and just because I didn't encounter the other stuff doesn't mean it wasn't there). I have, however, come across the "racism is truth, and to leave racism out would be dishonest" argument, but I don't quite buy that. Most writers get buy without it; King has no exclusive claim on the truth. There are countless ways to depict someone as racist short of flat-out having them the n-word. Which is another chalk mark in the "lazy" column. Show don't tell.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 15:44 (4 months ago) Permalink

But I will take you all up on the suggestion and read "It," eventually. I don't really like King's prose, though I do tend to like his stories, so I'll try to get around to it after I knock off a few other things in my belated book queue.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 15:48 (4 months ago) Permalink

For most writers, I'd agree that "racism is truth, and to leave racism out would be dishonest" is a weak defense, but King's thing is showing the whole catalog of human flaws. His characters do all kinds of repulsive things, especially the "bad" ones. In that context, I think it would be kind of odd if he left out the racism.

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 15:49 (4 months ago) Permalink

That's one thing I did like about "11/22/63." As far as the catalog of human flaws goes, it opens up his world significantly more than the majority of his narratively claustrophobic tales.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 15:51 (4 months ago) Permalink

Yeah--and maybe more to the point, a lack of pruning on both the part of the author and editor. He does tend to, you know, belabor stuff.

I started a long post that got eated by my computer, but this is pretty much sums up my take on king's (over?) reliance on racist characters. the farther he got from his big-4 success the more he was in need of a strong handed editor, but what publishing house is going to sic a tough editor on their cash cow? it's a theory I've held for a while in absence of anything but circumstantial evidence, but I just read an interview with one of his "editors" who seemed more concerned with how to sell stephen king books than with actually improving his prose.

calling him flat out racist seems offbase, as he couches his ethnic slurs in terms of bad guy signifier, or at least the verisimilitude of bumpkins. there's a schoolboy rush in using these verboten words, but there's also a schoolboy rush in scaring people in the first place, horror by nature being a transgressive genre. king decided early on that racists make the world a scary, dangerous place (as do child molesters and raging drunks), and it's part of what makes his writing successful - the side detours and accent marks that create a suffocating universe of evil. someone challenging him on this impulse throughout his career could've routed it in a different direction but hey, the formula works and the cash registers keep ringing so...

― son of telegram sam (Edward III), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:08 (4 months ago) Permalink

Any sane editor would have ruined Dreamcatcher. Therefore, editing is bad.

― here is no telephone (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:15 (4 months ago) Permalink

I just had a thought -- you ever have that experience where you have to be in the company of someone you don't like, or suspect to be not a very good person and eventually they just slip in some casual racism like dropping the n-word or saying something super homophobic like calling someone the f-word and your just like "uggghhh this is terrible. What should I do? Should I fucking speak up? This person is my boss/sister's husband/etc... I don't want to start anything but this is super fucking awkward now."

Maybe King does it to make reader's uncomfortable in that way, pricking you in many different ways beyond gore/regular/suspense. IDK though, sometimes it does just seem like lazy shorthand for "this is a bad person!"

In the case of The Shining though, to cite a specific example, I think one of the major themes of the books is what you might call "aspirations of WASP-hood" and IMO it is very cynical but canny to make Jack, who most wants to fit into genteel upper-class white society, an abusive bigot. The alcoholism thing isn't so much to paint him as bad as it is a plot device to get him to let the ghosts of the Hotel posses him/poison his mind -- but even if hadn't been turned into a psycho he's still pretty much a scumbag and the moral is -- that's who wants to be and who is a rich WASP: scumbags.

― Frobisher the (Viceroy), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:15 (4 months ago) Permalink

* beyond gore/regular suspense was what I meant... not like gore/regular/suspense/hi-test/diesel.

― Frobisher the (Viceroy), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:17 (4 months ago) Permalink

/maximum overdrive

― standard disclaimer applies (darraghmac), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:18 (4 months ago) Permalink

From a writing blog, quoted from "On Writing":

"If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway. Let a bigot talk like a bigot and a racist talk like a racist whether your friends and readers like it or not."

― Stop Gerrying Me! (onimo), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:19 (4 months ago) Permalink

Maybe that emphasizes King's inability to match his aspirations, then, since I've never gleaned some larger "truth" from his books, as entertaining and creative as many of them are. There are no specific lessons to be learned from his racists, who are typically bad guys already, racism or not. It's just ... there. That's why I've considered much of it gratuitous. But that could also be a facet of lack of editing, self or otherwise. Worth observing that just as conspicuous as the inclusion of so many racial epitets is the fact that for all his flawed heroes, I don't think King has ever written a hero whose flaws included racism, homophobia, et al. He does save the virulent stuff for bad guys exclusively, iirc, though something I read a bit ago implied several of the characters in "The Stand," good guys as well as bad guys, drop the N-word. Can't attest to the context, though.

I liked Viceroy's take on "The Shining."

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:29 (4 months ago) Permalink

for some reason the Nook store had 11/22/63 for like 3.99 last week, so i decided to take the plunge. i was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Under the Dome, so i'm hoping to not be bored to tears.

― HAPPY BDAY TOOTS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:38 (4 months ago) Permalink

Likely you'll want to skim the lengthy descriptions of small-town Texas high school plays, and a bit of romantic melodrama, perhaps some of the eavesdropping into the domestic life of Lee Harvey Oswald, but aside from a few of these bits padded out in the middle, it moves at a pretty good pace.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:45 (4 months ago) Permalink

Thanks Josh! I didn't want to be all "shaww, yeah, he's like totally a nazi or something bro" but having read his non-fiction On Writing and Danse Macabre I know he is actually a very introspective and thoughtful person about the craft of writing so I come from the position that he's "doing something" with his use of racial/sexual/ethnic epithets and who uses them.
xxp

Having read a lot of his stuff though I have to concede that sometimes it seems that it is the case he's just trying to shock you or, what seems more to be the case is he's already written 400 pages and is introducing another bad guy or something and is like "fuck, I don't want to write another 5 pages showing the reader why this guy is terrible I'll just have him curse Jews or something." He can be very guilty of telling when he should be showing. Also he's writing for a general audience so perhaps he thinks anything deeper than morality-play-level racial politics would lose him readers. (That doesn't mean I'd agree that he thinks his readers are dumb, but I mean when pretty much all of his works are accessible and understandable to a 7th grader, he's not exactly going for Proust-level literature).

That said, his non-fiction seems to be geared to a more intellectual and savvy audience. He should do more of that.

― Frobisher the (Viceroy), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:47 (4 months ago) Permalink

xpost yeah just skim the meat of the story, who cares about all that

u_u

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:49 (4 months ago) Permalink

Ha, the meat of the story. The boring meat.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:50 (4 months ago) Permalink

But that's what most of Stephen King IS. It's the time he spends in one place or with one character to set them firmly in your mind. If you skim all that you may as well go read someone else entirely. Dude writes LONG books.

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:52 (4 months ago) Permalink

Most irritating/funny thing about 11/22/63 for me was how damn adamant SK was about showing his lead couple's healthy sex life. Typical SK--one scene would have sufficed; he gave us 5 or 6.

― The Thnig, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:55 (4 months ago) Permalink

VG otm, I've discovered that through re-reading a lot of the stuff I read in high school. What I'd previously thought of as boring exposition actually ended up being the pieces that really breathed life into the most memorable characters.

― HAPPY BDAY TOOTS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:56 (4 months ago) Permalink

I don't mean to come off as a total fangirl -- he definitely can be longwinded and he'll belabor all the live long day. But, stuff like the repeated sex scenes with the main couple, yeah it's a bit much but it also makes the moments when one or both of them is in peril (ie with the ex husband or the ending)...all that boring repetitive stuff makes those high-danger moments that much more engaging and there's more at stake, because he's dragged you around in the sappy stuff.

imo

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 17:00 (4 months ago) Permalink

I guess. But in a story about a man who travels back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination, it almost by definition gets bogged down when he has to wait three or so years for the date to arrive, much of which is spent on a, yes, sappy small town romance that only here and there seemed believable (to me) and certainly could have conveyed the same meanings/emotions in a fraction of the word count.

Part of the problem I suppose was that I never bought the protagonist as a plausible 35 year old. What 35 year old would get off on going back to the late '50s and early '60s? That's not his nostalgia, it's King's, which rang all the more untrue when Jake was so into those classic cars and oldies on the radio. That's a failure of developing the character at the start as a sort of man out of time. Every time his age is mentioned it blew my mind, because I kept reading him like he was in his mid-'40s.

Between all the familiar stuff borrowed from "Final Destination" and "Back to the Future II" (harmless, and fine in this context), there was one butterfly effect/paradox exchange in the whole tome that I found hilarious. When Al early on introduces Jake to time travel, Jake asks (per every hoary sci-fi cliche from the "Twilight Zone" down): "What if I go back in time and kill my own grandfather?" Al looks at him funny and asks "Why the fuck would you do that?"

In some ways, that made the whole 900 pages worthwhile.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 17:25 (4 months ago) Permalink

Is that Nook special on '63 still in effect?

― here is no telephone (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 17:29 (4 months ago) Permalink

Well fine but the idea that a 35 year old is locked into liking cars and music from his own era is just as laughable. It's fine if you didn't like the book that much, but now you're just making things up that annoyed you

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 17:31 (4 months ago) Permalink

This 37 year old would go back to the 50's in a hot minute and be right at home with the music and cars. It's not a stretch.

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 17:31 (4 months ago) Permalink

This 29 year old would be pretty into 50s music and cars. Nothing to do with nostalgia, they were awesome cars and doo-wop is also awesome.

I'm totally not going to read that 900 book about time-travel Kennedy assassination prevention though. I bet it doesn't even bring up stuff like George H.W. Bush being on the grassy knoll or LHO being a Manchurian Candidate prgrammed by the CIA.

― Frobisher the (Viceroy), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 17:46 (4 months ago) Permalink

yeah sadly devoid of the good conspiracies I'm afraid, lol

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 17:47 (4 months ago) Permalink

Dang, now I'm thinking about "1922," the novella I mentioned from Full Dark, No Stars. Again, I thought it was one of the best pieces of writing SK has ever produced--but I don't recall hearing much enthusiasm about it from others. Am I alone here?

― The Thnig, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 18:14 (4 months ago) Permalink

I still haven't read FDNS, I need to.

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 18:19 (4 months ago) Permalink

Yeah i don't have FDNS in my holdings either.

― here is no telephone (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 18:21 (4 months ago) Permalink

FDNS is terrific. All four of those stories are real page turners, and definitely had the feel of King in his prime. That last one, which was clearly inspired by the BTK killer? Could not stop reading.

― Gollum: "Hot, Ready and Smeagol!" (Phil D.), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 18:26 (4 months ago) Permalink

I have always liked his novellas and short stories better than his long form work, and FDNS is no exception. 1922 was great, but I liked all of the novellas in that collection.

― Ulna (Nicole), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 18:49 (4 months ago) Permalink

xpost Actually, if you read the afterword, King does construct a conspiracy describing his 2% or whatever suspicion that Oswald wasn't acting alone. But I skimmed it. ;) King's alternate reality does end (briefly) with Hillary Clinton as president, though.

This 38 year old loves doo wop and the stuff that 37 year old listens to in the past. Prolly wouldn't move to Texas and mack on a schoolteacher while I waited to save Kennedy, though. So many other cool places to be!

Another invented thing to make fun of "11/22/63" for (though it also had something I liked): Jake recognizes Vic Morrow in "Combat!" as the guy who is killed 20 years later during the making of "Twilight Zone: The Movie," which seemed to me a little too esoteric for this guy to know/recognize. However! In his segment Vic Morrow plays a racist time traveler sent back to (among other places) Vietnam, which ties into many themes of the book and this thread, which King would call a harmonic convergence.

Hey, serious (spoiler again!) question re: the book: the guys with the cards in the hats? King never explains who they are and what they do, really, and what they tell Jake isn't terribly illuminating or even necessary. So what purpose do they serve in the book? (Which I didn't dislike, just mostly found about 200-300 words too long).

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 18:50 (4 months ago) Permalink

Read 11/22/63 a long time ago (well before it came out) so I can't remember any guys with cards in their hats. I do remember the dystopic ending felt rushed and shoddily conceived next to the long, loving details given to everything in the 60s.

― The Thnig, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 19:15 (4 months ago) Permalink

The significance to me seemed to be the colors of the card, and that that character was the only other character that was seemingly aware of the timetravel portal thingy -- the 'different guys' was the same guy at different spots on the timeline, marked by the changing color of the tag in his hatband. Though I think the Green guy was maybe a different version of him? The one who was like the guardian or whatever. But he was just kind of a signpost guy to reinforce the dangers of timetravel to Al.
The colors acted like radiation signifiers I think? - green safe/yellow mild/orange bad/black chernobyl

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 19:27 (4 months ago) Permalink

Yeah, I guess that's why I found him/them unnecessary. (And it is a them, I believe). When Jake went back to dystopian future 2011, he would have immediately seen how badly he screwed things up and gone back to "reset" everything. So really I think the man existed strictly as a convenience to explain why Jake couldn't just go back over and over again. But it never says who out him there or why, if his job was to protect the portal, why he did such a shitty job explaining its dangers. Not that any of that matters, or the source of the portal for that matter, either. But since none of it matters, the man's presence jumps out at me as a distraction, another lazy contrivance. Had he not been in the story at all it likely would have (or could have) played out the exact same way.

Another question I had was why he needed to stay in 1958 one last time, write out his (this?) story, and then bury it to be maybe discovered in the future. Why couldn't he have just travelled back to his present like the card man wanted and scribbled out his story when he got home? I actually read the end a couple of times and can't figure it out.

All the times in the past he was playing hide the poundcake or whatever I was convinced he was going to get her pregnant with his own parallel universe grandpa or something.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 20:21 (4 months ago) Permalink

who out him there, that should read - the green card man does admit he is human, with a name and everything, which is even more confusing.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 20:22 (4 months ago) Permalink

While I'm complaining - and this actually jumped out at me as I was reading, well before I had finished the book, as a contrivance that added nothing but confusion and word count: the narrative paradox of having a guy recount in lucid detail his serious brain damage and memory loss. It was disorienting, like breaking the 180 degree rule in film, and it really added nothing to the story save several pages of phony suspense.

What I'm really trying to say is, Steve - Sai - if you're reading this, and I think you probably are, you've had the best editors, and maybe a couple of bad ones, too. You've made your millions many times over. I think it's time to give me a shot reading a draft. You can use whatever words you want, I promise I won't say anything. Just give me a chance to trim the fat a little. Ok? Thanks.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 20:39 (4 months ago) Permalink

Answering my own question: yes, the 1963 novel is still 3.99 on Nook. Buying it!

― here is no telephone (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 20:47 (4 months ago) Permalink

I think teh cardman is like a timecop from the future sent to make sure ppl dont kill kennedies

― zero dark (s1ocki), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 20:49 (4 months ago) Permalink

etc

― zero dark (s1ocki), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 20:49 (4 months ago) Permalink

$3.99 on Kindle too.

― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Tuesday, 22 January 2013 20:55 (4 months ago) Permalink

Def. worth that, and I mean that without sarcasm.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 21:18 (4 months ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

I may have just received an advance copy of a certain SK book coming out in June. Will report back.

― The Thnig, Thursday, 28 February 2013 19:25 (2 months ago) Permalink

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 28 February 2013 19:28 (2 months ago) Permalink

Sweet.

I'm still plugging away on my chronological King (re)readthrough. 2/3 of the way through Cujo presently. The Long Walk (always a favorite back in the day) might be the best thing I've read so far. So pure, so effective. I never got very far into Roadwork as a kid, but I'm glad I read it as an adult. It has a very 'small '70s film' vibe. Like something you'd see on a double bill with Five Easy Pieces.

― Coke Opus (Old Lunch), Thursday, 28 February 2013 20:21 (2 months ago) Permalink

Have finished the Hard Case Crime coming out in June. It's short and sweet and nostalgic, reads like a memoir, and is one of his gentlest books. It is probably the very definition of a minor work, but certainly not without charm.

― The Thnig, Thursday, 7 March 2013 15:28 (2 months ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

― ARE YOU HIRING A NANNY OR A SHAMAN (Phil D.), Monday, 1 April 2013 21:56 (1 month ago) Permalink

i thought that was enrico colantoni in the still but i guess it isn't

― attempt to look intentionally nerdy, awkward or (thomp), Monday, 1 April 2013 22:03 (1 month ago) Permalink

Under the Dome aka MRI footage of Michael Chiklis's brain

― carl agatha, Monday, 1 April 2013 22:10 (1 month ago) Permalink

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