BEWARE OF SPOILERS

Thursday 30 December 2010

The Running Man - 30th December 2010

The Running Man
So, I'm going with the contraversial (to someone, somewhere) move of reading two books concurrently. I think The Running Man was published before Danse Macabre anyway, so I'm only realigning the axis.

I read The Running Man as a kid but only really remember the film. I don't think I've seen it since I was a kid, probably younger than its 18 certificate, but it's all there. My lasting impression is equal parts awesome and cheesy shit. I picked it on DVD a while ago for a couple of quid so, once I've read it, I'll see whether I can still stomach Arnie.

As for Danse Macabre I haven't got too far. While King's writing is anything but dry, the book takes a degree of concentration and application that can be difficult to maintain when there are two pre-schoolers charging about and you're perpetually knackered. Whatever.

It also doesn't help that I've just ripped through Chelsea Cain's Gretchen Lowell books. Naughty boy. Time to get back on task.

Sunday 28 November 2010

Danse Macabre - 28th November

Danse Macabre
It's probably clear to you from previous blog posts, that I don't know the first thing about horror, past or present.  While I know this isn't a definitive history, insight or exploration, it should raise my knowledge about its current realm of 'fuck all'.

Cujo 6th-26th November

Awesome. It's the first one that's really got under my skin and gripped me with the threat and terror of the story.

The thing that stood out most of all for me was the relationships. I'm guessing King let a lot of himself out in this one. It gives the impression of having been written by a parent who is wont to analyse not only their position as parent and their relationship with the child and spouse but also their own parents. Much of the book is tied to these familial relations and, as a parent of young children, it was an easy identifier.

As for my fear of dogs, it hasn't done anything to exacerbate it. After all, it's only a story.  If anything, it has made me question and analyse it. I can easily identify where my fear originated and see why I've never overcome it. Perhaps, for my own wellness of mind, it's time I properly addressed my phobia.

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Cujo - interim thoughts

I read on wikipedia that King was shit-faced when he wrote it and, in fact, barely remembers writing it. Surely confirmation bias, but I think that comes across. You can tell he's a bit loose and wild and, while the word is beginning to grate on me, there's a rawness to the writing. It's a bit like the filter is pulled back and the 'off the cuff' is blazing through. There being no chapters, just one irrepressible narrative is the plainest evidence. The way he's talking about the infidelity must resonate with our married brethren. We're good lads who would never roam, but the fear of your spouse doing so is as terrifying as a rabid dog. Whether it was something our boy went through, or not, I don't know but I think he's got the feelings and reaction down.
I know it doesn't have a lot to do with the effect of the horror, but I'm loving this book so far.

Saturday 6 November 2010

Cujo - 6th November

Cujo
I definitely haven't read Cujo before.

I've a feeling this one's going to put me about. That's because I am scared of dogs. Not all dogs. It's a fear borne of childhood experience, compounded by the fact that I've never really been around dogs since. For a long time, when I was growing up, there was an Alsatian two doors up that was allowed to roam free on the street. Untrained and owned by absolute fucking scrubbers, it was often encouraged to chase us kids on our bikes or to jump up at us while we sat on a high wall. I'm probably exaggerating when I say that for a good few years, I would have to leave the house on full alert for canine attack. It only bit me one time and it was only a nip on the arse and as much a result of my innate fear as its cunthole owners and complete lack of training, but I immediately get the fear when I see a dog on the street.

Some breeds I'm fine with. Well, labradors and anything I could feasibly kick to a safe distance. Please don't get me wrong, I wish no harm on any dog, or any other animal, and know that dangerous dogs are the product of shitty owners. However, I can't help the fact that when I see someone approaching with a dog on a lead, I start judging the dog's strength and potential ferocity versus the owner's strength, grip on the lead and even the durability of the lead itself. Now, if the dog is loose, I'm looking to cross the road, wondering whether I should just turn back, all the while looking for a high fence or wall to climb should it come to that.

I know responsible dog owners are probably shaking their heads, but I can't help it. All that considered, here goes Cujo.

Roadwork - 14th October-6th November 2010

I'll start by saying how much I liked Roadwork. A lot.

The least 'horror' of his books I've read so far, barring Rage, it's the one I've found most affecting. The realisation that your humanity is of mere and fleeting concern to the emergent power brokers and ruling elite is crushing enough. In Bart's case, this came after a lifetime of servitude and labour. For the majority of us, it's the road that lays before us and we at least have the option, however grudgingly, whether to trudge its desolate expanse or break free and cavort in the pasture. We're not, like Bart, faced with looking back at the idea of working for a family run or 'community ethos' company with a vested and nurturing interest in its employees as people, not just a commodity or a profit margin factor becoming an arcane and romantic vestige of the past. I don't know...which is worse? Being dealt a shit hand, knowing the deck is stacked or winning a few hands before the rules of the game are changed and breaking even, never-mind winning, is categorically, no longer on the cards.

While the majority of us would have just eaten the shit sandwich with a nod and a smile, accepting the relocations with barely a grumble, it was nice to see him stand up for himself, no matter how ill-fated and unhinged the execution. I suppose, these days, we'd confine our dissatisfactions to tweets and Facebook updates.

Add in the early death of a son and not only do you have an assassinated past but there's also a strangled future to contend with. To say that, as a parent of young children, I felt this more keenly, is an affront to empathy, but there's something particularly chilling to me about the summary suffocation of such a depth of hopes, dreams and transferred aspirations.

I felt his frustrations, and the breakdown of marriage struck a chord. With six years under our belts, my wife and I know that it's never always plain sailing. The thing is, you've committed to be each other's port in the every inevitable storm and that's not easy either, but it's a mutual arrangement that relies on equal participation. He didn't keep his end of the bargain and paid for it. But he's (just a) man and we're awesome at fucking things up, so he's not wholly undeserving of sympathy.

Anyway, no matter how stunted and poorly thought out my ideas in reaction to the book have come across here, I loved Roadwork.

Monday 18 October 2010

Roadwork

Roadwork
I started Roadwork on Thursday 14th October 2010.

I'm not going to bother deciding either way whether I've read this bad boy before. I'd like to say yes, but I can't actually say for sure. Voyage of discovery and everything.

I actually read the first dozen pages or so when I mistakenly convinced myself that it came after the Dead Zone and was quickly taken by it. This time for real.

Sunday 17 October 2010

Firestarter 26th Sep - 13th October

So, I went into Firestarter under the impression that I'd read it already. I I don't think I had. It didn't take all that long to realise my error. I was also sure that I'd seen the film. Fuck knows.

I've a feeling I'm allowing the end of Carrie to confuse my addled memory, but still, I can't shake the feeling that I have read it. Once again, fuck knows. I know for sure that I've seen Firestarter 2. The only reason I did watch it was due to it starring Jason London who played Randall 'Pink' Floyd in Linklater's Dazed and Confused - I am clearly a fucking genius, as I've just looked it up and it was actually The Rage: Carrie 2, that he was in. I have, however, definitely seen that. Unsurprisingly, I can't can't remember anything about it. What fucking use am I?

Anyway, yet again, no horror. I really enjoyed it, though, as predictable as it ultimately was, the unfolding of the story was well worth the ride.

I feel a bit sloppy in not having much to say about the book. I enjoyed it, but didn't think it was amazing.

Tuesday 28 September 2010

Firestarter


I started Firestarter Sunday night 26th September. The reason there's a day's gap between me finishing The Dead Zone and moving on to the next is that I got a little confused and decided that Roadwork actually came after The Dead Zone. I'd only got a few pages in and was feeling it, ready to see where we were headed. Out of interest, I took a quick look to see what came after that and how long I had before I got to a book I hadn't yet procured. I then saw my error and had to dig out my copy of Firestarter. As it happens, I've read both before but, quite pleasingly, none of it seems too familiar so far. In truth, at fifty pages, I'm questioning my memory with a fervour as I'm sure I've already read Firestarter, but I don't remember any of what I've read in the first fifty pages. I read it while I was at school and either borrowed it from the school library or the main library in Barnsley. Fucked it I know. My memory is clearly bollocks.
 
p.s. fuck the Prodigy.

The Dead Zone 30th August - 24th September

As I said before, going into it, I didn't know the first thing about this book. In the end, I came to see that Cronenberg made a film based on it. I haven't seen it, but I'm going to. Mainly because I'd like to see if there's any horror in it as I didn't find any in the book.

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the book. I really did. I was with him to the end and, after the 'all tied up in a bow' ending of The Stand, it was nice that he didn't pussy out on getting Johnny killed. I know there was coda to exonerate him and Stillson was revealed to the world as a cunt. But still, the hero died. Good for you Mr King.

I'm starting to get the feeling that I'm a bit old for this or maybe too cynical and indulgently jaded. I already hate myself for saying it. What I mean is that I don't know whether I'm going to get the desired effect, particularly when the subject of the book is telekenesis, psychic abilities and supernatural powers etc. I don't believe in any of them. Fuck, I know that none of that matters. I don't believe in ghosts and yet I nearly babbed my pants watching Ju On:The Grudge. I can't be arsed to list all the other films where I bit my nails until my fingers bled, sweat like a beast through the suspense and yelped in fright at the jumpy moments, but I do, no matter that I don't believe in the phenomena or whatever's providing the threat. I'm sure I've espoused this sort of reaction earlier in the blog, but this book's utter failure to hit me as a horror brought it out again.

If anyone wants to weigh in on how or if it's possible to fear something we know is not real or to what it is that we are actually reacting, then feel free to leave comments.

Sunday 12 September 2010

Bed covers


Well, they're not far from covering the bed.  It's been a while since I looked at the collection so far.  The top row is the read/reading.  Clearly there's still a way to go.

As far as collecting all of his books, these are the ones I'm missing...

1983 Cycle of the Werewolf

1986 It
1987 The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
1989 Dolan's Cadillac
1989 My Pretty Pony
1990 Four Past Midnight -Short stories
1993 Nightmares &Dreamscapes - Short stories
1995 Umney's Last Case
1996 The Regulators - Bachman
1997 Six Stories 1997 - Short stories
1999 Storm of the Century
1999 The New Lieutenant's Rap
2004 The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
2004 The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
2005 The Colorado Kid
2007 Blaze - Bachman
2009 Ur
2010 Blockade Billy
2010 Full Dark, No Stars

I included the last one because it'll be out by the time I get to it.  So will a few more, I should imagine.

Monday 30 August 2010

The Dead Zone

The Dead ZoneI started The Dead Zone this morning - 30th August.  I know in terms of living in the world, I could be considered something of a troglodyte because of this, but I'm happy to say that, going into the book, I didn't know the first thing about it.  It's only as I've just gone to find the cover picture (not the same as the edition I'm reading, but I like how shit this one looks) that I saw it was made into a film by Cronenberg.  I also couldn't avoid a one line synopsis which I'm pleased to say was covered by the first chapter anyway.

It's a bit of lame habit of mine to avoid finding out too much about any book or film before I read or watch them.  I don't read generally read reviews to steer clear of spoilers.  Anyway, troglodyte or otherwise, my mind is open to The Dead Zone and I'm well up for it.

Currently Listening:

Ride Your Bike - The Connection
Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier
Meshuggah - All (mainly when running)
Stieg Larsson - The Girl Who Played with Fire (audiobook)

The Long Walk 21-29 August

That's more like it.  Despite having spent most evenings for the past couple of months playing guitar in preparation for playing the service music for a workmate's wedding, I knocked this bad boy off in a week.  Of course, it's only two hundred and something pages, but that's not the point.  I found the discipline I pissed away while reading The Stand and was able to immerse myself in The Long Walk.  There I go with that word again; immerse.

That's the point though.  Books demand and deserve immersion.  I'll consult my thesaurus next time I revisit the concept.  Reading The Long Walk again takes me back to the time I first read it.  Having picked up The Bachman Books  at home after watching The Running Man for the fifth time, I blasted through the novel before immediately turning to the other three works in the collection.  I can't think of the book without remembering my old room in the house I grew up in.  I clearly remember going to bed early and a staying up later than advisable, knowing that I'd be tired at school the next day.  I wondered whether I'd rose-tinted my memory of the book but was heartened by friends who were equally quick to remark on how much they'd loved it.

As it turns out, I think I may have rose-tinted it a bit.  In truth, though, there are a couple of reasons for it not having the same impact this time.  Firstly, there's no reveal.  You already know the horror of 'buying a ticket'.  But that's the same with every book or film, it's not going to surprise you a second time.  The second reason is down to the overall desensitising effect of some of the truly horrendous things I've seen in films and read in books since.  Where it wins out, though, is the marvel of the writing.  You're there for the full five and a bit days, matching the Walkers step for step.  The story rarely leaves the road but doesn't get overly dull or repetitive.

In an earlier post, when I was talking about my reasons for taking on this mission, I mentioned that I had actually cried at the end of The Long Walk.  On second reading, I'm not sure at what point the rising emotion got the better of me, as I didn't feel it this time.  I can only imagine it was the very end.I'm a bit gutted that I didn't get the same payoff this time, but it doesn't stop me from cherishing my memory of the first reading as one of the highlights of my lifelong love of reading.  I know, I'm getting a bit emo.  Fuck it.  If you haven't read The Long Walk, I recommend you do so.

A final aside- it struck me that Battle Royale by Kōshun Takami is probably heavily influenced by The Long Walk.  That's all.  Read that too.  Or watch the film.  Again.

Monday 23 August 2010

The Long Walk

The Long Walk
This is one I've been looking forward to re-reading.  I started it on Saturday 21st August.

The Stand - 8th Mar - 21st August

Jesus, I took my time with this one.

As I said at the beginning of The Stand, I was really looking forward to it. Having enjoyed the short stories of Night Shift less than expected, I was ready for a big old story to get wrapped up in. Stories don’t get much bigger than The Stand. However, I don’t think I did it justice.


I’ll stop pussy-footing around and say that I wasn’t blown away. This isn’t a book review or literary criticism, so what I’m going to say next shouldn’t be misconstrued as evidence of a weakness of my critical acumen, or a blind apologia for King. This blog is a record of my personal reaction to the works.

The scope and scale of the story did blow me away. To build and maintain the strands of the narrative over 1400 pages is something that I struggle to even begin to consider. Then again, I’m not a writer and I certainly don’t have the discipline and organisation to construct the web of a novel. But still, only a douche bag could refuse to accept the impressiveness of the magnitude of this book.

At the same time, its size was the root of many of the problems I had with its reading. For a start, you can’t sit down to a brick of a book with the same mindset as a novella or regular length novel. You know that he’s going to be taking his sweet time in establishing the multitude of strands before unravelling or entwining them. As I’ve probably said a dozen or so times, my reading time is greatly diminished these days. Reading in snatches, here and there is bad enough, but I’ve also had a few other projects on the go. It’s the sort of book you could do with putting a few full days into, maybe on holiday or if you have shit all else on. I’ll accept that my disjointed approach contributed to my failure to agree with those who think it’s his masterwork.

Perhaps it would have been different if I’d not taken so long over reading it, but I wasn’t swept up by the desperation and suspense of the plot. Randall Flagg didn’t scare me. I must be getting wooden-heartedly cynical as I get older but, convinced that there’s going to be an ultimately happy ending, it was hard to be truly affected by the machinations and fates of the exhaustively fleshed-out characters. Re-reading that last sentence, I can smell the bullshit of it myself. The vast majority of books and films come to a happy Hollywood conclusion. Their appeal to our base instinct that hopes ‘everything will turn out alright in the end’ is a huge key to their success. I’m sure I’m not alone in having an attraction to those books and films that subvert this norm and go with a more ambiguous outcome, or just plain admit that the cunts of the world often win out. I think really, a lot of it also probably had a lot to do with the fixation on good an evil as a battle between god and the devil. I’m sure I’ll come across as an immense hypocrite but I have no trouble imagining ghosts and demonic possessions and supernatural abilities, but when it comes to people acting as agents of the Lord and the success of their endeavours being contingent on their faith and following ‘prophecies’ I’m just along for the ride to see where we end up at that point. And the less said about the literal ‘deus ex-machina’ in the dénouement, the better.

It feels like a bit of a shame that I let that spoil it for me, especially considering the incredible depth and scope of the build up. I was gutted that Nick Andros bought it when he did. I much preferred him as a character than Stu and Ralph and a host of others. But that’s the way it goes. As always, his writing is the saving grace. I don’t think I’ll be too disappointed with any of his books as I work through them all. While I’m sure there’ll be some that just don’t click with me, I’m always going to get something from the very reading of him.

Thinking on, there was something else that contributed to my inability to really connect and adhere to The Stand. Christ almighty, did you see me there? I just used the word ‘connect’ in the Oprah sense. I feel way worse about that than I do about using the word ‘adhere’. Anyway, I’m sure the two or three people who read this will forgive me this indiscretion. Back to the point; it probably doesn’t help that I’ve read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and also saw the film this year. As far as post-apocalyptic stories go, I found McCarthy’s about a hundred times more affecting. It’s probably borne of an interminable selfishness, which I no doubt share with the vast majority of humankind, in that when faced with the catastrophically altered and inevitably doomed fate of mankind, I would be primarily worried about how I would see it through from day to day and how I would ensure that those closest to me survived too. It’s an unfair and probably unnecessary comparison, but I couldn’t avoid it. The stories of the resurrection of the power plant and electrical grid and the fact that they were so quickly able to reconstruct a relatively ‘normal’ existence within a year seemed to soften the blow. Of course it didn’t, but there was way too much going on to get bogged down in the shattering grief of so many characters.

I’m probably setting myself up for a lot of hours of disappointment and swimming against the tide in my reading of the coming books, but one thing that struck me during my reading of The Stand was that I repeatedly compared it to a TV series. This year, I’ve been watching Dexter, Lost and Six Feet Under among others. While I love them all, you can’t deny that in the telling of their stories, there’s a lot of padding. To make my point, if you compare a 100 minute or two hour film to these series with their 12 to 24 episodes of 40-60 minutes each, you effectively have about the same length overall plot arcs, but the series cram in half a dozen cliff-hangers, stories within stories, asides etc. They’re obviously different, but closely related media that have similarly different strengths and pitfalls. For a film, things need to be that bit tighter, while a series has more freedom, but has to maintain the momentum with something more than end of episode cliff-hangers to keep you coming back week after week. There are times when watching a TV series that you’ll come to the end of the show and wonder whether anything has actually happened, or they could have probably covered the worthwhile stuff in about ten minutes. There are series that could easily be cut down to feature length and you wouldn’t even feel rushed. Of course, I don’t have examples. I’m not that much of a TV and film nerd to have them, and neither am I that convinced by my argument to do so. I’m just running my mouth.

I guess the important thing is that there are some TV show episodes, take Lost for example, where they barely progress the plot. How about the one in the last series that gave the back story for Jacob and his brother? Depending on how you look at it, they could have left it out. However, for me, it was enough to spend another hour in the world of Lost, bathing in the depth and texture of the intricately woven story, climbing and swinging from another thread of the narrative, before leaping to another vine next week.

After all that interminable bollocks, I should probably be asking myself whether The Stand would have worked as a 200-300 page novel, to complete this metaphor. The short answer is: yes, and there’s no doubt King could have done it, but it was never meant to be and the question is intrinsically moot.

OK, I’m done. I didn’t love The Stand, but I loved a lot about it.

Monday 7 June 2010

Still Standing...

In case anyone’s wondering whether this project has foundered and been abandoned, I can assure you it hasn’t. I’m still on with the behemoth that is The Stand. At about 1400 pages, it was always going to be a tough nut to crack. My progress has been further hindered by making my way through all four seasons of Dexter, a revival of my lasting obsession with Korean film and, latterly, now it’s all over with and out there, watching the complete final series of Lost in as few sittings as our children will allow.


There’s also the fact that I’ve dusted off my guitar for an intended revival of Heroes for Sale activities http://www.myspace.com/hfsrockyourworld, ongoing writing projects for the The Sinner’s Guide http://www.sinnersguide.org.uk/ and a new project I’m on with doing research for.
Excuses, excuses. I know.

Anyway, I’ve passed the half-way mark and am doing my best to crack on with it, sidelining other ventures for a few days. As for the book so far, it’s slow going. And that’s not just my progress. The plot’s a serious slow-burner, but with a 520,000 word count (according to a couple of websites) it was never going to be wall to wall action and terror.

Despite my slow progress hindering the natural accumulation of tension etc. and at times feeling like an endless slog, I’m into it and looking forward to getting to the real meat of the story and know that such a long, detailed and considered build-up can only be equalled with a phenomenal payoff.

At least I hope so.

Apologies for the title. I'm no doubt hurtling to the top of the Pun Police's hitlist.

Currently listening to:
From Ashes Rise - Everything
Disfear - Live the Storm
Black Breath - Heavy Breathing
Moving Mountains - Pneuma
Moonlit Sailor - So Close to Life

Monday 22 March 2010

'Salem's Lot - 1979 TV mini-series

I’m definitely going against Marcus’ advice and running a King Long View alongside this reading project.



I’ll be honest and say that I found it hard to get past how dated it looks. It’s so seventies it hurts and I can’t begin to imagine where the $4 million budget went. Presumably on James Mason’s wage. Not to mention it has got David Soul in it. Aside from the fact that he can’t act and has the most preposterous hair and those glasses, I always pictured Ben Mears as younger and more virile.


Barlow’s appearance was almost equally strange. He was blue and what were those teeth?


I’m entirely willing to acknowledge that I missed something and let Soul and its datedness get in the way of an objective viewing, particularly as a self-professed film aficionado friend (particularly vampire films, it would seem) listed it in his all-time top 5 vampire films.


James Mason was great, though. I’m only just realising how ashamed I should be of myself that I have hardly seen any of his films. I know!! I only saw Kubrick’s Lolita the other week!


Anyway, it made me want to read the book again. So, I’ve got hold of the audiobook so I can listen to it without interrupting my reading progress. Sweet.


I’ve also procured Carrie, read by Sissy Spacek and The Shining, read by Campbell Scott. How fucking cool is that! Campbell Scott is the bomb. If you haven’t seen Roger Dodger, make sure you do. Jesse Eisenberg’s in it as well.


I don’t know if I’ve said on here previously that I always keep an iPod full of audiobooks to feed my book hunger, but as long as this project runs, it’s my way of ‘reading’ things other than Stephen King. In this respect, though, it means I can read the books again while continuing the mission.


So, anyway, I’ll go back to basics soon enough and revisit ‘Salem’s Lot for real.

The Stand

The Stand
Started on 8th March.  I said in the last post that I was looking forward to the next novel for a chance to immerse myself in his world. They don’t get much bigger than The Stand. 1421 pages – the uncut version, of course. Outstanding.
I’m a bit late with updating the blog, so am already past the 200 page mark. It’s a slow burner, but I know we’re building up to a beauty.

Night Shift 20th Feb - 8th Mar 2010

I love short fiction.


I’ve said that for quite a number of years, but am now starting to wonder how true it is. I don’t think anything has changed in my appreciation of the format and its particular ability to enchant, beguile, confuse and enlighten in such a short time. As a man of few words, vocally at least, I’ve always aimed to practice a level of efficiency in my dialogue to ensure that I say what I mean and little more. Speaking for the sake of it doesn’t interest me.


In the same way, I’ve always marvelled at how a story can be pared back to its bare flesh and yet still evoke something which is much more than the sum of its parts. I know I’m mixing metaphors, but I haven’t really sat down and thought about what I’m saying, I’m just saying it for a change.


As a necessary element of the short story, so much is left unsaid. Motives and reasons for being are often left to supposition and guesswork. Endings are often ambiguous. I love that about short stories. There are some people who baulk at this lack of resolution. They need to take away answers, not a list of questions. For me, though, the open-endedness is the beauty of it. Nagging questions enervate something vital and practically alive in the story. For something old and written by a long-dead author, there’s almost something magic about that. In the same way, a story where all the loose ends are conveniently tied up can be more easily put aside and forgotten.


It’s the reason I love Kafka. The Metamorphosis is hands-down my favourite fictional work. I know it’s on the long side to be called a short-story, but still.


Dan Rhodes’ Anthropology and a hundred other stories is an awesome example of the majesty of brevity and is highly recommended, along with every other word the man has written. Go to http://www.danrhodes.co.uk forthwith.


With all that said, I didn’t enjoy Night Shift half as much as I expected. That's not to say I didn't.  Just not as much as expected.  It was also clear from the publishing dates that these are the his earliest writings and you can tell.  Short stories generally come with a requisite powerful, intriguing, nerve wracking premise and plot where everything happens in a short period. I’m not sure horror really lends itself to that short window of exposition and action. My favourites from Night Shift were The Boogeyman, Sometimes They Come Back, The Ledge, Quitters Inc.


Considering I two of the four stories I just listed would be classed as horror, I’m clearly talking out of my arse. I also haven’t read a great deal of Poe. What a dick I am. I’m sure I’ve a worthwhile point to make somewhere, I just can’t vouch for how well I’ll make it.


Oh well.


Some of the stories didn’t do a thing for me and leaned too much towards B-movie horror. The Mangler in particular made me think of the 1990 film I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle.


I’m sure there are examples to prove me wrong queuing up around the corner, but it seems that when you write a regular suspense story, such as The Ledge, there are so many elements of the suspense, you can’t help but be swept up by it. You’ve got the people and their back stories, their motives, their uncertain depths of malevolence. All of this before the actual task of circumnavigating the building at such a precarious height. With the horror plots, the only surety is that the something’s going to get you. Whether it’s the eponymous Trucks or The Mangler, it doesn’t really matter how or why they are now intent on destroying humans, it just matters that they do and are particularly effective at doing so. There’s not much else to consider and the suspense is built almost purely on the when and where this will happen, and the almost inevitable failure of the protagonist to evade this destruction.

Anyway, the last thing I wanted to do when writing about my reading of King’s works was to start critiquing the master.

My main feeling when reading the book was looking forward to getting onto the next novel. I’m a sucker for stepping into the worlds King creates and, even half way through, Night Shift, I was pining for that immersion and comprehensiveness. I know it’s a bit lazy to admit, but short stories demand much more immediate participation on the part of the reader. Because there isn’t the same level of exposition and so much is left to the reader’s imagination, you actually have to do some work to get the most from the story. The novels, however, do much more of the thinking for you. You can be picked up at the beginning, carried on a long and tumultuous journey, before being dropped off at the end. It’s also possible to go away and come back, picking up where you left of for another instalment of the story, like an episode of a long running serial. I know all of this goes against the reasons I gave for my love of short stories at the beginning, but that’s the reason I’m wondering how true my initial statement is these days. As I’ve said in previous posts, my reading time is limited and often comes at the end of long days of work and family life and a bit of escapism and entertainment is a lot easier to get into than obscure or dense narratives. As I said, lazy!

Perhaps, by the next collection of short stories, I’ll have gotten over this indulgent hang-up and will just be able to enjoy the stories for what they are.

Thursday 25 February 2010

Carrie - Film

Carrie

I watched Carrie last night.  I enjoyed it about a hundred times more than the first time couple of times I saw it when I was younger.  Probably for the reasons I keep mentioning.

Anyway, in lieu of a serious discussion of the film I'm going to summarise a major theme thus:

Girls can be cunts and boys will do almost anything for a sniff.

Sorry Brian...

The Shining - Film

The Shining

I finished reading The Shining on Saturday night and it was a bit late and with a belly-full of wine I didn’t think I’d make it to the end of the film. So, I resolved to do so at the next convenient opportunity.
6 AM, next morning and BOING!, my eyes spring open and sleep eludes me. That’s 6 AM on a Sunday morning, which is a catastrophe in anyone’s book. So, while it’ll be a push to fit the whole thing in before the kids wake up, it’s still dark, I can still have the room and TV to myself, so I tramp downstairs, make a cup of coffee and put the DVD in.


I’ve come to realise that rather than saying that I’m not much of a fan of Kubrick, I should say that I haven’t watched his films properly and didn’t appreciate the complexity of what he was doing. With that in mind, when I went out to buy The Shining on DVD in preparation for when I finished the book, I ended up buying a box-set of his last eight films plus the Jan Harlan documentary.


So, lights off, volume up.


As I’ve said before, comparing books and film adaptations and getting all bent out of shape about the divergences from verbatim is for whiny tits. They are different and for good reason. Kubrick’s film is his vision, not Stephen King’s.
I’ve seen the film before, but this time it hit home. There are times when you wonder whether Jack Nicholson was the right choice for Jack. From early on, you can see the psychosis bubbling under the surface. His cracking up isn’t a big step and I’m sure, even for those who haven’t read the book, it doesn’t come as a surprise.


I made it through the first 45 minutes or so when I heard my son chatting away to himself. Well, I initially just heard some noises and, being a bit on edge from the film, wondered what it was. I paused the film and went to the foot of the stairs to find that he was calling me. So, I went upstairs to find him leaning over the headboard of his bed and peering out the window to announce,
“Daddy, it’s snowing!”
I hardly watch any scheduled television and very rarely see the news or weather reports, so this snowfall came as something of a surprise. There wasn’t much on the ground at that time and it could have gone either way, but after three hours steady snow, we had to cancel the day’s plans (cinema followed by dinner at the mother-in-laws) and were effectively, although much less dramatically than it sounds, snowed in. At this point I had to leave it there and, far from contemplating a bloody conclusion to the day as the mildest of cabin fever seeped in on the heels of the Tinkerbell dvd followed by lashings of Thomas the Tank Engine, we made the best of it.
I eventually finished the film that night. Awesome.
I know many people have a problem with film adaptations for not sticking to the source, but the few I’ve watched so far, ‘Salem’s Lot (2004), The Shining and Carrie last night have been so much better for having just read the books. Far from spoiling them by taking away any of the surprise of the plot turns etc. you can appreciate the film much more as ‘the film.’ There’s no need try to work out motives or who did what (or even who’s going to do what) and, a bit like the inverted detective story format favoured by Columbo and Hitchcock among others, you are free to sit back and revel in the spectacle of it all. Done well, you can see the actors breathing life into the characters, see the director’s take on the vision and, done badly, you at least get a reminder of the Stephen King story and, quite often, a nudge to read the novel or story again.

Monday 22 February 2010

Night Shift

Night Shift
20th Feb...
I'd been looking forward to reading this as my first experience of Stephen King's short stories.  I'm a big fan of short stories and wanted to see how he fared without the usual 500-1500 pages.  It was only when I picked up the book and made a start on Jerusalem's Lot, that I remember having read The Body years ago.  Whether I actually read the whole of Different Seasons, I can't be sure.  I'm leaning towards thinking not, as I'm sure I would remember having read Rita Heyworth... and Apt Pupil as I've seen the films (who hasn't).

Jesus, sorry.
Short stories are awesome.  Let's see how awesome King's are...

The Shining 5th-20th February 2010

Amazing!!  More brain vomit to come.

This is my favourite read of this project so far. While it was quite difficult to read the book without seeing Jack Nicholson, his hairline and eyebrows, it was long enough since I’d seen the film to not have Shelley Duvall or Danny Lloyd in mind. I had someone else completely in mind for Halloran, but can’t, for the life of me, think of his name at the moment, or anything he’s been in to be able to look him up on IMDb.com. It’ll come to me.


One of the things that struck me when reading The Shining was, having set up this mammoth task, I’m always conscious of keeping it moving and keep catching myself looking at the road ahead, rather than where I’m planting my feet. Due to the express purpose of this mission of immersing myself in the experience of the books, this will never do.

Related to this is the defence mechanism I tend to feel kicking in when the horror/suspense of the plot situations sometimes hit and other times they don’t. For example, when I read the part where Danny has slipped the passkey into the lock of Room 217 for the first time and, thinking better of it he walked away and had the encounter with the fire hose. I read it, and realised that despite the language, pacing and suspense of the writing, all of which, when I read it a second time, should have had me gripped and feeling Danny’s fear. However, I read it matter of factly and a plainly as any other prosaic plot turn. I think a big part of this has to do with something I heard Neil Gaiman say in an interview (yep, the same one where he described a book as a movie without a budget) where he discussed the disparate attitudes of adults and children to his book Coraline. He said how adults had seen it as a horror tale, whereas children viewed it as an adventure story. He put the children’s point of view down to their conviction that everything will turn out alright in the end. It sounds about right; there are no Arlington Road endings in Disney family favourites. So, while I know that things aren’t necessarily likely to come to a happy conclusion with his books, for the ones that I have read or seen the film at least, I know how things turn out, and with that in mind, the story marches inexorably to that end and despite any plot twists and turns, there are no real surprises.

So with these two factors, it’s taking some concentration to stick to my intended modus operandi. With the one’s I have read before, I’m fascinating in the language, the characters and, above all the story. In that respect, I loved The Shining and am already looking forward to reading it again in the future.

I read somewhere (and hope I’m not making this up) that Stephen King referred to his books as dating quickly. By that I mean they are entrenched in the time in which they were written. So far, I’d agree. From references to cars, popular culture, and in ‘Salem’s Lot, Ben’s presumably near-full tank of gas costing a little over $3, it’s not hard to judge the year of writing. It’s not all that related, but when I picked up the book, I saw it had been published in 1977, the same year as I was born. That got me to thinking that the book and I will always be the same age (I know that’s obvious) and as such, we have been around for the same amount of time. I’m not sure that’s as significant as I’d like, the more I think about it. What I do think is that I’ll never have a static relationship with the book. While the book has had thirty odd years to be read, digested, analysed, and to suffuse itself into our consciousness, I have had the same amount of time to grow, learn, develop and cultivate a mind with which to receive it (not exclusively of course, I’ve got a bit more going on than that.) Like I said, I think I’m inventing significance, or at least not explaining it properly, or perhaps misinterpreting the significance. Fuck it.


If you haven’t read The Shining, do.

Friday 19 February 2010

'Salem's Lot - 2004 Mini-series

'Salem's Lot
I finished watching the 2004 ’Salem’s Lot TV mini-series last night. I watched it over two nights due to its almost three hour runtime and wanting to make sure that had some time on both nights to keep on going with The Shining.
Before I started this project, I was speaking about it to a friend who has read a lot of Stephen King and we got on to the point of the film and TV adaptations and he said he hoped I wouldn’t be wasting my time with some or most of them. Of course, I have pretty much ignored his advice.
I know some are better than others and some, as films in themselves, without the reference point of the novels or stories, are dire. I am prone to accommodating my obsessions, though, and can already see myself going against my better judgement and adding any adaptations to my LOVEFiLM online DVD rental list soon after closing the book.
One of the things that steered me towards not considering it to be a massive waste of my time to watch these adaptations is an interview I heard with Neil Gaiman. When asked why he subsequently wrote a novel of the TV series Neverwhere he said that he saw the book as a ‘movie without a budget’ (I’m a little reticent to put that in quotation marks as I can’t remember the exact wording and haven’t got the interview to hand). Anyway, this idea rings true with me. It’s part of why I love books and reading. Your enjoyment of a book is a subjective thing. Regardless of the quality of the writing, it’s the depth of your imagination that brings the words to life and injects vividity into the black and white of the type. And imagination isn’t bound to or restricted by how much you’ve got to spend on special effects and how advanced these technologies are. Stephen King’s a great writer, so he puts a great movie into your head. It’s a comparative interest, then, to see someone else’s imagining of the story, the characters and the action.
It’s interesting to see what they include and omit, what they alter or invent and to consider the reasons, obvious, less so or purely cynical, for doing so.
So, the ’Salem’s Lot as imagined by Mikael Salomon and Peter Filardi
Of course, it was hampered by budget, strange performances from Donald Sutherland and Rutger Hauer and, of course, Rob Lowe was is it. And not forgetting, it’s always nice to see that my teen crush, Samantha Mathis, is still working. They also changed quite a bit of the book. But it wasn’t horrible.  (By the way, I can't be bothered hyperlinking anymore.  You know how Google, Wikipedia and IMDb work.)


My main enjoyment came from reliving my imagining of the book while seeing someone else’s. Having just read and enjoyed the book, it’s a shame that, due to my need to keep things going with this project, I have to put it down and pick up the next one. There isn’t a lot of time to dwell on it, consider it and let the whole thing sink in. With some of the books, The Shining in particular, I plan to reread at some point. It will be a long time in the future, but it’s on my ‘to do’. At least with Kubrick’s film and the mini-series whose script he oversaw, I can stay in the world of the book while I move on to Night Shift.


I seem to have forgotten to say that anyone who says that a film isn’t as good as the book on which it is based is a tool. It goes without saying. The two are incomparable.

Monday 8 February 2010

The Shining

The Shining
Once again, this is one of the books that I have already read. I’m not sure whether I saw the film before reading the book, although I’ve certainly seen it since. Perhaps I merely knew the basics, particularly the “Here’s Johnny!” scene and picked up the book at home (my parents seemed to have quite a few decent books lying around when I was young (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Kramer Vs Kramer are ones I remember most clearly – maybe they only read novels that had been adapted to film, who knows), although they’ve never been what you’d call readers. These days, such a description would be doing them a disservice as, my mum particularly, consistently has a book on the go.

Anyway, the reason I mention the film is that it’s barely possible to conceive of the novel without the image of Jack Nicholson in your head as well as so many of the scenes from the seminal film. I’m going to do my best to separate the two as I re-read it, concentrating more on the writing and allowing myself to follow the story as Stephen King told it. Only then will I go back to the film and try to see that in as great a degree of isolation as possible.

Out of the books I’ve already read and those of which I haven’t, but know something about, this is one that I’m most looking forward to and will be opening myself up for.

Friday 5 February 2010

Rage 31st Jan - 5th Feb 2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rage_(novel)

I read Rage as a kid and am, thankfully, not one of those dicks who thought emulating Charlie Decker would be a good idea. When I initially read that Rage had been taken out of print in reaction to school shooting/hostage incidents, I didn’t realise just how many there had been. I, of course, live in the UK where Bill Hicks’ bit on hooligans isn’t exactly wild hyperbole. Kids generally take knives to school here, not guns.

I was going to say something about censorship and that, in this case, that conscience driven self-censorship, is sad and (I hate to use the word) unfair. People are dicks and insist on pissing in the punchbowl. However, I don’t have a particularly informed opinion on adolescent crime, the availability of firearms and the root causes of kids shooting up their schools and classmates. And I don’t really have the time to get one. So, I won’t waste my time or yours opining on it.


Why not read Mr. King’s own word on the subject - http://www.horrorking.com/interview7.html

Monday 1 February 2010

Rage

Rage
I don't know whether it was a test, but when I was first talking about doing this, a friend asked me whether I would be reading King's 'Bachman' novels. I said 'of course'.

I'd read them before when I was younger and they may well have been the first things I read by him. I remember seeing 'The Bachman Books' lying around at my parents and picking it up a number of times before actually reading it. I'd already seen the Arnie film of 'The Running Man' and at a tender age, thought it was great. Being well shy of the '18' certificate probably added to my estimation of it and also made watching someone being cut in half with a chainsaw one of the best things I'd ever seen. Particularly when followed by the cutting line - "What happened to Buzzsaw?"

"He had to spleeet."

Eventually, I decided to read 'The Running Man'. That led on to the the other three. "The Long Walk" was the stand out for me and, aside from the obvious factor of the anal comprehensiveness of this reading mission and the way he has since (unlike the original four) published books as Richard Bachman despite everyone knowing it's Stephen King, it's the main reason for my including all of his Bachman novels.

So, on with Rage.

Sunday 31 January 2010

'Salem's Lot - 18-31st Jan 2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27salem%27s_Lot

I finished 'Salem's Lot' today and really enjoyed it. I hadn't read it before so it was good to go on a journey of discovery with the big guy, rather than an (admittedly illuminating, entertaining and worthwhile) retread of previously covered ground, as with Carrie.

King talks of the effect Dracula had on him when he read it as a youngster and it was reassuring to be reading something with more in common with Stoker and the old school than the glut of airbrushed, teen-angst vampire romances that we're being subjected to these days.

I think it would be over-dramatic and a bit of a lie to say that I had a nightmare during the course of reading 'Salem's Lot', but I did have a spot of 'irrational mind activity' similar to when I watch a horror film that gets under my skin. When I say they get under my skin I certainly don't mean that I believe that this shit could happen to me e.g. the supernatural stuff of j or k-horror or a good old demonic possession. I'm an atheist so know that it's all bollocks. It's all a matter of being swept up by the storytelling, empathising with the characters and fearing the unknown or the thoroughly terrifying specifics of the beastie's actions and capabilities. It all comes down to these factors. And Stephen King knows his stuff.

So, anyway, I'd got to the bit where Mike Ryerson stay's at Matt Burke's house and dies and I called it a night. I fell asleep fine but an hour later, I woke up with a start and had the fear. I'd heard a loud noise, so I'm convinced someone's downstairs nicking the new telly or has kicked the back door in. So I creep down to check, shitting my pants despite knowing there isn't a vampire waiting for me and the back door will be intact and the telly still there. I get back in bed and quiz my wife on what this noise could have been. She's a lighter sleeper than me and didn't hear a thing. I've since concluded it was her 'tractor engine' snoring and have left it at that. The thing was, it then took me a while to get back to sleep and the next morning, although a bit out of sorts, inconvenienced by the lost sleep and annoyed by letting a vampire story affect me like this, I was also pleased that it did have an effect on me. I'm throwing myself at his mercies and am depending on his talents to take me places I've never been. Otherwise I'm proving two of my friends right in their assertion that I am wasting my time reading two or three Stephen King novels, nevermind all of them, one after the other.

The rest of the book didn't have nearly the same effect on me. I've a feeling I've let the recent cartoonising and cauterising of the vampire legend taint the true terror inherent in its premise and details.

Or maybe I just rushed it.

Tuesday 19 January 2010

'Salem's Lot

'Salem's Lot
I started this last night - 18th Jan 2010. It's one I haven't read before, so I'm buzzing off that for a start.

Carrie - 14-18th Jan 2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie-(novel)

I finished Carrie last night - first book down. Plenty to go. I read it quite quickly, but then again, it's a short book. It's one that I've read before, although I can't remember it being an epistolary novel - I know, go figure. I guess it must be nearly twenty years since I read it. Having already read the book and seen the film, there were no surprises with the general plot and, as a horror, it didn't really touch the sides. I no doubt rushed it in the race to get things going but it was a good introduction and proof that, even at his young age when writing, he had it.

Maybe I'll come back and say more, but the last thing I want to do is go down the reviewing road. That's not the point of this. It's supposed to be a blog of the effect of reading one of the most prolific and well known horror writers of our times.

Saturday 16 January 2010

Carrie

Carrie
I finally got this mission underway on Thursday 14th Jan with King's debut novel, Carrie.

Sunday 10 January 2010

The library so far...

This the collection so far. My sister picked up Salem's Lot, The Shining and The Tommyknockers on her last trip to the States, but I haven't seen her since she got back.

I had plenty of luck with the charity shops between Christmas and New Year, my sister got me three for my birthday and my mother-in-law got me Under the Dome for my birthday. I'm over half-way through American Gods now, so the beginning is in sight.