Betts Bookstore -- A Home Run!



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Since we live in California our contact with Betts bookstore has been solely by phone -- we call in an order, and they faithfully fill it. We find their pricing and knowledge right on. Of course, sometimes ebay is chaper, but often people on the internet don't reall know what they're working with.
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The other day my wife bought me a "Stephen King grab-bag." A what?, I asked. What's a grab bag? "They were cleaning out their back room and put a bunch of stuff in a grab bag. It's all Stephen King, you'll like it," she promised. I was very excited because I knew it was coming from Betts, and they don't let down -- ever. I knew that if my wife paid $75 for a "grab-bag" then we would get more than our money's worth.
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When my wife talked to Stu he said, "This should get there on Friday." He was right. The box was heavy, which excited me. So what was inside? I was afraid I had just paid for some old shirts. No -- it was a box full of. . . stuff. Lots of stuff. Odds and ends. It took a while to process. Soon our kitchen table was full as we spread out the items. Our children gathered round, interested in all the things coming out of the box. We were thrilled.
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A few things:
  • Posters.

  • Postcards.
  • Bookcovers (paperback and hardcover).
  • Newsletters.
  • Ticket stubs.
  • Wizard and glass booklet.
  • Photo's.
  • The Dark Tower comic book series.
  • IT promotional booklet.
  • Paperwork. Like legal briefs and more.
  • Bookmarks.
  • Tickets from Stephen King readings.
  • Lawnmowerman VHS cover, and stickers to cover up King's name.
  • The Collector, a new introduction by S.K.
  • Phantasmayoria. (Bookelt/newsletter by George Beahm)
  • Promotional brochure of the stage production of Misery.
  • Tickets to the halloween showing of Carrie.
  • Large set of "The Red Letter" (a newsletter booklet by Greg Htchkiss).
  • Trading Cards.
  • Dustjackets.
  • SKIN, Stephen King Information Network newletters.
  • Ads clipped or torn from papers.
  • Magazine pages.

And, one more thing: A scrap book. Who's scrap book? Charlie Fried's, I think. Actually, I'm pretty sure. It has his picture, and lots of persnal notes to himf rom editors. Charlie Fried was a well known super-collector. I read an interview with him in The Essential Stephen King. So there I sat with this little scrap book of really, really cool stuff -- and I'm thinking: Wow, Charlie Fried put this together! (In other words: Someone know knows what they're doing).

The Scrapbook is full of his personal notes. A lot about his trip to Maine, and ersonal pictures of things in Bangor related to King. A personal picture of King's home and the sandpipe. It is, to me at least, priceless. Not just that it can't be bought in a bookstore, but the feeling that it was assembled by someone who really thought highly of King. I thumbed through it once to figure out what it was, then kept going back to it, ralizing it was the real prize in the box. A big thanks to Betts for making this available.

Hollywood's Stephen King


I've been watching and collecting Stephen King movies this summer. It's been good for my wallet in a tough economy. While King's books might increase in value, the same is not true of his movies.
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I loved the colorful, well written "Creepshows."
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I also have a copy of Tony Magistrale's "Hollywood's Stephen King." This is not easy reading! Magistrale's sentences drag on and on, leaving me absolutely frustrated. By the time he finds a spot to land a period, I forgot the subject of the sentence.
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Awkward!
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Here's a sentence that drove me nuts, "It is unfortunate that a television movie that wrestles so convincingly with topics such as child abuse, the compulsive urge of certain children to bully others who are perceived to be weak or different, the bonds of redemptive symapthy that develop among adolescents who share the struggle to overcome the labels of looser and outsider, and the effort to reinvigorate adulthood with the recollected spirit of childhood essentially abandons these issues in a conclusion unworthy of the seriousness these topics inspire." p.189 This book is full of such examples! It leaves me screaming.
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Stephen King Theologian
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Worse, Magistrale is like a Stephen King theologian. In ministry I spend a lot of time reading serious, heavy, work on the Bible. Often a theologian will see things in the Biblical text you're pretty sure God himself didn't see! The same is true of Magistrale. He seems to see things that neither King nor the movie makers would have seen. (In theology that's called eisegesis. I call this eiseKingsis). In particular the articles on Dolores Claiborne and Kubricks' The Shining come to mind. There are pages and pages anlyzing the Shining's bathroom scene. Actually, I always found that scene rather boring.
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Concerning Dolores Claiborne -- might Mr. Magistrale be reading too much into the movie when he says: "The fully exposed well in the earth, certainly a vaginal image, is linked to Dolores (full of sorrow) Claiborne (clay-born: earth mother) while the "death" of the sun, the latter associated with masculine archetypes in Greeka nd Roman mythologies, underscores the smbolic destruction of the father patriarch." p.78
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WHAT?!!!! The well in the earth is a vaginal image? That's what King had in mind? Might we, maybe, perhaps be reading into the text? Reminds me of theologians who grasp "gap" theories out of Genesis 1. The well is a vaginal image? Sorry, I'm lost on that one. I loved, absolutely, loved Dolores Claiborne (the book, not the movie), but I must admit: I missed the vaginal image of the well!
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My wife said: "Uh, honey, I think you bought a college text book." Then pitty the poor college student who has to endure this. Poor guy goes in thinking: "This class is going to be fun--" but he's in for a big bummer surprise.
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By the way, while I'm whining, may I just mention that the paragraphs in this book also seem to be -- well, uncomfortably long. May I recommend to Mr. Magistrale a copy of On Writing? I know he read it, because it is cited more than once. Perhaps he might reread the more techincal sections, though.
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The Scholar Has Spoken!
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I peeled back the price sticker on the back of the book mumbeling, "Who is this guy?" He's professor of English at the University of Vermont. Oh. That explains a lot. I'm a college grad, and I've got to say: I keep books from college up on my shelves in the office. They don't get read. Why? Because books written by college professors are -- well -- a little dry and hard to read.
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May I suggest: "Chewie, take the professor to the back and plug him in to the hyper drive!"
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The problem is that Magistrale actually has some interesting ideas. I did, after all, keep reading. But I had to press on, for sure! He does a very good job explaining why various King films fall short -- or all out fail. The interview with King in chapter 1 is also insightful.
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Magistrale writes, "In 1986 Michael Collings published The Films of Stephen King, the only book length scholarly analysis ever published on King's movies. Collings' work, now out of print, is, of course, restructed to films released prior to 1986. [Uhhh, did anyone catch all those commas?] Four outher magazine-books, oversized and lavishly illustrated with movie stills, have been published since the Collings volume appeared; Jessie Horsting's Stephen King At The Movies (1986), Jeff Conners Stephen King Goes To Hollywood (1987), Ann Lloyd's The Films of Stephen King (1993), and Stephen Jones's Creepshows: The illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide (2002). Each of these texts is primarily concerned with satisfying the average fans curiosity about the making of King's movies -- cataloging technical data, plot line evolution, credits, budgets, on-location gossip, King's own evaluation of the finished product -- essentially, the data behind the production histroy of each film. While certainly valuable and interesting on their own terms, none of these recent publications offers much by way of serious film interpretation." p.xii
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So, in other words, the other books weren't scholarly enough. They were just for us laymen who like to know the behind the scenes gossip. While Douglass E. Winter might praise Magistrale's writing, this King fan is going back to Creepshows. Seriously, who needs scholarly discussion about a Stephen King film! But I must admit, none of the other books caught on to the earth as a vaginal image in Dolores Claiborne.
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Do we really need a scholar to help us understand Miximum Overdrive? No! Again, his best work is in simply (though nothing is simple here) explaining why King's work sometimes fails to deliver on screen.
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The reason I dug into Stephen King's work as a teenager when I wouldn't read anyone else is because he's easy to read! He uses words I'm used to. He writes sentences that may not be perfect English, but they drive the story. His dialogue is spot on -- people really talk that way! (Well, people don't talk that way to me, but I'm a pastor).
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Unfortuantely this is book is like an Ed Wood movie. Big idea, but poorly executed.

Hodder & Stoughton Summery Of UNDER THE DOME


This is King's British publishers summery of Under The Dome:
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Celebrated storyteller Stephen King returns to his roots in this tour de force featuring more than 100 characters – some heroic, some diabolical – and a supernatural element as baffling and chilling as any he's ever conjured.
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On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mills, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as “the Dome” comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when – or if – it will go away.
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Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens – town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a selectwoman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing – even murder – to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry.
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But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.
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With some of the most spectacularly sinister characters King has ever imagined and a driving plot, UNDER THE DOME is Stephen King at his epic best. This book will thrill every reader who's ever loved a novel by King.
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Tommyknockers Tour


Emily Burnham writes int he bangor daily news that the ictional Derry, Maine is really based on the Queen City. "Think of Derry as Bangor's evil twin," she writes. What’s not known by most, however, is just how specific many of the references in King’s books are to many Bangor landmarks and locations."

For $12 a person, visitors can take the Tommyknockers tour. It features numerous spots in Bangor that have direct connections to parts of King’s writings. Here are some highlights:

1. "The Langoliers": Bangor International Airport.
2. "Pet Sematary": Mount Hope Cemetery.
3. "IT": Burnham reports: "The stops on the tour range from major landmarks to the mundane. For instance: there’s a manhole at the corner of Thomas Hill Road and Union Street, right by Shawn T. Mansfield Baseball Stadium, which is exactly the manhole through which King envisioned Pennywise, the demonic villain in “It,” emerging.
4. "IT": The forrested area near the Kendukeag Stream was the inspiration for the Barrens, a broken down section of Derry.
5. "IT": Base Park's Paul Bunyan statue. (Came to life in IT)
6. "Insomnia": The Bangor Opera House is used in chapter 12.

Burnham quotes Scott Levy: “We always get a bus full of tourists from Hawaii, and, interestingly enough, the question I always get asked is, ‘So how cold does it actually get in the winter?’ People know King’s works and the movies, but they’re as interested in the history of Bangor as they are the King aspect.”

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/108567.html

Fairgoers get a King-size Treat

Lilja's library posted this, which was originally posted on fenceviewer.com. Very interesting!
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Written by Stephen Fay
Thursday, August 6, 2009 at 10:09 am
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ELLSWORTH — Donnie Dow of Ellsworth was suitably attired in his Red Sox shirt and Sea Dogs cap Sunday afternoon as he waited in the Ferris wheel line with his family at the Bangor State Fair.
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The guy behind him, also a Sox fan, struck up a conversation about their mutual obsession.
“We’re standing there,” said Angie Dow, Donnie’s wife, “my kids are in front of me and my husband’s behind me chatting about the Red Sox.”
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Angie turned to see who her husband was talking to. “Oh my God,” she thought, “that’s Stephen King.”
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Others in the jostling line were taking cell phone pictures of Bangor’s favorite son and asking for his autograph. But Angie’s daughters didn’t know what the big deal was.
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“My kids have no idea who it is,” Angie said of their daughters Maddie, 12, and Delaney, 9. Neither is a reader of Stephen King fiction.
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So Maddie asked him: “Why are you famous?”
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“I write books,” said he.
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“What kind?”
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“Scary.”
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Uh oh.
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“My daughter is totally against scary things,” Angie said.
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The line moved forward and King asked his new friends if anyone had a cell phone.
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“I have to call my wife,” he explained. “I’ve got to make sure she knows I’m still alive.”
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The Dows produced a phone, King made his connection and then explained what he was doing in the Ferris wheel line.
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“I’m just trying to see if I can see my house,” he told the Dows.
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They finally were at the head of the line and a car opened up. Angie turned to the world famous author.
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“Stephen? You with us?”
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“I’m with you,” he replied.
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The Dow girls and their two friends, Rebeckah Trowbridge, 12, and Whitney Pierson, 8, took a shine to the author of “The Shining.”
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“The girls took him in and before we knew it he was part of our group. They instantly befriended him,” Angie said.
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“Where’s your house?” the girls asked as the wheel was at its highest. “I can’t see it from here,” King said.
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“They talked about how scary it would be to get stuck on the Ferris wheel, or to get struck by lightning while we were up there.”
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Ride over, Angie expressed her appreciation to King for accompanying them.
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“I thanked him. He thanked me for letting him borrow my family and cell phone,” Angie said. “Stephen kindly autographed the kids’ wristbands and took a picture with us. My daughter, Maddie, who does not enjoy anything scary, left him with this advice: “Stop writing scary stories. Write about fairies or ponies.”
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“He had a good chuckle,” Angie said. “A truly nice man.”
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http://www.fenceviewer.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15150:Fairgoers%20get%20a%20King-size%20Treat&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=166

G.I. King

According to CNN's Ethan Trex, Stephen King's son Owen loved G.I. Joe (as a kid). In an article titled "Suprising stories about 15 bestselling authors" Trex states: "When Hasbro introduced the new G.I. Joe Sneak Peek in 1987, the character's promotional materials stated that his real name was Owen S. King, a gesture that may have stemmed from Owen's dad helping to create another G.I. Joe character."

Why Do A Story On Stephen King?

Jay Kernis tells of working to convince Don Hewitt to do a story on Stephen King. When Hewitt asked why, Jay responded: "He's so successful, he can be whoever he wants and at this point in his life, he seems to want to be a teenager. He rides motorcycles around his town. He built a baseball stadium behind his house. Oh, and he plays in a rock band with other writers."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/08/19/kernis.don.hewitt/index.html?iref=newssearch

The Lawnmower Man

I found this article interesting on the lawsuit King filed to have his named removed from the Lawnmower Man. http://everything2.com/title/The+Lawnmower+Man

King lost the suit, but producers still removed his name. Somehow the movie got a sequel -- go figure.

Here's what I don't understand: They can make a movie of Lawnmower Man, and even give it a sequel, but no Eyes of the Dragon?

The Shining -- Alternate Ending!


I bumped into a few Stephen King quotes about the Shining that I had not previously seen. Both were in an older booked called Stephen King Goes To Hollywood, by Tim Underwood.
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I intend to someday write up a review on the Shining, but I'll just start by typing up some notes. The book is complex, I think, and absolutely Stephen King at his best. This is not the book that got me started reading Stephen King, but it is certainly the kind of read that makes the fan say, "Ahh, yes, that's why I read King!"
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This first note is the most interesting to me since it reveals a different original ending for the Shining:
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"The Shining' was open right until the end. I didn't know what was going to happen until the very end. The shows in the book. The original plan was for them all to die up there and for Danny to become the controlling force o the hotel after he died. And the psychic force of the hotel would go up exponentially. . . But I got connected with the kid. In the first draft of the book Jack beats his wife to death with the mallet and it was blood and brains and everything. It was really just terrible and I ouldn't do it. I coudln't leave it that way." S.K. Goes To Hollywood, p.76
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I'm glad that's not how the book ends -- but I sure would like to read that draft! Sounds like fun. It is interesting that King writes without an outline.

Graveyard Shift


Usually when making a Stephen King movie a top concern is how to incorperate all the elements that made the novel so good. Thus the reason for concern about the upcoming IT movie -- and the reason so many King books are turned into mini series (Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Stand, Desperatin).
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King's novella's often suffer from the opposite problem: How will movie makers stretch a short novel into a whole movie? Often this is done with great skill -- All of the Different Seasons stories come to mind. HOwever, sometimes the magic just doesn't happen.
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That brings up Graveyard Shift. I watched this again last night with some enthusiasm. That was not long lived. The tagline was: "Stephen King took you to the edge with The Shining and Pet Sematary. This time......he pushes you over." Well, no! The movie is not at all scary. The characters are not interesting, and unfortuantely the special effects weren't very special.
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It's tough in a movie when you really don't care who dies and who makes it to the end. At least in the Incredible Hulk, when the drifter gets hired you can expect a cool green monster.
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The opening scene is rather delightful. After a worker kills a rat, the other rats stare knowingly at him -- watching as mama rat approaches.
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If Stephen King hadn't written this story, I doubt anyone would have chosen to film this story. The stories power is the imagination -- rats in dark places really is a scary idea that King masterfully drives home.
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The Duck Speaks actually gave this book a very good review. http://badmovieplanet.com/duckspeaks/reviews/2002/graveyard-shift In fact, they liked it enough that it made me want to go back and see if I was watching the same movie! Zack Handlen writes: "After rereading the short story and rewatching the movie in rapid succession, I can safely say that as an adaptation, this one plays straight pool. The source material is a dark, morbid piece with very little in the way of humanity or light, and the movie, touches of dark comedy aside, is much the same. All of the original plot is there, not only the names- and even more importantly, an attempt is made to capture that wonderful “tone” that everyone always talks about King’s work having. It’s a fairly successful attempt, surprisingly; it only misses in the scares department, and even then, it’s not too painful. "

Pet Sematary -- Not too scary for Stephen King


Just finished watching Pet Sematary -- again. This time the collectors edition. Which has wonderful documetnaries attached. And, a revealing comment from Douglas Winter. He reveals that though Pet Semetar was billed as a story too scar for Stephen King, the truth is a little more complicated. (As I suspected!) Winters claimed that King wanted to get a new publisher, so Pet Sematary was a means of finalizing the deal.
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The book, and movie, are in my opinion King at his very best. My wife said, "I thought The Stand was your favorite King book." I said, "No! The Stand isn't a King book. The Stand is beyond King -- beyond any writer." (She gave me a: Get real, look.) "Really! The Stand is among those great books that transcend genre or character or anything else. It is one of thosebooks that retells human history and where we might be going. It doesn't count as a King Novel."
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But Pet Sematary is classic King! Straight, unashamed, dark horror. The story is simply crafted and perfectly executed. The movie gives more clarity to the ending, but well represents the book in plot, characters and mood.
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The book is not "uneven" like some of his work (IT, Dreamcatcher, Lisey's Story) but moves forward with singular purpose. The movie is, however, uneven. Scenes the director really thought "worked" I thought stumbled. For instance, Zelda's death scene feels more like melodrama than anything scary. I've seen lots of people die. . . and they don't die like that! None of them do, ever. It's not scary because it's so detached from life. The movie too quickly runs to horror cliches instead of looking for what is truly scary. The good in the movie does overcome the melodrama, but make no mistake, there is a little bit of overacting and hamming it up here.
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Of course the book wasn't really too scary for King to publish! He has often said that he doesn't really write for publication -- he writes for himself. He writes what makes him happy. However, the tag line "a book too scary for Stephen King" was good.
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Like the Shining, what makes this a strong novel is it's look inside the inner workings of a family. Louis' struggles with his father in-law and his wife's phobia of death. And, of course, the death of a child. When my grandmosthers sister died, she said: I just wanted to go dig her up! King plays on that well known emotion of the grieving: Can't we just go dig them up? Can't we pull them back to life?

Creepshow

My daughter and I watched Creepshow this evening. Commedy meets horror -- what can I say? I hated it -- the 9 year old loved it. What I thought was lame, she thought was scary. What I thought was bland, she thought was funny. What I said was stupid, she said was great.

Seeing King on screen in "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" was entertaining. He really hams it up.

I did also iked Something To Tide You Over. Revenge is sweet -- it reminded me to a clumsy version of Dolan's Cadillac. The movie has a very 80's look to it.

Read some interesting notes:
  • The boy at the beginning of the film is King's son Joe. Who is now a novelist in his own right.
  • King carried an action figure Greedo onto the set. I guess because he's green. Stephen King meets Star Wars. . . but does it have to be on the set of Creepshow?
  • While on the set King worked on The Cannibals, writing by hand -- it has been rewritten as Under The Dome. I pulled this movie out because I had just read King wrote it while working on this film.

Most Prolific Author

Who is the world's most prolific author? Glancing at my bookcase, I would have guessed easily Stephen King. I have all of DIckens' novels, but they only take one shelf -- and not even all of the shelf. While Kings work takes five shelves and I don't own all of his work. But, I'm worg! Stephen King is not the most prolific author. . .

This begs the question: Just how many books has King written? About 54. Depends on what gets counted: Novels only? Short story collectons? What about Silver Bullet? Do popup books count? How about comic books -- sorry, I mean graphic novels. What is impressive about King is not simply the number of books written, but the variation.

Alton Brown's Misery

Watching Good Eats tongith and was startled when I realized this entire episode is a spoof on Misery's Annie Wilkes. Episode 74, "this spud's for you" is built on the premise of Alton's car breaking down and he goes looking for help. He knocks on the door of Frances Andersen who announces "I'm your biggest fan!" Delightful.

Introductions


I think it's a great credit to Stephen King that I often enjoy his personal notes on a book as much as the book itself. This usually comes in the form of an introduction or afterword. The chatty introduction at the beginning of night Shift is a personal favorite. The first I read was the two part introduction to The Stand. King powerfully explained why he was issuing a new version of the book, and even asked that part of the introduction be read before the purchase. That's actually pretty bold.
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Most recently the introduction to Nightmares and Dreamscapes caught my attention. King not only admitted to believing just about anything. . . but revealed that if there were to be anymore collections they would have to contain all new stuff since he was dipping deep into his reserves.
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These introductions have also included books on tape. (Yes, they started out on TAPE not CD). I remember listening with interest as King nervously gave an introduction to the Gunslinger and explained why it is a benefit when an author reads his own work.
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These introductions are much more interesting than the common interview. Interviews tread over the same questions and get, frankly, boring. But King has the ability to sit you down and talk right to you. Just move that interviewer out of the way and it gets a lot better.
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The explanation "Why i was Richard Bachman" was wonderful! And I even enjoyed the note at the end of Dreamcatcher explaining that the book had been written out by hand with a pen.
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Of course, you have to get used to some things when you read an introduction by King.

1. Your name is now "constant reader."

2. King is more transparent than most artist. It can be unnerving.

3. King assumes you agree with him and his views on life.

4. King is not about to give you a normal introduction full of typical "thank you's."


King's introductions are strong enough to resell books. That's how they got those paperback copies of Kings early books to be repackaged and sold as oversized paperbacks. King fans will buy a book again for a new introduction (like, uh, Stephen King Goes To The Movies).
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If King never gave us On Writing, there would still be a pretty easy means of putting together an autobiography just by his introductions.

Under The Dome -- The Incredible Shrinking Book!


Just wondering why this book is smaller every time I look it up. Did an editor go crazy with a red pen or something? King originally said the book was over 1,500 manuscript pages, which of course only indicates it is very long. But it is still a mystery why the page count varies so much. Are these special editions? No tall of them!
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King described the novel as "very, very long", saying "I tried this once before when I was a lot younger and the project was just too big for me". (wikipedia)
  • "Weighing in at a whopping 1,120 pages" Guardian

  • "Page Count: 1088" Cemetary Dance, s.k.com, overlookconnection -- and others.

  • "Format: Hardcover, 1038 pages" walmart.com

  • "the finished book will have 896 pages" Lilja's Library

Betts Bookstore comments on publishing practices

This is posted on Bett's website. Just as a personal note, I totally agree with them. I also fell for the below described "$75.00 rip off edition" and worse, found out after ordering it that it's much, much cheaper on Amazon. As explained below, Scribner's practices certainly set out to benefit the big dogs in the business and cut out the little guy.
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"Since Scribner has announced three states of this book, they have changed plans faster than most people change socks. As of today (07/31/2009) it looks like there will be the $35.00 trade edition, a $75.00 rip off edition that will have colored end papers (big whoop!), a slipcase, and some cards of the illustrations. Then the biggy is of course, the signed limited edition.
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And that brings up this: Scribner has now decided that the this $200 signed edition is carrying no discount, cannot be ordered by stores, and will only be available for sale to consumers online at either King's web site or Simon & Schusters/Scribners. Great news you say. But, as a business trying to make a living selling books, it is a huge slap in the face, be it us here at Betts Bookstore, or a Borders or Barnes and Noble store. If we have to compete with the very people we buy the books from, why bother? As it is we compete with the Costco's and Sam's Clubs. So we will make a decision about selling Under The Dome at all. We probably will just hold our nose and do it." http://www.bettsbooks.com/
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what makes me hang my head is when Betts calls the book i just paid $75 for a "rip off edition." why? Bill Gates telling you your computer isn't any good. . . he's in a position to know. If anyone knows what's valuable in the world of S.K., Betts does.

Books About Stephen King


I really enjoy books about Stephen King's work. When a novelist creates a body of work as large as Mr. King has, it is interesting to see how it ties together. And King has been intentionally drawing his work closer and closer together over the years.
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Here's a short list of some of my favorite book about Stephen King:
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Best biography: Stephen King, America's Boogy Man. Hands down the best, in my opinion. Focuses primarily on King as a writer, leaving his private life. . . private! The biography has a nice flow, Beahm is not given to long annoying pauses with childhood and distant relatives.
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Best Companion: The Stephen King Companion, again by Mr. Beahm. As a teenager I tore through this book. I think I like these because you don't have to read them in any order. . . just jump around through the book and look into the articles you like. King of like digging througha scrap book. I look forward to the new companion by Bev Vincent. And. . . whatever the new book Lilja's Library is putting out (through Cemetary Dance). I also like Doughlas Winter's the Art Of Darkness. Personally i am not a big fan of Shape under the Sheets. the material is awkwardly organized and it is, frankly, too big to manage.
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Best book on the Dark Tower: I think two books are important in this area: The Road to the Dark Tower and The Stephen King Universe. In the first book, Vincent skillfully outlines the novels and puts the story together. It is indeed exactly what it promises to be. The Stephen King Universe is unique to me. I had given up on Stephen King completely, even given away my books. Then I read The Stephen King Universe and everything clanged. I didn't know all the stories were connecting together through the Dark Tower! I had obviously noticed something was up with Wizard and Glass and The Stand (duh). . . but it took this book to point out the obvious. I got so excited, I dived back into Stephen King. I think this one book brought me back to a writer I really liked and showed me a depth I had missed.
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Best book about King's movies: Creepshows. This one gives lots of pictures, moves chronologically and is full of interesting facts. Though it is getting outdated now.
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Interesting books include: The Essential S.K. , The Science of S.K.