A Stephen King Vacation

Want to take a literary vacation?  I'd love to!  Check  out shortlist.com's article, A Literary Travel Guide To The USA.  It includes such legends at John Steinbeck, Pacific Grove, CA, Jack London, Glen Ellen, CA, William Faulkner – Oxford, MS, Harriet Beecher Stowe - Hartford, CT, Mark Twain, Hartford, CT, Cormac McCarthy – Knoxville, TN, Ernest Hemingway – New Orleans.  (Yeah,  they missed Poe, Baltimore)  But they didn't miss Stephen King.

The article advises trip goers to visit Bangor for a taste of King's literary Derry.  The added bonus is that Bangor is King's home town.  How often he's still in residence there I have no idea; but somehow I get the feeling he spends a lot of time in Florida these days.

Shortlist offers as a "Must-see" the Mount Hope Cemetery, which was an inspiration for  Pet Sematary and was used as a filming location for the movie.  Of course, there is also the Thmoas Hill Standpipe from IT.

The shortlist article also gives suggestions on where to stay.  Since the Stanley Hotle is clear out in Colorado, and King is not offering his  house up on Airbnb, the article suggests The Hilton Garden Inn,

boasting a an eerily similar entrance and interior as bucolically grand. Don’t be upset at the lack of bloodless elevators and ghoulish staff, mind - king rooms are available.

King rooms are available? That would be cool -- but it just means suites. Man, now I'm wishing for a Stephen King themed hotel.  COME ON AMERICA!

Looking For King's Yellow House

Check out this amusing post by Erin Donovan, in which she goes looking for Stephen King's house -- and finds it.  Turns out, King's house is a yellow Victorian mansion.  Right?  Yellow?

A simple, yellow Victorian house. It had a nicely landscaped front yard and a rocking chair on the porch. There were no Komodo dragons. There was no holding tower. No fog encircling only this house despite clear skies elsewhere. There were no tormented screams echoing from the upper windows. There were no medieval weapons or antique masonry tools lying around. And I didn’t see even one minotaur. As we were pulling away, I saw something strange. Something out of place. 

There were colorful paper tulips pasted to each window.

Gotta read it. bangordailynews.com

Bangor Broadcasters Quit On Air

In an article titled, "Take this job and shove it: Fed-up Bangor TV anchors quit on air", Bangor Daily News writes: "Michaels and Consiglio, who have a combined 12½ years’ service at WVII (Channel 7) and sister station WFVX (Channel 22), shocked staff members and viewers with their joint resignations Tuesday evening. . . Neither reporter had told anyone of their decisions before Tuesday’s newscast."

The reason for their leaving?  Michaels said it was because they were  forced by upper management to do stories that were bias.  (They did not indicate which way they felt the bias was leaning).

bangordailynews.com

Mangler's Inspiration -- MANGLED

photo credit bangordailynews.com

A once busy laundromat in Bangor was demolished today -- it has been closed since 2000.  According to WABI TV 5 it is the same laundry Stephen King once worked at.  (www.wabi.tv)

Stephen King website charnelhouse notes,

the New Franklin Laundry (where King worked for some time, giving him the inspiration for “The Mangler” and providing a backdrop for the novels Carrie and Roadwork.) 

When asked what the worst job he ever had  was, King told Suspense Magazine,

When I washed industrial laundry for New Franklin Laundry in Bangor, twice a week (in summer) we used to get the table linen from Testa's of Bar Harbor. Testa's is a famous seafood restaurant, where the elite meet. But the elite never saw those napkins and tablecloths after a hot summer day in the back of a laundry pick-up truck. They stank, which was bad, and they were squirming with maggots. But I washed em, and. . . they came out clean.

Stephen J. Spignesi writes that King's experience working at the New Franklin Laundry inspired and informed The Mangler.  Spingnesi quotes King, "The first thing I am is a husband; the second thing I am is a father, the third thing that I am is, I'm a man of my place and time and my community.  And I have to be all those  things first because if I want to write, everything trickles down."  Spingnesi then notes, "The Mangler is stark evidnce of this: Everything trickles down." (The Essential Stephen King, p.261)

In an interview with Ben Rawortit (quoted  in Essential Stephen King), King discussed working at the laundry.  When Rawortit asked if that was "weird", King said, "THere was a guy who worked there who fell into the pressing machine, or 'mangler,' as you call it.  He was over the machine dusting off the beams when  he just lost his balance and fell."  Rawortit asked if the machine ate his hands.  "Yeah, it swallowed his arms.  So he had two hooks where his hands used to be."

I have not read The Mangler!  I don't know how this escaped me.  I will correct this quickly.

SK Fans Can Tour Bangor With iPhone App

You can now tour the local Bangor landmarks that appear throughout the Stephen King canon thanks to the Bangor Haunted: Stephen King’s Derry app, available for iPhone and Android.

Bangor Daily News explains,

"The app was designed and launched by Brett Hiatt, a writer and developer from Melbourne, Australia and a self-described “huge fan.” He visited Maine, and Bangor, two years ago, and was inspired to develop the app after trying to find King sites in town on his own, and not having much success."  (bangordailynews.com)

The article also notes, "The app, available for $1.99, offers up several views of town, from a Google map with all the locations plotted out, to an alphabetical list, with pictures and information. It’s customizable, so you can plan out your own King tour of Bangor, and in addition to just Derry, there’s lots more locations listed throughout the state, including a number in the Portland area."

If given the choice, I would rather go on Stu Tinker's tour than mess with the app.  But then, my cellphone might look like this. . .

The article also reports that the developers are hard at work on a Twilight app.  I just can't wait.

Bangor Audience Screens SURVIVOR TYPE

A Bangor audience was the first to see Billy Hanson’s Stephen King short, Survivor Type.  The story is about a man stranded on an island who is pressed to incredible lengths in order to survive.

Laura Roberts at wabi.tv writes, “Stephen King's WZON helped bring the film to the Penobscot Theatre for its world premiere on Sunday.” and “Actor Gideon Emery starred in the film and joined Hanson at the premiere in Bangor.”

So what did Stephen King think of the film?  Roberts says that the film has already received high praise from Stephen King.  Quoting Hanson, the article says,

He said that we did a great job with it and his exact quote was, 'It's next to brilliant," which I mean, I feel I can die a happy man now," said Hanson. 

The Full Article Is HERE.