Is There A Six Hour Cut Of The IT Mini-Series ?

Check out www.bleedingcool.com's discussion of the first part of the IT mini-series.

This week we discuss Part 1 of the miniseries that influenced everyone’s fear of Tim Curry in clown makeup: IT. Listen and then be sure and join us over on Facebook to see if you agree!

Some of my favorite lines:

• "I have seen it before, but I don't remember what happens."
• First impressions: Drew: "I watched it from behind the couch.  Frame one is absolutely terrifying." That would be the opening scene where a young girl first encounters Pennywise.  "It's not quite as overwhelming as it once was."  "I have a hard time looking at him (Pennywise)"  Julia Guzman, "He (Pennywise) haunted me my whole  life."  Tony Salvaggio, "Since I had read the book a couple times before I saw the mini-series, the mini-series has always left me really cold.  It feels like TV."  (He also says Clive Barker is scarier.  For shame)  Jason Henderson, "King really believes in the magic.  He has a big Bradbury, Serling streak.  A lot of times the adaptations of Stephen King are really sentimental.  A little melodramatic.  A little cheesy."  
• "The people playing the adults are like the A-Game."  
• "As you get older, childhood does begin to fade." (Discussing it is strange they all forgot about the battle with the clown until they get a call from Mike.)
• "On a metaphorical level, this is about child abuse."
• "It's difficult to stop talking about Pennywise."
• "As far as monster make up goes, he looks very much  like Bozo the clown with a different color scheme.  Occasionally they'll put some weird contacts in his eyes or give him razor sharp teeth.  It's funny something as simple as that can be so effective."
• "Time Curry's energy as this character has gone on to be a very iconic figure among horror villains." 
• "I don't have a fear of clowns.  I have a fear of THIS clown."

And then there was this: Salvaggio says, "It was an almost unfilmable thing.  There was a six hour cut.  Apparently Stephen King liked the six hour cut, but not this version."  I was unaware there was a six hour edition.

King Threatens To Send Vampires After Clive Barkers Publisher

The text reads:

Dear Ginger Buchanan,

It's easier, I find, to blurb a book (or series of them) when you're not quite as exited and bowled over.  I think Clive Barker is so good that I"m almost literally tongue-tied.  Yes, I stick by it: I have seen the future of the horror genre, and his name is Clive Barker (the paraphrase actually comes from Jon Landau, who said in 1970 that he had seen the future of rock 'n roll and his name was Bruce Springsteen).

What Barker does in THE BOOKS OF BLOOD makes the rest of us look like we've been asleep for the last ten years.  Some of the stories were so creepily awful that I literally could not read them alone; others go up and over the edge into a gruesome territory that no one has really traversed since M.L. Lewis's THE MONK.

Barker's scenes of glaring pulpy horror should cause instant dismissal, but forty or fifty pages is enough to convince any reader of sense and taste (funny word to use in connection with stories like "The Midnight Meat Train," but it's the right word) that this is a tool, and not an end.  The stories are compulsively readable and lit here and there with furnace gleams of wit.

Here's an original.  I hope there are folks at Berkley who understand just how good he is, and how proud you should be of publishing him.  What he's doing will shortly make him an enormously saleable writer, but what he's doing is also important and exciting.

And if you don't send me his novel, I'll have to send a few vampires after you.

Regards,
Stephen King

The REVISED Stephen King Companion

In 1995, George Beahm offered a massive revision of his 1998 Stephen King Companion.  The changes are so significant, I think it counts as an all together different book.  The cover boasts "80% new material."  I think that's conservative!  Some formatting is the same, but the content is vastly different from the original work.

As with the original, I like this offering very much.  It does not hold for me the charm of the original, since I only recently purchased it, so much of it was already outdated.  What took me so long?  Well, first I didn't know it existed.  then I doubted it could really be all that "new." 

Internet -- Companion Book -- what's the difference?

My friend, Bryant Burnette, put his finger on the real joy of these books about Stephen King in his recent response to a post.  Burnette wrote, "In the internet age, it is easy to forget -- or to never know in the first place -- just how difficult it could be for fans to learn about their favorite artists. It doesn't make either of us sound old to point that out; it just makes us sound like we accurately remember what the world used to be like before the Internet made information-gathering so much easier. (For the record: it's better WITH the Internet; there was a lot of charm to be had in finding books like Beahm's, but I'll take the way we do it today every time!)"

Even in the age of super-high-speed Internet, I still love the companion books.  All of them!  How are they different from websites?  Well, websites release the most current news, one blurb at a time.  There is something special about sitting and reading article after article by various authors about Stephen King's work.

Okay, What's Inside?

The format is the same as the original.  However, besides that, it is largely a brand new book (brand new in its time, that is).  One of my favorite parts is the short book by book summery and analysis by Michael R. Collings.  Unlike the previous companion, which presented this information in alphabetical order, this book is chronological. 

The book has so many sections written by different authors, it appears Mr. beahm served primarily as an extended editor.  I like this, as it allows different people to speak in the area of their expertise. 

There is an interview with Clive Barker that was previously not included in the original book.  Beahm explains that he had conducted the interview in hopes of getting it int he original Companion book, but it came together too late.  Beahm explains:

Naturally, interviewing Barker was a priority for the original version of the Stephen King companion, but his schedule was such that when we finally conducted the interview -- by phone, long distance from Virginia to London -- the Stephen King Companion's contents had been finalized, and the following interview could not be squeezed in, making an already big book even bigger.  

 What was cleaned out of this edition appears to be primarily contact information that would quickly become outdated (addresses, phone numbers and so on).  It actually makes the book feel more professional!

There is also a nice interview with Start Tinker of Betts Bookstore.  Beahm and Tinker would later work together to produce a book titled "Stephen King Collectibles."

As with the original Stephen King companion, I have no complaints!  I thoroughly love this offering, and only wish Beahm had continued to give us Stephen King companion books.  One about ever five years would be nice!

The Stephen King Companion

I love this book! 

My tattered copy of George Beahm's "The Stephen King Companion" is well worn.  This was the first of many (MANY) books I would own about Stephen King. 

I purchased this book as a teenager at a real brick and mortar bookstore. It was probably 1990.  This was before the era of Internet and instant information.  What we knew, we read in books!  Sheesh, I sound old!  But after reading The Stand and the first couple Dark Tower books, I was totally hooked on Stephen King.  I was way over my head when it came to this new world of books.  I had read a lot of classics, but King spoke to me in a way no one else had.

George Beahm's book was an absolutely wonderful find.  It gave a short biography, explained his work, and best of all -- acted as something of a scrap book.   It is full of short articles, fun tidbits, reviews and even an interview with King.  For someone new to the world of Stephen King, this was exactly what I needed to guide my way.

I still enjoy this companion book quite a bit.  It reflects how King was seen in the late eighties.  What was being said, how was his work viewed.  In particular, before he brought an end to Castle Rock, before the accident. 

So what's inside?  A short tour of the Stephen King Companion:

PART ONE: The Real World Of Stephen King.
This section focuses on what King is really like.  It relies heavily on Douglas E Winter's work.  Also in this section, Beahm refers to King as "the boogeyman of Bangor, Maine."  Interesting, since Beahm would later write a book titled "Stephen King, America's Favorite Boogieman."

• Chronology.  Personal Life.  Published Books (up through Dark Tower 2) , Books About King, Movies, TV Shows, Audiotapes, Screenplays and Teleplays.
• The Long Strange Trip Of Stephen King.  Charts something like a publishing biography, telling the story of King in order of his published works.
• King's Ten Favorite Fantasy-Horror Novels
• Stephen King -- Actor. 
• The playboy interview, with Eric Norden
• An evening With Stephen King.  (Like a transcript of King's visit to Virginia Beach).  This includes an extended discussion about banned books.
• WZON, "Rocking In The Dead Zone!"
• Article by Donald M. grant, "Stephen King as Breckinridge Elkins?"
• Stephen King trivia.  (Did you know the most "expensive flop" was Carrie the musical?  By the end of 1990, there were 29 books about King.)
• A Writer In her Own Right, Tabitha King.
• The House That Horror Built.  Kings Bangor home and office.  Includes article "A Girl's dream Coms True In Mansion Fit for Kings" by Joan H. Smith of the News Staff.  There is an interesting picture in this section of Kings indoor pool.
• Article by Terry Steel titled "Wrought Iron" about the fence and gate around the house.  (I wonder if these names are real!  Terry Steel writes an article titled Wrought Iron. . .)

PART TWO: The Unreal World Of Stephen King
This section looks at the work of Stephen King.  It includes:

• Fans Letters To Stephen King
• A Self Quiz, rating yourself as a King fan.  Ten stages of fan!
• Castle Rock: The official Stephen King Newsletter.  After discussing the end of the publication, we are given a PO Box tow rite to for back issues.  Ah, if only it was still that easy!
• Horrorfest, A Stephen King Convention.
• "My Say" by Stephen King.  An opinion article from Publishers Weekly (about book publishing).  There is a great picture here of Stephen and Tabby signing copies of Danse Macabre and Small World.
• A Kingly Collectible: My Pretty Pony.  Discussing the strange Whitney Museum's limited edition of My Pretty Pony.
• Lord John Press
• Philtrum Press: King's Book Publishing Company.  (The Plant, Eyes of the Dragon.) 
• Specialty Publishers.  Discusses limited editions and small presses.  This includes a listing of specialty publishers who have released Stephen King books.  Beahm included P.O. box contact info so that fans could purchase these items.  Publishers include: Dark Harvest, Donald M. Grant, Hill House Publishers, Land of Enchantment, Lord John Press, Scream Press, Starmont House, Underwood-Miller and Phantasia Press.
• Specialty Dealers. 
• Starmont House.  Includes, Titles by Michael R. Collings. 
• Audio publishing.  Discusses his relationship with Recorded Books.  Of course, this is when audio books was a rather new idea.  It also included a half page blurb by King abotu reading his books aloud.  Under "current offerings" we are given:  The Mist, which sold for $19.95.  Again, if only!  Also, all of different seasons, and Skeleton Crew were offered by Recorded Books.
• "The Mist" on Audiocassette (A Sound Idea).  Discusses the 3D sound adaptation of The Mist.
• Thinner on Audiocassette.  This actually was the recording that caused King to refuse future works be abridged.  (Except, he did allow Desperation to be abridged.  I don't know why.)
• Michael R. Collings, An Interview.  (The book is worth this interview!)
• Stephen King and the Critics, A Personal Perspective by Michael R. Collings.
• Article: "King Helps Spearhead Censorship Referendum Defeat" by Christopher Spruce
• Writing: Clive Barker on Stephen King, Horror, and E.C. Comics.
• An Interview With Harlan Ellison
• Terror in Toontown, by Howard Wornom

PART THREE: A Look At The Books
This section is a book by book look at King's published and unpublished works.  It is presented alphabetically -- which seems a little strange!  The natural way to approach the books would have seemed chronologically.   I really liked this section, and wore each page out as I read the King book.  It was like having my own notes as I went through the books.

• Overview of the books.
• An Interview With Douglas E. Winter