The Langoliers Miniseries

Watching the Langoliers on SyFy tonight. I read the novella at a breakneck speed in high school, and loved every bit of it. I mean, absolutely loved it!

For me, this mini-series falls flat -- very flat. It's not that it's bead, exactly, but it's empty -- hollow. a few reasons strike me as I watch this:

1. Length. The story worked as a novella. Might have worked as a 2 hour movie. But at four hours on Syfy, it's like a soap opera. Lots of talking, but a little thin on action. even the flashbacks become cumbersome. Unlike IT and The Stand and even Desperation, which lent themselves well tot he mini-series format, there's just not enough base material in the book. There are no supporting characters, since everyone on earth is gone. So it's just up to these few actors to carry the whole thing.

Each element of the story is introduced with the same energy as my daughter doing her math homework.

2. Special effects. I'm not going to say much about this because it's obvious, the special effects on this movie just aren't there. Or, more plainly, they suck.

Creepshows says: "With much of the budget being spent in other area's, Rubinstein decided against a star cast." I'm not seeing that budget anywhere!

Now, the power lines being crushed is pretty good. Once we get the pac-man's in the sky, the story loses all believability, as it now looks like a bad video game. My wife is cracking up as Craig is chased by the evil pac-man's!

The evil pac-man's remind me of the plant from Little Shop of Horrors, with its head detached.

3. Awkward! There are several scenes that are just absolutely awkward. Passengers introducing each other on the plane -- grown woman telling a kid about how she's going to visit a man she's never met -- and more. Even the kiss shared between Bethany and Albert

4. Dialogue. here's a great line, "The later it gets the later it gets." What?

Leaves me wondering: What happened here. Did anyone review this script? Did King sign off on this?

The story itself reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode. (Odyssey of flight 33)

Creepshows quotes King thusly from Fangoria, "I wasn't crazy about it. that was more of a TV thing. But given when it was, it was fine. The best thing about it was that it gave Tom Holland and Richard Rubinstein the bona fides they needed to get Spelling Productions to go ahead with Thinner." Right, because Thinner was such a . . . I'll stop now.

IMBD notes, "In the scene were Craig Toomey hallucinates that he is in a board meeting on the runway, the man at the head of the table asking him how much money he has made for the company is Stephen King." (www.imdb.com)

Jan 15, 2015: Check this out -- THANKS CHRIS!

FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT JOURNAL 3: Keep Running

About Working Out:

I favorite piece of exercise equipment is my ipod.   I love it.  Pain is still pain, but somehow the time goes faster when listening to a good book.  When I first started working out, my trainer asked me to do several things.  I did everything he asked -- changed diet, faithfully showed up to appointments, changed schedule, started eating breakfast -- except for two things.  First, I did not go to the doctor.  Second, I did not get an ipod.  He said that listening would help  me.  I thought he was nuts.  I told myself I would enjoy the quiet, since I am always craving time to just think.  However, when exercising, all I seem to think about is how much longer I still have on the clock.

A good book keeps you engrossed.  More than that, since I choose to only listen to certain books when I work out, it forces me to get back on the pavement so  I can find out what happens next.

I've been reading the Library Policeman on nights when I go running alone.  It's been too hot to run, and most nights a friend has been going with me.  But the Library Policeman have not driven me out of the house, either.  That is, it's not the kind of story that makes me think, "Wow, I've got to go running so I can listen to the next section of this story."  In fact, almost the opposite!

Keep Running

I went running tonight, even though it is approximately only six degrees cooler than hell here.  The California Desert almost glows with heat.  I fought off the urge to thumb through my ipod and find a new book.  I have not been drawn into the Library Policeman like I am so much of King's work.

The novel is not engaging because there are few surprises in the early set up of the story. Sam needs to do a speech.  Someone suggests library for research, so he goes.  He meets a strange librarian who tells him to be sure to bring the book back or the Library Policeman will come after  him.  Of course (OF COURSE!) Sam forgets to return the book.  This story drags on and on with  information the reader can see coming from a mile away.

I found myself so bored, I began rethinking the story.  Wouldn't it be more interesting if instead of losing the books, Sam deliberately chose not to return them?  Just to tick the librarian off.  But no, he looses the book and goes on a wild  hunt to track it down.  "This is not interesting," I found myself thinking.

Sam decides to return to the library and explain that he lost the books and pay the fines.  A fresh confrontation?  I was suddenly interested.  Only, when Sam got to the library -- it was totally different!  King went Twilight Zone on me!

Here's the crazy thing, I was on the home stretch of my run when Sam decided to go back to the library. But I wanted to know what would happen.  I look foolish walking in circles outside my own house listening to my ipod at midnight.  So I just went right by the house.  So a book that couldn't get me interested in listening to it, actually got me a bit hooked.

What's So Interesting?

This is a crossroads for me and The Library Policeman.  So far every domino has fallen just as I thought it would.  The plot  has not surprised me at all; until Sam walked into the Library and everything was different!  Now King is telling a story that is all new to me.  I can't humm along and go, "uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh."

Perhaps that's one reason I usually enjoy reading Stephen King, I don't typically know what he's going to do next.  I'm left turning pages because I don't know how the plot will shake out, and he doesn't either until it's written.

Surprised When. . . (spoilers, people)

I was genuinely surprised when

• The Nuke Went off in The Stand
• Nick died in The Stand
• The Mist didn't have an ending!
• The two women fought it out int he middle of the street  in Needful Things
• They found all that strange stuff in the kids head in The Dark Half
• Dolores Claiborne executed her brilliant revenge
• Bockade Billy threw me for a total loop!

And, I was genuinely surprised when the Dark Tower ended the way it did.  Knowing that King would do things I would never dream of kept me reading that series.

So, as Holme's would say, the game is afoot!  The Library Policeman is now a complete mystery as to what lies ahead.  I have no guesses.  It's all suspense for me from here on.

What surprises or curve balls has King thrown your way?

Four Past Midnight Journal 2: NOVELLAs

I'm wondering why King's Four Past Midnight gets sold on individual story at a time -- while Full Dark No Stars gets sold as one big book.  Does it matter?  Sure.  It's the difference in 1 audible credit verses 4.  Or, 1 month's payment verses FOUR.  Different Seasons is also broken up.

Know why I like Four Past Midnight? I do think the stories are pretty good.  I also think it is because I read them at a time when reading Stephen King was a little dangerous -- a little naughty.  I was a teen and it was pretty cool to read Stephen King.  I was pretty new to the world of Stephen King, having just come off The Stand and the first few Dark Tower novels, so I had a sense that anything could happen in a SK novel.  King novels did things that would never even come up in the books our High School teachers handed out.  I tried to endure Cat's Cradle, but really didn't know what Mr. Vonnegut was talking about.  King I did understand. 

So my excitement about this book my be as simple as emotional association; I read it when I was happy to be reading anything by Mr. King.  Some of the elements of the stories did disappoint me; but I still liked them.

I LOVE NOVELLAS!

I was first introduced to the wonderful world of Novella's with John Steinbeck's The Moon Is Down.  It was a great story -- and it was short!  As a kid in school, I was a big fan of the entire idea of a short novel.  The only problem was, the teachers wanted us to read those short novels faster.  The short novel was far better than the chopped novel -- parts of novels all cut up in "reader" textbooks.  Who wants to read the Readers Digest version of Great Expectations?

Novella's are often written in a big burst of energy.  They are just short novels that feel like the author is exploding all over the page!  It seems like you can sometimes feel the writers raw energy as he works, pressing an idea forward as if he is about to get run over by a train.

Animal Farm has been inflicted on numerous school children -- and for good reason!  Orwell tells his story with that raw energy of an idea being hammered out.  The story is a parable of government and power; how those promising to help  the underdog quickly use power to get special privileges.  Animal Farm is more than a Social Studies lesson, it's brilliant writing.  Farm Animals plot the overthrow of a farmer; I thought it was a great story!

My favorite King novella is THE MIST.  Again, you can feel King's energy flowing as he writes.  He is driven by a story that has to get out, and quick.  In fact, he doesn't even have  time to end it! So it's not processed through deeply -- it's just gutted out.  But sometimes what we find when a writer just goes with a story is delightful.  I kind of like those  paperback editions of The Mist that appeared in bookstores to promote the movie.  Something about seeing it all by itself -- kinda naked -- was great.  It didn't need all those other stories crowding around, it was ready to stand on its own two feet!

My favorite novella's:

• A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens (But no more movies, please)
• Nightfall, Isaac Asmov 
• The Time Machine, HG Wells
• The Moon Is Down, John Steinbeck
• Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
• Animal Farm, George Orwell
• The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury exists in some strange world of novel/short novel/book of short stories.  What is it?  All the stories make a novel.  But not a long novel.  The narrative flow is uneven, but beautiful.  What is this thing? -- it's just Bradbury being wonderful.

Really, story length should not matter.  Often I don't know what a book is!  Is Joyland a novel  or a novella?  I dunno.  I guess you could do a word count, but in the end, does it really matter?  Nope.

Four Past Midnight Journal #1

Midnight Journal, part 1

I love the three stories from Four Past Midnight that I've read.  The one I have not finished is The Library Policeman, and I started that the other night.  I loved the Langoliers! -- until I saw the miniseries.  What was tight, intense and one great story became absolutely terrible on screen.  It was more  than bad special effects, it was long and drawn out.

As a teen, when I read the first three stories, the title "Four Past Midnight" intrigued me.  What was four past midnight?  Was that four int he morning?  I read the stories, expecting some late night tale of terror.  At some point I realized, with grim disillusion that "Four Past Midnight" was nothing more than a title.  It might as well have been named "Blades of Grass."

For me, the Langoliers was harmed by the television adaption.  It was so bad, it makes me not want to return to the novel -- which I loved.  The opposite is true of Secret Window, Secret Garden.  The movie made the book better, improving on King's ideas and plot and making me more willing to return to the source material.  Though. . . this story also confused me.  I bought it on audio tape and was "sick" the next day.  I stayed home, ate crackers and listened all day to this story, wondering when they would discover a secret garden.

The Sun Dog left  me absolutely breathless.  I loved it.  I later read revers from people who did not like the novel, complaining it was overly edited.  I'm glad I only read all that later, because I was oblivious!  It thought it was creepy and belonged with the Twilight Zone.

In fact, so far all of these stories would have made great Twilight Zone episodes.  That's what the Langoliers should have been --and hour long TZ!  That season when they tried the hour format for Twilight Zone totally bombed!  They stories just didn't work.  And, Langoliers was just too long.  If only. . . Mr. Serling had written the script for an hour long episode of Twilight Zone based on King's story.

The Library Policeman

I started reading The Library Policeman the other night.  I went out running and decided it was time to jump into this short novel --as I enjoyed all the others from Four Past Midnight.  I'm not sure where King is going with this, so he's got my attention.

I've started this one several times, but quit.  I can never remember why I quit, until I start reading again.  This time I'm listening thanks to audible.  And, a good story makes running hurt less.  That's totally not true, but I tell myself that so I won't dread it so much.

It takes a while to get this story off the ground.  What seems like pretty straight forward stuff takes forever to just get moving.

I feels like I know what the early turns in this book are going to be.  Sam writes a speech.  The speech is bad.

He needs a book from the library.  He borrows a book.  He meets a strange Librarian.  He has a sense after seeing the Library Policeman display that he's been here before, as a child.  

And that's where I finally got home from my run.  So I'm pretty sure he'll fail to return the book, and some form of hell will be reigned upon him in retribution for his moral failure.  If it were another author, I'd quit because the story moves so slow.  But I do want to know WHO the Library Policeman is.  What will happen to Sam?  The strength of the other stories in this book make me keep coming back to this one.  Also Stephen King doesn't let down very often, so it's worth sticking with a novel  even when the magic isn't there at first.  I just can't let this be another Talisman!

It is especially cool that this is dedicated to the staff and patrons of the Pasadena Library.  I lived in Pasadena as a teenager and have spent a lot of time at that library.  Does anyone know why the dedication?

Swan Song And The Stand

This was originally posted 10/10/09. I'm reposting it with some corrections and some new quotes. In other words. . . this is the complete and uncut version of this article! I love both these novels!
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A King Like Review Of SWAN SONG:
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In The Library Policeman, Liberian Mrs. Lortz give realtor Sam Peebles a hefty dose of reality. In response to his suggestion that her signs might be a bit harsh -- over the top -- she responds by telling him what kids really read. "According to the poll. . . Their favorite novel was a paperback original called Swan Song. It's a horror novel by a man named Robert Mccammon. We can't keep it in stock, Sam. They read each new copy to rags in weeks. I had a copy put in Vinabind, but of course, it was stolen. By one of the bad children." Four Past Midnight, The Library Policeman, p. 431 (HB)
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Now, that's pretty close to a good review -- in the world of Stephen King. If a prudish librarian doesn't like the book -- it's must be good. She probably wouldn't like Dracula, either.
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Swan Song and the Original Edition of The Stand:
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Swan Song, by Robert Mccammon, is often compared to Stephen King's The Stand. Of course, when it was written the world only knew of the old version of The Stand. King had not yet shown his full hand on this masterpiece.
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Swan Song Stands On It's Own!
I should point out that Swan Song stands on its own. It is not a rip-off of The Stand. It moves in its own directions. Mccammon is no hack! There's an interesting blog entry titled, "Swan Song is Not Like The Stand." The author writes, "I was perusing McCammon’s Facebook page and one of his fans posted a question asking (I’m paraphrasing) the author why he never really discussed Swan Song. McCammon answered that it was because when the novel was originally released there were critics who lambasted the novel for being similar to King’s."
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I agree with his sentiments as further stated: "McCammon’s novel is a quality read and is good enough to stand up on its own; it is unfortunate that McCammon should feel shameful for writing such a great book and always have to go on the defensive every time Swan Song is brought up in conversation. The criticism should instead be directed towards the critics who were so unimaginative that they could not differentiate between the scenarios of McCammon’s to those of Stephen King."
http://readingwriting.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/swan-song-is-not-like-the-stand/
Comparing The Two
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By comparing the two novels, I am not saying they are the same! I am not suggesting either author took ideas or themes from the other. I am simply pointing out some common things between the novels. Like comparing Salem's Lot to Dracula.
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It is interesting for me to note how personally intertwined these books are for me. In fact, when I first posted this article, I noted that both The Stand and Swan Song have sympathetic black female characters. Some of you rightly pointed out the error of my way! Sister Creep isn't black! That startled me. How had I made that mistake? Well, the answer was simple: I had recently read The Stand, and Mother Abigail was on my mind. Sister -- Mother . . . somehow she was a street-smart mother Abigail in my imagination.
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Both novels are long, sweeping novels of good and evil. The primary difference I noted was the way in which each author got rid of the bulk of society. Mccammon used nukes. King used the "super-flu." Years ahead of Swine Flu or SARS, he imagined a world wide plague that would devastate the countryside.
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By the way, note the importance of women in both novels. In Swan Song it's Sister Creep, and, of course, in The Stand it's Mother Abigail. God is also a main character in both novels!
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Of interest: King does not use nukes to end the world, but they do play a critical part in the plot. It is Trashcan man who brings the nukes to Vegas, and God himself who pushes the button.
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King never moves into high places. He doesn't concern us too much with the government (except when Stu is taken captive). The story is told simply from the views of the main characters. But Mccammon takes is right into the oval office and Air Force One. I like the president in Swan Song.
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Brian Schwartz at You're entitled to my opinion writes, "It’s not hard to see the influence of Stephen King. There are too many parallels between The Stand and Swan Song. That does not diminish the power of this story, its characters, or the barren wasteland that is America after it is nuked. While the stories are similar, the characters are remarkably different. Besides, a tale can be retold in a number of ways and be enjoyable." http://brian1984books.blogspot.com/2006/05/swan-song-by-robert-mccammon.html
I do wonder if Mccammon was inspired by The Stand. So which one's better? Why bother -- both are worth multiple readings.
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Craigs Book Club rightly notes, "Epic in scope, Swan Song approaches 1000 pages. This may turn some off, but the pages are full and not a word is wasted. Fans of The Stand may scoff at the similar plot, but I can say that, even as a fan of The Stand myself, I was able to lose myself in this horrible world and forget all about Stephen King's."
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Available Editions:
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Strangely, I went to look for a hardcover copy of Swan Song, since the paperback was experiencing a pretty ugly death. But Pocketbooks offers no hardcover that I can find. Turns out there is a hardcover edition from Dark Harvest. Back in the day, it was $21.95. Now, it's looking more like $147 to $943 -- IF you can find it.
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In fact, a book this good begs a questions:
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1. Where's the audio edition?
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2. Where's the movie? (mini-series) The Stand mini-series will soon become dated. Maybe it's time to give Mccammon's novel a shot (instead of remaking The Stand).
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Differences:
Again, Brian at yourentitledtomyopinion, pointed out some itneresting differences between the two novles in the area of landscape. He has done some great work reviewing these two books.
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he writes: What sends The Stand above and beyond the others is the deconstruction of society that unfolds in the first third of the book. In Matheson’s tale, some of that deconstruction is told in flashback. In Swan Song, society is wiped out in an instant by a nuclear blast. King’s book starts with men lazing about a small town Texas gas station. As the flu spreads, we read as Americans first become suspicious that what is happening is more than your average flu epidemic. That suspicion turns into fear as the Army begins quarantining cities and killing those who resist. Finally, with their ranks decimated by the flu, the military gives way to the mobs who also eventually succumb to the virus."
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and:
"Another striking difference in The Stand versus other post-apocalyptic fiction is the quiet beauty of the post-apocalyptic world. McCammon’s world is scorched. Matheson’s is haunted. Cormac McCarthy paints an even bleaker picture in his book, The Road where the world is dead and covered in gray ash."
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http://brian1984books.blogspot.com/2006/05/swan-song-by-robert-mccammon.html
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See also: Swan Song Is Not Like The Stand: http://readingwriting.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/swan-song-is-not-like-the-stand/
Please feel free to add in the comments section any similarities you see between the two books.

Full Dark No Stars heads into sunlight

Reviews are popping up everywhere. Along with them, Dread Central posted news that a third trailer has been released on youtube. All very nice! I can hardly wait.

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So here are the necessary links to get yourself ready for a serious reading frenzy this coming week.

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Third trailer: http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/40785/third-official-trailer-stephen-kings-full-dark-no-stars

Here's a rather cranky review. You know, you should read cranky reviews of King sometimes, just to remember how messed up critics are. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8111101/Full-Dark-No-stars-by-Stephen-King-review.html

The peninsulaqatar is much kinder to King's latest offering. After musing about the possibility of another set of four novels in another 20 years or so, the review dives in with almost gleeful joy. "These are stories of retribution and complicity: of crimes that seem inevitable, of ways that we justify the world to ourselves and ourselves to the world. Powerful, and each in its own way profoundly nasty." Ah, we all hope so! http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/saturday-editions/131592-stories-of-retribution-and-complicity.html

Comparing It To Different Seasons:

All the reviewers cannot help but hearken back to Different Season's and Four Past Midnight. Often they come away feeling Full Dark No Stars is a lesser work. But I would suggest that at least in the case of Different Seasons, the stories have gotten better with time. First, many of us have been endeared to them because of great audio performances by the likes of Frank Muller. Then they were brought to life before the camera. As I recently read Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, I came away thinking the movie made the story better. The stories get better with age.

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Comparisons To Four Past Midnight

Four Past Midnight is getting a lot of lumps these days. I do not think it has necessarily aged as well as Different Season's has. The reason? Same as above. But instead of getting better with age, Hollywood has caused some of these stories to spoil in our minds. In particular, The langoliers is a great novel that is painful to watch on screen. But, as King has pointed out, no matter what they do in the movie, the book is still there to read. The story is not hurt one bit.

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I once heard someone complain that The Sun Dog showed King's obsessive editing. I read that story as a teen, and loved it. I gulped it down. It was literally a page turner for me. And being young, I wasn't paying attention to how the story was crafted, how the meal was cooked, I was just enjoying the meal. I liked it a lot. I came away saying, "This thing is just like a Twilight Zone!" In fact, it might be worthy of one of those hour long Twilight Zone's!

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I do think that the story Secret Window was made better on screen. It was sweetened. Some seeming loose ends were tied up.

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My point in all that is simply to suggest that anyone reviewing a book before it's even been released to the public might judge it too quickly. Give a book time to settle into our culture.

You Stole My Story

The opening line in Secret Window, Secret Garden is, "You stole my story." I'll bet King hears that a lot. But, now, seriously. . . somehow he stole my story! When I was in High School I wrote a novel, or started 300 pages of a novel, titled: "Silent Peremeter." It wasn't very good, but listen to the plot: It was about a city that was cut off from the world when a fog or mist settled over the city. The army gathered outside and inside war broke out.

All right, I'll knock it off. Actually, this is strange, but I'm really excited to see how he carried the idea out. Obviously I thought it was a good idea for a long book, but was unable to make it happen. What is also interesting is that long before I even put a word to paper, King had already tried his hand at this novel and stopped.

Truth is, I can't wait to read King's new book. If I ever find a copy of my book (I, uh, never printed it!), I'll at least give it a personal read through. I do remember the writing being particularly bad. It was like putting two King novels together (The Mist and The Stand).

But now seriously -- wasn't the plot for Under The Dome a lot like The Simpsons?!

And, by the way, where is the Secret Window OR the Secret Garden in that book?