The Dark Half

Now here's a Stephen King novel that reads like -- well, what everyone thinks a Stephen King novel should read like.  None of that Stand by Me, Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile hope and optimism here.  (I do realize two of those were prison novels.)  This is old school King, and I love it.

Here's what's striking about The Dark Half:

1. It's very violent.  This isn't like in the Dead Zone, where we come upon the bodies left behind by a serial killer.  In The Dark Half, we are taken right to the murder scenes as Stark (or Machine) do the dirty work.

2. It reminds me of The Outsider.  A man is obviously guilty of a  crime he could not commit.  He has an alibi, witnesses and more to prove he didn't do it.  In the Dark Half, there are finger prints left behind; in The Outsider it's DNA.  The early portions of both books run down very familiar paths.

3. Kings narration is crisp and to the point.  He doesn't spend a lot of time with scenes to just build the characters; he gets right to it.  He seems like a man driven here.  He wants to nail this down, almost rushing toward the meat of the story.  In fact, the book moves with such intensity, the reader can sense King himself exited to find out what happens next.

King gave us the Dark Half in the late 80's.  It' interesting again to note signs of the times.  As in Dead Zone, there is no 911 emergency system in place; people have to hunt for Law Enforcements phone number.  And phones themselves sure have changed since the days when King could describe a phone in the cradle as looking like a broken barbell.  

One thing I don't like about the Dark Half is the original cover.  There's just nothing fun about it.  Like the Tommy-knockers, which preceded it, the cover does nothing to make you want to read the book.

The Dark Half serves as a prequel to Needful Things, introducing the reader to the Sheriff and several of the towns people.  While Dark Half focuses on a much smaller cast in a horrible situation, Needful Things would bring the entire town to life and then rip it apart.

REVIVAL journal #1: Electricity Is In The Air

I started through revival tonight.

About the Journal entries:

Here’s the deal: Journal entries are my thoughts as I read through a book.  There are lots of spoilers because – gasp – I’m talking about the book!  If you don’t want to discuss the book yet, don’t read the journal entries.  Sorry that sounds grouchy.

I’m not offering reviews.  I decided years ago that there are great sites that do reviews of King’s books; my favorite is Lilja’s Library.  Reviews are usually written after the book has been read at least once, sometimes multiple times.  A brief overview of the book is given and usually a final verdict, declaring if the novel is top grade meat or a second edition of The Tommyknockers. I decided instead to journal through the books.  That is: To talk as I read, not knowing as I write each portion how the book will end.  It also allows me to include much more personal notes.

The Old Stephen King Is Back! – not really

The book is being pushed as King back to his old self.  The Stephen King who gave us Pet Sematary and The Shining is “back.”  Whatever.  He never left, ya know?  I understand that the publisher and writer want us to know up front that the novel will be dark; maybe really bleak.  It’s as if everyone has forgotten a set of short novels in Full Dark, No Stars.  Remember 1922?  That was pretty bleak.  And there were rats.

The “old Stephen King” (which makes no sense, because we now HAVE the OLD Stephen King!) won’t be coming back.  Why?  Because even if things have a similar tone to his earlier novels, King himself is a better writer.  The writing is crisper, in many ways even more energetic.  King dives into the story itself with more vigor.  The young Stephen King eased his way into a dark novel – the old guy dives in.  Yeah, there’s character development and stories that build toward the main story; but there are not the long sidebars that King used to offer up.  I can’t think of another way to put it, but his writer is crisper.  That sounds like potato chips.

Army Men

A strange thing happened as I read the opening scene in Revival – I became suspicious that Stephen King had somehow spied on a childhood event.  In the novel, a boy named Jamie meets the new preacher, a man named Charles Jacobs.  The boy, six I think, is playing his army men in front of his house when the shadow of a man disturbs his play.

When I was a boy, I had a huge collection of army men.  Our family lived next to the church.  One day while I was playing, a big ethnic church event was taking place.  (Korean, I think.)  As I played a shadow fell across my army men.  I looked up, and an Asian man had come up to the house.  At first I thought he was going to ask for my parents; but instead he began to speak to me.  “I want one,” He said.  Huh?  He held up a single finger. “Just one.”  Then, rather boldly, he reached down into the grass where I had sat up my army men and plucked up one of the troops.  “Just one,” he said.  I did not protest – I had a billion and my parents had taught me to “share,” (something Jamie’s parents have also taught him to do with his army men.)

I have wondered sometimes what that man anted with my single green soldier.  Was there something unique about mine? Was he an Asian preacher who used that toy to hold up in church and condemn American kids for playing war?  Was it personal for him? I don’t know.  I was too young to look at an adult and say, “You can have it, but what do you want it for.”

Electricity

Revival is a book about electricity. The power of electricity to heal a boys voice.  Electricity as a picture of the Gospel.  Electricity to light a miniature town.  As I was walking/running (mostly walking) and listening to the novel, I was loving all the electricity talk.  But at points, buzzing over me in the quiet desert was that sound of electricity.  It burns in the air at spots, humming a steady reminder that it’s there.

Over the town was a pretty bright moon tonight.  I ran down a long hill beside the highway coming into town, and then looked back.  Overhead the electric lines hummed.  The moon hung over the hill, and the nights sky was absolutely huge.

The promise of something Frankenstein-like – something with electricity – has me excited.

Haunted Religion

Remember that short novel of King’s, Secret Window?  The writer is accused of stealing a story.  Part of me keeps doing a slap to the head.  For years I’ve been thinking that an evil preacher would be the perfect set up for a novel.  What if a preacher fame to town with the power to heal – maybe raise the dead – but his powers were not from God?

Some church’s are spooky places.  Send the crowd away and walk through long corridors, and you might be surprised.

No real fears about losing the novel I’ve got tied up inside.  Just real pleasure at reading King do his magic.

Why Revival Makes Me Uneasy:

I approach Revival with some hesitation.  I’m not sure I’m going to like this.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I won’t.  I downloaded the book to my ipod last night, but waited all day to even start listening.  In fact, I put off walking tonight because – why?  A new Stephen King book should propel me into the dark desert.  I realized that I was dreading this book.  A new Stephen King book about a preacher who loses his faith?  I wasn’t sure I was totally game. This one promised to strike home a little closer than I was totally comfortable with.

The book is quite addicting.  And here’s what I appreciate so far; what makes it less painful. Thus far, the people of faith are painted as genuine believers.  They aren’t nasty hypocrites – though I’m sure there are plenty of those.  The church goers have arguments with their spouses, financial and health problems, and suspicions about the preacher.  They’re very real; and King doesn’t mock their faith.  Why am I on edge about this?  Two words: Needful Things.  In Needful Things in particular, and several other novels as well, it has seemed King painted Christians – Baptist and Methodist in particular – with a pretty wide brush.   “Self righteous worms,” would seem to be words that would appropriately describe some of the people who inhabit Castle Rock.

Now King has written some great stuff about religion – and Christianity in general.  And I’ve documented that pretty carefully in Stephen King, A Face Among The Masters.  The Green Mile in particular was almost a parable of Christianity.  But there is a stark difference in a book like The Green Mile and Needful Things; organized religion.  In The Green Mile, King gives an enthusiastic retelling of some central aspects of the Gospel.  What the novel does not have is any real hint of church.  After all, they’re on death row.  But when we get to Needful Things, we have Baptist and Catholics calling names, fighting and getting pretty nasty – in Jesus name.

Of course, I’m well aware that happens.  But the people who do those things are all a little deeper than King has previously shown the ability to explore.  It seemed that the religious church goers were simply sprinkled into Needful Things when King needed bias, ignorant wide-eyed idiots spoiling for a fight.  And there are certainly folk like that!  But most people in church aren’t; and many in church are the salt of the earth type.

The question I approach the book with is: Are you going to play fair, Mr. King?  Or are you going to use your big paint brush and cast everyone who loves the church in the same hues?

King’s own views on church, religion and God seem to be evolving as he moves further away form the Methodist faith he grew up with.  Some of this thinking is really digging at a question: can King deal with characters who he might personally disagree with -- politically or spiritually?  Will be draw a literary straw-man and use them as a kind of punching bag, or will he show them as truly three dimensional characters?  So the question seems valid.  Is everyone going to be Carrie White’s mama, or Mother Carmody, or reverend Rose?

In the early pages of Revival, we are given people of genuine faith living out very real lives.  They are not fanatics or nuts.

Needful Things

I enjoyed this  short comment by a French reader about Stephen King's Needful  Things: 

thediaryofhonoriadardaine.overblog.com

I am currently in the process of reading a Stephen King, which is called Bazaar. 

This is the story of a small American town called Castle Rock, who lives a life of more common, until a small shop called "The Needful" opens its doors in the neighborhood. It turns out that this little shop is wonderful because it gives us what we love the most, even if we did not know before coming! But the seller, Leland Gaunt, is charming and very charismatic, does not require any money at all, no, it takes a little although specific service in return ... He asks that the person has a turn to another resident of Castle Rock. This obviously leads to considerable tension and draws some people against each other, or even to kill .. But this is only the beginning of the downward spiral. 

Stephen King has created this work, drawing on 80 years, because at that time, everything had a price, bought everything we could absolutely, and that's where it leads us ...

I find this very well written book, and even if it is very thick and quite impressive, you'll be going through King.

It is interesting to see what  people in other countries think of the very American -- Stephen King.

King Books Worthy Of A Return Visit

I read Gerald's Game a couple of times, but really have no desire to go back again and again.  In fact, many novels are a great read once.  Some books actually lose something on the second read.  The first time through a book, the writer has the ability to surprise the reader.  The second time, the reader is emotionally armed up.

There are a small handful of books that are worth returning to again and again.  No matter how many times I read these books, they maintain their magic.  In fact, I look forward to the little plot twists.

Sometimes rereading a book reminds me of the period of life I first read it in.  So reading the Stand takes me back to High School and those long days I sat in summer school reading the book as a teacher droned on.

These "favorite" books are ones I'm most likely to buy special editions of.

So here are a few King books I've read more times than I can count:

Joyland

This book is absolutely delightful!  I could really care less about the who done it part of the murder mystery, this story is all tone and setting.  We get a behind the scenes look at the old amuse park and a trip back to the 1970's.

King spares the reader the typical "who done it" -- even though that is a central part of the book. There is no running around, room to room trying to put clues together.

The novel focuses on first love -- and next love.  The love we find in the midst of a broken heart.  Can that love be trusted?  Is it real?  Can we really love when we're on the rebound?  This is actually a pretty complex emotional equation King sets up for a short book.  Kings skill at depicting relationships is superb.

Early on, man suggested that Joyland would be "vintage King."  I disagree.   Joyland is not like Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone or any other King novel.  It's stronger.  Much stronger.  The characters are deeper and the story is told with a depth of maturity King could not bring to earlier novels.  So it may have elements we saw in King's younger work, this is ultimately the work of a seasoned writer.

Favorite Scene: Mike's visit to the amusement park.

Favorite Character: Mike.

First read: 2013

check out my post about the real corpse in a theme park's house of horror: talkstephenking joyland journal

The Stand.  

I love the entire book and was so happy when it finally came out in audio.  Have read it both as the abridged version and unabridged.  Both are delightful.  There are lots of little sub stories that run through the book that are easily forgotten.  And, I could travel with Larry through that tunnel a hundred times and still be scared.

Favorite scene: I like the final scene in Las Vegas.  The hand of God reached down and took evil out.  That's pretty gutsy writing.

Favorite character: The Walkin' Dude.  Flagg.  I love it that King dared to give us evil personified. And he wasn't a seething dark monster oozing goop -- he was one cool dude.  Of course, if you made him unhappy, he had a few tricks up his sleeve to return the favor.

First read: High School.

Needful Things.  

It's been too long since I've read this book!  Time to come back.  I think Needful Things is not given enough credit as a strong, character driven book.

Favorite character: One complaint sometimes leveled against Needful Things is that it lacks likable characters.  There were certainly people I liked!  How about Sherif Pangborn and his girlfriend, Polly Chalmers.

The book worked, for me, because it was long and had lots of breathing room. King interwove the characters and moved the plot toward a final crescendo that I thought worked on behalf of the town.  The final scene with the Sherif being offered a video of his wife's death was goofy.

Favorite scene: When Wilma and Nettie go crazy and hack each other to death in the middle of the street.  Yuck.

First read: High School.

IT

This book is many people's all time favorite King book.  I like it a lot.  I think I would like it even more if I had grown up in the fifties.  The story is as a much about childhood and friendship as it is monsters.  But King isn't afraid to give us lots of monsters!

Favorite character: Eddie.

Favorite scene: There's so many!  I really like the part where Bev hears the dead children calling to her through the drain.  The book has plenty of scenes that don't work for me.  But the overall narrative and magic of the book simply overwhelms these troubling/dull passages.  I like scenes where the kids are running around town, going to the theater and shops in Derry.  King transports us to another time; not only the 1950's, but to our own childhood.

First read: High School.

11/22/63

The book is absolutely brilliant.  Never mind the awkward means of time travel.  Naturally, we all go to the 1950's via our pantry.  In fact, like IT, there is plenty that doesn't work in this book for me.  When King finally gets down to alternate history, his own mechanisms of time travel distort what might have been.  Because of the earthquakes and other things related to time travel, we never get a clear view of the stories promised theme -- what if Kennedy had lived?

But then, mid or late novel, I realized something; this isn't really about alternate timelines!  King plays with the "white if" for just a while, but the thrust of the novel is really a love story.  A LOVE STORY!

What is so powerful about the book is King's ability to take us back in time.  For people like me, who did not grow up in the late 50's and early 60's, it is a grand tour of a place I've never been.  King starts by giving us the good, and then slowly begins to uncover some of the deeper evils of the era as the novel progresses.

Favorite character: Sadie.  I'm sure I'm supposed to connect  more deeply with Jake Epping, but the guy makes so many bad decisions that it is difficult to actually like him.  There were many times I found myself  going, "really, dude?"  But Sadie is emotionally complex and real.  I didn't start out liking her, because she seemed like a distraction from the plot.  "Why this side stuff about a love story," I asked myself.  But she won me over.

Other favorite Character: TIME.  Yep, time.

King plows new ground in 11.22.63 with the concept of time itself being obdurate. 

What if time wasn't a thing, like a block of wood or even a machine -- what if it was alive?  What if time was insulted when people tried to change it?  And, the biggie -- what if it could fight back?  What if the time line itself was able to protect itself against time-travelers. 

Notice how the past is indeed alive as King writes, "the past is sly as well as obdurate. It fights back. And yes, maybe there was an element of greed involved, too."  Later in the novel, King says, "The past is obdurate for the same reason a turtle’s shell is obdurate: because the living flesh inside is tender and defenseless." (p. 827)  Time protects the people within its shell.

Sadie picks up on the theme and tries to relate to it but she uses the wrong word–malelevolent--instead of obdurate. She hasn't experienced the obdurates of the past the way Jake has!  It has beat him to a pulp!

Favorite scene: When the story passes through the IT narrative.

First Read: 2012

Non-King

1. The Pillars Of The Earth
2. Cold Sassy Tree
3. The Pelican Brief
4. The Grapes Of Wrath
5. The Martian Chronicles
6. Great Expectations
7. A Dangerous Fortune
8. Piercing The Darkness
9. 1984

What Stephen King books are you most likely to come back to?
What non-King books do you read again and again?

3 Overlooked King Classics

Yep, Carrie's good.  And it connects.  In fact, the book is so good it's produced a play, 2 movies, a television pilot, a musical and then a musical again.

Could it be  that with so much focus on Carrie, there are some great Stephen King books that are being overlooked?  Of  course!  Here are a few great STephen King books that just havent' gotten their fair share of press:

Pet Sematary.  It may not work in as many mediums as Carrie, but it deserves at least an audio version!  It is a little hard to picture Pet Sematary the Musical.  However, there was a Pet Sematary 2.  Yes, there's a reason you probably haven't thought about it in a long time.  However, the book is dark, wonderfully written, intense and completely engrossing.

Dreamcatcher.  Frustrating at points, slow, long -- but still AWESOME! this book is quite underrated by fans.  That might be because we are more familiar with the movie version than the book.  The early portions of the novel remind me of IT in so many great way.  The novel had twists, turns that I really didn't see  coming.  Great stuff, and it was written by hand by the King of horror himself.  King originally titled this book, "Cancer" but his wife convinced him that was not a good idea.  I also love the early scenes at the cabin.  Read it -- you'll like it.

Needful Things.  I'm passionate about this book.  I think it's a strong novel; a really strong novel.  King weaves the stories of townspeople together masterfully.  What didn't work in Tommyknockers - a big cast -- worked very nicely in this novel. The character development is particularly strong in Needful Things.  From Polly's arthritis to the Alan's shadow puppets, these are people we connect with.  Not to mention, the novel has one of the freakiest scenes I've encountered.  Two women go at it with knives -- to their deaths -- in the middle of the street in broad daylight.  It's the end of Castle Rock, and a novel that totally sold me on Stephen King.

That's Not A Good End!

Ending a novel can gave a reader the euphoria of crossing the finish line after a hard run race.  Or it can be like running out of gas in the middle of no where.

Stephen King endings -- the thought alone can cause constant readers a little trauma.  It seems pretty well known that while Stephen King has given us some great stories, the endings sometimes leave the reader a little frustrated.

Sometimes King nails it!  He drives the story home with unusual skill.  He allows the characters and  plot to work together to bring about a breathtaking end.  Dolores Claiborne, The Shining and Salem's Lot all had what I considered  to be pretty satisfying endings.

There have also been times that King declined to really end a story.  The Mist is such an example.  King left the character driving into the mist, for the reader to choose their own adventure from there.  Also, the Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was a bit unclear at the end. I also liked the endings to the very dark stories in Full Dark No Stars.  The Green Mile played out nicely from beginning to end.  I think the pressure of having to write in serial was good for King.

Did Insomnia have an end?  I never got there.

Here are some endings I found weak:

Needful Things.  It ends with a video that Allan has to decide if he will watch or not.  The battle really isn't as big as we would think.  Polly takes on a pretty awesome spider, but it really doesn't pack the punch the rest of the novel did.  I liked it right up to the very end, it had played out so well, and then it just dropped off.

The Dark Tower.  I've gotten so therapeutic resolution over this from Bev  Vincnt, but the ending still troubles me.  My feelings run pretty deep on this not only because the books were so long -- and there were so many of them -- but they were so long in coming.  A little portion of my life was spent  thinking, "now when is the next Dark Tower book coming out?"  Then for it to end without the deep resolution I was hoping for left me disenchanted with the entire series for a while.  But there were  episodes I really loved!  I thinks some of King's best, and worst, writing appeared  in The Dark Tower  books.  The Wolves of the Calla was particularly delightful.

11/22/63.  Once again, loved the novel, hated the end.  We go a long ways with King waiting for the alternate history to play out -- but it never really does.  By the time King gives us a glimpse of what would have happened if Kennedy had lived, the events are marred by science fiction.  That is, we don't really get to see  the "what if" played out.  We have to put up with a strange world ripped apart by an overdose of time travel.  The giant earthquake changed everything, thus creating major events different from the timeline we are on now.  So the changes in political history really don't matter much, since nothing jives with our own timeline anyway.  Might as well be the history of Mars.

Cujo.  I liked the novel, but I liked the movie better because they changed the end.

Dreamcatcher.  I was really engaged with the first half of the novel, but when we began chasing aliens from point A to point B, I really got weary.

Thinner.  I don't think I should have to say more than that.

Firestarter.  Great book, but a troublesome ending.  I found it, as with others,  hollow  and even a little forced.  It did not have the tension I think King was looking for.

And in regard to the Talisman. . . that was a crazy way to end a book.

What is your favorite and least favorite endings to a Stephen King book?

Doctor Sleep Journal #3: SHE SHINES

I'm sure there  are spoilers here.  If you are whiny about spoilers, you probably shouldn't read blogs about books you haven't read yet.  Because, it is totally fair for a community of readers to discuss portions of the book as they progress, not just give vague overviews. 

Some short  notes:

1. This is the second book this year in which King tells  the story from a primarily male  perspective.  Both Doctor Sleep and Joyland are about young men finding their way in this world.  Neither is particularly tied down as the novels begin, and each begins to make their own tangled webs of relationships as the novels progress.  Just because each is a young man does not mean their perspective is the same.  Devan Jones sees the world through pretty innocent eyes -- even though the story is being retold by and older Jones.  Dan's point of view is much darker; haunted.  I like them both, but personally identify more deeply with Jones than Torrance.

2. She Shines!  The reader knows as soon as Abra is introduced that she Shines.  Her father describes the families ability to work around her shining as the adjustments the family of a blind child  might make -- but in reverse.  I liked that analogy.

King reveals a connection that the reader picks up  on quicker that the characters in the story.  The good doctor has links to both Dan and Abra.  Might he be the connecting point? The chalkboard scene is reminiscent of scenes from Bag of Bones in which refrigerator magnets moved about.

So what's up with Abra?  As her doctor discusses possibilities of what might be going on with the strange kid, I sense King replaying characters he's introduced us to in the past.  She's not like Carrie, though she can move objects -- she's more powerful than Carrie!  And she's not like John Smith, who knows things -- she's more powerful than John.  So what's up with  her?  The reader knows she Shines.  But she is doing stuff Danny never did.  In fact, things would have unfolded much more decisively in Danny's favor if he shined the way Abra does.

Here is the song referenced concerning Abra as a baby:

3. Realistic family tones: The friction blended with camaraderie for the sake of a beloved child between mother-in-law and son-in-law is both sweet and all so real.  King makes these  scenes work like a master, grasping bits of insight that ring true to the reader.  There is something tender in this love/hate relationship.

4. Back to New England.  The scenes in New Hampshire remind me of the early tone King used in Needful Things.  Of course, both are pretty deep in New England -- but I could swear that for a moment I was back in the beloved Castle Rock.

5. Okay, I've gotta say. . . THE CLOWN CREEPS ME OUT!

They Shine Abra...
They Shine
and when  you're down here with me, YOU SHINE

The clown at the birthday party will give any Stephen King constant reader pause.  Just the presence of a clown in a King book gives the reader a heads up that something is going to happen. 

Clowns, in John’s opinion, were highly overrated. They scared the ---- out of kids under six. Kids over that age merely found them boring.

Well, the doctor proves wrong more than once, and I think his take on clowns is dead wrong.  Kids over six find them plenty scary!  I think we have an almost communal fear of clowns.  After all, if Pennywise didn't put the fear of clowns into you, then Steven Spielberg must have in Poltergeist.  If Spielberg and King didn't do it, how about Joker or John Wayne Gacy.

6. Return Visits To The Overlook.  Memories of the Overlook are intense.  King takes us back to the haunted hotel via Danny's memory -- and that is much more powerful than simply reading The Shining again.  Because when Danny goes back to the overlook in his memory, he is doing it personally, experiencing it again with renewed fear he can't stifle.

Was the hose a hose, or a snake?  In Dan's mind it was a snake, no doubt about it.  But he also knows he was really just a hose.  Dan does not try to rationalize his experience at the overlook, telling himself some garbage about it all having been in his head.  He knows full well the place was very haunted and that the ghosts in the hotel drove his daddy crazy.

Is it a snake or a hose? 

Who can say, my dear Redrum, Redrum my dear? Who can say?

It buzzes at him, and terror jumps up his throat from his rapidly beating heart. Rattlesnakes buzz like that.

7. Haha Mr. Kubrick, the joke is on you!

  Kubrick digs abound!  King rightly insists that the true history of The Overlook comes from his novel The Shining, not the Kubrick movie.  In the current issue of Cemetery Dance (#70), Bev Vincent calls the 1980 Kubrick adaptation "pollution."

Yes, it was room 217,  not room 237.  Dick Hallorann is alive.  And yes, the Overlook is gone,  burned to the  ground after the boiler exploded.  . . . Int he Stephen King universe, Jack Torrance never wrote "all work and no play makes Jack a dull  boy."  There were no creepy twins in the hotel corridors, nor did gouts  of blood erupt from elevators.  Danny's father  never  said, "Here's Jonny."

There are other subtle jabs at Kubrick.  In particular, King insists several times in Doctor Sleep that ghosts are evidence of life after death.  Of course, Kubrick didn't necessarily believe in life after death, and certainly not hell.  Don't tell Dan Torrance that, because he has seen beyond the grave.

Needful Rings

www.funnyordie.com

Underrated Stephen King Novels

Just so we all understand, by underrated I mean overlooked.  These are the books I think were actually pretty good -- if not great  -- novels that are so often just overlooked.

Here are the five most underrated (in my opinion) -- offer your own list.  I love it!

5. Christine.  When released, this novel was overshadowed by the publication of Pet Sematary.  Also, there is the awkward situation with the change in narration --1st person to 3rd person to 1st person.  But don't let a little issue of point of view keep  you from this truly gruesome novel!  It's good stuff, trust me.  (talkstephenking : CHRISTINE Journal)

4. Dolores Claiborne.  I think this is King at his best!  Yet, it seems to just fall in the pile with other books when King discussions come around.  Why?  This book is as tightly woven as a Ken Follett spy novel and as rich as a Dickens character drama.  The first person narration that drives  this story is so strong, it's hard for me to believe King wrote this and not a female.

Now, there is a pretty good movie and play about the book.  But still, I don't sense that people really appreciate just how well told this story is.

3. The Langoliers. This one suffers from bad press because of bad Hollywood!  A novella stretched into a mini-series turned into total mind-numbing boredom.  However, the story is great.  I found it to be a page  turner, anxious to find out what  had happened.

2. The Sun Dog.  Is this one great writing?  Maybe not.  But it's a good story -- very Twilight Zoneish.  I liked it a lot, but never hear much about it.

1. The MOST underrated? --  Needful Things.  

Needful things is creepy, all out gory and well told.  In fact, it's very well told!  Interconnecting plots, great characters and gutsy story telling keep this thick novel moving.  King has said he saw it as a parable of the 80's.  I didn't see that.  Honestly, I just saw  a really good novel!  The book is held together by a very bad man and a very good Sheriff.  Needful things has some of the scariest scenes I've ever encountered in a book.  When the two women have a knife fight in broad daylight right in the middle of the road. . . that's getting pretty crazy!

The end of Needful Things was not as strong as the rest of the novel.  I liked the fight and all the bits King pulled together  there; but Pangborn being confronted with video of his wife's death seemed out of place.

What really drives this story -- as with any good King story -- are great characters.  Much like in Tommyknockers, this is the story of an entire town becoming possessed.  We see various addictions formed as people get what  they think they want.  Want to make love to Elvis?  Want to spend your time betting over a toy racetrack?  Need a sure cure to that terrible arthritis?  Needful Things has it all.

What really hurt  Needful things was the terrible screen adaptation.  Fans should be screaming for a recall!  The movie started great, but went downhill quickly.  Unfortunately, I suspect many think they know the book by the movie.

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Your turn!  What King novels (or novella's) just don't get their deserved press?

The Box At The Bottom Of The Closet

shhhh. . . quiet. . . my wife can't hear us talking about this.  See, we were discussing how full our bedroom closet is.  I might have said that none of the junk in the closet was mine, because I don't have a need to keep everything.   (EVERYTHING!)

So, when I came home from work yesterday,  there was a large  box sitting on the bed.  My beloved informed me it was MY  box.  Strange, I don't seem to remember owning a box.

"So what do you think was inside your box?" My wife asked.
I dunno.  Books?
"Well, you do have a box f duplicate Stephen King books.   But this box is full of Stephen King books on tape."
"CDs?"
"TAPES.  So you want me to throw them away,  or ebay them?"

I  didn't think much of it until I started going through the box.  Strange how things can cause of to  be sentimental, right?  I LOVE these tapes!  I've listened to them over and over and over!

So, here is what was in the box:

• 2 books on CD.  (HA!)  
• The Drawing of the Three, read by Stephen King.  My favorite of the Dark Tower covers is this one.  I almost bought this set on ebay recently, but didn't because I reasoned it would just end up at the bottom of a box somewhere.  
• Secret Window, Secret Garden, from Four Past Midnight.  I bought this in High School, then found myself incredibly "sick" the next day -- requiring I miss school and listen to my book while I played video games.   It was a tough life.  I didn't like the ending at all.  I was intrigued by the idea of two writers writing exactly the same book. But it seemed to easy for him to just be having a mental breakup.  Besides, wasn't that the Dark Half?  Also,  I couldn't figure out where the Window and Garden were?!  So there was no secret garden, no real duplicate book -- just a crazy writer.  But, it was a good day off school.
• The three volume edition of Needful Things on tape.  I got this for my 18th birthday.  (I think 18.)  Each time someone would give me birthday money, I'd go  to the store and buy the next volume. I absolutely fell in love with that book!  Loved King's reading, loved the story and even loved the boxes they came in.  I lined the boxes up neatly on my bookshelf, thinking how cool they looked.
• Dolores Claiborne.  Once again, this is a great book!  And, once  I've read many times. In particular, I remember listening to it on a rainy day at my Grandma's house when I was in college.  I was alone in the house, and there was serious storming going on.  I took the tape recorder from room to room with me to keep me company.  (That house was scary in thunder storms.  So, naturally -- the thing to do was listen to a Stephen King book.  So wise.)
• The Shining.  I listened to this a few years ago, right before tapes went bye-bye.  
• Some books I never finished.  From A Buick 8, which I still can't get through.  And Dreamcatcher, which my wife and I listened to together for a long time -- until it jumped characters and became about a Men In Black military general who's insane.  

So what will I do with the box of tapes?  I actually don't know.  Probably haul them down to the shed.  But then my wife will find them and tell me I can't say ALL the stuff down there is hers.  But it is.  Because the Christmas stuff counts at hers.

Favorite Literary Bad Boys

Karen  Tay has an article titled, "Favorite Literary Bad Boys."  #5 on her list  is Mr. Flagg.  Yep, he's  pretty bad!

Tay's List:

• Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)
• Eric Northman (True Blood)
• Stanley Kowalski (A Streetcar Named Desire)
• Hamlet
• Randall Flagg (The Stand)

About Flagg, Tay writes: "Okay, so he is evil incarnate, but power can be an irresistible aphrodisiac. Randall has only one goal in mind, to unleash hell on a post-apocalyptic earth, and he will do anything to achieve this. Randall also appears in other Stephen King books, including most of the Dark Tower series, but come on, it would be hard to resist being the woman (or man) who tames Satan. I mean, come on, isn't the whole romance novel industry based on this trope?"

QUESTION:
1. Who is your favorite King bad boy (or girl) ?
2. Who  is your favorite non-King literary bad boy (or girl) ?

Here's a helpful listing from villains.wikia.com

MY ANSWERS:
I think the crew from Needful Things were pretty rotten.   Leland Gaunt and Ace Merrill are both evil and their scenes are a lot of fun to read.

I think Ken Follett creates the best bad  guys ever.  All of them are great!  In particular, William Hanley in Pillars of the Earth was bad bad bad.

Salem's Lot Journal #1

I started the dark journey through Salem's Lot this Saturday.  I will keep a journal of notes and things that interest me as I read.  These are not reviews -- Lilja writes some wonderful reviews, so check his out.  I'm just creating a notebook.

I have not previously read this novel cover to cover, though I am familiar with concepts.  I tried to read it one summer -- but alas, when the latest King book was hit the market and I stopped reading to plow through the latest super-duper that everyone was excited about.

As usual, the audio version is my chosen format.  I had this on CD, but lost some of the CD's!  Audible to the rescue.

I promised a friend that when I finished this I would read Talisman, since that is also on my list of "never read it -- couldn't make it."  In a way I am glad there is not a new novel this fall -- as I can catch up on some classic King.


Introduction

King read a delightful introduction in the audio version.  He discusses his mother, his childhood, and Dracula.  His mother called most horror books "trash" -- but Dracula and the like were not "bad trash."  Save that for D.H. Lawrence!  He shares the roots of the novel, and his original title "Second Coming."


Bigness

I am struck right off the bat by what a "large" novel this is.  It has a lot of scope, characters.  King backed out of some projects earlier in his career because they were just too big (Cannibals, which became Under The Dome, comes to mind.)  Salem's lot is a big novel -- not so much in length but in cast.  Interesting how young Mr. King says that no large novel is created by the author alone. . . written by a man who just didn't know how large his novels would get!  I guess sitting next to Carrie, it is long.

Salem's Lot is not just the story of Ben or Susan -- it is, as the title implies, the story of a town.  King wastes little time with introducing main characters before he gets busy allowing us to peak in the windows and listen in on the phone lines of this little town.  In fact, characters are being introduced so quickly at points that I feel the need to write down names.

Why a large cast?  Well, I suspect because a lot of people are going to get killed.  Just my guess here.

The large cast of characters in a small town reminds me of Needful Things.  The naughty boys even move to town to open up a shop.

I love how King describes the chatter crossing phone-lines, and the low hum the telephone lines make when the weather is just right.

The novel has a slight 70's feel to it.  No cell phone's here, gang!  We've still got party lines, newspapers and typewriters.  But it is an endearing feel to me.  King says he has always been more a writer of his time, and that's something I really appreciate.  I don't need to feel like it's happening "today" in order to enjoy it.  In fact, it's perhaps all the more creepy because it happened "back then" ya know!

The Writing:

Kings writing is crisp, energetic and quite fun.  He is moving at a pretty fast pace from scene to scene, giving the feeling that he is definitely "going" somewhere with this.  You can sense that a young man wrote this, and that is fine.  It is his view of the world, and it is a nice view.

King's love for Shirley Jackson's work appears not only with the inside quotes, but in the novel itself.  Ben directly discusses The Haunting Of Hill House (whatever walked there walked alone!)

One of the early scenes does give me a laugh --  "YOU WISH!" I want to say to King.  Ben goes to the park, only to discover a beautiful unmarried young woman reading his book.  Hummm, might this be the start of a relationship?  Oh yeah!  I like this scene very much, because I want to like it, not because it strikes me as true to life.  It does make me wonder what well known authors must feel when they spy someone reading their work.

Since Ben is a writer, a lot of Salem's Lot is about writing.  King lets us into the head of a young writer.  "But he does that all the time," someone might object.  True, but this is the first time -- and in that sense, it is special.

King Will Narrate WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE

Bryant Burnette shared with me that Stephen King will be reading the new Dark Tower novel, Wind Through The Keyhole.

Lilja's Library posted several quotes from King's site (which are not currently appearing on stephenking.com).  This is directly formhttp://www.liljas-library.com:

“I’ve spent a lot of time with the character of Roland Deschain and the Dark Tower universe over
the years. Now that I am revisiting that world, it felt like a fine time to lend it my voice,” said King. 

The Wind Through the Keyhole audiobook will also offer an exclusive audio preview of King’s upcoming novel, Doctor Sleep, the eagerly-awaited sequel to his classic, The Shinin, to be published in 2013. Stephen King will also read the excerpt from Doctor Sleep. 

“We’re thrilled that Steve wanted to return to the studio for THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE. As his audio fans know, he is a terrific narrator,” says Chris Lynch, Executive Vice President & Publisher of Simon & Schuster Audio. “His choice to preview his follow up to THE SHINING exclusively on audio speaks volumes about his support for the format. We couldn’t be happier.”

I really enjoyed the earlier Dark Tower novels King read.  He gave his voice to The Gunslinger, which was the first audio book he did.  It was great, if not a bit awkward at first.  King quickly found a rhythm.  The Drawing of the Three (a favorite of mine) was wonderful.  I think King's best reading is of Needful Things.

In the audio edition of The Gunslinger, King offers a short introduction and explains why he thinks it is beneficial for an author to read their own work.

10 Favorite

Here are my current 10 favorite King novels, though my list is ever changing.

1. The Stand
2. The Shining
3. Dolores Claiborne
4. Needful Things
5. IT
6. The Green Mile
7. The Runningman
8. Christine
9. The Mist
10. The Drawing Of The Three

Did I surprise you any?  Didn't surprise myself a bit!

Here's what I notice looking at my own list: First, I am not a Dark Tower nut.  I'll roll with it, but I don't think I like the fantasy genre as much as many King fans do.  I also struggle with LOTR.  I also notice that I enjoy works from different King eras.  Remember the three woman novels, Claiborne, Gerald's Game and Rose Madder ?  I thought Claiborne was off the charts good. 

The Stand and IT seem to rank highest for most fans.  In fact, it's almost boring to admit they're fave's, because everyone rattles those two off. 

A note on Needful Things and Christine.  Two novels I think are excellent, and don't get the praise they deserve.  I found Christine to be a horror delight.  It doesn't attempt to be deep or even dramatic!  It's just fun.  Needful Things on the other hand is serous business.  Characters and plot unfold in a careful web -- the horror master at work here.  King finished Castle Rock off with a bang, and I enjoyed all the sparks and fireworks as the devil himself came to town.

So, you're turn.  10 favorite.  If you haven't read 10, then stop reading the blog and go read 10.  (Read your Bible first, said the preacher.  You're welcome.)

Full Dark Journal 6: Fair Extension

I was excited to jump into Fair Extension, because so many have expressed that it was their favorite of the four Novella's in Full Dark No Stars. This one left me a little wide eyed. "Really!"

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In order for our cancer ridden protagonist, Dave Streeter, to extend his life (and get rid of cancer), he makes a deal with the devil: He will pay a tithe of his income to George Elvid -- aka: The Devil. He must also "do the dirty" to someone else. That is, someone must pay for his life extension.

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Theology:

I am again struck by the layers of theology here. Forgive me, I can't help it! Note: The concept of blood atonement (eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life), and the devil's price: 15%. A much steeper demand than the tenth (ie, tithing) demanded by God.

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So the deal is: The price is higher, but if you can live with yourself, the dark "blessings" can be counted ahead of time. I mean, think about it; you serve God, and you have to trust him to take care of you. You give to God, and believe He will bless. But God chooses the blessing (unless you're into TV preachers). So you have to trust God to know what you really need. But the Devil (at least in Fair Extension), is ready to give you exactly what you think you need. The price is higher, but the exchange is clearly stated up front.

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By the way, I don't think King is actually seeking to build a theology here. He's having fun. But he does it with skill and real depth.

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FAIR!

Now here's the catch: The devil turns out to be a fair trader. It's crazy, but it works. Streeter faithfully pays his dues, and watches over the years as disaster rains down on his frenemy. Probably the strangest thing about the novella is that Streeter feels no guilt. None! In fact, he watches with inner glee as his friends life unravels. I really like this. The simple exploration of a man who is so totally self focused, he is incapable of human compassion.

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For most of us, "doing the dirty" to someone else would take a huge toll on us emotionally. Even if we made the deal, we would experience intense guilt for bringing such harm on another person. But not Streeter! He's that rare creature who is perfectly matched to make a deal with the devil.

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Would Streeter do it again? You betcha! In fact, he wants more! Picture poor Oliver Twist holding out his bowl to the devil, "Please sir, I want more."

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NEEDFUL THINGS

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Elvid reminds me very much of Leland Gaunt. Needful Things was one of my favorite novels. It was brilliantly executed, in my opinion. An entire town was spun in circles by the manipulations of one wicked store proprietor. Of course, in that story the characters felt deep shame for their dealings with the devil. And old Gaunt didn't play fair.

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In Fair Extension, King narrows his focus. Instead of an entire town being the landscape, just one man and his relationships are looked at. I think it serves as a nice companion piece to Needful Things.

The Joy Of A Long Novel

My wife mentioned last night that the car was full of cd's. "I know. I'm listening to a bunch of things, because I'm afraid to start anything big because I know Under The Dome is coming out." I have even resisted the urge to start Duma Key again. Just lots of Garriosn Keillor and other short stuff.

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The Complaining:
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King gets plenty of razzing about the size of his novels. Doubleday even forced him to chop up The Stand. Naughty them! David Fried suggests that the "biggest concern" for most readers approaching UTD will be its "intimidating length."
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Jarrett Skorup at examiner.com has an article titled "The Horror of It All: Congress, the Founders and Stephen King."
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Now what does Congress, the Founders and Stephen King have in common? Skorup writes, "This bill isn’t just longer than a Stephen King novel, it’s also scarier, because aside from the title, this tome is all non-fiction. Congress could benefit from a good editor though, because in 800 fewer pages Stephen King wiped out 99 percent of Earth’s population, rebuilt society, created a dramatic good vs. evil confrontation and nuked Las Vegas. HR 3962 only manages to give the government control of 17 percent of the U.S. economy, and the health care choices of every American." http://www.examiner.com/x-17336-Midland-County-Public-Policy-Examiner~y2009m10d30-The-Horror-of-It-All--Congress-the-Founders-and-Stephen-King
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Interesting comparrison.
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To press his point on how big the healthcare bill is -- he put it next to a copy of The Stand (it towers over the novel).
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Strength of a longer novel
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One reason I'm looking forward to Under th Dome is because it is long. In a closing note to UTD, King thanks Nan Graham her editing his novel “from the original dinosaur to a beast of slightly more manageable size.” (Hopefully tis was not a Doubleday style chop job).
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I appreciate King's longer novels for several reasons. For one thing, King doesn't hold back. He writes on to what some say is self indulgance; but really he is giving the reader a gift. Chopped up stories are frustrating. If you don't really want to read -- then don't read! But don't complain that King let's the bowl of ice-cream spill over.
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King takes the time to walk us through the long tunnel with Larry Underwood. The ability to weave the story and pull lots of loose ends together is magnified when the story is longer. He takes time to set up his story, to give us detailed characters and then allows us to watch him play with them. And truth is, that's what a good novel does -- it allows us to watch a child play with his toys (in this case, toys he has built).
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King is certainly not alone in his super long novels. Charles Dickens consistently wrote huge books -- by hand! One of my favorite authors is Ken Follett (Pillars of the Earth and World Without End and both fantastic).
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A well written, long novel lingers in the mind. You live with that novel, think about the characters when you're not reading, and feel like you personally know a little group of people that other friends and family don't even know exist. When you meet another person who's read that book, you immediately feel a deep connection with them -- "Oh! You know Stu! And Larry? What did you think of Nick?"
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Specifically:
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My favorite long novels obviously include The Stand and IT. But also, right in their heels, is Needful Things. The reason the movie Needful Things fails so badly is that King's plot couldn't be jammed onto the screen. (Same reason King doesn't usually allow the audio edition of his novels to be abridged -- except for Thinner and Desperation.) Duma Key was a delightfully long read, as was Desperation. None of htese are short books -- all of them are worth every page.
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I suspect that those who complain about the length of King's novels are in truth lazy readers. Or overwhelmed. Of course a book reviewer is annoyed when handed a gigantic novel -- because they have other things thing need to be reading as well. But for the constant reader, a long novel is a gift.

10 Scariest Stephen King Novels

scifiwire posted "10 scariest Stephen King novels." http://scifiwire.com/2009/10/10-scariest-stephen-king.php So here it is. See if you see a problem:

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1. The Shining (1977)

2. 'Salem's Lot (1975)

3. Pet Semetary (1982)

4. Cujo (1981)

5. Misery (1987)

6. The Stand (Complete and Uncut Version) (1990)

7. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999)

8. Cell (2006)

9. Gerald's Game (1992)

10. Carrie (1974)

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Do these people read Stephen King very often? Are these the only books they've read?

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As Halloween approaches, the most frustrating thing is that everyone publishes their scary book list on Halloween. Kinda misses the "season" -- doesn't it? You aren't going to read 10, or even 1, scary book just on Halloween. And after Halloween, let's all face it, Christmas season begins. Now that's truly scary!

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First of all: Geralds Game and Cujo, while intense and well written, are not exactly scary! That was the list, right? Scary. So, let me offer my list of truly scary King books:

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1. It. Why didn't IT even make their list? A monster stalks little kids -- and scifiwire wasn't scared? Come on! I was shivering under the sheets. This book is the true face of horror.

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2. The Shining. A haunted hotel. This was great

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3. 'Salem's Lot. Dracula comes to America. True Halloween stuff

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4. Needful Things. The fight in the street, knifes and such -- wonderful. Gory. Truly scary

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5. Pet Semetary. A dead child buried in ancient Indian grounds comes back alive. . . and ready to kill mommy and daddy. Anyone not scared? It's like a haunting version of Christianity. Resurrection gone bad!

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6. The Stand. This one has scenes that are scary. The tunnel, other Abigail and the wolves, etc

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7. Desperation. A book that opens with a crucified cat should be on anyones list of most scary King novels. And Tac the Demon Sheriff deserves a little more credit for his scaryness.

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8. Cell. First King brought Vampires to America, then modern America got a cell phone call: The zombies are coming!

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9. The Dark Half. What if your alter-ego was alive and well -- killing people? I thought it was scary.

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10. Carrie. Short and to the point, I think this book is really more a novella. However, it is definately spooky. It rightly set the stage to typecast the author as the King of Horror.

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Anyone want to offer their 10 scariest King novels?

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Needful Things the Movie

In 1993 Stephen Spielberg gave us Jurassic Park; John Grisham's novel The Firm was successfully translated to film along with his novel The Pelican Brief. Sleepless in Seattle, Groundhog Day, Cool Runnings, Dave, Indecent Proposal, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Good Son, Tombstone were all released in 1993. And so was Needful Things, a movie based on Stephen King's novel.

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My six year old daughter and I watched Needful Things last night. I had seen it before, but couldn't remember much. I have read the book several times and love it. It is a long, carefully woven tale build on characters. It is King at his best! I love it.

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As I'm watching the movie, I find myself thinking: Something isn't working here. And it's not the typical complaining that the movie isn't exactly like the book -- of course they had to combine characters and make changes. But at a deeper level, the story doesn't work on screen; at least not in this presentation. Te back of the DVD box sorts a quote from Jef Craig (who?) of Sixty Second Preview (huh? do they make these companies up for the back of boxes?) who wrote, "The best Stephen King Film ever!" I guess he missed Carrie, Green Mile, and Stand by Me.

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There is a lot of build up to a pretty unclimatic ending. Lots of explosions, but no real effort to explain what's happening. Worse, the ending. Instead of Polly batteling a spider or any of the other one on one fights that take place, we get a drawn out version of the town fight. This scene was fun in the book -- a whole town goes to war. But on the screen, they managed to make this a sleeper. How? Too much talking! Lots and lots of speeches. Gosh, I was starting to think I was watching meet the press. Gaunt has a speech, Pangborn has a speech -- and so on. Anyone head into a story thinking: Gee, I hope there's a good speech at the end! Maybe even a sermon!

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Ed Harris and Max Sidow do their best to pull this off, but the script doesn't give their haracters room to act. The idea that Gaunt (Sidow) is the devil himself is very overplayed. Instead of hinting that this might be the head demon -- we have to be told over and over again! Gaunt's appearing in unexpected places is annoing also. Insead of Polly being left to fight the spider, Gaunt appears and seems to attempt to seduce her. The character of Leon Gaunt is not scary! Well played, but as the movie progresses, he is so over-used in each scene that he isn't the least bit frightening. "Ah," you say as Gaunt appears in a scene, "It's the old shop keeper, I'll bet another speech is on the way!" And you would be right.

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At the end of the film my daughter said, "Dad, movies usually try to teach you a lesson." Sigh. Now I was ready for my 6 year old to throw rocks and this. Fine. Okay, I said, but this movie didn't have a lesson, did it? "It had a lesson. It was trying to say that people are more important than things."

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It is funny how hard the movie tries to present Castle Rock as a "pleasant little town." Can anyone say -- Cujo? Dark Half?

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Oops:

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imdb.com writes: "One man buys a first edition, signed copy of "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson. In later scenes, he and the little girl who stole it refer to the title as "Huck Finn" by Mark Twain. In the video and DVD release, his words are dubbed over to correct the mistake. On the television broadcast, the mistake was not corrected. This is an audio mismatch and a continuity error, depending on which version you saw."

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Clue's You've Bought A Bad Movie:

• Not many quotes on the box praising the movie.
• No commentary on special features. Translation: No one wants to be associated with this movie!
• Only extra thing offered "original theatrical trailer."
• A 2 DVD set or "special edition" doesn't exist.

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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107665/

Religion And Stephen King

Religion And Stephen King

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Stephen King isn’t a "Christian" writer. However, Christian themes often appear in his books. People often assume that the genre of horror doesn’t lend itself to religious themes – nothing could be further from the truth! Christianity certainly has "dark" spots.
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Some complain that King often casts religious people in a bad light. Sorry to say, that’s a lot like complaining about Flandars on the Simpsons, media simply mimic’s what they see. The reason religious characters sometimes fall in a bad light (Carrie White’s mom comes to mind) is because there are religious people who fall into that mold. I certainly take no personal offense. (Insomnia’s portrayal of the prolife movement was a hard pill to swallow). In fact, often religious wackos are well pictured in King’s work. Just read an interesting scene in Cell where a woman is full of religious zeal.
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In particular, characters like: Reverend Rose in Needful Things strike a chord with us because we’ve met people like that. But we’ve also met good people of faith – and king shows us that side, too. David in Desperation is a boy with great faith in God, surrounded by skeptics.
What I especially like is that characters have the ability to be redeemed. Father Calahan in Salem’s Lot comes to mind. He didn’t have such a good ending in the book, but he is redeemed in the Dark Tower.
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Books with religious overtones:
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The Stand in particular is a book about religion. In his introduction to the novel, King called The Stand a "long tale of dark Christianity." There is the Godly Mother Abigail pitted against the devil himself. And let’s not forget the finger of God reaching down from heaven to blow up the bad guys. Very much like Revelation 20-21!
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Cell has a lot of religious overtones. Not just the Bible crazy lady, but talk about America having built a "tower of Babel" that was torn down by the yet unknown enemy.
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David King told Steve Spignesi in The Shape Under The Sheet (1991) "I know he’s not an atheist or an agnostic, but I don’t think he attends church. I believe that when he and Tabby married he agreed to have the children brought up in the Catholic faith, because Tabby is Catholic." According to David, their mother was religious and regularly attended church. Speaking for himself, David King says, "Linda and I are now what’s known as evangelical Christians. We’re Biblical fundamentalists, which sometimes connotes a negative impression in people’s minds. We are of the group that believes that the Bible is the total and factual and complete word of God." (P.37)
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It is interesting that a character with great faith is named David in Desperation – I wonder if that’s after his brother David.
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King articulated his religious views in an interview with Salon magazine, King told novelist John Marks, "I was raised Christian, and I was raised to believe in the idea of the Antichrist. My wife said that -- she was raised a Catholic -- the attitude of the Catholic Church is, give them to me when they're young, and they'll be mine forever. It isn't really true. A lot of us grow up and we grow out of the literal interpretation that we get when we're children, but we bear the scars all our life. Whether they're scars of beauty or scars of ugliness, it's pretty much in the eye of the beholder.
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"I'm interested in the concepts. I'm particularly interested in the idea that in the New Testament, you're suggesting a moral code that's actually enlightened. Basically what Christ preached: get along with your neighbor and give everything away and follow me. So we're talking pretty much about communism or socialism, all the things that the good Christian Republicans in the House of Representatives today are railing about in light of this bailout bill. Of course, Christ never preached give away everything to Wall Street, so they might have a point.
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"I was able to use all those things in "The Stand." It's an effort to say, let's give God his due here. Too often, in novels that are speculative, God is a kind of kryptonite, and that's about all that it is, and it goes back to Dracula, where someone dumps a crucifix in Count Dracula's face, and he pulls away and runs back into his house. That's not religion. That's some kind of juju, like a talisman. I wanted to do more than that. I wanted to explore what that means to be able to rise above adversity by faith, because it's something most of us do every day. We may not call it Christianity. I wanted to do that. I wanted it to be a God trip"
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Read the full interview here: http://www.salon.com/books/int/2008/10/23/stephen_king/
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As a Believer, I must mention that I personally think King’s view of the afterlife is insufficient and dangerous. Basically, he states that he believes what ever you "believe" that’s what happens to you when you die. Of course, he does preface this by saying he doesn’t know what happens!

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Does Belief In God Make King More Frightening?
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Stanley Kubrick told Jack Nicholson that The Shining is a basically "optimistic" story. When asked how that can be, Kubrik said that any story that has ghosts believes in an afterlife of some kind – and that’s optimistic!

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King said that Kubrick once called King in the middle of the night while they were filming The Shining. "Do you believe in God?" Kubrick asked. Yes, King said he did believe in God. King associated Kubrick’s strange take (and film version) of the Shining to Kubrick’s inability to believe in God. If there is no God, then the Overlook isn’t haunted, it’s all about Jack Torrance going crazy. And that is what Kubrick’s version of the Shining does, it shoes Torrance and his family breaking down.
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King’s ability to at least understand Christian themes allows him to employ such things as crucifixion in The Stand.
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The central theme of Christianity is Resurrection. This is played out in a dark way in Pet Sematery, where an old burial ground allows the dead to rise again – but they’re not quite right afterward. King wrote the novel for his own enjoyment, and it remains one of his scariest books to date! It is disturbing and wonderful.
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King said in an interview: "I don't see myself as God's stenographer. As someone who believes in God, believes that God is a logical out growth of the fact that life fits together as well as it does, but that doesn't mean that we know God's mind... There's been a lot of criticism of the book where they say the God stuff really turns them off. I'm thinking to myself that these guys have no problems with vampires, demons, golems, werewolves and you name it. If you try to bring in a God who can take sardines and crackers and turn it into loaves and fishes, then these people have a problem. I say to myself, if you have a real problem then I'm doing what a novel of suspense and horror is supposed to do, which is to just scratch below the surface and sought of rub your nerves the wrong way."
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The Redemptive Side
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon also has religious themes, with God speaking through Tom Gordon!

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The Green Mile gives a blatant picture of Christ bearing our suffering through John Coffee. (Get it, John Coffee – J.C. – Jesus Christ. That’s not the first time King has used a characters name to express a redemptive purpose for them. An obvious one is Gardner –Gard– in Tommyknockers.). King directly ties Coffee’s sacrifice to the death of Jesus.
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In the Green Mile, King writes: "Only God could forgive sins, could and did, washing them away in the agonal blood of His crucified Son, but that did not change the responsibility of His children to atone for those sins (and even their simple errors of judgment) whenever possible. Atonement was powerful; it was the lock on the door you closed against the past."
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Paul F. Zahl writes in Christianity today:
Finally, at the very end of The Green Mile (Part 6, "Coffey on the Mile") come the hero's ruminations on the providence of God: I think back to the sermons of my childhood, booming affirmations in the church of Praise Jesus, The Lord Is Mighty, and I recall how the preachers used to say that God's eye is on the sparrow, that He sees and marks even the least of His creations. Yet this same God sacrificed John Coffey, who tried only to do good in his blind way, as savagely as any Old Testament prophet ever sacrificed a defenseless lamb, as Abraham would have sacrificed his own son if actually called upon to do so. … If it happens, God lets it happen, and when we say "I don't understand," God replies, "I don't care." This is quite fantastic, an unflinching parallel with the ruminations of Luther in The Bondage of the Will. So there they are: substitutionary atonement, the cross of Golgotha, and the unanswerable sovereignty of God. Add to that the one-to-one transfer of guilt and death from John Coffey to the villainous guard Percy and the vilest prisoner on "the Mile," and I rest my case."
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/march6/31.82.html
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I think that the concept of evil is something that's in the human heart. The goodness in the human heart is probably more interesting, psychologically, but in terms of myth, the idea that there are forces of evil and forces of good outside, and because I was raised in a fairly strict religious home, not hard-shelled Baptist or anything like that, I tend to coalesce those concepts around God symbols and devil symbols, and I put them in my work.
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Janet C. Beaulieu interviewed King in Novemeber of 1988.
http://carolinanavy.com/navy/creativewriting/sking/view.html
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JB: What kind of background did you come from if it wasn't "hard-shelled Baptist?"
SK: Hard-nosed Methodist.
JB: So you weren't into really evangelical, fundi kinds of things.
SK: No.
JB: But you clearly learned your Bible.
SK: Yeah, I clearly learned my Bible, and I took a lot of what it says to heart enough to be disgusted by the Jim and Tammy Baker's and the Rex Humbug's of the world, where it says 'when you pray go inside your closet and shut the door and do it by yourself, don't do it in front of everybody so that everybody will know how religious you are.' I'm really sort of impressed by something that C. S. Lewis said about The Rings trilogy, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, where he said, "as good as Tolkien was at depicting good, he was much more effective at depicting evil." I think that that's true, and I think that it's easier for all of us to grasp evil, because it's a simpler concept, and good is so many-faceted and it's so layered. I've always tried to contrast that bright, white light of real goodness or Godliness against evil. I'm not a proselytizer, and I hate organized religion. I think it's one of the roots of real evil that's in our world. If you really unmask Satan, you'll probably find that he's wearing a turnaround collar.
JB: What do you mean by organized religion? How do you define that?
SK: Well, when they start telling you when you're supposed to be on your knees and when you're supposed to be standing up and when you look at the front of the building and you see there's a list of the hymns you're going to sing, that's organized religion. And when they start to band you together and say, "these are the magazines you're not supposed to buy in the 7-Eleven," that's organized religion. And sooner or later, it always overspills into political issues. Jesus said, "Render those things under to Caesar that are Caesar's and render unto God the things that are God's," and - I don't know, that scripture keeps getting overlooked by these guys who want to do Moral Majority and all the rest of it. You can't operate in those terms. You've got the man in black in this book that looks like a priest, who does messianic things. He raises the dead. But to no good purpose. At least when Jesus rose from the dead he had the good grace to hang around for a while and then get the hell out. He didn't do a TV show or hang around like the weed-eater, Norton, in the book. He got offstage. It's an interesting thing. I heard somebody say once at some kind of New Testament conference that I was at a few years ago, that when Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead, he took everybody to the graveyard and said, "Lazarus, come forth!" If he'd just said "Come forth!" everybody in the graveyard would have gotten up and walked. Can you imagine that? How's that for a horror story?

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I think that is close to the modern, "I love Jesus, but not the church" type of answer. of course, his answers on this subject are all over the board! But his fiction is generally the same: God is good, Christians might be, the church is the problem. (Remember, this isn't my personal belief!)