10 Best Stephen King Books

Rolling Stone did a poll, asking what the 10 best Stephen King books are.  The answers -- a little ridiculous.  (www.rollingstone.com) I am glad they allowed novella's to count.

Here is the Rolling Stone line up:
10. Wizard and Glass. (REALLY?!)
9. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.
8. The Dead Zone
7. The Green Mile
6. 11.22.63
5. Misery
4. Salem's Lot
3. The Shining
2. IT
1. The Stand

I wonder if Shawshank might be getting a huge boost from movie memory.  I read the novella recently, and was struck by how much butter the movie is.  In fact, the same is true of The Body, which was turned into Stand By Me.  I liked the movie better.  In turn, I wonder if books like Bag of Bones might be overlooked because of the poor performance of the mini-series. Notice all the books selected were adapted nicely to screen, with the exception of Wizard and Glass.  In fact, The Deadzone and The Shining have both been given multiple treat

And I'm glad a Dark Tower novel made the list. . . but Wizard and Glass?  My favorites of that series were Drawing of the Three and Wolves of the Calla.

What would a correct list look like?  Glad you asked. . .
10. Christine
9. The Green Mile
8. Joyland
7. Salem's Lot
6. Dolores Claiborne
5. 11.22.63
4. The Shining
3. Pet Sematary
2. IT
1. The Stand

So I chose a lot of books people tell me they don't like.  (Pet Sematary, Christine, Joyland, Dolores Claiborne.)  But in many ways, these novels are much stronger than they are given credit for.  Dolores Claiborne in particular is an incredibly intense novel that is driven by both character and plot.  In fact, there are two plots moving through the book, and a connection point to Gerald's Game.  Frankly, it's brilliant.  Why is it so easily overlooked?  Because it was written in a period that was experimental for King.  So books like Needful Things, Gerald's Game, Rose Madder were not as strong and to some degree, I think, caused Dolores Claiborne to be lumped in with them.

Also, Pet Sematary is a dark, terrible novel.  (Expect a similar darkness to loom over Revival.) But it is also a strong novel.  In fact, I think it is better -- even scarier in theme --than The Shining.  Think about it, the guy digs up his dead sons body!  King takes you there!  The Shining is an exceedingly closed in novel; at points it's a tough read.  The Shining has been romanticized, so people give it a little more grace than they might otherwise. The thing is, The Shining is very closed in; almost claustrophobic.  In fact, note what reviews at the time said compared to modern readers.  The story is almost solely carried by three characters trapped in a hotel.  It is slow going for a few pages.  Yeah, when it starts rolling, it's good stuff!

I also think Joyland is too easily skipped over. What's great about that book is not the plot;  the mystery is secondary.  What makes the novel really strong is King's ability to take us back to 1973 and to the feelings of first love.  It's one thing to read a book King wrote in the 70's and think, "wow, this feels like the seventies alright."  Try reading the original edition of The Stand.  In fact, the revised version of The Stand still has flavors of the seventies.  But with Joyland, King wasn't writing during the period; but he perfectly recreated it. He did something similar with both IT and 11.22.63.

Does Christine deserve to be on a Stephen King top ten list?  I think so.  Not only is the novel a good one, but it represents the young Stephen King anxious to just drive the horror home.  It's a bloodbath; and unapologetically so.  The reader can feel King's joy.  Cars, rock and roll, and girls -- oh, and a ghost. It's not "deep" -- but it is a delight for the horror fan. King got himself into a hole when he wrote his narrator into a hospital bed.  So mid novel, he switched to third person!  I'm surprised he didn't rewrite the novel to stay with one perspective; but ultimately it is fine with me.  Who really cares if a writers switches between narrative styles?  Only my English teacher; and she's dead.

Don't you hate top ten lists?  Me too.  Good,  now give  me yours. . . 

Far more fun than a 10 Best list is a 10 worst list. And the funny thing is -- I still read and enjoy several of the books off this list.  They're just not King at the top of his game.  But, unable to come up with TEN -- here's five.
5. Gerald's Game
4. Insomnia.
3. The Tommyknockers
2. Dreamcatcher
1. Cell

Eyeing Changes in 2015

Is it polite to talk about blogging?  I’m not sure it is.  Really, a blog should be about the articles.  I weary of blogs that say, “Sorry I haven’t updated in a while, my life is really busy.”  Yeah, so is mine.  I don’t care.

That’s my intro to saying that my plan is to make some changes with talkstephenking in 2015.  I still intend to discuss things in the King universe that interest me; but I do not plan to post daily anymore.  It seems major news announcements are already well covered by big websites, so there’s no need for me to try to keep up.  What do I plan to do? Write as I read.  I still read Stephen King, and I still want to write about what I’m reading.  So that’s what I’m going to do.

What blogging about Stephen King has given me is a whole lot of really great friends with a similar passion.  I love the emails, comments and discussion about King related subjects.

I started Rose Madder last night, and I can’t wait to post the Rose Madder journal.

12 Ways Reading Stephen King Will Traumatize You

Happy Friday the 12th.  Reading Stephen King can be a lot of fun.  It can also be traumatic.  Psychologically dangerous.  Here are 12 ways reading Stephen King will traumatize you.

1. Clowns aren't fun anymore.

2. You want to give a wide birth to the weird girl at the prom.  Who knows what strange powers she might have.

3. Crows seem ominous.  And rats aren't just nasty -- they're evil!  Dare I mention spiders?  SPIDERS!

4. You avoid mom & pop stores because they might have just what you need; and be run by the devil.

5. It's not so much fun to be alone in a hotel hallway, because you are terrified two dead girls will appear and invite you to come play with them.  The hotel bathtub is another place Mr. King ruined.  Who knows when a dead body will float to the surface.

6. On foggy days, you wonder if maybe it's actually a dark mist headed your way and think that any moment monsters with tentacles will be attacking.

7. You want to ask the waitress at your local cafe if you can check the pantry, secretly wondering if there is a time portal.

8. The law, and your mom, say you have to respect authority.  But when you're traveling long stretches of desert road, you aren't sure you would actually stop for a sheriff.

9. People in your life remind you of people from a Stephen King novel.  I swear I know Mother Abagail and am pretty sure I've met Annie Wilkes.  Also had some contact with Big Jim, Jack Torrance and unfortunately Mother Carmody.

10. There's no way you would own a Saint Bernard.  Or dog sit one.  You also would not name your cat Church.

11. You can't enjoy a movie based on a Stephen King book, but keep irritating your friends and family by saying, "really, the book was better," and, "the book was a lot scarier," and "I can't believe they messed that up."

12. A 1958 Plymouth Fury is a cool car -- from a distance.  A long distance.

And. . . extra credit: In awkward or unnerving situations, you think, "Oh man, this is the way a Stephen King book starts."

Okay, give me your list

Waiting For A New Stephen King Book

Waiting for a new Stephen King book is like waiting in line for a roller coaster.  You try to find things to talk about with your friends as you wait in line.  Little snippets of the coaster thunder by as you wait,  building the anticipation.

I didn't get to read  this one early.  (I did Joyland.  And was quoted on some of their publicity stuff.)  But I know Lilja has already read it and has expressed pleasure.  See, there's always people getting off the ride going, "Yah dude!  That was awesome!"  Of course, there are also people getting off who are puking their guts up.

As you near the gate, everyone gets a little quiet.  Both scared and excited.  Scared -- in terms of a book, what if this thing is a total bummer?  Excited because it might just blow us away.

Did I mention I live in SoCal -- where there seems to be more roller-coasters  here than anywhere else on planet earth.  We have Six Flags, Disneyland (yes they do have good coasters), Knotts Berry Farm and Legoland.  Yeah, there's no cool coasters at Legoland!

But this is Stephen Kingish -- this year my favorite wood Coaster got torn down.  Magic Mountain decided it was time to take out the old wood structure, which had been a park staple  for years.  It was once a duel track coaster, but in later years  they just ran one track because. . . I don't know.  At Halloween time, they'd run the coaster backward, which was indeed the freakiest, funniest thing I'd  ever been on.  It was awesome!  When riding a coaster, your eyes do a lot of talking to your brain as you judge  how much further you have to fall.  Without seeing the drops, even little  drops felt like dips toward a bottomless pit.

When Magic Mountain decided to tear the Colossus out, it was a sad day for many of us.  But the old pile of wood did not go down without a fight.  A big fight.  The thing caught fire as they tried to tear it down!  The fire department had to be called in to put out the fire.  Imagine the person who had  to call 911 on that.  "911, what's your emergency?"  "Yeah, well, I work for Magic Mountain, and our roller-coaster is on fire.  You'll probably need a ladder truck, it's pretty big."

UPDATED: Dennis Rader's Daughter Has A Bone To Pick With Stephen King

photo credit: kansascity.com/news

I hesitate to post this tonight.  I think Kerri Rader really is a victim of her father's evil, and has shown amazing courage and faith in moving forward.  However, the story is directly related to Stephen King. I find her faith inspiring, and her comments about King misguided.  So, if you comment, be kind.  Don't nuke this lady.

Resposted, with update.

kansascity.com posted a sympathetic article about Kerri Rader Rawson, the daughter of  the Wichita, Kansas serial killer known as BTK.  Seems she has a bone to pick with Stephen King.  Apparently she just figured out that King's 2010 novella, "A Good Marriage" was based partly on Dennis Rader.

Instead of taking interest in the character study,  Rawson's moral compass spins on King and declares that he is exploiting the victims her father terrorized.  Apparently she is their spokesman.  Of course, she goes on to state that she and her family feel personally exploited.  In fact, she goes so far as to say that  she and her family are the "11th victim."  Of course, they are victims.  But it's not Stephen King who is victimizing them.

The movie, and story, discuss  the fact that people can live together in family while hiding terrible, sometimes horrific,  secrets  from one another.  Kinda like. . . DENNIS RADER!

The article notes that  until she figured out that her father was the source material for A Good Marriage, King was her favorite writer.  Again -- the story was released in 2010.  So  did she read the novella and not go, "hey, this seems familiar."  Or, did she not read the book?

Here is the meat of Rawson's complaints:

1. She thinks it'll give her father "a fat head." 
But honestly, I don't think Stephen King will be  responsible if Dennis Rader's ego gets out of control!

2. She is offended King will make money off the story.
Now, understand,  this is a fictional novel.  It's not a novelization of  Rader's life; King was simply interested in the fact that Rader's family was unaware of his evil activity.

This is from the article:

She said King will make money, as she said he always does, only this time from the grief of all the victim families. “How many millions does he already have?” she said.

It seems she thinks attacking Stephen King will give voice to her fathers victims.

The bottom-line is, King is not making money off her fathers story; he's making money from a novel her wrote.  The novel contained observations from real life -- which is how books are written.  Can you imagine banks being mad at John Steinbeck for The Grapes of Wrath?

Understand, King did not recreate  the entire family in his novel.  In the book, the couple are older and the entire family dynamic is quite different.

3. She suggests that reading Stephen King might have "influenced" some of the bad things her  father did.
That's vague, so get the full quote: "She said her father was also a huge King fan – she worries that King’s books might have influenced some of the bad things her father did in some of his later murders."  Apparently there was something in the "later" murders she feels came from the work of King.

Later in the article she confesses that she has no  idea what drove her father to do  what he did.  Her emotions are obviously still a whirlwind.

Why not leave the family out of it?

BTK's daughter acknowledges that King has a right to tell a story,but asks why he had to tell what the inspiration was. Why not leave the family out of it?  Well, the answer is two fold.

First, I'm not aware of King ever personally outing the family. He didn't give their names or say much about BTK's real family.  She's the one who got her photo on the cover of a story linked to BTK, not Stephen King.  It's in the article about Rawson that her husbands name is given, the number of years she's been married, her occupation, her former occupation, and the number of children she has, how long her brother was in the Navy, how many degrees she has;  Stephen King didn't give that information; she did.

In other words, she is revealing more of her personal details in her attack on King than King did in his book.  King used an IDEA -- she's actually the one who made it personal.

Second, King revealed the source of the story because he was asked what the inspiration for the novella was.  He answered a question.  He probably never  thought, "Gee, if I answer this question, I might offend BTK's family."

What is good about the article:

Rawson reveals some real kindness on the part of police, who helped the family "get through" the terror of what the head of  the family did.  She says that detectives on the BTK task force were "very kind" to her and the family.   “They helped us get through it, talked to us with a lot of kindness. I am sure they kept a lot of media crap away from us afterward. And there was a lot of that.”
She’s grateful to Landwehr for two other reasons.

I suspect she is right when she says that she probably suffers  from PTSD as a result of her father's actions the media's hounding.

Stephen King makes her case

Maybe she should read the novella.  The article points out that the family, and in particular Rader's wife Paula, knew all along what he was doing.  Which is the very heart of King's novella!  What if a spouse who had no idea their beloved was committing murder discovered the true character of the one they love?  Well, in King's novel, a very strong wife is able to take care of some serious business.  If the family really sees themselves that deeply in the story, they should  feel  complimented.

Rawson says, “The hardest thing: Once you find out this horrible stuff about someone you loved and live with, you had to really work through it."  Which is very much  what A Good Marriage is about.  What do you do with the information you have?  In A Good Marriage,  the evil is discovered and dealt with in a way much different than reality.  It's not the FBI who cracks the case, it's the wife.

I Feel For this Lady:

While Rawson's attack  on King is irritating, I feel real empathy with her.  She's wishing she had a way to defend those her father hurt;  and this is, she thinks, a way to protect them.  She admits to having "bad days" (I'll bet) and that it's tough to keep moving forward as a mom.  I respect her courage to tell her children the truth and work with them in dealing with it.

I also respect her  courage  to tell her story to 200 women in her church.   That takes guts.  As part of the talk to the women, she revealed that she had not forgiven her father.  However, that Christmas (after sharing her story), she said that on the way home from a movie, she found the power to forgive her  father.  "God gave me that forgiveness," she acknowledged.  I'll tell you, I believe that with all my heart.  Because we are  unable  to forgive  really big wounds in life without the power of God. “God gave me that forgiveness,” she said. “My faith is my rock under me.”  After choosing to forgive him, she then wrote a six page letter to Rader, explaining that  though she forgives him, she does not understand why he did what he did.

The article includes a letter to "to Stephen King, the media from Dennis Rader’s daughter.”  The part I like out of the letter, "My mom is the strongest & bravest woman I know." I think King's novel actually compliments this sentiment.

The letter reveals a person still tortured by the evil in the past; and some of those wounds will  be with her all of her life until the final day when tears are wiped away by the Creator.

UPDATE:

(Wednesday, October 1)

Stephen King posted this well worded response at his message board:

I don't think Mr. Rader's daughter has to worry about her father getting a big head; there's nothing glamorous about the portrayal of Bob Anderson in A GOOD MARRIAGE. He's depicted as a banal little man, and none of the murders are shown. As for making millions from the project…not going to happen. AGM is a very small, independently financed feature that is opening in less than two dozen venues. How it does as a video on demand feature film (VOD) is hard to predict, but we don't expect huge returns. The story isn't really about the killer husband at all, but about a brave and determined woman. And while I understand Ms. Rawson's distress, the BTK crimes have already been chronicled in no less than 4 feature films, and there may be more in the future. I grant there is a morbid interest in such crimes and such criminals--there have been at least a hundred films about Jack the Ripper, who claimed far fewer victims--but there's also a need to understand why they happen. That drive to understand is the basis of art, and that's what I strove for in A GOOD MARRIAGE. I maintain that the theme of both the novella and the movie--how some men are able to keep secrets from even their closest loved ones--is valid and deserves exploration.

 - Stephen King

Why I Wrote "Stephen King, A Face Among The Masters"

I was at a book signing a few weeks ago at my church.  There was a table promoting books I'd written, and all the books were blown up huge. I was startled to see the Stephen King book in the mix.  (I hadn't expected the church to promote it.)  Not to mention, I hadn't written the book under my name.

That night, as I signed books, I got asked the question several times, "So why did you write a book about Stephen King?" 

Here's the short answer:

Because I don't think Stephen King has been taken as seriously as he should.  I think he's made a genuine, and lasting, contribution to American literature.  He as described through novels our era as much as Dickens gave us Victorian England.  Stephen King might be known for writing a bunch of scary stories, but really, his work is much more important.   I think future generations will study Stephen King the way I  studied Poe and Dickens.  He has left a huge cultural imprint."

There were other factors as well. As I blogged and researched,  I was slowly accumulating a mass of research material on subjects I didn't feel had been covered well in other books.  Why was no one talking about King's use of Poe in The Stand?  Did anyone notice King gave a nod to HP Lovecraft?  And why were there no chapters in the many books I had that discussed Stephen King and vintage radio?

It seemed to me that King was often asked, "Who influenced you?" But few people were looking directly at King's writing to examine independently what had impacted the writer and his style.

I do wish I'd written a chapter  on Mark Twain.  It seems Twain was a huge influence on King; and a lot of The Talisman is a nod back to  Twain.  But, I didn't think of it until the book went to print!  So It's a new area to study.  

Remember The Time. . .

When you enjoy a person, you have some great memories of them.  When you don't actually know the person, the stories you remember are stuff  you got second or third hand.  We all have favorite stories of famous people. 

Here are a few of my favorite Stephen King antidotes:

Remember the time. . .

He slipped into a bookstore and started signing his own books.

A bookstore manager was stunned when she saw someone enter her bookstore and begin writing in the books. The person quickly left, causing the employees think they were the victims of vandalism. 

Ms. Ellis said, "So we immediately ran to the books and lo-and-behold here was the signature in several books. We sort of spun around on our heels, [saying] 'where did he go, where did he go. . . So I went over and introduced myself ... He was lovely, very nice, charming." 

King signed a total of six books. I don't know, I just find something fun about that story! Imagine going to the bookstore, not a specialty store or something like that, just a regular store, and choosing to buy a Stephen King book -- and it turns out to be signed! Cool.
www.abc.net

The time the lady told him WHAT?!!!

King told Neil Gaiman at journal.neilgaiman.com this fantastic story:

I was down here in the supermarket, and this old woman comes around the corner this old woman – obviously one of the kind of women who says whatever is on her brain. She said, 'I know who you are, you are the horror writer. I don’t read anything that you do, but I respect your right to do it. I just like things more genuine, like that Shawshank Redemption.'

“And I said, 'I wrote that'. And she said, 'No you didn’t'. And she walked off and went on her way.”

Stephen King was so messed up, he forgot writing Cujo.

I'm not kididng! King has said that he was so drugged and drunk at the time he wrote Cujo, he doesn't remember the process of writing it.

Stephen King and his wife went to see Carrie in the theater:

In Stephen King Goes To Hollywood, King shared:

The first time I saw Carrie with an audience they previewed it about a week and a half before Halloween.  They didn't do a screening in Maine, but they did one in Boston, so my wife and I went down to the theater, and I just looked around in total dismay, because the regular picture that they were showing was Norman, Is That You? with Red Foxx.  The theater was entirely full of black people.  We looked like two little grains of salt in a pepper shaker, and we thought: This audience is just going to rate the hell out of this picture.  What are thing going to think about a skinny little white girl with her menstrual problems?  And that's the way it started, and then, little by little, they got on her side, you know, and when she started doing her shtick, I mean, they were going, "Tear it up!" "Go for it!" and all this other stuff.  These two guys were talking behind us, and we were listening to them, and at the end they're putting on their coats and getting ready to leave.  Suddenly his hand comes up, and these two big guys screamed along with everyone else, and one of them goes, "That's it!  That's it!  She ain't never gonna be right!"  And I knew it was going to be a hit.  (p.ix) 

Stephen King threw Carrie away:
Yeah, you remember that one.  But  what I love more is the story of the day he got the call Carrie was going to be a paperback.

Stephen King used another persons author photo for Richard Bachman

Richard Bachman's author photo taken by Claudia Inez Bachman. The actual subject of the photo is Richard Manuel, the insurance agent of Kirby McCauley, who was King's  literary agent. (Source: Wikipedia)

Stephen King bought the van that almost killed him. 

"Yes, we've got the van, and I'm going to take a sledgehammer and beat it!" King told the Bridgton News of Bridgton, Maine. (chicagotribune.com)

The Crapper

This is from Tom Barton's short piece on King's speech in Savannah:

King, who was in his mid-20s at the time, was in the Steel City on a book tour, promoting his first novel "Carrie." Part of his job, he said, was to appear on morning TV shows (AM Pittsburgh), along with jitterbugging grandmas, to plug his book to the locals.

That evening, King said, he had a command performance at a dinner that the local newspaper hosted at a fancy restaurant. Unfortunately, the author was suffering from homesickness and a far worse malady -- an intestinal disorder that forced him to make an emergency trip to the joint's opulently appointed restroom.

This was a place that had its own restroom attendant. King remembered him as an ancient man who appeared to be about 108 years old.

Unfortunately, there was one necessity that this restroom lacked: Doors to the stalls. So as King was sitting on the toilet, the attendant approached the young author, carrying pen and paper.

"He said, 'You're Stephen King, aren't you? I saw you on AM Pittsburgh. Can I get your autograph?' I gave my first autograph sitting on the crapper."

Emily Shultz Spent Stephen King's Money

This is one of my favorites.  In 2006, Emily Shultz wrote a book titled Joyland.  A lot of people bought the wrong book!  

Schultz writes at her website:

I'm Emily Schultz. My first novel came out eight years ago. It was called Joyland. Last year Stephen King released a print-only novel with the same title. That was cool, until a few King readers bought the e-book version of my novel by mistake and started leaving negative and confused Amazon reviews. I asked Amazon to change their search results to keep people from buying the wrong book but never heard back. 

Apparently there were a lot of confused readers as this week I got a—for me—big royalty check for those mistaken books. I'm not so upset anymore. Sure, it's more a pleasant surprise than a fortune, and I'm stuck with those reviews, but I thought a blog detailing how we're spending the Stephen King money would be a nice way to end this funny and strange story.  

So what do you do when Stephen King's money starts to roll in?  Well, obviously, if you're a writer, you write about it!

Schultz has started a delightful blog titled, "Spending The Stephen King Money"  With each purchase she records, she also asks the question, "Would Stephen King like it?"  This includes: furniture from Ikea, a haircut for Brian, the deductible for bumper repair, books, Dinner for two at a place called "Junoon" . . . and more.  She notes that she bought a new Apple computer, and asks if Stephen King would approve. 

 King told Entertainment Weekly that he is “I’m delighted for her."  And, what's more, "I’m going to order her book.”  So there's a real sale!  And, from none other than Stephen King.  Schultz said in turn that she would be buying King's book. Of course, she'll be buying King's book with King's money.  A nice way to go!

What's your favorite (REAL) Stephen King Story?

Skeleton Crew First Edition

I found two copies of Skeleton Crew at a local used bookstore the other day.   Different boards and covers.  One cover wrap did not include the price and the copyright page did not have a number line.  Both clear indications it is a later edition.  However, the second copy had both.

Is  it "worth"  something?  I dunno.  Probably not  much.  I paid $1.99 for it.  But a find like that makes me pretty happy.  It appears to go on ebay for $15+.  I also have a British first edition of this book.  (I'm not sure why I bought a British edition of that particular book, except that I thought the cover cool.)

My favorite story in Skeleton Crew is by far The Mist.  The book as a whole remains among my favorite of King's short story collections.  As Kevin Quigley pointed out,

"Skeleton Crew is a frustrating instance, because a perfectly terrific version of Skeleton Crew on audio simply doesn’t exist anymore.  The collection Skeleton Crew: Selections is the only version available on audio, which is insane.  Sure, the narrators are fine – King reads “The Raft,” and it’s awesome – but there are only four stories.  Why let the terrific Frank Muller version rot in purgatory?" (interview with Kevin Quigley on THE MIST, at talkstephenking.blogspot.com)

Lilja's Pictures Of Mr. Mercedes

I'm loving the pictures Lilja's Library is posting of people with the new Stephen King book, Mr. Mercedes.  (It's not a contest, just fun)  Check it out here: www.liljas-library.com/mmspecial.php

And -- that's my Susie girl.

Bookshelf

And Barnes and Noble today.  Here's their Stephen King selection.  Not very exciting, is it?  But somehow, comfortingly familiar.  I have all these books -- mostly in hard back.  I found myself staring at the shelves of King books, rows of duplicates, thinking, "This would look coo at home."

See, that's what happens when women make men go to the mall. They need a copy of my book.

Six Reasons It's Not So Good To Be A Constant Reader

image credit: blog.abdopublishing

I love reading Stephen King books.  There are many great things about being a constant reader.  But I've posted plenty of articles outlining those benefits.  But we should admit, there are a few drawbacks to being a Stephen King fan.  Here are a few:

1. Non-King readers think I'm reading really (REALLY) bad stuff.  

Hey, I don't endorse it all -- but for the most part, people who don't read King have bought into the idea that all he writes are scary novels full of bad words.  So I say to my friends, "You know, King also wrote the Green Mile."  This usually results in puzzled looks.  For real?  Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption, even the screenplay for Little House On The Prairie.  Throw that last one in just for fun.  if they didn't know he wrote the first three, and they find out you're right, they start to wonder if maybe he did indeed write Little House.

2. He's super famous.  

Is that a problem? Not really, except that it means he's in no way accessable to the average fan.  Look, if you want to talk to most authors,  you can write them a note, drop them an email and have a normal correspondence.  I talk to authors all the time!  This includes novelist, theologians, historians and more.  But once a writer reaches a certain level of popularity, they are no longer able to correspond with readers one on one.

There was a day -- many days ago  -- when you could mail Stephen King your copy of one of his books.  He would sign it and mail it back to you.  Those days are -- GONE!

3. There's brain damage.  

This is awkward to confess to, but Stephen King messes with my head.  Scenes from books are etched in my brain and flash before me at inopportune times.  Our church once did a Christmas play that had a scene in a child's bedroom.  The mother came into the room to pray with the child and discuss why daddy was deployed to Iraq.  But, the bedroom scene on the church stage had been set up right under the big sanctuary cross.  All I could think was -- CARRIE WHITE!  Stop it brain!  And thank you, Mr. King.

Most of the brain damage has to do with people.  Not a problem if a sweet, Godly, old lady reminds me of Mother Abagail.  But I've also met Mrs. White, Mrs. Carmody, and Reverend Coggins.  You can't say to people, "You remind me so much of this person from a Stephen King novel!"

4. I don't read first editions.

Are you crazy?  You can't read those things!  Not the Cemetery Dance first edition, anyway.  So then I have to buy two copies of new novels!  I once complained to my wife when she read my first edition of The Dark Tower.  "Come on, David," she shot  back, "I don't are if it's a first edition.  I've read six novels, I'm not waiting until this comes out in paperback to read it."  Sure enough, she didn't, and she smudged a page.  A SMUDGE!  She didn't see the problem.

Most often I fix this problem by buying the audio book and the hardcover.  That way I can listen to the book first, put the unread hardcover on my shelf, and patiently wait for the paperback.

5. I feel the need to correct people on obscure facts.

"I like Stephen King, too," someone will say.  "Especially the one with the haunted hotel, where  the guy chases his wife with an ax."

Do you leave that alone?  Dare I explain that my friend is discussing the Kubrick movie, not the King story.  Because  to most people, it doesn't matter.  But it does to me!

"Didn't he write the one about the house. . . what's it called?  Amityville. . ."
nooooo!!!  And this is a problem.  When friends say things that are wrong, how quickly should a King fan correct them?  How big a nerd do you really want others to know you are?  If you correct them too quickly, they  might say, "Hey, you know a little too much about Stephen King. Maybe you're getting a bit too obsessed."  Yeah, knock it off, redrum.

6. I have a love hate relationship with a lot of movies and television.

I can't wait for a movie version (or television) of a book I like to come out.  But I also know, I KNOW, that the likelihood of it being really very good is, well, not very good.  So do I stay away from the screen versions of King's work?  No way!  I've got to see them.  Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised, like with Secret Window.  Often, it's a little painful.  (I offer you nothing here, because you all know the movie's I'm talkng about!)

What's worse, since King is mostly known for his media, non-King reading friends think they know King by his movies.  I went to watch Sleepwalkers with my dad.  Ulgh.  We left the theater with me trying to explain that didn't represent the Stephen King universe.  But now when he sees Stephen King on my shelves, he thinks Sleepwalkers.

BONUS: 7. He makes it look easy.

Of course I can write like Stephen King. It can't be hard, right?  Well, it  must be tougher than it looks, because I can't do it.  And there  are lots of people who try to write like King, an haven't mastered it.  He has a natural story-telling voice that speaks directly to the reader that cannot be matched.

Okay, your turn.  What's the down side of being a Constant Reader?

The Shining Scared King

10,000 Magazines, #9993
People Weekly, March 7, 1977

Tame warp back to 1977.  People Magazine is where you would have to go to find out about celebrities; because there was no google.   Funny thing, the magazine pictures are in black and white -- except the ads.

Frank Sleeper's article about King was written just as the Shining was published, and a novel about "a flu" was being edited.  

"It's the first time I was actually scared as I was  writing," says Stephen King, 29, about his latest chiller, The Shining.  The novel set in the shuttered Colorado resort hotel filled with menacing spirits centers on the father who is unable  to control his rages."

The article discusses King's sudden wealth, and the trappings that go with it -- via 1977.  That would be an uh, color TV!

I like these old magazines with King articles because it gives us glimpses of things a little closer to when they happened.  So King discussing his work on The Shining is a little different in 1977 than it is in 2014.  It was still fresh. And, as you'll see in the quotes below, it was pretty raw.

HOSTILE AT THE STANLEY:

"I felt very hostile to my children there," says King.  "I wanted to grab them and hit them.  Even though I didn't do it, I had severe guilt feelings because of my brutal impulses."  

RAGS TO RICHES:

Four years ago King was earning 6,700 a year teaching English at the Hampden Academy in Hampden Maine.  He and his family were living in a trailer and his car was ready for the junk yard.  "We had taken our phone out, because we couldn't pay for it," says King. He was moonlighting in an industrial laundry.  "There was a woman whom I met at the laundry, very strange, always quoting the Bible," says King.  "I thought, if she has children, I wonder what they're like.  That's where I got my idea for Carrie."   

King got a $2,500 advance for it, and movie rights sold for $35,000 plus a percentage of the movie gross.  The paperback rights brought him another $200,000.  "Tabby cried," King recalls.  "We called all our relatives.  It took eight months for it to sink it."
In 1975 Salem's Lot, a nightmarish tale about vampires taking over a Maine community, achieved another hefty paperback sale and a movie price of $250,000. 

 The two books have sold over three million copies, and King now reigns as the book world prince of horror.  "Money actually makes you a little saner," says King.  "You don't have to do the things you don't want to do."  

LIFE:

His success has not slowed his productivity.  He writes for two hours each morning and has finished a fourth novel about a spooky flu epidemic.  "My wife reads everything," he says.  "I set a lot of store by her opinion.  I think Carrie is her favorite because once, when gave up on it, and threw it int he waste basket, she fished it out.  She told me it was terrific."   

Born in Portland Maine, King recalls a hardscrabble early life.  His father, a merchant mariner, left King's mother when the boy was two.  Steve, an English major, graduated from the University of Maine, where he met Tabitha, who was studying history.  Except for their $150,000 three bedroom house in Bridgton Maine, the King's live a fairly modest life. "But we certainly have more material things than before -- a Cadillac, a four year old color TV," says millionaire King.  "We go to the movies.  We swim in the summer.  We went to Hawaii for a couple of weeks, and we went Florida."  

King likes to ski cross-country and play the guitar and a friendly game of poker. He takes pills to keep his high blood pressure under control.  He also munches on aspirin to ease his migraines.  "They are strictly a work symptom," he says.  

On a personal note -- I'm sitting in a hospital room with my wife, who is reading me this article.  She's here for high blood pressure.  She paused when she read that, raising an eyebrow.

For King writing horror fiction is like psycho analyzing yourself in public.  "I'm externalizing my own fears and those of many others," he says.  He admits a few of his literary predecessors -- like Poe and Bram Stoker -- were peculiar types.  But insists, "I'm the nicest sort of fellow you'd want to me."

Someone ought to write a book discussing King and Poe. 

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?

How Stephen King Will Mess With Your Head

Photo, clydemovies.blogspot.com

Happy April 1 -- April fools day.  Did Stephen get you today (stephenking.com/promo/christine_lives)

Reposted from November, 2009.

Whenever I start to get immersed in a Stephen King book, I have to be ready for my head to be messed with. As a teen reading the Stand, I got a little freaked out by old people coughing in church. "super flu," I'd whisper to my sister.

Under The Dome is no exception. My wife and I took a long drive to the next town over so we could listen for a while. But I kept driving slower, and slower as I listened. Why am I driving so slow, I asked myself. Then I realized: I don't want to hit that invisible wall too hard!

IT has caused more than one person to hate clowns. But I hated them before I read IT. Clowns are freaks, I'm glad King messed them up officially. Of course, IT messed with my head in other ways, too.talkstephenking

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And cell phones, do I even go there? I don't even carry my cell phone. King's fault? Probably not. I really don't like talking on the phone. But I might as well blame it on King.

The Tommyknockers makes it impossible for me to just leave stuff in the ground. I have to dig it up. So far, no space ships, though.

And if you think King doesn't mess with people's heads, why do you think you can't pick up a copy of Rage at the bookstore? Because it messed with someone a little too much, and they went Craig Toomey.

this is good. . .

Last year our church did a Christmas program. Part of the program involved a mother saying goodnight to her child -- both obviously missing the deployed father. It was a touching scene.  So the corner of the stage was set up like a bedroom.

Of course, the stage was cleared to do this. But the walls of the church were not. So there it was: A child's bedroom scene. But towering over the bed was the cross on the church wall! Normally the cross is not a freaky site, but with the bed right under the cross -- I suddenly had visions of Carrie White! Thanks Steve.

Tell me, how has Stephen King messed with your puny mind?

10 Things Not To Say To A Stephen King Fan

1. I love Stephen King, too.  I don’t read the books, but I’ve seen the movies.  (Great.)

2. Doesn't he just write about monsters? (Sure, that’s what he does.)

3. Have you read the one about the clown?  (Yeah, we have.)

4. I don’t read his stuff.  I read Insomnia once but didn't finish.  (Neither did most of us)

5. I prefer movies like The Green Mile to all that Stephen King stuff.

6. Why can’t I read your copy of The Shining?  (Because it’s a first edition)

7. Do you only read Stephen King?  (Uh-huh.  Made it clear through college and seminary reading nothing but Stephen King.)

8. He’s too scary for me.  I read that book – what’s it called? – about the girl with the powers. (Carrie.  He doesn't just write scary stuff.)

9. I don’t need to read Under The Dome, I saw it on TV.

10. Stephen King didn't write Stand By Me.  (Yes he did)
Nope, I checked his book list, it’s not there.  (That's because it's not called Stand By Me.)
See, I told you he didn't write it.  (It's called the Body.)
Hey, that's not on his book list, either.  (It's in another book called Different Seasons)
Yeah, I don't think you're thinking of the same movie.  I'm talking about Stand By Me, about a bunch of kids.  (Okay, whatever.)

Finally . . . I'm not a Stephen King fan, I'm a constant reader.  What's the difference?  I'm interested in what he writes, not chasing around after him.

First Million Hits

Vintage Carrie Paperback

Looking for a copy of Carrie the other night, and my kids brought me the original movie cover paperback.  I forgot I had it!  It's pretty tattered (not by me) and even the cover is creased.  It's really a cool copy because it so reflects the times.

What makes it different:
1. The cover shows a blood drenched Sissy Spacek.
2. Title: "CARRIE" by Stephen King Author of 'Salem's Lot.  These days covers  say, "by the author of Under The Dome" or some current title.
3. There are movie pictures in the middle.
4. The list of books in the front only have  one other King title, 'Salem's Lot.  The rest are other  authors.  No, "Other books my Stephen King" with a long list.

What vintage King books do you own that are cool?  (they don't have to be first editions, just stuff that makes ya happy)

My Stephen King Book

I've been working on a book about Stephen King the last few weeks.  Probably why I've been posting less.  Turns out, writing in a book format is much harder than blogging!  Often glanced at posts on the blog, thinking, I can translate this into a chapter.  Only to discover how unhappy I was with -- everything.  But, the blog does give me ideas (as do your comments and insights.)

Above are some books I'm referencing as I write.  I think I love  books about Stephen King as much as I enjoy reading King himself.

What's your favorite book about Stephen King?

What It Means To Be A Stephen King Fan

1. It means first editions really do matter to the way the universe runs.  REALLY.

2. It means family members should understand that first editions are not for reading.

3. It means, most years at least, you should not plan to see me in November.

4. It means I'm scared of clowns.

5. It means I get excited when I pass a 1958 red and white  Plymouth Fury.

6. It means books with Stephen Kings signature inside are really important to the rotation of the planet.

7.  It means I have a love/hate relationship with specialty publishers.

8. It means I have seen a lot of really good movies.  But most of them are about prison.

9. It means I have seen quite a few really bad movies.  In fact, it means I've seen more bad movies than good. 

10. It means I own multiple copies of the same book.

11. It means I imagine terrible things that could come from ordinary objects. 

12. It means people assume some things about me that are not totally true because I read Stephen King, and they assume some things about him that are not totally true.

13. It means I can totally disagree with someone politically and still read their books and admire their art.

14. It means I wonder why bookstores bother to sell other authors.

15. It means I cringe a little when you hear the name Mick Garris.

16. It  means I own some strange collectables -- like a blue matchbox Christine -- that you wouldn't otherwise.

17. It means I often quickly shut the CD off when my kids get in the car because -- well, there's THOSE words I don't want them picking up.

18. It means feeling both overjoyed and a little burdened when you hear a new novel is over a thousand pages.  "YES!  I get to read all that!"  and, "Oh man, I've got to read all of that."

19. It means I've read both versions of the Stand multiple times. And if you're a Stephen King fan, you do know what "both versions" means.

20. It means I'm happy when I find books  by Bev Vincent, Stephen Spignesi, George Beahm.

21. It means I own a cellphone, but I'm suspicious it already turned me into a zombie.

22. It means I have pretty strong opinions about which novels are the best -- and I'm right, you're wrong.  That's how it is.

23. It means I wish I owned The Stand leather bound edition, but I'm not sure why, because no one would be allowed to touch it.

24. It means I can spot a Stephen King reference in movies and television pretty quickly.

25. It means that I have at least tried to read Insomnia.

26. It means I'd like to read Dean Koontz, but am afraid I'll get really interested and then not have time to read Stephen King.  This is a problem.  And then there's Mccammon, and Grisham and Follett.

what does it really mean?  It means I've read a lot of good books.

You're turn.

The endless allure of Stephen King

Check out The Globe and Mail's interview with author Ransom Riggs.  He discusses in particular the inspiration Stephen King has been to his own writing.

Riggssays, "My love of Stephen King led to a love of movies – starting with Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining – that made me want to make films, and I picked up a video camera and forgot about writing fiction for a while."

I really identify with this:

During my Stephen King phase, I wrote short stories and novellas about serial killers, ghosts, monsters, all in a wry, seen-it-all voice that was my 13-year-old self’s best impression of King. 

As a teen I loved writing fiction.  My biggest influence was Ken Follett, Conan Doyle and later Stephen King. A love of Sherlock Holmes lead me to write a series of stories about an adventurer named Roy Swiss.  Follett inspired me to write a long novel called, "Tears and Laughter."  It was about a walled city that thinks they are the only people on earth.  I really enjoyed writing it.

Writing was a needed escape from the horrors of Junior High and High School.  Not fun places.  But, they were so real, it wasn't hard to create characters.

When I first read  The Stand, I was overwhelmed with a feeling  that I too wanted to write  story about the end of the world.  When I was fifteen and wrote about 300 pages of a novel called Silent Perimeter.  Get this -- it was about a large city (Los Angeles renamed) that is surrounded by a massive fog that cannot be penetrated.  My thought was  that it would be a confined version of The Stand, using ideas King had presented in The Mist.  I didn't realize at the time just how much I was taking from King.  Of course, now it seems very much like Under The Dome, but that wasn't around back then.

Who has inspired your art?