10,000 Magazines: UMaine Today

10,000 Magazines, #9,999
UMaine Today,  December, 2001

This magazine is cool  because it's  not highly circulated.  It's the alumni magazine for the University of Maine.

The article by King is titled, "Reflections of a campus activist." The prologue discusses King's tenure as a student at The University of Maine, and a special October 3 (2001) panel he participated in.  The reason for the focus was the publication of King's novel (novel's) hearts in Atlantis.

The article isn't by King so much as it is quotes from his discussion on the panel.

King discussed the protest and his involvement.  The first protest he remembers is a boycott of grapes sold at supermarkets in the Bangor area.  From there, he relates that he became part of the anti-war movement.

King said, "When I came on campus in 1966, I lived in Gannett Hall and my roommate was Harold Crosby of Whiting, Maine.  he knew what he wanted to do (become a dentist),he did it and is doing it today.  Harold is in Harts in Atlantis.  By January 1967, he had decided that we were wrong to be in Vietnam.  To this day, I am mad that Harold beat me to that realization."

King also relates that "There was a tremendous amount of excitement about being involved with the anti-war protests."

I liked this discussion about a visit home form college:

"I came home from college and one of my aunts from Massachusetts was up visiting.  I was in the kitchen and my mother and aunt were in the living room.  I heard my aunt say to my mother, 'Why don't you tell him to cut his hair or get the hell  out?  he looks like a girl and he's talking all this stuff about the government.' My mother said, 'I don't agree with him but he's doing what he believes is right, and he's now old enough to think for himself.'  My eyes filled with tears and I had to leave the room.  I didn't want her to know I had over heard that and she never spoke of it again." 

My mother died of cancer in1974. In late 1973when it was clear that she was never going to get better, she was in bed and she grabbed me and pulled me down and said, 'I want to tell you something before I go.  You have to promise not to tell your bother.' I said OK, and she said, 'I voted  for McGovern."

King reflected that looking back, he's not always a big fan of his generation.  "I think the impact of the activism can be overrated."  He notes that a lot of people who were  young and involved in activism later became Reagan voters.  He feels his generation quit a little too early, that they could have (and should have) pushed for more.

In a sidebar, there is a description of Hearts in Atlantis.  It says:

Every year for the past decade, a class book has united  University of Maine students and faculty in a common dialogue about literature and contemporary issues.

This year's class book has done that and much more.  The book, Hearts in Atlantis, is written by UMaine alumnus, Stephen King.  It is composed of three short  stories and two novellas, one of which relates the experiences of a first year student at The University of Maine in 1966. 

Hearts in Atlantis, a movie starring Anthony Hopkins that is based on King's book, was released early this fall. 

Some of the issues raised in the book assumed even greater importance for the readers following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks  on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  Students are drawing parallels between their reactions to the terrorist threats and how the college age characters in King's book cope with the Vietnam War.  

Hearts in Atlantis is a teaching tool in a number of UMaine classes this academic year, including the English course "The Class Book: Stephen King and the 1960's," in which students study the Vietnam War era and how it subsequently shaped America. 

This is the 10th year UMaine has incorporated a class book into its curricula. 

For many years, the class book was required reading by first year students in English 101 classes.  Topics raised by the volumes were the focus of campus lectures and panel discussions.  In recent years, UMaine's Division of Lifelong Learning has offered non-credit discussion classes and Web-based courses focused on the class book. 

UMaine's first class book was Hen's Teeth and Horses Toes, by Stephen Jay Gould.  All but one of the class book authors have come to campus to lecture, effectively linking the writers with their readers.

Gaiman: Advice from Stephen King

Here is Neil Gaiman's commencement address at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.  Gaiman is an author and comic book writer.  He also recently interviewed Stephen King and gave us news that King is working on Joyland.

I really liked this!  Watching a speaker address graduates is always interesting because they usually dig a little deeper within themselves.  Gaiman does a lot of that here.  He discusses not writing just for the money, a theme of Stephen King's -- and the joy of having a job where  you just get to make things up.  He brilliantly advises grads to "make good art."

The best advice he was ever given was 20 years ago from Stephen King.  He says that King liked Sandman and noted all the attention Gaiman was getting.  Gaiman was at a great place in his career, good things were happening, and King advised: "This is really great.  You should really enjoy it."  Only, Gaiman shares, he didn't take time to  enjoy it.   He plunged deeper into work.  He failed to acknowledge earlier how much fun writing is.

My favorite quote:

"You get work however you get work, but keep people keep working in a freelance world (and more and more of today’s world is freelance), because their work is good, because they are easy to get along with and because they deliver the work on time. And you don’t even need all three! Two out of three is fine. People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your work is good and you deliver it on time. People will forgive the lateness of your work if it is good and they like you. And you don’t have to be as good as everyone else if you’re on time and it’s always a pleasure to hear from you."

Okay, so you sort of have to hear him say it to really get it.

The heart of his speech:  Make good art!

Ebay Audio: Drawing of the three

Here is a copy of The Drawing Of The Three that we discussed  recently.  These are tapes.  What's neat about this recording is that it was done by Stephen King.

A Conversation With Stephen King at UMass Lowell

stephenking.com has posted news  that King will speak at UMass Lowell.

The school’s website has this statement:

LOWELL, Mass. – Stephen King’s words on page and screen have thrilled and chilled fans for three decades, but opportunities to hear those words spoken by the author himself are rare.  

For one night only, King will take to the stage at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell, offering fans the chance to hear King read his work, ask him questions and listen to him discuss his passion for writing and his advice for aspiring authors. “A Conversation with Stephen King” – set for Friday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. – will be moderated by Andre Dubus III, bestselling author and professor in UMass Lowell’s English Department, the program’s co-sponsor.  

King’s appearance marks the debut of the new UMass Lowell Chancellor’s Speaker Series. Tickets to the Dec. 7 event go on sale to the public Friday, June 1 and are $30 (plus $2 facility fee) for general admission and $50 ($2 facility fee) for reserved floor seating. Tickets will be sold at the Tsongas Center box office, www.tsongascenter.com and 866-722-8780. Admission is free for UMass Lowell students with valid ID who obtain tickets in advance at the Tsongas Center box office.  

“Writing requires not just a creative mind and some good ideas, but also dedication to the craft. I look forward to sharing my experiences as a writer and the lessons I have learned with UMass Lowell students and the public,” said King, who will hold a special master class for UMass Lowell creative writing majors during his visit to the university.
To further support UMass Lowell students, King and his wife, Tabitha, will endow a new scholarship fund in their names. King will donate his fee from the UMass Lowell appearance and at least $5 from every ticket sold for the Dec. 7 event will go to this scholarship fund.  

“It is a tremendous honor to have Stephen King as the first headliner of the new UMass Lowell Chancellor’s Speaker Series. This is a perfect example of how the series will bring people at the top of their fields to campus to speak to our students and the community,” said Chancellor Marty Meehan. “We are also very grateful to Stephen and Tabitha King for their generous support for student scholarships here at UMass Lowell.” 

The full article is HERE.

Music From THE SHINING mini-sires

10,000 Magazines: Disney Adventures

I read an article recently titled "Who's Helping Who In The Cover Blurb Game?" (HERE) Author Anthony Horowitz writes, " I even turned up on a self-help book I hadn't read – the publishers took my name and helped themselves."  Funny!

After giving us an almost circular  parade of authors praising one another's books, Horowitz concludes: "the overall impression is simply that big writers like big writers and my reaction is – so what?"

When it comes to Stephen King, he does like big writers.  Who wouldn't?  But he also supports first time writers.  His recent enthusiastic endorsement of The Passage is evidence of that.  How about this, King has even been known to point his readers toward people they haven't heard of at all.  He did this in the past by offering intro's to collection books or first time novels.

I really enjoyed Disney's October 1992 edition of "Disney Adventures," in which King served as a judge for a kids writing competition.  It is neat to see him encouraging young people's writing.

Ten Thousand Magazines #10,000

Disney Adventures, October, 1991

By the way,  this magazine is fantastic!  The cover  itself  makes you want to read it.  The magazine is full of color,  and I had trouble keeping my kids hands off of it.  "Stop it!" I kept saying.  "That's a Stephen King book!"  They didn't  care.


Here is King's letter to the kiddos:

A Warning From . . .Stephen KingDear Scary Story Fans, 

There are always a few frumpy grown-ups out there who like to go around moaning that kids are too busy watching TV and playing Nintendo to read anymore, let alone write stories.  It’s pretty clear to me that the current crop of grumps missed the Scary Stories Contest in Disney Adventures magazine, because if they ahd seen the six final entries that I saw, they would have changed their minds in a hurry.  Tommi Lewis, the editor in charge of taking care of the contest entries, told me there were over seven hundred stories in all, and if the ones I saw were any indication of how much good writing kids are doing. . . wow! 

I liked Kyle Chistenson’s “One Night In The Museum,” a story that explains just how deadthings sometimes get in the Egyptian Wing, and Keegan Buckingham’s “Attack of the Killer Hose,” where a vampire garden-hose wakes up and goes looking for its ghoul-friend (or was that its girl-friend?), but the best of the bunch – for me, at least – was “Mr. Tilmore,” by Aaron N.  Carmichael.  You may think your own little town is boring, but until you read Aaron’s freaky fable, you won’t have any idea how dead things can get on summer vacation. 

Okay, enough jokes.  I just want to say that this story really is good.  The adults who run the world always make allowances for kids, as you know; that’s why Little league fields are smaller than regular baseball fields and the baskets are sometimes lowered when the Pee Wee Basketball teams play.  We make thesame allowances when it coems to painting pictures, playing music, writing poetry. . .  Or making up scary stories.  But if you think the story you are about to read is going to be scary “for a kid,” you may be in for a surprise. . . and you may findyourself remembering Mr. Tilmore, that slightly strange fellow next door, after you turn the lights off tonight.  You may even – heh-heh-heh – imagine he’s there in the room with you.  Fairwarning, okay?   My congratulations and admiration to all the finalists, including David Tamakiin Cresskill, New Jersey; Jeffery Winter in Partlow, Virginia; and Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece, in Linthicum, Maryland. . .  But my special congratulations to aron Carmichael, who wrote a story that’s not just “scary for kids” but is “scary for anybody, even Stephen King.” 

And for the rest of you, just remember that the best way to fight fire is with fire, and the best way to fight fear is with fear.  In other words, keep writing those scary stories. 

Gruesomely yours, Stephen King

Stupid Inspiration From A Stephen King Book

I think the main idea in reading a Stephen King book is that you are supposed to read it, enjoy it and move on with life.  Right?  I mean, this isn't Scripture -- you don't need to live it out!  I state the obvious because it seems some people don't know that.

Now HERE is an interesting article about a clown that stalks children. . . based on IT.  I will withhold the many pages of commentary and simply say that any parent who is inspired by a Stephen King book to hire a clown to stalk their child, should be forced to spend their sick days with Annie Wilkes.

Evil cake-slinging clown offers to stalk your child
An “evil birthday clown” in Switzerland, for a fee, will threaten and stalk your child for the entire week leading up to their birthday, all while waiting for the perfect moment to attack them. 

The clown, Dominic Deville, will send frightening text messages, make prank calls and even booby-trap their letters, but the icing on the cake is the surprise attack – a cake in the kid’s face, reported Metro. 

Dominic Deville is capitalizing on what has become a mainstay for all circus-going kids: the fear of clowns, reported The Huffington Post. He also apparently is capitalizing on unusually cruel parents. 

“The child feels more and more that it is being pursued,” Deville told Metro. “The clown’s one and only aim is to smash a cake into the face of his victim, when they least expect it, during the course of seven days.” 

Mr Deville’s look appears based on the monster clown played by Tim Curry in the 1990 TV adaptation of the Stephen King novel It,” reported The Sun. 

In his text messages, phone calls and letters to his targets, Deville lets them know that their time is coming, according to the Herald Sun. 

Since the creepy prank is supposedly all done in fun, Mr Deville the evil clown does promise to back off if the parent’s ask him to, so the judgment call on how scarred the child should be is left up to already questionable judgment. 

“If at any point the kids get scared or their parents are concerned we stop right there,” he said. “But most kids absolutely love being scared senseless.”

Ten Thousand Magazines

I think magazines that feature articles about Stephen King, or written by King, are a lot of fun!  It's neat to see how King was viewed at a particular time.  I've been slowly collecting Stephen King magazines for the last few years.  It's a fun, easy collection to build.  The magazines don't usually cost much, even the old stuff.

So here's what I like:

1. Old articles show  us how King was viewed at a particular time.  

2. The magazines also show what was happening in the world around.  You can spot prices, politics and entertainment now gone.  

So, I'm going to do a series of articles about Stephen King magazines.  We'll start with the number 10,000 and count down.  Why 10k?  Because I believe I won't run out of numbers!

Doctor Sleep In January

stephenking.com has posted news that Doctor Sleep will be released in January.  That sort of ruins the chances of getting it for  Christmas!   Good to know, I'm already saving my money to get  to a live signing.

Doctor Sleep sounds to me like a mix of The Shining, Firestarter and Salem's Lot.  Would Barlow travel in an RV ?

I  really like the idea King has of looking at the after effects of a horrific event like what happened to Danny in the Overlook.  The kid can't just walk away and have a normal life after that.

Here's what stephenking.com posted:

U.S. publication date for Doctor Sleep has been tentatively set for January 15, 2013

Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special twelve-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals. 

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death. 

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.” 

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

Quigley Review Of Audio WTTKH

Hey,  I loved Kevin Quigley's review of the audio edition of The Wind Through The Keyhole at fearnet (HERE)   It is titled, “Listening to the Wind: Stephen King, the Dark Tower, and 'The Wind Through the Keyhole' on Audio.”

Quigley offers a teriffic “history” of the Gunslinger as a book – an audio book in particular.  He also reviews King as a reader,  and in particular his reading of the Dark Tower novels.   I really enjoyed this portion.  Those of you complaining that King should have given the floor to professionals who have previously recorded the Dark Tower audio books, would do well to note that Stephen King is the first true audio reader of The Dark Tower.

Quigley gives us one big helpful tip: There is a preview, only available on the audio edition of WTTKH, of Doctor Sleep.  SWEET! Quigley writes, “While there's no word on whether King will read the entire novel on audio, his take here is spooky and unsettling. If this excerpt is any judge, Doctor Sleep is going to be one scary book.”

The full article is here at fearnet.com.

Recycled Books

So where do you shop for  books?  I don't know about you, but the mega chain bookstores really don't cut it for me these days.  I can find what I want quicker and cheaper on Amazon.  Besides, they all  sell the same thing.  They're like the Walmarts of  the book world.

I enjoyed this Texas Observer article by Sarah Angle titled "Booking to Denton."  It's about a  massive bookstore (Recycled Books) that has taken up shop in an old Opera house.  You read that right.  Imagine if the place was haunted by a Phantom!

One of the things the article mentioned is that they had a first edition of Carrie.  You know I had to call!  However, that was sold.  A very nice man did tell us that they also have a first edition of the gunslinger, $700.  Wow, pretty cool.  No, I didn't buy. . . because my credit card at that  ZERO balance feels so good.  But. . . anyone on the hunt for a first of the Gunslinger. . . follow the beam.

The full article is HERE.

The bookstore  is HERE.

Stephen King Calls Frasier

Spacek Thrilled By New Carrie

Shock Till You Drop has an interview with Carrie star, Sissy Spacek, titled, "Sissy Spacek Thrilled by Potential for a New Carrie."  (HERE)

Edward Douglas says that Spacek will be watching the movie when it comes out, and that she thinks Chloe Moretz is a "wonderful actress." He response to Julianne Moore playing mama? – "That’s great!"

Douglas quotes Spacek:

"They hired a really wonderful director, very talented. It'll be interesting. Our film, it is what it is what it is, and it stood the test of time, but I think that's great, it's like an homage not only to the book but to the film, not only to Stephen King but to Brian De Palma. It's been made many times. There have been several television movies, 'Carrie 2,' two musicals! I remember thinking the first time there was a musical on Broadway, 'Oh my Gosh! The people who ordinarily go to the theaters, that's not really the audience.' The first audience of 'Carrie' has aged now, so I think out of curiosity, I think it's cool. As I understand it, they're not remaking our film; they're going back to the source material, to the book."

Salem's Lot Script

Here's an interesting ebay item: The 1979 shooting Script for Salem's Lot.  It is selling for $125.

Description:

SALEM'S LOT by Stephen King screenplay 1979 Tobe Hooper shooting script.
Warner Brothers Television, Burbank, CA, 1979. Paper Wraps. Book Condition: Good with no dust jacket. Shooting script June 11, 1979.
Executive Producer Stirling Silliphant, producer Richard Kobritz, Writer Stephen
King/Paul Monash, Director Tobe Hooper. 195 pages. 

Salem's Lot Radio Drama

In 1995 BBC did a 7 part radio drama of Salem's Lot.  You can get it as an MP3 at SFFaudio. I do not know  if they got permission from BBC or not.

wikipedia lists  the differences between the radio drama and the novel:

• Ralphie Glick's role is reduced (and his vampiric activities are left vague)
• Dud Rogers and the junkyard see only cursory mention (much of the Barlow/Dud Rogers dialogue having been rescripted into the Barlow/Larry Crockett death scene)
• Danny Glick's rise from the grave (and the death of Mike Ryerson) are now enabled/supervised by Barlow, who mesmerizes Ryerson and calls Danny forth
• Father Callahan and Dr. Cody become quick/willing vampire-hunters, with virtually no complaint or skepticism
• Mark Petrie uses shards of broken glass (rather than contortionist rope-tricks) to free himself from Straker's knots
• The entire narrative is framed by Ben Mears' confession to a Mexican priest (who periodically interrupts the retelling with specific questions)

The wikipedia article is HERE.

2004 Salem’s Lot Mini-Series

Since I just finished reading about Salem’s Lot, and watching the 1978 mini-series, I also gave the 2004 miniseries a whirl.  (181 minutes)

Composer Christopher Gordon's site notes, "Salem's Lot premieres on the TNT cable channel on June 20th and 21st, 2004 to be broadcast throughout the summer and shown worldwide later in the year."

I’m going to tell you now, I liked it.

The less likable stuff:

I’m reading a lot of fans who absolutely hated this film, and probably with good reason.  There’s a lot to hate here!  In particular, the story is so heavily changed at unnecessary points.

When King gave us the unabridged version of The Stand he pointed out that we would not find old characters behaving in new ways.  Their behavior would remain consistent with what we found in the abridgement.  I think that is what fans also expect of movies.  We’re okay with new scenes, or even story changes – so long as characters remain consistent with who they are in the novel.  But in this version, Father Callahan in particular is a very different character.  And, for a movie that wanted to so honor King’s work, it doesn’t make sense to mess up the Callahan character, who is necessary for the Dark Tower.

Another example is the story of Dr. Cody.  He is tricked into an affair, and then extorted.  This is to combine another story from the novel – but it doesn’t work with Cody’s character in the book.

Some of the complaining about this movie is just ridiculous.  One website whined that the movie’s narration is not read by Rob Lowe in the same voice that he acts in the movie.  That’s because. . . he’s narrating!  

Now, for what I did like. . .

1. I liked the references to other King works.

• The music in the background of the bar: Stand By Me.
• Rob Lowe also starred in The Stand.
• Andre Braugher, who plays Matt Burke also played Brent Norton in The Mist.
• Father Calahan is played by James Cromwell, who also played the warden in The Green Mile.
• Background as they search for missing children, “Shut up, Cujo.”

2. This is an all star cast!  Donald Southerland, Rob Lowe both do great.

3.This version does a nice job of telling more of the back story than the original mini-series.  It also doesn’t have that strange 70s tv feel.  The narration quotes large passages from the book as the Lot is described.

4.  I really like the Marsten House!  The inside is delapadated, like a long forsaken building might be expected to be.

5. I like the dark, shadowy Barlow in this.

6. Oh, them Vampires are a nasty brew!  Very nice.  I like the way the vampires leap about and crawl naturally on the ceiling.  A very nice, freaky, touch!  They feel like real animals in human skin.

7. At points, this version is much closer to the novel.  Not only is the narration drawn directly from the book, but the scene in which Barlow confronts the priest is very similiar.  Allowing the vampire to speak is great, and Rutger Hauer (who plays Kurt Barlow) does it so well.  He doesn’t turn into Bella L., or try and be anything other than Mr. Barlow.  He is energetic, condescending and flat out mean.  This is a scary Barlow.

8. It is neat when people get bit.  For all the fear they have of getting gnawed on by a vamp, once it actually happens, the experience appears euphoric.

The review at 80's fear notes:

“The smaller touches often work the best, such as Petrie’s models now including Cenobites instead of the standard Universal monsters or the subtle way the abuse committed by the young mother against her baby is handled. Donald Sutherland is great as Straker, Dan Byrd is good as Mark Petrie, while Rutger Hauer and Andre Braugher give great performances in slightly underwritten roles that keep them offscreen too long. The Marsten house also appears a much more menacing structure, looming over the town, while 90% of the second half gets things right and manage to stay fairly close to the novel (at least until the stupid character change in Callahan, especially stupid given the character’s tales of the events following Salem’s Lot in the same year’s novel Wolves Of The Calla), the fifth of the Dark Towerseries.” (HERE)

The Music

Composer Christopher Gordon has a lot of information about the music in this mini-series(HERE)

Asked if he read the book, Gordon replied: "By the time I came on to the project the film was nearing the end of editing. I haven't read the book and I think it is important that the composer score the film that's in front of him or her. There can be quite a difference in structure, interpretation and tone from the script by the time the director has shaped it and the actors, cinematographer and editor have brought their ideas to it. So the book is even further removed. The composer's inspiration and challenges are what's on the screen."

Gordon's site also notes:

For this lavish production, Christopher has paired with internationally-renowned vocal soloist Lisa Gerrard, whose distinctive work with composer Hans Zimmer on Gladiator (2000) garnered her a Golden Globe. For Salem's Lot, Lisa jointly-contributed to three cues, which are represented on the soundtrack album as "Bloody Pirates, "Converting The Priest", and "Salem's Lot Theme". Lisa also composed "Salem's Lot Aria", with Patrick Cassidy, and "Free in Spirit". 

Recorded between October and December, 2003 at the newly-constructed Trackdown Scoring Stage in Sydney, the score to Salem's Lot was brought alive by the choir Cantillation and the composer's regular session orchestra, Pro Musica Sydney. Gordon's score, whilst constructed around a diatonic key centre, derives a proportion of its material from a series of aleatoric cells and harmonic clusters used to form a structured montage. Thematically, his music is driven by a need to define strength in the face of sheer adversity, accentuating the nature of the evil that has overridden the Marsten House and which now pervades Jerusalem's Lot.

Identifying First Editions

Very Fine Books has released a new/updated guide for identifying Stephen King first editions.  Here is their news release:

Here's a handy new guide we just published on our blog for identifying Stephen King first edition books. 

Even though there are similar tables online, this one is unique. It is searchable. That means you don't have to waste your time scrolling through over 50 novels. 

The search bar is located at the top right of table. Just type in what you're looking for and the results should come up. 

For example, let's say you wanted to know if you have a first edition of The Stand. Just type in "The Stand" and you'll see the 2 novels there along with all the 1st printing identifiers. . 

You can even search by publication year. Let's say you wanted to know what King novel was published in 1977, just type in 1977 in the search bar and you'll see The Shining and Rage. 

Salem's Lot miniseries

After reading Salem's Lot I was anxious to watch the mini-series.  My expectations were pretty low.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that the mini-series is very faithful  to the King novel.

Some characters have been spliced together -- awkwardly!  A teenage boy is now a grown real-estate agent.  And oh my. . . the 70's were not good to our hair! One lady has bright orange poofy hair.  Terrible, just terrible.  Certainly does not portray small town America -- I hope!  The town of Salem's Lot is beautiful in the movie.  My biggest objection runs along the lines of something Stephen King said as well, Barlow the vampire doesn't get any lines!  He's just a growling, hissing monster.  The talking is left to his assistant.

The movie has some good effects and truly scary scenes.  For television as it was  at the time, I think this was pretty good.

The scenes in Mark's bedroom are flat  out funny.  First of all, no kid has a bedroom that  big -- unless it's  on a SOUND STAGE!  Also, apparently this kid doesn't own clothes.  He  wears clothes, but his bedroom doesn't have a single jacket tossed over a chair, no shirts on the bed, no shoes on the floor.

But. . . here's the best  part  about Mark's room: The view from the window.  In the picture above, you can see a vampire (a child vamp!) rising to  the window.  But even when there is no vampire, a misty fog drifts by the window.  Where do these people live -- spooksville?

CINEFANTASTIQUE

Cinefantastique (Volume 9, number 2 -- 1979) ran several articles when the movie came out that were great.  Also reviewed were: The Amityville Horror, The Muppet Movie and The Black Hole.

Here are some of my favorite selections:

Stephen King:

"CBS  worried about a few things in the screenplay.   They worried about using a kid as young as Mark Petrie is in the book, because you're not supposed to put a kid that young in mortal jeopardy -- although they do it just about every day in the soap  operas.  Some things were left out because of time,some because  it's television.  My favorite scene in the book is with Sandy McDougall, the young mother, where she attempts to feed her dead baby, and keeps spooning the food into  his mouth.   That  won't be on TV, obviously."

Tobe Hooper directed the film.   He is most famous for Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  The article says, "It is important to note that the selection of Hooper did not signify an attempt to mimic the intensity of Texas Chainsaw in a television show, which would have been frankly impossible."

The minisieres was budgeted at $4 million, which was "norm for prestigeminiseries. . ." (of that time).

The California town of Ferndale served as Salem's Lot for the film.  Got that, right?  A California town portrayed a small Maine town.  HERE is a cool website about Ferndale.

The only problem was, there was no house that could be used as a double for the Marsten House.  The movie team found a cottage on a hillside overlooking Ferndale and the Salt River Valley and built a full scale mock up of the Marsten House around the existing cottage!  The family living in the cottage was paid $20,000 and guaranteed all of the lumber from Marsten House once shooting was completed.

Starsky and Hutch  star David Soul was chosen to play Ben.King said, "I think the castingof David Soul is fine.  I have no problem with that at all."

David Soul:

"I cleaned  up my speech pattern a little  bit.  I sound like a writer, a man at home with words.  Starsky and Hutch was always dip-dip-dip, a street jargon and repartee, sort of half-finished sentences.  This time I stuck with  he lines and discipline of a well-written script.  There's also a mysterious quality to Ben Mears, and I tried to work with hat.  I didn't socialize a lot.  It was a rough part, and in a sense I tried to let all of the neuroses that were building up in David Soul  because of the pressure work for the character."

And. . . "Yes, there are a lot of inconsistencies, built into the script because the producers felt  that since it's television, there needs to be this reiteration of the fears on Ben Mears' part -- so the audience is constantly aware.  That for me is not giving the picture everything it could have.  There are only so many times Ben Mears can say, 'Did you ever have the feeling something is inherently evil?', you know? There are a million other ways to say that same thing.  I much prefer the scenes such as the entrance of Straker when his cane, which comes far  closer  to creating true terror, than dialogue can."

Salem's Lot Journal #5: The Power Of Faith

Salem’s Lot was a complete thrill ride!

A few final notes:

Boo-Boo:

There is a boo-boo when a character is killed and hung upside down, Father Callahan says, “It’s as old as Macedonia. . . Hanging the body of your enemy or betrayer upside down so his head faces the earth instead of heaven.  St. Paul was crucified that way, on an X-shaped cross with his legs broken.”  Well, Father Callahan got his facts wrong on that one.  Paul didn’t die crucified upside down, Peter did.  It is said this was done at Peter’s request, because he did not want to die the same way Jesus did.

The Writing:

The writing is generally strong throughout.  There is a lot of plotting by the main characters.  We seem to spend a lot of time moving the chess pieces around the board, and at times it can get a little confusing.

I like this line. . . “The hammer struck the top of the stake squarely, and the gelatinous tremor that vibrated up the length of ash would haunt him forever in his dreams.  Her eyes flew open, wide and blue, as if from the very force of the blow.  Blood gushed upward from the stake’s point of entry in a bright and astonishing flood, splashing his hands, his shirt, his cheeks.  In an instant the cellar was filled with its hot, coppery odor.”  Notice in just a couple sentences, King told you hat to see, what to feel (the vibration of the hammer)and what to smell (coppery blood).  It is as if the reader is drawn into the scene with the characters.


Salem’s Lot ends with a series of newspaper articles.  In this sense it is very much like Carrie.  The articles give the novel a sense of realism.  They also. . . date the novel!  Each entry has a date that has long passed in our world.  A date when Jimmy Carter was president.

The date for Salem’s Lot – America, 1970's – is important.  Could an entire town be overtaken today?  With email, twitter, facebook and skype?

There is a scene in which the vampire Barlow leaves a lengthy letter for Ben and the others seeking to end his terror.  The letter is good, but seems a bit forced.  The vampire is gloating and preaching throughout the epistle.  But the reader (at least this reader) is left wondering, “Why would a vampire take the time to write a letter?”

King has said that he felt more free to have fun with this novel, and that is certainly felt.  King's joy, energy is evident throughout.

FAITH:

Callahan’s confrontation with the Vampire is interesting.  He chooses to rely on logic instead of faith.  The crucifix is like a faith thermometer: “The cross seemed to thrum with chained fire, and its power coursed up his forearm until the muscles bunched and trembled.” But as Callahan questions and doubts, the cross’s glow begins to die.

When his faith falters, the vampire seems genuinely upset.  “Sad to see a man’s faith fail.  Ah well. . .” Barlow boldly takes the cross from the priest and declares, “You have forgotten the doctrine of your own church, is it not so?  The cross. . . the bread and wine. . . only wood, the bread baked wheat, the wine sour grapes.  If you had cast the cross away, you should have beaten me another night.  In a way, I hoped it might be so.  It has been long since I have met an opponent of any real worth.  The boy makes ten of you, false priest.”

Salem’s Lot is an intensely spiritual novel.  It relies on Catholic doctrine – communion, confession as personal means of cleansing so that one is right with God.  In the end, though, it is not the ritual’s that defeat the enemy, but personal faith.  Very much like salvation itself!  Get baptized ten times, it does nothing unless it is a true expression of the repentant heart.

Barlow not only defeats the priest, he humiliates him.  He does not draw him in, but instead casts the priest out. . . after making Father Callahan drink from the Vampire’s blood.  The symbolism is powerful: The priest, who believes the communion wine becomes the blood of Christ, now drinks from the blood of evil.  But evil does not accept him in!  He is not drawn into a new house, but instead simply cast out.  Thus Callahan is not welcome in either the house of God or the house of Satan.  He is a wanderer like Cain.

Of course, Father Callahan's story is not complete in Salem's Lot.  The novel and the character return in The Dark Tower.  In fact, The Dark Tower serves in part as the story of Father Callahan's redemption.

I like it that King's vampire are bad. . . very very bad!  And who is it that has true faith?  A child.

Chloe Building Own 'Carrie' Prom Dress

ETonline has this interesting paragraph about Carrie remake star, Chloe Moretz:

"I'm actually building my own dress and kind of going really deep into it, and I've never gone so deep into a role before," says Chloe, presumably talking about the prom dress Carrie wears in the film's third act. "Yeah, it's cool, it's a lot of work. Fun, but a lot of work."

Beijing censors SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION searches

The China Post reports that  Chinese censors have begun to block search terms related  to blind activist Chen Guangcheng.   You can't search for his name. . . and they have also deemed the search term "Shawshank Redemption" to be unacceptable! Search words  such as: "Shawshank" "blind person" and "embassy" were all blocked.

Why block "Shawshank"?   Because Chen Guangcheng case has been compared to the Shawshank Redemption.  

The  China Post reports:

After completing a four-year jail sentence in September 2010, he and his family were put under what Chen has called “illegal” house arrest at their home in Shandong province.
Some Web users had used the Chinese characters for “Shawshank” to refer to the case.
“The Shawshank Redemption” was a 1994 film based on a novella by U.S. author Stephen King, about a convict's escape from an American prison. 

King: TAX ME!

Stephen King has an article in the Daily Beast, "Stephen King: Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake!"  (HERE)

Does that title look angry?  Yeah, he's pretty wound up here.

King points out that most rich do not really give much of their income to charity.  King writes,"My wife and I give away roughly $4 million a year to libraries, local fire departments that need updated lifesaving equipment (Jaws of Life tools are always a popular request), schools, and a scattering of organizations that underwrite the arts. Warren Buffett does the same; so does Bill Gates; so does Steven Spielberg; so do the Koch brothers; so did the late Steve Jobs. All fine as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough."

King says that giving to charity is not enough because it overlooks  things like the Gulf spill or the need for  improved education in Mississippi and Alabama.  King also addresses the argument that money saved by the rich results in jobs.

King writes,

"I have a total payroll of about 60 people, most of them working for the two radio stations I own in Bangor, Maine. If I hit the movie jackpot—as I have, from time to time—and own a piece of a film that grosses $200 million, what am I going to do with it? Buy another radio station? I don’t think so, since I’m losing my shirt on the ones I own already. But suppose I did, and hired on an additional dozen folks. Good for them. Whoopee-ding for the rest of the economy."

While I  enjoy Kings points and  think he makes sharp arguments, I think he loses ground by being personal and derogatory. Taking digs at Chris Christie's weight cheapens his arguments and  turns politics into -- literally -- a food fight; but food fights are fun to watch.  

Chloe Moretz Says Carrie Will Be More Psychological Than the Original

Work on the new Carrie starts in just a few days.  Chloe Moretz had an interesting interview www.comingsoon.net.  She notes that she likes the fan poster that's out, and that she is not focusing at all on the DePalma movie.  In afct, she isn't even watching it.

Moretz says:

"I'm actually not looking at the original, even though De Palma's movie was one of the best movies ever made. It's completely iconic and I'm proud to be able to be doing a retooling of it. We're kind of going off the book. It's darker and much more psychological. More 'Black Swan.' You're really looking into her mind and it really looks into the relationship of Margaret and Carrie. It's set in modern time, so it's a lot different."

I like the word "retooling" and the comment that they are "kind of going off the book."

King's Foundation Contributes To MEALS FROM MAINE

The Bangor Daily News has an article about Meals From Maine, which is sending 100,000 meals to starving children around the world.  Supported by: The Global Aid Network (GaiN), Feed My Starving Children, and $5,000 from The Tabitha and Stephen King Foundation.  Instrumental to the work at hand have been local churches and businesses who have provided space, volunteers and funding.

I like this quote from one of the volunteers, Bruce Knight: "I think we are actually blessed in this country. . . This seems like the very least we can do to help others.”  That's great!

The full article is HERE.   It’s pretty neat what these people are doing.

Gaiman's Unabridged Stephen King Article

Neil Gaiman has posted his full article on his interview with Stephen King.  It appears at his blog, journal.neilgaiman.com.  His version is longer than the version printed in the Sunday Times.

Gaiman explains:

I interviewed Stephen King for the UK Sunday Times Magazine. The interview appeared a few weeks ago. The Times keeps its site paywalled, so I thought I'd post the original version of the interview here. (This is the raw copy, and it's somewhat longer than the interview as published.)  

I don't do much journalism any more, and this was mostly an excuse to drive across Florida back in February and spend a day with some very nice people I do not get to see enough. 

Telling Carrie's Back Story

Max Nicholson at ign.com has an article titled, “Found Footage in the Carrie Remake?”  in which he discusses some hints Roger Birnbaum has dropped about the upcoming Carrie movie.

The article re-emphasizes that the movie will be more of an adaptation of the Carrie novel than a remake of the 1976 horror classic.

Carrie is structured not only by Kings narration, but also with official documentsthat give the reader background and insights as to what is happening.  Nicholson explains that the epistolary elements of Carrie are like “found footage.”  How will this be handled in the new movie?

Nicholson then writes, “With that in mind, Birnbaum has implied that the new movie will feature found footage segments to be interspersed throughout.”

“. . . this will likely be done through a series of interviews framing the story as opposed to the traditional POV style that we've grown accustomed to over the last several years. But only time will tell how these scenes will be visually interpreted.”

The full article is HERE.

INTERVIEW WITH ROB HEINZE: Old Dirt Road

I really liked  this book!  

Rob Heinze’s novel, Old Dirt Road, is a suspense/horror novel that draws inspiration from the work of Stephen King. (Buy it here on Amazon)

In the novel, Eddie Glenn discovers that the dirt road behind his house (sandwiched between the housing tract and the highway) holds a scary secret. When Eddie is out on a walk with his dog, he finds a construction sign on the dirt road that says, "End Construction." Only, someone crossed out "Construction" and wrote "Life." YIKES! Eddie’s dog is not interested in investigating further. In fact, the pooch is flat out scared! Eddie begins to think there is something to this ominous warning when a bee crosses the sign and drops dead.

Eddie begins to test his theory, throwing various animals into what he calls "The Great Gulf." Some animals die instantly. . . but some of those boogers come back! When Eddie discovers that one of his friends isn’t really such a nice guy, be begins to ponder how he might send him on a one way trip into The Great Gulf.

Here is my interview with Rob:

Talk Stephen King: Hey, thanks for agreeing to this conversation. Your book was great! Tell me a about yourself.

Rob Heinze: Thank you for the compliment. I worked hard on OLD DIRT ROAD and worried that it would fall short with readers. As for myself, I am 30, father of two and a business owner in NJ. I started writing at the age of 19, but somehow always wanted to write because I had this active imagination. I always wrote horror, too, though I started out writing “sword and sorcery” type horror. When I first read Stephen King, at the age of 20, it was like a revelation. I felt like I was already geared and lubricated to write horror, but reading it from the master was a shot of adrenalin. I read everything King wrote in about a year and a half (this was back in 2002) and wrote constantly, every day, usually forsaking friends and a social life for the joy and compulsion of writing. I struggled with trying to break into the business for six years. I secured four NYC literary agents, connected to about a dozen editors, wrote revisions to some older books on specification for these people, and ended up with nothing but a bad case of frustration.

So I basically gave up and focused on starting a business, family and getting a house. I returned to writing just this year, when I discovered that anyone could self-publish and have their books on Amazon and iBooks and NOOK for free. I wrote a book called THE SWARM in about 8 days, spent a little time on revisions, and put it on sale. It went on to sell like 11,000 copies in the first six weeks and continues to sell anywhere from 500-1,000 per month, mostly on NOOK devices. I have been reinvigorated by this, and so I wrote OLD DIRT ROAD a couple months ago and now we’ll see what happens with it.

TSK: Your novel, The Old Dirt Road, is a twist on the Stephen King novel, Pet Sematary. You reference Pet Sematary twice in the novel itself. What is it about this book that makes such a deep connection with you?

RH: PET SEMETARY is the scariest book I have ever read. It was one of those books where I kept hearing noises in the house while I was reading it. There are only four (4) books that really induced that level of terror in me. They are Shirley Jackson’s THE HAUNGINT OF HILL HOUSE, King’s THE SHINING, THE STAND and of course PET SEMETARY. PET SEMETARY ranks at the top. King’s use of language and prose really unsettles the reader, coupled with the omnipresent power working against the character (see the quote at the beginning of OLD DIRT ROAD for one of my favorite dread-evoking scenes in the book). The book gets below your defenses without being gory or violent. It’s the sort of helpless, you-can’t-win-because-something’s-working-underneath that is the key ingredient of every nightmare. We all want to believe, as humans, that there is a God (or gods) and that someone is watching over us. PET SEMETARY erases that possibility. I explored that concept in OLD DIRT ROAD too. I also think PET SEMETARY is a complicated book with a lot of hidden meaning. Overall, it’s a book about secrets and how they can destroy us. Here is a link to a post on Stephen King’s discussion forum where I expound upon that www.stephenking.com

TSK: You reference both Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King. Obviously you have a love for both. Okay, tough question –which one is your favorite?

RH: I think King is my favorite because he has a tremendously larger volume of work, and I can relate to his characters more. Poe was a tremendous word-smith, though, as is evident in THE RAVEN. I wish he had lived a less troubled life and churned out more work. It would also be cool to see what he might do with today’s computers and word processing technology. I am not sure if his power would have translated into the novel form. There are a great many writers who seem to be gifted to create short stories, but who cannot sustain the energy of the story for a full novel (Ray Bradbury comes to mind).

TSK: Do you have a favorite Poe story or poem?
RH: I like the CASK OF AMONTADILLO from Poe. It’s referenced heavily in OLD DIRT ROAD.

TSK: Were your four main characters, Eddie, Nancy, Sal and Marie based on real people – or are they drawn directly from your messed up imagination?


RH: Every character I write about is based on observation, or hybrids of people. I can say that Eddie, the main character, is as close to me as any of my characters. Much of the book and Eddie’s thoughts after discovering the spot at the end of the dirt road reflect my thoughts. Nancy is very close to my wife. Certainly Eddie’s view towards her is the same view I have towards my wife. OLD DIRT ROAD ended up being a love story, which I’ll talk about later in another question, though it might not seem like it. Sal Rosse and Marie Rosse are based on a hybrid of observations and past acquaintances. It’s sad to say that there are still a fair amount of men who want control—total control—of a wife or girlfriend and I knew people like that in my youth. Almost every “bad male character” in my writing is based off of one person I knew.

TSK: Okay, let’s talk God. . . in the novel, Eddie doesn’t believe in God because of the chaos of the end of life zone. Does Eddie’s beliefs reflect your own?


RH: I want to correct you on that. Eddie questions his belief in God after he finds the spot at the end of the old dirt road. I think more importantly, the concept of chaos being so easy while construction, love and order is so hard really makes him question God’s existence. Eddie has a thought in the book that gravity created the universe and holds everything together; therefore, gravity is God. In the same thought, there is talk about “quarks” often.

Quarks are part of particle physics. It is theorized that quarks (and there are a few different types theorized) exist at the sub-atomic level. That is, you can take an electron, neutron or proton (the three components of an atom) and look deeper to find that they are made up of “quarks”. It’s theorized that even quarks have gravitational pull. For instance, in proximity to each other, quarks might pull together to form a neutron or electron, and then other quarks do the same and you have an atom. I use the term quark to describe Nancy and Eddie, and how they met through gravitational grace. And since Eddie believes gravity is God, the fact Nancy and him came together is evidence of God. And the fact that she continues to stay with him is evidence to him that God exists…because God is gravity. Phew!

Hopefully that’s not some wild, confusing stuff! OLD DIRT ROAD ended up being pretty complicated, sort of like PET SEMETARY, and I wanted it to be that way with the story readable as a weird, scary story. I do believe in God personally.

TSK: You said in the introduction that you almost didn’t finish the novel. Why? Also, what caused you to press on?


RH: The novel got me depressed. I was depressed writing it because it has that something-working-below-the-surface theme, where you feel that no matter how hard you work or how persistent you are, you will lose (this pretty much mirrors my efforts to break into publishing). I felt depressed even at night or in the evenings, when I was writing it. I was going through some stuff too, and a lot of that is reflected in the book. I pushed on because I felt the book was a love story to my wife, but mainly because I wanted to know what was going to happen.

The best part of writing fiction for me is that I get to see a movie for free. It really is like that. I got front row seats, the theatre’s empty, and I’m revved up. I wanted to know what was at the end of the dirt road and what would happen if a person went passed the End Life sign and into the Great Gulf. I wanted to know why the sound of the highway haunted Eddie, and was there any connection to the spot at the end of the dirt road. It might seem strange to say that, but I rarely every know what will happen at the end of the story I’m writing, and often I’m just as surprised as readers when I get to it.

TSK: That is actually really sweet!  You mention "quarks" several times. What made you think of "quarks" as an imagery? Did you study physics?


RH: I don’t study physics, but it was one of my favorite classes in college and I have a nerdy habit of watching the Science Channel constantly. I love the concept that no matter how much we contract or expand our explorations into the universe (either looking further, or looking deeper into atoms) we keep finding another layer. Whatever put us here doesn’t want us to find out, that’s for sure. It’s like chasing a dark shape down a tunnel that keeps getting narrower and narrower or wider and wider.

TSK: When you write, do you run with an idea, or do you outline ahead of time?   What was the writing process for the Old Dirt Road like? How long did it take you to hammer this one out?

RH: I don’t write with an outline. This might be why I can’t get published. Every agent or editor is always talking about “plot” and “character development” but the concept that either is essential to writing a good book is stupid. After all, how many people do we know in life that change? There are some that come to points in their life where they make decisions, or their focus shifts, but overall people’s personalities, the way they react to situations, etc…don’t change much from when they’re children. Also, I know King is a proponent of “non-plotted” books.

I usually have a well-rounded idea in my head, which has been building and has made some connections to other things. Like the inspiration for OLD DIRT ROAD was initially seeing a construction sign that said “END CONSTRUCTION” on a highway, except the word “construction” was all faded. I thought, what if someone played a joke and wrote “END LIFE” instead? Then I thought, what if it wasn’t a joke…what if it was a warning? Months later I remembered my grandparent’s house (which is pretty much the same as the Glenn’s house in the book) and how they had this old construction road. It was all dirt and grown over, and when I was probably 6 or 7 (maybe even younger), I remember my grandfather walking me down it but we always stopped at one spot because there was this huge patch of overgrown grasses. I always wanted to know what was beyond those grasses. I started with that and wrote the book in about 2-3 weeks, then spent another month or two revising and rewriting.

TSK: Who’s been your biggest encouragement in the area of writing?


RH: My biggest encouragement is difficult to say. My wife is reluctant to say “go to it”. After all, I am the only bread-winner and there are two kids. I approach writing (and everything else) in my life with an “all or nothing” view. It’s not enough for me to write a couple hours a day. When I am working on something, it usually consumes all my mental power and energy and I let everything else slide. After I got diagnosed and treated for ADHD, this has toned down a bit and I have more control, but it’s still there. I have always seen writing as what I was meant to do, and would someday be successful at it. But my inability to understand the desire of editors and agents, and to conform to what “they want” and not what I feel “compelled” to write makes even encouraging myself difficult. In fact, after I finished OLD DIRT ROAD, I have written a thing and feel no desire to. I am pretty upset THE SWARM didn’t break into the widen business. Though I will mention that a very well known literary agent read OLD DIRT ROAD and said I needed to change some things (mostly make it longer). I gritted my teeth and gave it a shot. It’s the first time I really pushed hard to write something per another person’s comments. We’ll see what happens…

TSK: What future works do you have on the horizon? Any partnerships with Mr. King?

RH: Stephen King doesn’t even know who the hell I am, but if he wanted to collaborate, I’d have to think about it (just kidding). No, I have sent excerpts of my book, THE SWARM, to his office…hoping that the 1 in a million chance he’d read it would be in my fortune. That was four months ago and I’m pretty sure it was tossed by his assistances with the other thousands of similar things the office gets. I have the hope of someday talking to Mr. King about his craft, his writing, and sharing some of my experiences with creating as well (not that mine would hold any value to him). I also have this unlikely fantasy about Mr. King doing the introduction to my first “officially published” book of short stories. We can dream, can’t we?

TSK: King refers to his fans as "constant reader." You have a more – unusual term: "Celestial Sea Wanderer." What in the world is a Celestial Sea Wanderer?


RH: The first book I published was called SKETCHES FROM A CELESTIAL SEA. This was self-published. It’s a book of short stories. I started marketing this book, and THE SWARM, through Facebook. I have a page called SKETCHES FROM A CELESTIAL SEA. I guess it’s supposed to mean an otherworldly sea, or sea in a strange galaxy. Almost all of my stories are imaginative, so I thought it’d be cool to call my readers “Celestial Sea Wanderers”. I like to imagine walking the shore in the dusk, seeing dark shapes washed ashore and wondering what they are. To me, these flotsam and jetsam of some other world’s ocean are my idea, inspiration and gifts. I hope to find some more soon.

TSK: That’s cool!  Hey, thanks for taking the time to do this!  I hope you sell a billion copies of The Old Dirt Road and hook up with Stephen King someday!
RH: THANKS!

Check out Rob's books here:

THE SWARM
SKETCHES FROM A CELESTIAL SEA
THOSE OF  LIGHT AND DARK
STRANGE PLACES
OLD DIRT ROAD

Lickona's Hypothesis For The Dark Tower's Delay

I'm left speechless (well, I'm not really speechless). . . and annoyed. . . by Matthew Lickona short article at sandiegoreader.com titled, "Is God Smiting Ron Howard for Making The Da Vinci Code?"  Lickona then posts a list of successful Howard films that were pre-Da Vinci.  This is compared to a list of movies that lost money at the box office post Da Vinci.

Lickona seems to even attribute failure to land a Dark Tower deal to the hand of the Almighty, writing, "he's been  trying for a couple of years now to land a deal to make Stephen King's The Dark Tower into a film, or rather, a series of films.  No luck  yet."

Of  course, he is following up on a series of articles  in which he thinks God  must be "smiting" various actors for their parts  int he Davinci Code.   (Tom Hanks got Lickona's smiting HERE)

I'm left scracthing my head on this one.  REALLY?  That's how Mr. Lickona thinks God works?  He thinks that God is opposed to Ron Howard, and thus the Dark Tower isn't getting made?  I mean, if God worked that way, wouldn't the entire porn industry go broke?  No signs of that  happening, right?  (I'm using an extreme example, so don't go  nutso on me.) But, didn't Bill Mahar's movie do well at  the theater?  I mean, if there was a Hollywood type you would think God would be aiming at, wouldn't it be him?  Makes me think: MAYBE GOD DON'T WORK THAT WAY!

Obviously I'm not a fan of the Da Vinci code.  However, the Da Vinci Code did make money.  So the entire premise makes no sense!  It's just annoying.  But I feel so much better having pointed out how STUPID such logic is.  I think the Bible shows us that God works with us on a much more individual basis.  He convicts us of sinful  behavior and calls for personal repentance; I can't really think of an instance of his smiting entertainment profits.  He reserves most judgment for a day called. . . hold your breath, this is creative. . . judgment day!  I don't think he goes around cursing and smiting Hollywood movies!  If that is really the way Mr. Lickona thinks God works, maybe he should begin having prayer vigils for Mr. Howard so that we can get  the Dark Tower movie  off the ground!

Now, on the positive side, he also has declared that God  is smiting Mel  Gibson for making the Passion of the Christ.  He writes, "Look, it's pretty clear that God's been smiting Mel Gibson ever since Mel made The Passion of the Christ."  (HERE)

As if. . . of all the messed up things Mel  has done, what God is made  about is the movie.  Never mind the abusive behavior, the way he treats. . . everyone. . . what God is focused on is the movie.

Lickona's brilliance is on full display HERE.

SYFY takes on EYES OF THE DRAGON

picture credit, Darek Kocurek (HERE)

This is exciting: I've hoped for years that Eyes Of The Dragon would become a movie.  Of course, I've  also always  hoped Disney would do it. Dread Central, EW and Lilja's Library are all reporting that SYFY (that's not how you spell Sifi) has decided to take the project on.  I'm hoping for a mini-series format.

Lilja's Library posted (linking from EW)

Stephen King’s fantasy novel Eyes of the Dragon could at last become a movie or miniseries. 

The 1987 bestseller is being developed by Syfy as a longform project, along with a scripted drama series based on the comic Grey Legion and two high-concept movie projects. The network is set to announce all the titles later today at its upfront presentation in New York City. 

Michael Taylor (Battlestar Galactica) and Jeff Vintar (I, Robot) will pen the Dragon script, with Taylor and Bill Haber as executive producers

Dreadcentral reports:

Among the scripted development projects are adaptations of popular works by best-selling novelists such as Stephen King (Eyes of the Dragon). . . 

Eyes of the Dragon – Based on Stephen King’s best-selling novel. A kingdom is in turmoil as the old king dies and his successor must battle for the throne. Pitted against an evil wizard and a would-be rival, Prince Peter makes a daring escape and rallies the forces of good to fight for what is rightfully his. Writers: Michael Taylor (Defiance, Battlestar Galactica) and Jeff Vintar (I, Robot). Executive producers: Michael Taylor and Bill Haber. A production of Universal Cable Productions and Ostar Productions.

THE STAND: World Book Night Edition

25,000 American volunteers are participating in World Book Night this Monday.  The idea is to take free paperbacks to people who have limited access to literature; this includes nursing homes, homeless shelters, foster care and. . . hold on for this one. . . Star Bucks.  (I kid you not!  One person is handing out The Hunger Games at Star Bucks.)

Bunny Hand, who manages the bookstore Mysterious Galaxy, is handing out “The Stand” at a homeless shelter.

John Wilkens article in the U-T San Diego, titled “World Book Night Sheds Light On Reading” writes about Bunny and The Stand:

It’s one of her favorite books, “an incredible story of good against evil at the end of the world,” she said.

Wilkens then notes:

It’s also really long — 1,400 pages — and she figured if a homeless person was only going to get one book this year it would be good to have it take awhile to get through.

In order to accomplish the project, special editions of the books had to be printed.  I presume this includes The Stand.  Wilkens explains:

To make it all work, authors waived their royalties. Publishers and printers made special editions of the books and donated them to the project. UPS delivered them free to bookstores and libraries, which agreed to be pickup points for volunteers. Some stores even hosted parties.

Once again, King's generosity shines.

So here's a nutty thought. . . I wonder if the World Book Night edition of The Stand is any different than the "regular" paperback edition.

Note: I am changing the title of the post, as it was originally titled, "The Stand, Homeless Edition." Following Lilja's lead on this one, as he always has great class and grace.

11/22/63 takes LA Times Prize

Martha Groves at the Los Angeles Times has an article titled, “Alex Shakar, Stephen King win Times Book Prizes.”  (HERE)

King’s novel, 11/22.63, took the prize for the catagory “mystery-thrillers.”

Groves writes:

More than 400 authors will participate in readings, signings, panel discussions, musical performances and other events. The festival, which moved to USC in 2011 after 15 years at UCLA, runs through Sunday. About 150,000 visitors are expected to attend.