Alternate Ending Pet Sematary

The Dark Half

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This Book Cover Whispers Of The Future

I got this book today.  Hold on, doesn't it look like it belong to the Outsider?

But look, it was published decades ago.  It's the cover for The Dead Zone.  I really like it.  I got a paperback copy to reference as I listened to the book recently on audible.  (I like moving the book marker to see how much further I have to go.)

Carrie Covers

How many copies of Carrie do you own?

King: Every Day A Gift

On June 19th, 1999 I got hit by a van while taking a walk. As I lay unconscious in the hospital, the docs debated amputating my right leg and decided it could stay, on a trial basis. I got better. Every day of the 20 years since has been a gift.
--Stephen King, June 20, 2019

My Return To Salem's Lot 2019

I’m neck deep in Salem’s Lot.  It bites.  Really.

Here’s the deal at Talk Stephen King: If you haven’t read the book, don’t read my comments on the book.  Because, believe it or not, I’m going to talk about what I liked and didn’t like about it.  And after all, you’ve had a good 44 years to pick this up and read it.

My wife and I seem to be on a Summer Stephen King kick.  She reads and I listen, and we see each day who is ahead.  We are blasting through the early King works, and I think both of us are just transfixed by King as a young writer.

I’ve known forever what Salem’s Lot is about, and tried to read it more than once.  I first got Salem’s Lot when I was a teen, and it was in the pile of Stephen King books my sister brought home to me from the bookstore.  After reading the Stand in one breathless Summer (1989 maybe) I had to have every book.  Salem’s Lot was mixed in with IT and Tommyknockers.  But I struggled with Salem’s Lot.  The magic just didn’t settle over me until recently.  King builds a big cast of characters and was always hard for me to keep up with who’s who among the minor towns people.  These days, I just ask my girl, “Who was that?”

I also first struggled with this book because I didn’t understand the name.  Was it Salem’s Lot or Jerusalem’s Lot?  I know King explains it well, but I still got confused as a young person.

I read the book a few years ago, and loved it.  And now, I've returned, and once again the spell has fallen, and I’m so in love with this vampire book.  It’s creepy, action packed, and no one is safe.  No one.

What I liked:

Ben.  Now, on earlier attempts to read the book, Ben is what I didn’t like.  I remember reading about his first encounter with Susan in the park, and what should she be reading?  Why, his book, of course!  I thought: This is just too much.  No way.  But, this time I caught something that made the scene work for me.  King himself suggests that there is something predestined about their meeting.  As if other forces are at work to bring them together.  It is, as the Ben things, just too easy.

By the way, Ben is a Baptist.  I only point that out because usually any Baptist in a Stephen King book is going to be a raging loon.  (eg: Needful Things) Now, he’s not a practicing Baptist, but, take what you can get here.

Symbolism: How do you get rid of a Vampire?  What lore do you trust?  Salem’s Lot relies on two steadfast rules: The first is the power of the crucifix to drive back Satan.  The second is the myth that a vampire has to be invited in.  They don’t just burst into your house and ravage the place like thugs.  We will discover later that the crucifix itself holds little power, but only true faith has the strength to destroy Satan.  Trust me, there’s so much to be said for that!  I love it.

How does young Mark now that a Vampire has to be invited in?  They don’t teach that in school.  Here’s what’s great – he knows it from his monster magazines.  That’s wonderful!  In his introduction to Salem’s Lot, King talked about what his mother would call garbage.  Those monster magazines certainly would count as garbage.  But King uses those great old magazines to dispense bits of truth that would actually help a kid in a fight with a vampire.

Signs of the times: A few things lock Salem’s Lot the novel into the time it was written.  Technology in particular.  People listening in to one another’s conversations; and when they need to call for an ambulance, they need an actual number, because this book was written well before the 911 system was in place.  Imagine that.

Two random connections: Constable Parkins Gillespie reminds me of Pet Sematary’s Jud Crandall.  Also, the scene in the graveyard brought back flashes of Plan 9 From Outer Space.  I’m not comparing Mr. King to Ed wood, just remembering how one grave digger looks up and says, “Kinda spooky.”  Let’s just say that Stephen King brought it home, while Ed Wood. . .

Real people: Salem’s Lot is inhabited by people caught up in what seems like real problems.  Affairs are taking place; a young mother slaps her child; a young deputy is sure he could do better than his boss, the constable; the caretaker at the dump loves shooting rats.  King doesn’t just give us a vampire yarn, but the book is rightly named Salem’s Lot.

The original title for Salem’s Lot was Second Coming.  I heard speculation that it referred to Bens return to Salem’s Lot.  I think it had more to do with vampires reappearing after a long silence – this time in America.

I like this Barlow action figure.  Let me make a kid complaint. . . as a kid who loved action figures, ONE action figure is not much fun.  What made Star Wars action figures so cool was you could crate any story because there were so many action figures.  But, just the same -- I'd love to pit this Barlow action figure against Jar Jar Binks.

King Tweets Dome

Stephen King posted this today, and I love it:

How about Netflix bringing back UNDER THE DOME, only starting from scratch and actually doing the book?

Watching The Dead Zone

I can't finish a Stephen King book and not watch the movie.  I just have to.  Maybe, I think, the book will come to life on screen and I'll re-live those wonderful scenes. 

This is, of course, a set up for failure.  In fact, movies I liked before reading the book, feel flat after reading the wonderfully textured novels by King.  People I feel like I know well, because I've spent time in their head via Mr. King, now seem pasty and cardboard. 

So, that brings me to The Dead Zone.  I read the novel in marathon race with my wife.  She read on Kindle, I listened on audible.  I beat her.  (Double speed, my friends.)  Now, let me tell you up front, I've seen the movie before.  I'd forgotten everything except key scenes, and the vague memory that I'd liked it a lot. 

The Dead Zone Is Real:

Can I ask right up front: Was there a shortage on extras when they were filming the Dead Zone?  We start at the Carnival.  A scene described as something out of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes.  Skip the lucky streak at the game booth, and instead we watch Johnny and Sarah dip up and down on the roller-coaster.  But -- they're all alone.  Who gets to go to the County Fair and ride the roller-coaster all alone?  It wasn't closing time.  But watch, it's just them, bopping up and down and all around the track. 

Pretty soon, we are ushered in to the local hospital where Sarah comes looking for Johnny.  She bursts in to what could be a mansion, but it's the hospital.  "Where's the emergency room?" she asks, and is directed up large wooden stairs.  Stairs?  Hospital?  It doesn't look like a hospital.  Did they run out of white paint?  But it gets better.  Like the fair grounds, all is dead in the hospital. As in. . . no one is there!  Apparently it's a slow night in the E.R.  If there were budget cuts, I'm pretty sure they came out of the extras.  Because there are almost no background characters throughout the movie.

Instead of having a medical team seeing to him, Johnny has one sole doctor.  Because, you know, that would require more. . . extras.

Finally at the Stillson rally, where. . . . BOOM, there are people.  And the biggest political sign I've ever seen.  Ever.

Questions:

Do movies like this make you wonder some things?

1. Who cut Johnny's hair all those years he was in the coma?

2. Does the truck driver and the accident remind you of Pet Sematary?  As in, all that's missing is a kid running into the road as the accident happens.

3. How did his parents know when he would wake up?  They were right outside, waiting for him.

4. So Frank Dodd killed himself by jamming sissors up his mouth -- that was his best plan?  he's a cop with a service revolver.

5. Does everyone have a bowl haircut?

6. Did Johnny notice his jacket makes him look like a vampire?

7. Ah, paper bags -- anyone else miss those?

8. That's how we launch nukes?

9. Why is Johnny driving Ted Bundy's VW ?

What's Great:

Okay, enough silly moaning.  I still like the film.  And the movie is a fair representation of the novel.  The scenes are put together at almost the same pace as the book, without the early connections to Greg Stillson.  So there's not the same feeling of the two stories moving toward one another as there was in the book. 

I think the visions are far more intense in the movie than they were the book.  I also liked mama Dodd going after them.  Christopher Walken does a nice job showing the conflict inside of Johnny.

The Deadzone Election 1976

You don't need me to tell you the Dead Zone is amazing.  What you might need is a prodding to go back and read it.  Tight, compact, well written, suspenseful are all words that can describe the Dead Zone.  

I was drawn to the Dead Zone by Chad Clark's book, Tracing The Trails. Clark's book about King and his work was so good, it actually made me rethink some of the older books I hadn't touched yet.  In particular, Dead Zone and The Dark Half.  His reviews made me hungry for vintage King.

Now, let me tell you what a Stephen King collection really is --

It's a Time Machine.

There you have it.  That's it.  It's like taking a trip back to specific periods of time.  You don't get to take these trips alone, though.  Your traveling companions, in this case, will be a man cursed with an ability to see into people; and a deranged politician.  I like the books from the seventies because they have a unique feel to them.  Sometimes King takes us back to an era.  Books like 11/22/63 and Joyland both returned us to other eras.  So did IT.  And King was masterful.  But it's those old books themselves, written in the time they were set, that really makes me feel the era.  Because King innocently tells us what's going on all around him.  He doesn't have to try and remember what was happening; he's just describing the world he lives in.

King mentions things that I think he wouldn't because a modern audience wouldn't know what he was talking about.  John Denver is playing on the radio. Remember him?  (I think the song was Country Roads.)  And my favorite not to another author came early in the book when King compared the carnival to Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury.  King once said that without Bradbury, there would be no Stephen King. 

In The Dead Zone, there is a wonderful scene in which Johnny Smith meets Jimmy Carter.  And he looks right in to Carters soul.  I loved it.  We forget that even politics of the late seventies were not as nice and clean as we remember them.  The smiling man from Georgia was a breath of fresh air after the corrupt Nixon years.  A man, some felt, who was just too good for Washington.  What I appreciated about the Dead Zone was King's ability to bring me back into the politics of that era, without a lot of heavy exposition.  

I also want to note that I appreciate King's flawed characters.  Johnny might be an all american nice guy, but he still makes decisions that leave me totally frustrated with him.  I don't want to give anything away, so no further comment, just that Johnny sometimes takes his own path.

Road Trip With Chad Clark, 1

I'm swept away.  If my favorite writer is Stephen King, my favorite kind of books are books about Stephen King.  There have been times that I've wondered if I actually enjoy reading books about King as much as I love reading King himself.  Nah.  Well, maybe. . .

I'm currently reading Tracing the Trails: A Constant Reader's Reflections on the Work of Stephen King, by Chad Clark.  And yeah, I'm pretty much in love already.  I was familiar with the project --  a plan to read all of King's work in order -- from the blog.  What I didn't know until the other night is that the blog had been transformed into a wonderful book.  And it's a gem.

What I love about some so many of the books about King is that they reflect and articulate my own journey with the author.  Moments I felt were solely mine turn out to be shared experiences.  We all shared 9/11.  But we also, we all knew we were sharing the moment.  In the introduction, Richard Chizmar shares how he first encountered King, at almost the same age I did.  And I too remember the day IT was released (I was a kid) and how the book was like stacked bricks in the bookstore. 

Clark's book gets to the point quickly.  Discussing the novels first, he opens with reviews of Carrie, Salem's Lot and The Shining.  Clark does take time to give some insights on the movie version of The Shining, only because it has become so controversial.  Like him, I enjoy the movie very much, and can simply shrug and say it stands as its own thing; its own art. 

It is when he came to The Stand that I felt the deepest connection to Clark.  Like Clark, I was introduced to the Stand in it's unabridged format.  For years it was not available in audio (my preferred avenue) so I developed other means of listening to the book.  In the 90s I became a member of an audio book store that had tapes of the original version of The Stand.  Later (when I had more money) I bought the tapes off the internet, sent them to a company, who recorded them digitally for me.  But imagine how happy I was when The Stand unabridged finally came out on Audio and CD. 

Clark's essay's so far are spot on.  You don't have to agree with him on every point to enjoy the road trip with him.  The book is like a long drive (or for me, listening while running, a long run) with a good friend who is familiar with every Stephen King book.  Clark doesn't try to be a scholar, he just shares simply what he likes or doesn't like about the book -- like your friend would.

It Chapter 2 Trailer

Stephen King's The Shining

Pet Sematary 2019

This is not a review.  It’s my discussion points on the movie Pet Sematary.

If you haven’t seen the movie – see the movie.  If you need to be told not to read spoilers before you see a movie, you’re seriously reading the wrong blog.  Everything here is about what’s on the screen.

The new Pet Sematary takes us down old familiar roads while offering generous doses of new scenery.  Or, so it would seem.  The movie begins with familiar setting, familiar family, familiar plot line.  A doctor and his family move into a small college town in Maine to get away from the busy life and have more time with their kids.

About the time the viewer thinks they know what is going to happen, the movie pulls the rug out from under you.

The changes are considerable, deep, and the results are an almost entirely new story.  A scarier story.  In fact, a much better story.

Here are a few very successful changes:

1. Ellie not Gage.
The most striking change is that it is Ellie who gets whacked by the truck.  This is the most important part of the rewrite because it changes the tone and direction of the entire movie.  In the original, Gage was so small, he couldn’t talk.  The result was, he simply became a killing machine.  It was fun, if not a little hollow.  In the new version, Ellie comes back aware that something has happened to her.  She is flat out creepy!  And evil – Very evil.

By replacing toddler Gage with 9 year old Ellie, the viewer is given something very important: Conversation.  Sweet moments with Luis after Ellie comes back.  She is more than a little aware that things are not right.  The story has the courage to take us where we’ve often wanted to go – but not one has really gone.  How do you handle your child coming back from the dead?  What do you tell the neighbors?  Or your spouse?  It’s Ellie who asks this question of Luis.  “What are you going to tell her, Daddy?” Ellie asks.

Ellie is old enough to dress herself.  This is important when she chooses to take off her clean clothes and opts instead to wear the dress she was buried in.  Again, creepy.

Ellie is also old enough to communicate where she went when she died.  And it wasn’t heaven.  This, of course, brings up all kinds of theological discussion points.  Do 9 year olds go to hell?  I think not.  But then again, mot 9 year old’s don’t get buried in an ancient burial ground and raised from the dead – so go with it.  She becomes a messenger of hell itself, ready to carry her entire family down into the grave with her.  Her murders are given motive beyond just the ground being “sour.”  By killing her family, she is actually reuniting them. Yeah – that’s a little twisted.

2. Pascow:
I never felt right about the ghost of Psacow in the original movie.  He was too present.  Too much – there.  The new movie makes him much more ghostly.  It worked far better making him appear, disappear and hang more at the edges of scenes instead of dominating the center stage.

3. Teasing.
The movie teases older viewers who remember well the final moments of Jud Crandall.  In the original, Gage slices his ankle.  Using almost the exact same camera angle as Jud walks through his house, the viewer prepares for the attack – which doesn’t come quite as expected. 

Here’s some stuff they could have just as well left alone:

1. Zelda -- The death of Rachel’s sister.  This storyline was way overplayed.  Dreams, visions and memories all surround the death of Rachel’s sister.  And the story-line gets played over and over.  It becomes like a broken record.  What is supposed to feel deep with each callback really becomes tiresome.  Give it up and get back to the main story.

Rachel comes across kind of like Jack in the Shining -- a little crazy from the get go.  Not just broken or grieving; she's nuts.  Rachel suffers from visions that take her out of reality. 

2. The end.  The ways things finally play out, make the movie more of a zombie flick than – well, whatever Pet Sematary originally was.  It ends by taunting the viewer, but not really providing any answers.  The movie loses its depth by being a little silly with its ending.  Really, no one is taking this too serious, anyway, right?  But, the fright is lost in the absurdity of the final frames as the dead family members approach the car Gage is locked in.  Will they get him?  Of course they will.  And then what?  They storm the country killing people and burying them in the ancient burial ground?  It just becomes Night of the Living Dead.

3. The funeral.  A major cut in the film was Rachel's parents.  In both the book and the movie, the tension between Luis and his inlaws is an important emotional subtheme.  I thought the original funeral scene, where Luis and his father in law go after each other, only to knock the coffin over and the body come spilling out was brilliant.  That all goes away here for a much more subdued funeral scene.  (I would say: Give us the fighting funeral back at the expense of the corny ending.)

My final grade: A-

(I enjoyed THIS article on the major differences between the two movies)

If You're Cold Outside

John Grisham and Stephen King

Pet Sematary 2019

This looks great.  I read Pet Sematary this past Spring and was once again blown away with the novel.  It is dark - like Bachman dark.  

The new movie will be in theatres April 5, 2019.

Georgie

www.indiegogo.com/projects/georgie-a-short-film#/

WHO WE ARE
John Campopiano is an audiovisual archivist, film writer, and producer living in Boston. He co- wrote, produced, and directed the 2017 documentary, Unearthed & Untold: The Path to PET SEMATARY and is writer and co-producer on the forthcoming documentary, Pennywise: The Story of IT. Ryan Grulich is a writer/producer/director based in Seattle. He produced the 2017 film, Foolish Mortals, a documentary about Disney’s Haunted Mansion, and has directed several short films including, I Hate Halloween, which premiered on July 28, 2018.

ORIGINS OF PROJECT IDEA
GEORGIE started out as an adventurous idea "what if?" What if, years after his apparent death, Georgie Denbrough returned to the screen? As two ardent fans of the 1990 miniseries, John and Ryan decided they wanted to explore the possibilities of that very scenario in the form of a short film. GEORGIE will shake your mind and rattle your bones.


WHY WE NEED MONEY / WHAT WE'LL DO WITH IT
GEORGIE needs your help to return to reality. Your participation will support the hiring of cast and crew, to turn what is truly a surreal and horrifying script into the cinematic return of the original Georgie Denbrough.

PERKS OFFERED
As a way of showing our appreciation for any contribution you're able to make, we have a variety of really exciting and very limited perks that you have the chance to add to your collection. These one of a kind items have been procured lovingly by the filmmakers with the IT fanatic in mind. You will only be able to see them here, so join us before the chance FLOATS away.

•  Receive a signed & personalized GEORGIE postcard from Tony Dakota! Artwork by Tom Ryan. (Limited to 150)
• Official Theater of Creeps GEORGIE enamel pin! Artwork by Zachary Jackson Brown. (Limited to 225)
• Official Fright-Rags GEORGIE t-shirt! Men & Women designs available. Artwork by Zachary Jackson Brown.
• Official GEORGIE 11x17 poster signed by Tony Dakota! (Limited to 150)

Short Review Of Paperbacks From Hell

Paperbacks from hell is a book about books. Simply put, it's a fun filled wild ride through the world of horror paperbacks.

Yes, there's plenty of Stephen King references; but the book is about lesser novels.  About a genre of sloppy horror, back when getting scared was just plain ole fun. 

You'll come away with a reading list -- and another list of books they couldn't pay you to read.

I was first introduced to this on audible; so I listened to it.  I listened as I ran, and would have to stop many times and text myself the titles of books I just had to check out.  Later, I bought an acutal print copy of the book.  I really recommend this -- for the pictures!  Every page is full of pictures of paperbacks -- from hell.

The authors keep the book moving. It's lighthearted, never taking itself or its subject too serious; after all, these are mostly books people have forgotten. But want to know about some of the craziest stuff put in print, this is the book that gives you that tour.

amazon.com/Paperbacks-Hell

Why Stephen King Doesn't Do Book Signings

Book Review: THE OUTSIDER

Burnette Weighs In On THE OUTSIDER

Want a great, non-spoiler, honest review of King's new book, The Outsider?  Head on over to Bryant Burnette's great blog, thetruthinsidethelie.blogspot.com.  What I like about the review is that he's not King's hired gun.  The review is from a fan's point of view.

He declares, "Alas, in the end, I've got to mark it down as a misfire." But that's not quite the final take. Keep reading, because the comments section is just as fun as the article itself.

The Outsider, Lilja Speaks

My favorite Stephen King website has posted a great review of the upcoming Stephen King book, the Outsider.

"I love it," Lilja writes.

Check out the full review here: (liljas-library.com)

On Childhood

INTERVIEW: Stephen J. Spignesi

For Stephen King fans, the name Stephen J. Spignesi should be quite familiar. He’s written a slew of books about Stephen King, and has been noted as an authority on King and King’s body of work.

As I’ve said before, one of my favorite things to read is books about Stephen King. Go figure. Anyone who wants to know more about King and his work should take some time reading books by Stephen J. Spignesi. His passion for King and his work shine through his research. In The Shape Under The Sheet, Spignesi writes, “Stephen King’s work became something beyond entertainment for me; I realized that I was privileged enough to be witnessing the creation of a true American literary giant.”

One thing I appreciate about Spignesi is that he is factually correct – something not true of every book/work about Stephen King! I have often reached for The Shape Under The Sheet to fact check things before posting on the blog, or to fact check other authors who might say something that seems. . . iffy.

Spignesi is author of books like the massive Encyclopedia, The Shape Under The Sheet and the outright fun The Essential Stephen King , The Lost Works of Stephen King and The Stephen King Quiz Book. He has also written books about the Beatles, the Titanic, assassinations, recipes, the Beatles, ER, and even Native American History for Dummies – and so much more! He has also written fiction as well.

INTERVIEW

Talk Stephen King: Thanks for agreeing to answer some questions. Tell me a little about yourself.

Stephen J. Spignesi: I was born in a manger on a cold winter’s…oops…sorry about that.

I was born in New Haven, Connecticut and have pretty much lived here all my life. I graduated from Catholic grammar and high schools and then went on to graduate from the University of New Haven where I now teach. For 25 or so years I helped run a family jewelry business while also writing full-time. The business closed in 2001 and in 2005 I started teaching full-time while still writing around a book a year.

I’m the eldest of four siblings, a lacto-ova vegetarian, and I collect TV series on DVD (someday you can ask me about my collection, which I take great delight in). I always put copies of my manuscripts and published books on my Kindle, and I have a grey cat named Chloe who I love dearly. I also believe Wintergreen Altoids is one of the most under-appreciated candies of all time, and I can’t stop wondering what ever happened to Pudding Pops.

TSK: Please tell us a little about your novel. Most of us know you for your non-fiction.

SJS: I’ve written one novel so far that’s been published. (I’ve got five or six in manuscript currently making the rounds of publishers.) It’s called Dialogues and came out in hardcover from Random House in 2005, and is now in mass market paperback from Bantam. I teach it every semester to my Composition and Literature students. Rather than ramble on, here is what the publisher said about the book:

In this electrifying debut, Stephen Spignesi reinvents the psychological thriller with a chilling tale of mounting intensity. Ingeniously crafted and crackling with suspense, here is a puzzle within a puzzle, at the center of which stands a hauntingly enigmatic young woman whose story will challenge everything you think you know....

Six people have been murdered in the animal shelter in which they worked. One unlikely woman stands accused of the crimes. Her name is Victoria Troy, and she is the most improbable of cold-blooded killers. A lover of animals, petite, brainy, and gifted with a sharp sense of humor, she too worked in the shelter, in an anguishingly difficult job. What could possibly have provoked her to murder six of her own coworkers--some of whom were her friends.

Who is Tory Troy? It is up to Dr. Baraku Bexley to find out. An astute psychiatrist hired by the court to determine whether Tory is mentally competent to stand trial, Bexley must explore her complicated background and her unusual convictions as he interviews her in the Connecticut psychiatric hospital in which she is confined--and also talks to others who have known her.

What Bexley learns about this gifted young woman comes almost solely from these interviews...but is that enough to explain the divide between the person Tory seems to be and the terrible crimes she’s accused of committing? Others find her difficult to fathom too: her lawyer, her nurse at the hospital, her mother, one of her former teachers; but all seek the same objective, to learn the truth no matter where it leads--or what secrets it may reveal about Tory, about the nature of evil, about us all.

Fiercely engaging and morally provocative, Dialogues is a rush of adrenaline that will keep you riveted from the first page to the last.

With the daring immediacy that a novel-in-conversations can deliver, Dialogues will confound, conflict, and possibly convert readers to the heroine’s hauntingly disturbing point of view. Here is one of the freshest first novels of the year. In a mental hospital in Connecticut sits Tory Troy, a young woman facing six particularly grotesque charges of felony murder. Tory--bright, blunt, and empathetic--has spent the past year as a certified animal euthanasia technician; it was in the Waterbridge Animal Shelter that the police arrested her. As readers, we come to know her through the dialogues conducted with the doctor the court has appointed to assess her competence to stand trial--and through further conversations with the nursing staff, her mother, her one-time English professor, her lawyer, and others. Her singular perspective on the world--intricate, contrarian, deeply felt--makes Tory a fascinating but enigmatic guide to the darker regions of the human soul. In a novel that is distinctive not only for its subject matter but also for its unorthodox and riveting structure, author Stephen Spignesi leads us into Tory’s world and leaves us there to find our way out. Each dialogue reveals something new or confounds our assumptions about her. Each time we believe we understand what has happened, difficult questions and insights arise. Gathering pace as the case reaches the courtroom--and then far beyond it--Dialogues will leave us both breathless and deeply moved.

TSK: You’ve written a LOT of books. What’s your favorite?

SJS: There’s more than one, actually. I’ll give you my Top Ten (in no particular order):

Dialogues

The Titanic forDummies

The Lost Work ofStephen King

The Essential StephenKing

The Woody AllenCompanion

Here, There andEverywhere: The 100 Best Beatles Songs

The Odd Index

The “ER” Companion

The Weird 100

Grover Cleveland’sRubber Jaw

TSK: When people find out about your work on Stephen King, do some people give you that look that says, “You read him?”

SJS: I sometimes get an “I can’t stand that stuff!” type of response, but I perceive that to mean a general dislike for horror. I also commonly get an “I love/hate his movies” response. When I explain that I write about his written work and his significance as an important American writer, suddenly they get interested. I’ll get asked questions and I have a few standard answers about the best of his work.

A very common approach that I use is to ask them if they’ve seen either The Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile. Of course they have, and of course they loved them, so when I then tell them, “Stephen King wrote them,” they’re immediately amazed and usually won over as to my thesis of taking him seriously as a writer.

TSK: A lot of us have read with interest your books about Stephen King. In fact, my copy of The Essential Stephen King is worn to tatters! What books does Stephen Spignesi read about Stephen King?  Were there any particular works that have been helpful in studying King?

SJS: I’m a big fan of the others who have written about King, particularly George Beahm, Bev Vincent, Michael Collings, Rocky Wood, Anthony Magistrale, and Tyson Blue. I’ve read almost all of their books about King and loved them all. They’ve all been helpful in the sense of giving me insights into how other experts perceive King’s work, but my books about King are so thematically-focused that ultimately the books of others serve mainly as background research rather than influences.

Some memorable titles that stand out for me include George Beahm’s literary biography of King, as well as his Stephen King Country (not to mention his monumental look at the art of Stephen King, Knowing Darkness) ; Michael Collings’ literary analyses of King (his Starmont volumes); Bev Vincent’s Road to the Dark Tower and Illustrated Companion, and Tony Magistrale’s book about The Shining. Kevin Quigley has also been doing some really interesting King-themed chapbooks that I greatly enjoyed. Also, I’d be derelict if I didn’t mention one of the books (along with Beahm’s The Stephen King Companion) that started it all, Douglas Winter’s The Art of Darkness.

TSK: In your book The Essential Stephen King, you listed IT as the number one novel. Does this mean it is your personal favorite work of King’s as well?

SJS: Yes, it does mean that IT is my personal favorite. However, The Shining and Misery come in at an extremely close second for tie as personal favorites.

TSK: If you were writing TESK today, would IT still hold the top spot, or would it have to step aside for another work?

SJS: That’s a good question. I haven’t changed my mind about the placement of almost every other work on the list, so essentially I’d have to ask myself if anything he’s published since 2000 been of such excellence that it would kick IT out of the top slot. The answer, for me, is no.

I would, however, move things around a bit to get 11/22/63, Lisey’s Story, Duma Key, Under the Dome, and probably Cell into the Top 20, or maybe Top 25. If you study my ranking, you’ll note that novels are all in the top 50 or so, so those major works would have to be included. All the new Dark Tower books would fall under the one single Dark Tower ranking, which is number 10.

All bets are off, though, when Doctor Sleep is published. Considering the excellence of The Shining, I am greatly looking forward to it, but am very curious as to whether or not it will equal the literary merit of The Shining, which is the most taught King novel at the high school and college level. I taught The Shining when I taught my “New Gothic Horror of Stephen King” course at UNH. Hardly any of the students had read it, but they were all blown away by it.

TSK: Speaking of TESK’s rankings, did you get any reader feedback on slipping The Stand down to the lowly, humble second spot?

SJS:  I got some feedback, but I think most of my readers realized and understood that I was trying to focus on literary merit and the quality of the two most important elements of fiction: plot and character. IT excels in both those categories, especially plot. King writes two parallel novels — 1958 and 1985 — and switches back and forth, and the reader never gets lost. I think it’s his magnum opus.

Fan popularity wasn’t allowed to factor into my decision. My co-author and best friend Mike Lewis and I used similar criteria to rank the 100 best Beatles songs in our Here, There, and Everywhere. Musicality, Lyricism, Production, and Performance were the four criteria. Again, fan popularity did not matter. We get a lot of complaints about our ranking for that book. Fans get upset when their favorite isn’t on the list. It doesn’t matter to them that a song may be musically inferior (three chords) or lyrically simplistic (bland, one-dimensional lyrics), etc.

I always try to concentrate on the quality of the work. For many readers, The Stand is more fun, and I understand that and can relate to it. But I feel IT is a better novel and thus, its number one rank.

TSK: Both you and Stephen King have written quite a lot about the 60’s. King through fiction, you through non-fiction. What is so important about the sixties?

SJS: It was a seminal decade in the history of the United States and the world. It redefined everything: civil rights, voting rights, LGBT rights, and women’s rights. Art and popular culture were, in a sense, reinvented, and politics, freedom, and commerce all took on new meanings. Feminism was born, as were movements in support of Hispanic rights and African/American rights. The antiwar movement railed against the Vietnam War and we lost JFK, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, and others. It seems as though Americans woke up in the Sixties. Thus, it is fertile territory for an artist, no matter what area or element of the decade you want to study and write about.

TSK: You gave four years of your life to The Shape Under The Sheet. Did you feel like it was “complete” when you were done, or did you just decide “I’ve got to stop someday!” What was the signal for you that the work was whole?

SJS: The latter: I knew I had to stop. I knew the book would never come out if I didn’t set a stop date. King has never stopped publishing, so you have to set your sights on a specific year and say, “Okay, this is when it will be published; thus, I have to stop researching and writing here.” Which is what I did. Also, the publisher was getting a little anxious, considering the book had been announced. Plus, I had other books I wanted to write.

TSK: You indicated with The Shape Under The Sheet that you wanted to give the constant readers (and I guess the world) an “ultimate reference.” Of course, that was published over 20 years ago now. Any plans to update the volume – turn into volumes?

SJS: It’s highly unlikely I’ll ever be able to update the book. My life has changed drastically with teaching full-time and also maintaining a book-a-year schedule. The research alone would require a massive commitment of time, and frankly, there isn’t a publisher who would be able to pay me to do it. It would be great fun to do it, but I can’t see how everything could conspire to allow me the time and funds to do it. Maybe if I hit Powerball…

TSK: I loved all of The Shape Under The Sheet! One of the really unique points was the information gleaned from your interview with David King. What is he like?

SJS: Dave is a consummate gentleman. He had rarely (or possibly never before) spoken about his brother and their childhood and he went out of his way to provide me with items from their youth and to talk about the family.

Can you imagine what it must be like to be Stephen King’s brother? Anyone who finds out who your brother is, is going to immediately ask millions of questions (and possibly favors) and it has to be extremely difficult to be yourself, instead of “Stephen King’s brother.” Yet, Dave lives a quiet life, has a wonderful family, and is utterly normal. To this day, I am extremely grateful for all his help with Shape.

I know you’ve interviewed or spoken with Robert McCammon. What is his take on Stephen King? Is he offended or excited when fans and constant readers note the similarities in their work?

SJS: Rick is, likewise, a gentleman and a total professional. Some writers do not like to acknowledge influences on their work, or their particular genre. When I asked Rick if King had influenced his own writing, his answer was along the lines of, How could he have not? which is gracious, self-effacing, and yet completely recognizes the massive — and that is the appropriate word — influence King has had on both genre fiction and American fiction.

But McCammon is a brilliant writer in his own right. King has influenced us all, but the cream of the crop, the great American writers who have their own voice and something to say, like McCammon, have written works of art that are theirs and theirs alone in terms of artistic sensibility. Art is everywhere and artists everywhere are influenced by other artists.

Going back to the Beatles, think about how many bands and songwriters today have been influenced by the Fabs. The list is endless and ongoing. And look at King: he himself has acknowledged being influenced by Poe, Twain, Dickens, John D. McDonald, Richard Matheson, Don Robertson, and many others. This is what art is all about. And there’d be no Dark Tower series at all if King hadn’t read and been influenced by Robert Browning, right?

TSK: I know that you “study” Stephen King. When you read a King novel for the first time now, are you simply enjoying it, or does the research continue?

SJS: All of the above. When I read King, I cannot help but notice the literary skeleton of the story, the man behind the curtain, the shape under the sheet. I read him as a fan, a King researcher, and an English teacher. It’s an all-consuming experience.

TSK: What do you think of the King movies? Got any favorites?

SJS: The Darabont collection — The Woman in the Room, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist — is extraordinary. Other standouts for me include The Dead Zone, Kubrick’s Shining, Misery, Stand By Me, Carrie Dolores Claiborne, Apt Pupil, and 1408. I’m also a huge fan of the short film Paranoid by Jay Holben (based on the King poem from Skeleton Crew) and the Golden Years TV series.

TSK: You said you are a Woody Allen fan. I loved Radio Days! What Woody Allen movies are you passionate about. . . or does being a Woody Allen fan mean by definition you like all of them?

SJS: I am a HUGE Woody Allen fan. I think he is a filmmaker and writer of, and for, the ages. And I’m not just talking about his films. I’m talking about his stand-up comedy routines (which I transcribed verbatim off his albums), his books, his plays, his essays, and more. He is the classic artist. His short stories and essays in Getting Even, Without Feathers, Side Effects, and Mere Anarchy are literally laugh-out-loud funny.

As for favorite movies, my number one is Manhattan, followed by Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, Midnight in Paris, Whatever Works, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Love and Death, Stardust Memories, and Mighty Aphrodite. I even love Wild Man Blues, the documentary about Woody touring Europe with his jazz band.

I love Woody one-liners (Did you hear about Cyclops? He got a middle-eye infection.”). I am currently in the ongoing process of replacing my VHS copies of his movies with DVDs. I also hope to someday update my now out-of-date Woody Allen Companion. As far as I know it’s the only book to completely deconstruct every comedy routine he performed and every short story he had written up to that time. Woody is a genius, a brilliant writer, and a supremely accomplished artist. And I like his glasses.

TSK: Wow, I could go on writing questions all day, because I really do enjoy your work on King! I’ll stop here, but is there anything you would ask if you were given permission to interview Stephen J. Spignesi?

SJS: Yes, there is something I’d ask Mr. Spignesi:

In your book, The Odd Index, in the chapter “39 Acts of Select Mayhem in 2 Three Stooges Films,” you write “Moe dials Shemp’s eyes, thinking his face is a phone.” Do you see a deeper subtext in the fact that the metaphorical instrument of abuse is a communication device — that Moe uses Shemp’s face as a phone?

To which I would answer:

The Three Stooges were notable for their allegorical, metaphorical, and symbolic use of communication devices in their work. In a scene in Brideless Groom, Shemp’s fiancée compresses his head in a letter-press, an older type of printing press.
 In Punch Drunk, the Stooges drive a truck with a PA system playing music through a wall at a prize fight at which Larry had been hired to play the violin ringside. Larry’s violin is smashed by Curly who, it turns out, goes nuts anytime he hears violin music.
 In Three Sappy People, the Stooges answer a phone call intended for three psychiatrists Ziller, Zeller, and Zoller and then assume the doctors’ identities. In They Stooge to Conga, Curly impersonates a telephone repair man to spy on spies.
 In Goof on the Roof, the Stooges attempt to install a television antenna on their friend’s roof and they ultimately destroy his house. Oftentimes, the mishaps involving communication devices result in eye jabs, punches, pokes, and other forms of retaliatory punishment, usually inflicted by Moe upon the other Stooges.
 What is this saying? That communication errors can result in “damage,” both metaphorical and literal? That effective transmission of whatever the message might be can assure a placid response? The semantic and semiotic impact of these scenes manifest a sociocultural paradigm that…what’s that? You meant a question about Stephen King? Oh. Sorry. Okay. I’m done.

THANKS STEPHEN! 

THE SHINING Spare Tire Cover

This is great!  I spotted this at the Stephen King Constant Reader club.  Reposted with permission from Michael Coon. He noted, "My cousins wife took this pic."  Imagine pulling in behind this!  You wouldn't drive too close to this guy, would you?

The Mist Unabridged

For years I have gotten emails and posts comments asking about the unabridged recording of The Mist.  I have audio tapes and the digital version of Frank Muller reading the Mist.  Turns out, for some reason that recording is  no longer in print.  That means that for years the only way to hear the Mist has been the 3D production.  The only problem is -- the 3D Sound recording just isn't the same as listening to the words themselves build the story.  It's like a radio play.  Super cool -- but just not the same.

I noticed today that audible has released an unabridged recording of Skeleton Crew.  And in the batch is The Mist.  It's not the Frank Muller recording, but it is The Mist unabridged.  Exciting stuff!

www.audible.com

Review Of Unearthed and Untold the Path to Pet Sematary

How Would You Decorate A Stephen King Room?

Stephen King Cameos

This is a fantastic colladge by Dan Garcia of Stephen King cameos.

Dan writes, "I love how Stephen King is like Hitchcock, in that he frequently has cameos in his movies! This is not all of them, but what role of his is your favorite?"

11.22.63 episode 2: I'm Hooked

11.22.63 is quickly becoming one of my favorite Stephen King adaptations.  I’m almost scared to like it as much as I do.  Last time I really fell in love with a Stephen King series, it was Under The Dome – and that went LOST on us.

The required spoiler alert:

Hey, you, before you read this. . .
I talk about stuff on my blog.  Gasp.  So if you haven't seen 11.22.63, you should go watch it before you listen in on me talking about it, because it might "spoil" it for you.  I'm telling you this because some of you are rediculously sensitive about not having the storyline given away.  Hey, I have an idea: Don't read posts about stories you haven't read yet.  Glad I could help.  On with the discussion. .

A few quick observations:

The Trade:
The movie and the book trade slaps.  Track with me. . .
In the book, I was blown away when Jake first sees the “colored” bathroom sign.  You can read about that experience HERE.  But that scene did not have the same impact on me when it happened on screen.  In fact, that scene just kind of flowed by.

However, I still got slapped in the face by the television show.  It’s when the boys pin Harry down and spit on him. Something in me bristled; got angry.  (And anger is what I felt when I first read that scene where Jake encounters colored restrooms.)

Welcome to the 60's:
The Café Harry goes to is incredible.  I mean, it’s so authentic.  Once again, I feel like I’m there.  The counter, the wall paper, the comic book stand; it feels right.  And, Jake sticks out – it’s obvious he doesn’t belong to this world. It speaks volumes that they could recreate the world of 1960, because that world is gone.  Everyone in these scenes, they’re not really from 1960 – they’re from 2016.  (Well, 15) But all of them drop into character so well, that even as Jake tries to look the part, he still doesn’t fit in.  The very fact that Jake sticks out builds our confidence that we really have been taken back to 1960.

Over Religious:

The lady interviewing Jake for a room is way over the top!  Maybe people were really like that back then – but she’s what Solomon was talking about when he said “do not be overrighteous.” (Eccl 7:16)   Bet-ja didn’t know that was in the Bible!  There seems to be one of these in every Stephen King book.

Does anyone like that picture of Jesus she has on her wall?  Apparently it was paramount to his mugshot for many years.

MASH:

Jake show quick thinking when asked what unit he served with in Korea.  MASH, 4077.  BRILLIANT!  I really like the old guys comment, “There’s no such thing as a war hero.”  It’s the kind of thing only a war hero can say.  “The last thing you can say about killing a man is that it’s brave.”  I like that line, not because our troops aren’t brave, but because it so perfectly describes how so many of them feel coming home from war.  Conflicted.  They were sent to do a job, and they did it. And they want to be recognized and honored by their nation for serving and doing a difficult thing.

Up Close And Personal:
I think the scenes with Frank – in fact the entire storyline with Harry – is far superior to the book.  There is a new layer of detail here that wasn’t in the book.  We get a lot more up close and personal with Frank.  There’s much greater tension.  And, Jake’‘s a lot dumber! – and that’s good  It feels more real because Jake is making bonehead mistakes any of us would make.