2018-11-18 04:39:12

An ex-partner, who didn't know I'd read this particular short story, fished a version of it off the internet in audio, then burned it onto a CD and gave it to me for my birthday one year, among other things. I skimmed it when I was fourteen, and I remember kinda thinking "meh" because I must've been going through some teenage issue or other. When I read it on my birthday approximately fifteen years ago though, it actually made me cry a little. I didn't bawl, but I definitely got teary. There is something awful in that story. I feel like he hit the nail squarely on the head with that one.

Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
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2018-12-04 16:22:32

Okay, as I have a book review on the go and so need to read something I don't have to review its back to the short stories with night shift, which is why I'm going to post thoughts here, also, for anyone who hasn't read these stories beware! here be spoilers!

Jerusalem's lot was first. Oddly enough I confused this with a completely different King story, return to Salem's lot which is also titled one for the road and is a sequel to the novel, but actually Jerusalem's lot is entirely different, King was planely trying a rather typical lovecraftian style horror here.

I've only read a couple of Lovecraft stories (yes I know an oversight), so I can't say how well King captured the style of things, but it seemed pretty accurate to me.
In a way though that is the real down fall of the story, since all  the elements were so predictable, family relation takes over old haunted house, mysteriously depopulated town near by, house's last owner (also a family  disappeared in mysterious circumstances after various tragedies etc etc.

King undoubtedly did a good job, especially with the monster, but the thing did feel a bit paint by numbers, though bonus points for a really awesomely nasty ending big_smile.

Then there was graveyard shift. Its interesting that this was probably written about the same time James Herbert was writing The Rats, since there is a lot in common here, especially the idea of a collective intelligence and a giant evil queen rat, but then again hoards of evil rats have been a horror staple since Dracula. I admit my only miner issue with this one is that the main character turned out to be such an arse hole I was actually thinking he  diserved what happened to him in the end, though I did feel sorry for the other guys who were presumably going to descend into the basement and get munched.

A great story for atmosphere, albeit the big surprise of the queen rat probably wasn't as horrifying to me as it should've been thanks to Herbert, though that is more to do with what I was reding as a teenager than with King's writing specifically.

Then we had night serf, which was basically a small vignette from The Stand universe, or at least from a universe where most of  America's population had been wiped out by a superflue called Captain trips, though since it was said to have come from southeast Asia maybe not. This was the worst story I've read in Night shift so far simply because basically not a lot happened.
You met a few survivors, including the main hcaracter who alternated being a total git to his girlfriend (who wasn't particularly nice either), or nostalgically reminiscing about how wonderful the beach was, ---- that when not burning people alive.
Really this was more like a lost section of novel than anything else, and really didn't have enough point or punch to work on its own, albeit it was at least unsettling which made it one up on some of King's other novel fragments I've read.

the Mangler: this was definitely my favourite story so far. The way it built up to the evil ironing machine, the various wonderfully hyper gory accidents, and the elements that went into the demon summoning. This was a genuinely unsettling horror story. I will admit the English professor's instant working out what had happened with the girl's blood  him suddenly thinking exorcism was doable was  of a bit too much info too fast, but then again it did lead to one of the best final confrontations in a short story I've seen.

Oh, and an awesomely nasty ending too, definitely a thumbs up from me for that one, which probably says something about me since that is arguably the goriest story in the collection so far, rabid rats not withstanding.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2018-12-04 19:05:11

The Mangler creeped me out pretty badly when I first read it. Night Surf made me rather sad for reasons I have trouble explaining. Graveyard Shift I liked, because oh dear god, that basement. Jerusalem's Lot I found hard going. I wasn't quite so fond of the way it was written and set up.

Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1

2018-12-05 06:26:38 (edited by Dark 2018-12-05 06:32:57)

I can see what you mean about Night serf, since King did sort of capture the spirit of people who are stuck together until they really get on each other's nurves, though if you really want to see a great example of that, check out A letter from the clearies by Conny Willis. Its set after a neuclear war and really has that point of everyone just being super bitchy since they're stuck together.

Well I've done a couple more stories so spoilers ahead for The boogieman and grey matter.

the boogieman was a great idea for a story, a father confesses to a psychiatrist that his  children were killed by a boogieman, (what we'd call a bogyman over here). The only problem is this suffered badly from the issue many of King's earlier stories had, which was that  he confused an interesting character with a total arsehole!

Maybe in the 1970's a guy who goes on about not going in to check on his kids at night because "he didn't want his son to be a sissy", or "slapping his wife around" so she knows her "proper place" was a bit more acceptable than it is now, but really King! In fairness King does give some idea that the guy's mother sort of messed him up, but in a short story he didn't really have time to make us feel sorry for this guy, he just came off as a creep.
While it was super tragic the kids died, I actually thought it was high time his wife divorced this scuzbagg, so honestly the ending wasn't quite as much of a gut punch as it could've been.
Also, while I guessed there would be something odd about the closet? --- the shrink was really the boogieman all the time with a mask on? Honestly, the hole masks thing is the schlockiest of schlock horror cliches, King definitely could've done better.

Despite that I really did like the imagery with the boogieman, King definitely captured that feeling of being alone in the dark as a child listening for noises and what might be creeping up on you, and the main character's cowardice after his son died was something which in a less scummy character would've been quite tragic.

Really I wish King had done this as a novella, perhaps with older kids who could explain the hole boogieman thing a bit more fully and a father who was a bit less of a total douchenozzle.

Grey matter is apparently one of my lady's favourite stories which she admits says something about her. Having read it I'm quite intrigued that she likes it so much given she's really not into the hole slimy textures thing big_smile. Then again she does have a macabre sense of humour.

What was a  real kicker in this one was the ending. King has a knack for writing folksy old men which sometimes works (mrs. Tod's short cut), and sometimes fails miserably (it grows on you), but this was definitely one of the former times.  King just has this fantastically laconic way of writing very unflapable old boys who just take everything in stride. You go along with them and then suddenly bang! you realise your reading something down right disturbing! I particularly admired the way in this one the horror is right there in the open, there are no specific shocks or jump out moments, everything is pure nasty description which is quite the art form.

I've heard of this sort of premise done before, but King just does it bloody well, also did I happen to mention the ending?

Probably up there along with the Mangler as one of my favourite stories in this collection so far.

Oh and btw, was the aside about the plumber who found  giant evil spider in the sewers a nod in the direction of it? Oh I know this was written well before It, but well, it makes you think big_smile.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2018-12-05 09:18:09

"Nightshift" is one of my favorite King collections, up there with "Skeleton Crew."
"The Mangler"
Holy crap, that story freakd me out!

As I age, I believe the time you read a story plays an integral part in the way you perceive it. I read these in the late 80s, maybe early 90s, and they fascinated me, creeped me out, etc.
I read the collection again a few years ago, and felt some of the melancholy in 'Night Surf" and others.
It seems to me that your age, combined with the time period in which you read, combined with the time period in which something was written, can have a huge impact on the way it is received.
Back in 1990, I had very limited access to books, and now I have near limitless access. I believe that makes a difference too, as the more you read, the more you discern about writing style, story structure, etc.

The guy in "The Boogeyman" was a jerk, but I pinned that more on King's perception of people, than on his inability to write a sympathetic character.

2018-12-06 05:26:44 (edited by Dark 2018-12-06 05:38:18)

@Mirage, I agree on perceptions of different things and access to books, I recently had to think about that myself when I reread and reviewed Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsinger for the first time in 17 years.

With the guy in boogieman, my issue is that in a lot of early King he seemed to mistake being a jerk with being an interesting character, sometimes to the detriment of the story. After all, horror stories are usually about something bad happening to someone, or someone close to someone.

Seeing something bad happen to a good, or at least relatively not arsy person is a tragedy, ditto with seeing something bad happen to their nearest and dearest. Likewise, seeing something personally bad happen to a total arse hole isn't necessarily a bad thing, since there is such a thing as karma, if not actually revenge.
My problem in Boogieman though, is basically you saw this total git who mistreated his wife, and possibly his kids too, and all the bad stuff happened to his kids. You couldn't feel entirely sorry for him because he was such an arse, indeed I feel far sorrier for his wife, though also relieved  was finally able to divorce him in the end.

that was why that story didn't sit well with me. A story about  sincerely good man who'd seen his children killed would be horribly tragic, while a story about an arse hole who got himself killed would be cathartic, unfortunately though with the focus of the story the main character being a git just didn't work for me.

Well I have read several more stories, so spoilage incoming.

I am the doorway: This one felt a bit slow and definitely falls into  bad things happening to good people. I forgot this one since it was a wee bit unfocused and didn't make as much impression on me. An astronaut  starts getting weird things on his hands after coming back from orbiting Venus which turn out to  be eyes which are part of some kind of alien consciousness. I did enjoy the descriptions of the planet Venus and the implication of the alien thing possessing the chap, indeed the eyes growing out of his skin were wonderfully ghoulish. Not a story that stuck in my brain, but a nasty experience while it lasted.

Battleground: Okay this one feels more like a climax  to a  story than a fully finished item. A professional assassin kills A toymaker and in return gets a package containing a bunch of living toy soldiers who make war on him with miniture weapons.
Definite points to King for an original premise and a damnably nasty execution. I do wish the story had had a little more in it, EG I wasn't exactly sure whether the toymaker's mother was some sort of witch or what, but for  sort of simple nasty experience it doesn't matter too much. My only issue with this one is that the nuclear device is just so 1970's. I really would've been more interested in seeing something a bit more inventive from King, though the final package label advertising to kids a free scale model of a thermo neuclear device was sort of amusing.

Trucks: Okay, this one has a bloody awesome premise and   amazingly nasty stuff. Basically imagine a planet of the trucks with trucks becoming evil, also busses, bulldozers and other machines.

All of the stuff with the evil trucks and descriptions  how they'd enslave humanity were pretty awesome, as were the gory deaths. The only major problem with this one is that character really took a back seat. Only one character was named, and everyone seemed pretty much just walking cutouts, the grizzled grumpy trucker, the wise counterman, even the emotionally unstable, bitchy girl. Heck, the main character was just basically a generically sensible cipher. Survival  horror situations can be a majorly nice character study, putting a small group of people up against the wall and seeing how they  react. King can definitely do this, look at books like Cell or stories like The Mist, but for some reason in trucks he contented himself  with the most basic of cutouts, which caused the story to suffer as a result.

This is also one that ends pretty abruptly and feels more like a potential novel idea than a short story, indeed I'm sort of sorry that King never explored it later since a world taken over by evil trucks would be one I'd be interested to see.

Sometimes they come back: This definitely is up there with the mangler as one of my favourites in the collection. A teacher who saw his brother stabbed as a child by some neighbourhood bullies finds the bullies turning up in his class and realizes they're ghosts out for unfinished business.
This was definitely one with a likeable protagonist, and even an actually happy marriage for once, which made it so tragic. I particularly liked the slow way he revealed what had actually happened, and what the appearing ghosts really were.

The solution was also wonderfully wrong and showed a good man definitely going into something pretty dark, (the thought of slicing off index fingers makes me wince). The ambiguous ending also worked really well here too especially with how it ties into the title.

Strawberry spring: This is one of my lady's favourites. ~A psycho killer wanders around a university campus knifing girls during a weird weather cycle. The atmosphere in this one was what made the story, especially the descriptions of the fog and the rising hysteria on campus with each death. While the end was a wee bit predictable, at the same time the fact of just how short a story this was worked in its favour.
I confess I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as some others, since it was more a mood piece than anything for all it has the murders, but it was well done for all of that.

The ledge: Okay really liked this one. A tennis player goes to see a crime boss because he and the crime boss's wife are having an affair, the boss bets him he can't walk around a ledge 40 stories up. This one was brilliantly put together, actually the description of him moving around the ledge, the pain in the ankles and the danger of inconsequential things like gusts of wind or pecking pigeons was giving me long walk vibes.
The gut punch about what had actually happened to the boss's wife was nicely delivered.
My only miner issue here was the ending with the guy forcing the boss out onto  ledge at gun point.

I really wish you'd seen the boss  fall. Apparently in a film version made of this and a couple of other stories you do, but this is one where seeing the creep get his just desserts would've been really satisfying, especially seeing him fail at the task he put the poor guy through, and King could definitely have done a good enough job describing him plummeting to his doom.

I also slightly wish we learned a little more about the wife than just how she had a "lovely body", since hay, the tennis player was supposed to be in love with her, not just wanting to sleep with her, but again like the Long walk having love expressed only as sexual desire is a bit of a problem in Early King.

Next up is the lawn mower man, which I mostly remember because the Super nintendo game made of the film got some of the worst review ratings on the old games series games  master I ever heard. The film was apparently pretty terrible too, though I've never seen it.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2018-12-06 18:36:46

Well just finished the lawn mower man.

I'll admit this one was disappointing. The initial setup was interesting, with the mysterious lawn clearing firm and the guy coming around to work. I'll even excuse King a few blatant early kingism, EG the main character randomly talking about being disappointed when a cat got run over by his mower because his wife was upset so he "didn't get layed", since the idea of quite literally a grim reaper, or perhaps grim mower is an interesting one.

the problem is that this was one of the first times I've seen that King's actual talent to inspire horror simply deserted him. King planely found the idea of a mower moving on its own and a naked fat man scrabbling after it eating grass cuttings terrifying, he even tells us so. The problem is I just didn't!

Oh being actually chased by a ravening mower would be nasty enough, but King works up to the chase with this apparently horrific specticle (with the guy ringing the police) because, shock horror! there's a naked fat man eating grass cuttings!
Such a thing is grotesque at best, though for me it didn't go beyond raising an eyebrow, particularly since there really isn't much of a chase or a threat, the man got got pretty damn quickly.

This is also one of the few instances where King really should've been more gory! since whatever else I think of the story, if we'd got a close up and personal view of the guy getting mowed down the story would've at least had a little bit of gorefulness, ---- anyone remember Cyrax from Mortal Kombat 3 and the helechopter? big_smile.

Sadly the action cuts just before the mower does with the guy's remains being discovered by the police, remains which aren't even described, heck, we couldn't even feel sorry the guy was dead since we didn't really get an idea what his wife and daughter felt about him.

So, definitely a misfire.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2018-12-07 07:55:42 (edited by Dark 2018-12-07 11:12:22)

Well we're getting into multiple post syndrome here, but as I've read more stories in Night shift I'll note them down while they're fresh in my mind.
As always, spoilers ahoy for the stories in question!

Quitters inc: I actually had read this one before when my lady and I were sharing some of our favourite horor stories, but as that was three years ago I thought I'd read it again.

This story was bloody awesome! The way King gives us just enough details to know what's going on and yet doesn't overload us with info about either morrison or his life, and yet the way Quitters inc is presented so wonderfully starkly. I particularly love the way he just outlines the central idea   without fanfare, just a company who cause you to quit smoking by whatever means necessary, and then only has one brief slipup in the form of Morison's wife getting the shock treatment.

Really this was a masterful example of a story that walses streight in, gets right to the point, then cuts off before it out stays its welcome. Its also a bloody scary premise if you think about it too long, and that from someone who has a real hatred of smoking.

I know what you need: Okay this one didn't sit quite as well with me since the underlying philosophy behind it was so damn muddled. Told from the perspective of a beautiful popular girl, about how a socially outcast boy always seems to turn oup with whatever she needs, how she falls in love with him, and then discovers its all about black magic.

What my problem was here, is that when you love someone you do! put there needs first, that's just part of it. I wondered if King would play on the idea that having all needs met is boring and relationships need some give and take, but no, the boy  was just a creep who magically murdered her previous boyfriend, although without the murder of the boyfriend I honestly would be wondering what the exact problem was, after all he hadn't actually compelled her or changed her! just used his powers to know what she wanted and to make her happy. Indeed, in some senses this seemed to fall into the "single men who can't get dates are creepy" vibe, especially when contrasted against a popular beautiful girl, since hay some of the things he said about her having an easy time due to her good looks were actually fair. Oh, and that's quite aside from King's "all boys always want sex and girls don't" rigmarole, though I suppose I can forgive a story written 40 years ago for being a bit prehistoric.

Children of the corn: I know this one was made into a film, and its actually odd I've not read it until now. A bickering couple stop off in the most batty of American towns and wind up getting murdered by its enhabitants who are  Lord of the flies meets the Salem witch trials with a bit of lovecraft thrown in.
Mrs. Dark didn't like this one, though that's partly because she is a little sensative about stories that play the loopy Christians card a bit too unreservedly. I didnt' mind myself, since it was pretty obvious from the start that the thing beiing worshiped had very little to do with Christianity.

I actually thought it was a pretty well constructed story, I liked the atmosphere, the way the town was portrayed and the final confrontation was spine tingling, not to mention poor vicky suffering one of the most truly grotesque and goreful deaths. My only problem  that the couple were really dislikeable, heck I can see why King now says the couple who similarly fall fowl of one of those randomly evil American small towns in The Rainy season were happily married, since compared to the sniping and unpleasantness of Bert and vicky, including a little wife beating, those two were positively sweet.

It was also a  ironic that if Bert had actually listened to Vicky's hysterical fear they wouldn't have wound up dead

My other problem with Children of the corn, was that despite the awesome atmosphere, I thought the church infodump was a bit too much. Deducing a town's disaster from just a reccord of  deaths and name changes before any of the psycho kids appear was rather stretching belief, indeed in some ways I actually wanted to learn more about the life of the children in this very bizarre community, especially with the ending of the story implying  there might be some descention in the ranks.

The man who loved flowers: this one lives from its twist. A young man in love buys flowers, everyone around him says how nice it is to see  being young and in love, then it turns out he's a hammer murderer, albeit one who only hammers girls  he's looking for a girl who died ten years ago.
Like Strawberry spring, this is a mood piece. Oddly enough, New york city didnt' seem overly romantic to me when I was there, and that just before Mrs. Dark and I were married and! in the spring what's more, but hay.
A nicely executed if brief story, albeit one that lives almost entirely from its big twist ending, probably a bit more affecting for me since I love to buy my lady flowers, but while it was a nice bit of sweetness turned very sour and a wonderfully delivered "aha" moment (I especially like the repeated "and he swung the hammer"), I don't expect this is a story with too long a shelf life, nice for what it was though.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2018-12-07 09:59:59

Yaaaaaaaaaas!
Battleground!
That was my favorite story in the collection.
I read it when I was sixteen, so I was truly surprised by the ending.
And the idea of a grieving mother sending animated toy soldiers to kick a murderer's ass just rocks!
I wanted that one to be a novel, and/or a movie.
Of all the King movies they've made, it makes me mad they never thought of "Battleground."

I loved "Trucks" too.
Early King needed more character development, but in the 70s, maybe editors wanted shorter story with less character and more action, I don't know.
This one reminds me a lot of "The Mist," which was a novella I also enjoyed.

2018-12-08 04:12:31

Bear in mind that many of these appeared in men's magazines, and men of that time reputedly didn't want too much feels. They wanted action, and relatability. Maybe in the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were more men like the dude in The Boogeyman. Though I'd also like to point out that making him a git creates a tug-of-war. On the one hand, we want to kick his ass and hope he gets what's coming to him; on the other, when it happens to his kids instead, it's all the worse. The horror is what happens to his children, really, not what happens to him. And yes, masks are extremely cliché and all that, I hear ya there, but it still worked for me. Read it when I was fourteen or so.

I've really gotta bust out this collection again, it seems.

Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1

2018-12-09 07:26:35 (edited by Dark 2018-12-11 09:44:07)

@Mirage, I liked the weerdosity in both battleground and trucks, I just wanted a bit more story wise, particularly from Trucks, since seeing actual people respond to those sorts of crises is always interesting, and its after all something King has done well elsewhere.
Jayde, You might be correct on both lack of character due to the audience and guys like the protagonist of the boogyman being more common in the sixties, but that doesn't necessarily excuse the story for me, particularly because King has always made it pretty clear he doesn't really consider the audience when he's writing anyway, and back then there weren't major committees at publishing houses with huge lists of demographics and check lists to adhere to.

I also don't necessarily agree about the horror in the Boogieman being primarily about the kids, since its much easier  to feel horror when you necessarily can empathise, or at least can imaginatively empathise with a protagonist to some extent.
For example, I personally  hate being around people who smoke so have never tried to quit, but I feel much more sorry for the predicament of the main character in Quitter's inc since he's fundamentally a nice guy who loves his wife, and  his mentally handicapped son.

this isn't to say everyone in stories should be a nice person, just that if your writing a horror story with a tragic effect in mind, the tragedy is easier to feel if you can empathise with the target to some extent, even if that person still has a rough edge or so, heck, I could even feel sorry for the main character in the man who loved flowers despite him being a psycho murderer big_smile.

Well I've now finished the collection so here are a last few thoughts on One for the road and the woman in the room, spoilage ahoy as always.

One for the road: I actually ran into this one a good while ago in a collection of vampire fiction, though as I'd not read Salem's lot at that point it was just a creepy story. During a blizzard a wealthy tourist from New Jersy stumbles in to a bar early in the morning because his car broke down near Salem's lot, leaving his wife and daughter behind. He heads out with some old guys  to see what's up they find the wife and  daughter duly and nastily vampirised, though at least daddy gets to join the family.
Moral of the story, when the folksy locals tell you "don't go near the castle!" you should always listen big_smile.

In general this was a pretty standard horror story with one of those likeable old boys King has a habit of writing as its main protagonist. It does what it says on the tin, albeit there was a little too much telling us something was dead or frightening for my liking, and only a little of the King weirdness (the little girl drooling was a wonderfully nasty detail). Maybe King was assuming his reader's would've read Salem's lot or just wanting to get straight to the shock, I don't know.

I actually feel more fondly towards this story now than when I first read it back in the early 2000's, since yee gods! its good to see vampires that are just bloody evil for a change big_smile.

Not surprising, but does what it does well, even if it was in and out a wee bit too quick to be really surreal or scary.

The woman in the room: A man whose mother has stomach canser contemplates using some extra strength pain killers to end her suffering. I love the way King deals with illness here, especially with the doctor and the guy's memories of his sick grandma, actually the way King writes of the hospital has a wonderfully unreal hinge to it showing that King is just as good at dealing with everyday horror as he is at dealing with the supernatural.

While the ending is pretty obvious, this one is all about the journey not the destination, and the journey is really quite shocking.
My only miner issue here is that I wish the one actual memory the guy had of his mother wasn't a humiliation of him being beaten with wet nappies?

He's wrestling with his doubts all through the story, and yet the clearest thing he can remember about his mum is that she did something pretty gross and humiliating to him as a child?

I wouldn't have minded if this had been balanced perhaps with some sort of good memory or idea of the person she was but this again seemed a symptom of early King having to make nearly everyone an arse hole just because.

Of course, its also possible there was a little revenge going on here, or that King intended the guy's motives to be unclear, but the very real, very  compassionate way he write's about the woman otherwise is quite at odds with that interpretation, indeed this story is a wee bit close to home at the moment considering that my  lady's dad's extremely  ill with something that may or may not be stomach canser.

All in all though, another really stand out story, a bit of  a departure for King like Last rung on the ladder, but in this case definitely a welcome one and a good point to end the collection.

and that wraps it up for Nightshift. I'll likely be back when i get around to the next King, actually I ought to stick another collection onto my victor for when i next fancy one since really I have been very much enjoying King's short fiction, although there are still several King novels I've yet to do.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2018-12-09 17:40:01

I take your point regarding the protagonist thing. Don't fully agree, but I see what you're getting at.

Remember, regarding men's magazines, however, that King was, at that time, virtually penniless. He was selling those stories to magazines in an effort to make sure he had money to pay the bills. When that happens, you absolutely must consider your audience. King doesn't consider his audience much now, and hasn't for a long time - he writes what he pleases, and largely it works - but back then, he was much, much more aware of success or failure, in the sense that failure might mean he and his wife couldn't pay the phone bill on time. When you're working with those stakes, you may have to consciously do a little work on making sure your stories are relatable to your audience, the better to make sure that said magazines will actually come back and purchase more of your stuff.

Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1

2018-12-11 06:04:51

Jayde wrote:

I take your point regarding the protagonist thing. Don't fully agree, but I see what you're getting at.

Remember, regarding men's magazines, however, that King was, at that time, virtually penniless. He was selling those stories to magazines in an effort to make sure he had money to pay the bills. When that happens, you absolutely must consider your audience. King doesn't consider his audience much now, and hasn't for a long time - he writes what he pleases, and largely it works - but back then, he was much, much more aware of success or failure, in the sense that failure might mean he and his wife couldn't pay the phone bill on time. When you're working with those stakes, you may have to consciously do a little work on making sure your stories are relatable to your audience, the better to make sure that said magazines will actually come back and purchase more of your stuff.

I read his on writing nonfiction book and it was very interesting regarding that.

I'm really not a fan of the Mr. Mercedes series - I wish King could go back to the days of yesteryear and write....I don't know. The kind of books I grew up with. Well, not really grew up with - by the time I started reading some of them they were decades old, but still.

One day I feel like I should go back and read every book he wrote, in chronological order. Though, at this point in my life, it brings back serious memories. Night shift remains one of my favorite short story collections - and I have too many favorites to list otherwise. Christine, the stand (despite its length). Speaking of that book - does anyone know what the differences between the standard and 1990 edition really is?

Something something something insert canine related comment here

2018-12-11 08:15:24 (edited by Dark 2018-12-11 09:42:11)

"Timberwolf, as regards the stand, my lady apparently has read both versions, both the original version released in 1980, and the longer one released in 1989. I've only ever read the 1989 version myself as I didn't see the point in reading the shortter one, same way I no longer bother with the theatrical versions of any of the Lotr films big_smile.

According to my lady, there are quite a few scenes missing, some of them are more atmospheric, such as the initial scene
charley the guard fleeing the facility after the bug gets released, (the original 1980 version apparently starts directly with Stew and his buddies in the filling station), Franny's confrontation with her mother or the hole episode with the trashcan man meeting the kid (you see his wolf ravaged body in the cut version apparently but not the man himself.

Some missing scenes however were pretty important according to her. For example, the entire scene when Tom saves Knick from the Tornado is missing, which is the first idea you get that Tom might not be quite as simple as he seems, and also the hole business with the gang of thugs who capture women and use them is  missing, meaning that Shirly's later depression and suicide seems a bit random, as does the fact that Harold stew and co just happen to run into five women while travelling along the road big_smile. Also, the final chapter when you see the dark man appear on a beach with some sort of primmative tribe and its clear he's moved on to cause trouble somewhere else is entirely absent from the original 1980 version, meaning he just vanishes with no explanation.
In general, it sounds like the 1989 version is a far better book and I can see why King decided to write it.
Btw, a quick google did find This blog article which details a few of the substantive differences,  though the waffling about " the symbology of death and orgasm" is a bit too art house for my liking big_smile.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2018-12-11 09:32:16

Oh this is excellent to know.

I had honestly thought that the 1978 version had a few scenes that the latter one did not and vice versa. Good to know I wasn't missing anything.

thanks for that article. That blog in general has some interesting authors I look forward to checking out later.

Something something something insert canine related comment here

2019-01-07 07:28:49 (edited by Dark 2019-01-07 18:39:31)

Okay threadcromancy here is because not long ago I finished Desperation, ---- well the novel at least, other sorts of desperation are probably ongoing :d.


You can find A full review of desperation by me here

To paraphrase slightly, I actually rather liked it, albeit it was  bit more of a traditional horror novel for King with the small group of characters in the abandoned town, all the creepy wildlife etc, I didn't realy like the way Cynthia from Rose Madder, who was pretty awesome in that book suddenly turned into a damsel here, though Mary was cool, and personally I liked  way King dealt with God.

Indeed Grady Hendrics in the Stephen King reread I mentioned earlier actually thought all the "god is cruel" stuff in Desperation might be a reflection of King going through Alcoholics anonymous, which is an interesting idea. I also wondered myself if the "god" who is cruel here is actually King himself what with him killing characters horribly etc. Still, it wasn't an angle I minded since I never felt things got too preachy or charactured, indeed I like the fact King in an interview apparently said he didn't want God to be like the instant literal deus ex machinaa.

I can't say how it squared with the regulators, as I read that a long time ago and don't remember it clearly, but I did enjoy the book, albeit there are books of King's I've enjoyed more, still as its now a while since I read it (what with me having a cold etc), I'll let people check out my review for more thoughts.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2019-04-04 15:36:08

Okay shameless plug and shameless threadcromancy coming up, so by the time I finish this post I will have no shame big_smile.

While I read the long walk back in November of last year, the webmaster of fantasybookreview.co.uk  had a bit of a backlog of reviews, however he's posted my review of it up now and people can read it here

I also recommended the Long walk for the hidden gems section of the site, being as its probably Stephen King's least known book.

Oh, and as per earlier conversation about Dean Koontz Here is my review of watchers as well

Not a bad book, but still rather cloying in places.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2019-04-04 15:48:05 (edited by flackers 2019-04-04 15:48:32)

@Dark. That was a terrific review of one of my favourite King efforts. I wish I could articulate my feelings as well as that.

2019-04-04 17:14:02

Thanks  Flacus.
I do enjoy writing book reviews, and putting things down coherently, also I'll say  that unlike a lot of reviewers on the internet, or even on fantasybookreview.co.uk,  I don't tend to be generous with the high ratings. To get above an 8 a book has to be pretty good, to get above a 9 it has to be exceptional.

So, when I gave The long walk a 9.1, it was because I thought it was pretty awesome, as yu might gather from the review.
I also have done reviews for Desperation, rose madder, Joylandd, Under the dome and the stand as well.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2019-04-05 00:16:04

I read "The Long Walk" at just the right time. I had finished a half marathon not even a year before, and I could so deeply relate to all the symptoms of nonstop walking King included.
It intrigues me, how sometimes a book will intersect with a time or experience in your life at just the right angle.

PS-Your book reviews are fantastic, Dark. I shared your reviewer page on my Facebook a while back.

2019-04-05 13:08:28

@Mirage thanks for that, glad you like the reviews, they are something I do try to take time over and make reasonably coherent.

It was something I started doing when I discovered fantasybookreview in 2012, and have enjoyed ever since. Indeed, these days I always have to think about what I'm going to read and review next, and usually have to break between books I have to review tih doctor who audio dramas or short story collections to give me time to put reviews together, and even so I don't always review everything! indeed, where stephen King is concerned I might have to go back and reread cell and the green mile and do reviews of those since I  missed doing them when I read them originally.
As to books and time of reading I definitely agree, indeed I mentioned as much in my reviews of Stardust and dragonsinger.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2019-04-05 22:43:07

Figured I"d check out The Green Mile because it's like, the only King book or books, depending on how you read it, I haven't read.  It's also the one I"ve come to like most because of all the stuff he's written, it's the most believable and isn't just some story where everyone was happily cruising along and then bad stuff happened.

When life gives you oranges, demand lemons since everyone else is obviously getting them.

2019-04-09 23:53:11

I really enjoyed the green mile, more than I expected. To say how long the book is Mrs. Dark and I got through it rather quickly.

I also quite enjoyed the film, which was rather surprising, but then again that's one film adaptation that stayed extremely close to the book.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2019-04-10 20:19:55

One word, Carrie

Add me on Skype, search for The Evil Chocolate Cookie

2019-08-25 11:00:08 (edited by Dark 2019-08-25 11:09:56)

Okay, threadcromancy here is because yesterday Mrs. Dark and I finished Gerald's game. its odd, as I said earlier in this topic I was sent the book as a teenager, but decided not to read it both because I had not particularly enjoyed misery and the premise in Gerald's game sounded disturbingly similar, and because at that point I was still extremely genophobic, and the premise behind geralds game sort of automatically implied that matters would get pretty x rated, after all it is about a woman who winds up handcuffed to the bed with a dead husband after an attempted sex game goes severely wrong.

In general I  like the book, albeit I had a couple of issues. While the book moved slowly, the plot and action were more than compelling enough to hold my interest for the most part, and I thought King did a far better job here with realistic characters in a bad situation.

Okay now on to the spoilery part of what I plan to say so only read on if you don't mind spoilers.

As in the long walk, King has a really amazing ability to describe progressive physical torture which is neither boring nor gratuitous, so all of the descriptions of Jessy's physical sensations, cramps, dehydration etc were spot on awesome (if that is the right word). I also loved the way the book used minimal restricted movement to up the tension, never before could I imagine being on tentahooks to see  if someone could tip a shelf, or grab a jar of face cream.

My lady did not like the plot with the dog eating Gerald's corpse, and I can see why, though, aweful as it was I do credit King for even making his corpse eating stray dog partly sympathetic .

Speaking of sympathetic, this one contrasted oddly with Rose Madder. Jessy is not as likable as rose, she often comes across as a rather unpleasant, quite privileged woman, even though Rose endures more abuse. What is odd however, is that where Norman was at rock bottom a plane monster, Gerald (and indeed Jessy's father), were far more realistically unpleasant characters.

yet for  all that, jessy in Gerald's game is far more free with mysandric statements, saying men  are cursed  with penises, heck, even at the end  when Jessy runs into a supposedly nice man, he's still condescending and partly dismissive of her, plus being part of a law firm who want to sweep Gerald's unpleasantness under a rug.

Its odd, on the one hand I can completely understand why jessy has the attitude she does, heck given what her father did even before Gerald, and the premeditation involved, and his  effort to convince her to cover it up  its entirely believable. On the other, there is no denying that were this book written by a woman not by a man, my lady and I would probably assume that the attitudes were the author's not the character's. Indeed, this is another way in which Gerald's game contrasts with Rose Madder, since though Norman is pretty  much as bad as it gets, Rose Madder features some extremely nice men (rose runs into one just after leaving her husband), and despite norman's awefulness, Rose doesn't extend this to believing all men are arseholes.

Apparently King had been criticised for not being able to write realistic female characters by his publishers, so maybe this was something of an adverse reaction, or maybe King just assumed this was how all abuse survivors behaved, I don't know.

Either way this was just another fact that made Jessy a sympathetic, but not necessarily always likable character.

Yet, oddly for that, King was so frighteningly correct with ptsd and sexual abuse it was actively scary, flashbacks, songs, occasional breakdowns, even the importance of writing things down to get things out of your head.

In terms of  actual action The tension, the voices in Jessy's head, and the revelation of her past were all really well delivered, in particular, I loved the way King actually gave the revelation of Jessy's past abuse some realistic, practical significance to her current predicament with the broken glass.

So, all in all the book was actually really good, welll it was really good up to the point that felt like a natural ending.

I loved King's description of the apparition of the space cowboy, it was wonderfully disturbing, very king,and honestly I could imagine this guy  hunching through midworld along with the slow mutants and the low men in yellow coatss.

The problem? King needed a long and convoluted explanation, an explanation which was very clunkily delivered, indeed the book felt a good two hours longer than it needed to be.
Really, i would've been quite happy if this apparition remained an unexplained bit of horror, and if the ending was just that Jessy started recovering, got in touch with her old friend Ruth, and was eventually going to be okay. Heck, Jessy had a couple of visions of Dolores Clayborn,and since I haven't read that novel, they didn't mean much to me, however it didn't matter since I just took them as a general part of Jessy's extreme situation resting on the edge of sanity, and I'd have been quite happy to take her night visitor the same way.

So, King has to explain this thing, and  the big reveal is:

A necrophyliac, homosexual psychopath with  a medical condition that makes him look weird, who just happened to be in the area an dropped in on jessy to say hello, since fortunately as his tastes ran  to men and corpses, the handcuffed naked lady was okay with him, well up until the point he decided to kill her anyway.

Really King! there is so much wrong with this I don't know where to start. Maybe its the "he looks weird so he's eeeeeeeevil!" Maybe its the "oh look evil gay guy who likes corpses"
Hell, maybe its just the shear implausibility of this.

Really, for a writer adept at mystery, who said himself in it that it was what you didn't know that scared you most, this clunky, boarderline offensive explanation was pretty rock bottom, quite aside from the fact that it made the book way too long, indeed for the hole last three hours of the 14 hour novel, I was pretty much just wanting things to wrap up, as for me, the climax had already happened during Jessy's extremely gorey escape with the handcuffs and her collapse in the car, and at that point I just wanted to leave her on a hopeful note.

Indeed, I think King spends more time dredging up an explanation for this weird night visitor than we actually saw him in the earlier part of the novel big_smile.

So all in all, some really good scenes, particularly some absolutely nurve wracking handcuff moments, and some surprisingly realistic characters, but a bit too much on the rather offbeat preaching and a long explanation for a rather superfluous psycho. Indeed, its books like this that really do give credence to the theory that King suffers Diarrhea of the word processor big_smile.

Certainly in general Gerald's game was pretty good, and far from King's worst, though perhaps not one of his absolute best either.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)