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Shout-out to Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts. Gotta recommend it. I'm quite a bit into Rose Madder, and it is pretty heavy in the bad King stereotypes. From the first page I was able to detect the seepage of Cormack McCarthy he mentioned in Bazaar's introduction. It's subtle, to be sure, including compact phrases such as "his elongate shadow" and the like. I'll finish it, but it's definitely full of King-isms that make ya cringe.
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Nov 30, 2015 03:05
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Jesus the end of The Jaunt sent chills down my spine even though I spoiled the end for myself years ago. Also not sure if Mrs. Todd's Shortcut gets much praise in here but that might be my favorite short story of his. facebook jihad fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Nov 30, 2015 |
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Nov 30, 2015 18:59
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facebook jihad posted:Jesus the end of The Jaunt sent chills down my spine even though I spoiled the end for myself years ago. What makes Mrs. Todd's Shortcut so great is that so many of use have done something kinda like that in the past. I spent 2 years living in the mountains of Virginia, and something that'll come up when you take a back road shortcut is you end up in thick fog, and the sort of signs people up by the sign of the road ain't exactly regulation. It can be quite disorienting, and you do get places a lot faster then you'd expect.
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Nov 30, 2015 23:02
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I just finished the latest short story collection and didn't think it was so bad. A few of them had endings that hit a pretty strong note. It certainly wasn't as awful as people here are making it out to be.
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Dec 1, 2015 23:14
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BiggerBoat posted:I just finished the latest short story collection and didn't think it was so bad. A few of them had endings that hit a pretty strong note. It certainly wasn't as awful as people here are making it out to be. I don't think it's bad as such, but so much of it is reprinted, and a few of them feel like he knocked them out quickly for magazines. As atmospheric as I find THE DUNE for example, it kind of does nothing. There's a handful of really really good stuff though. I still like MORALITY for how mean it is.
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Dec 2, 2015 13:52
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I finished Bazaar of Bad Dreams as an audiobook. Overall I liked it. Nowhere in the same ballpark as Skeleton Crew or Night Shift, but worth the time. One caveat: why on earth did King feel the need to mildly spoiler each story with an intro? He would point things out like "this story will involve a car crash" or "this is an upbeat story so don't expect a dark twist." If he wanted to give a few more details at the end of each story it would have been fine, but giving away anything right before it started (not easily skippable on Audible) seemed like a weird way to steal his own thunder. Here are my thoughts on each story: Mile 81: This story had a great intro with a growing sense of dread as the kid explores an abandoned gas station and nobody knows he's there. I was drawn in and afraid he was going to break his leg or get trapped under a stove and have a gradual death. Instead a random alien car pulls up outside and starts eating people who stop to investigate. Eventually the kid shines a magnifying glass on it so it flies into the sky. I'm pretty generous with giving King leeway in weird twists, but this was terrible. Nothing the kid did in the gas station seemed to be related to summoning the car, and it didn't seem to know or care that he was there. Any other supernatural evil could have arrived and it would have made the same amount of sense. Weak start to the book. Premium Harmony: I'm not familiar with the Raymond Carver style but I thought this was a great little story with a depressing vibe of death in a discount story and a good twist at the end when the husband forgot what else he had in the car. A solid entry. Batman and Robin Have an Altercation: An enjoyable story and I liked the ending. The redneck with the lifted truck was too close to a stock villain, but otherwise the elderly man's reminiscing worked great in building up to the end. King's intro to this story was a little sad as he tells of how he spends his winters in Florida eating at Applebees. Which I guess is fine, but hurts his mystique. The Dune: This was garbage. An old judge visits a dune on an island where he sees the names of people who are about to die written in the sand. He never does anything with the information to try to save them, but tells a visiting lawyer who is writing his will about the dune. The big twist is that the visiting lawyer's name is next? Gah this was bad. Bad Little Kid: A guy on death row is visited by his lawyer, and tells him about how for his whole life he's been tormented by a "bad little kid" who hurts people. He's on death row for killing the kid. This was an alright story, although a "bad little kid" with a propeller beanie is a step down from Pennywise. The ending felt tacked on as the "bad little kid" is after the lawyer now, for no particular reason. A Death: This is a western where a sheriff must prosecute and investigate a suspected murderer. This was a great story and I liked the reader having the same information and uncertainty of the sheriff as he went about his investigation. It was like Prime Suspect lite. The Bone Church: A poem about a doomed jungle expedition. Pretty good. Morality: I'd read this before but it is a solid dark story about a loving but struggling couple who get corrupted. Afterlife: A story about a Goldman-Sachs employee who dies and goes to a bureaucratic afterlife. Not enough of a twist, Grim Fandango did it better. Ur: Awesome story about a Kindle that can download books from other dimensions. I'm a sucker for "What-ifs" and this was a fantastic look into other dimensions. Kinda loses steam near the end but still great. Herman Wouk Is Still Alive: Pretty good story about poets and a woman in poverty who goes on vacation. King gives away the ending in his intro, so skip it. Under the Weather: Ugh this was a creepy story. About halfway through it becomes clear what is going on but the tension remains high. A solid disturbing entry. Blockade Billy: It's a good story especially for baseball fans. This was my second time through and it held up, although not one of the greats. Mister Yummy: A nice little entry without any big twists but with likable characters. Tommy: Stephen King lived through the 1960s. That's about it, nice and short. The Little Green God of Agony: Mid-carder entry, I would have preferred if it hadn't gone supernatural and just focused on the characters. That Bus Is Another World: A solid short creepy story that works. Obits: Fantastic. Competes with Ur for best story of the book, with a much better ending. Hurt by narrator's weird "Millennial" voice but twist makes up for it. Drunken Fireworks: I really liked this story of an escalating fireworks show. King weakens it with an entry promising no dark twist. Would have been a great final story for the book, especially if you've ever spent a summer at a lake cabin. Summer Thunder: Arrgh terrible. King has done end of the world stories masterfully with "The Stand" and "The End of the Whole Mess." It is just about how he likes motorcycles and reminded me of his rancid cameo on Sons of Anarchy. It's even dedicated to Kurt Sutter. Skip it.
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Dec 5, 2015 21:39
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Mojo Threepwood posted:I finished Bazaar of Bad Dreams as an audiobook. Here are my thoughts on each story: "The Dune": I think you're giving short-change to the ending and the premise because you pointed out the most important foreshadowing in your own précis. The judge lived his whole life not giving a poo poo about others, because his family's wealth and entitlement came from being unscrupulous and predatory. Of course he ignores the names on the beach until one actually could affect him, personally. In this case, the true punch in the twist is that he summoned the lawyer to his home just to avoid the simple task of letting another lawyer update his will. At the same time, he gets to smile "a death's head grin" at the "lawyer with the annoying accent" and deliver the news that, "I'm not about to die. You are." It's not a "skip," it's a solid story that's consistent and the twist is hidden in the suspicion the reader has in the judge's old-age aches, but we're wrong. Very wrong. "Herman Wouk Is Still Alive": This also is not a "skip." The old couple are charming. They serve a purpose to show a pair of people satisfied with having grown old, in stark relief (thank you, Douglas Adams) to the hopeless ladies in the rental who are realizing that their lives are not going to get better even though they won a small windfall; and their children aren't likely to have it any better. It's got the ennui that resonates. The story is good because it reveals the thought-process that leads to the decision between the two women to just cash out now and to hell with the rest, instead of enduring like the old friends/lovers at the rest stop. "Summer Thunder": It wasn't ground-breaking, but it did have heart. It was a very self-contained little story, and didn't need to be any more than that. If you've read The Road this would remind you of the decision by the wife to abandon the man and their son and walk out on them to certain death before the remaining horrible world could put her to a much more terrible death (in this case, slow death by radiation poisoning. YMMV.
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Dec 6, 2015 13:49
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Dr. Faustus posted:I did get to read this eventually, and I want to offer a different opinion on just a few of these, as I tend to agree with you overall: You make good points. For The Dune, I didn't think about him summoning the lawyer was done simply to let the judge avoid the hassle of getting someone else to revise his will. That does make it better. Although I think it could have been done better with more characters as "this mysterious sand predicts deaths! It's not the judge... could it be the one other major character in this story?" was too obvious. Especially compared to the twist in "Obits" which worked perfectly. For "The Dune" it would have been more effective if rising sea levels threatened the dune and the judge was spending a huge amount of money late in life to save the island, and the twist was he was doing environmental good just so he could maintain his addiction. Just a thought. "Herman Wouk is Still Alive", I totally agree. I was unclear in what I wrote, I meant to say that a reader should skip King's intro to the story as it gives away the ending by telling the audience that it was based on a terrible van crash, so it's a safe guess that the van in the story was a goner. This is still a great story but it would have been a bit better if there was more suspense about whether the van would wreck or if the characters would trudge on with their sad lives. "Summer Thunder": Yeah it did have heart. I was hoping for more in a closing story than a guy enjoying a motorcycle, I think the Sons of Anarchy connection hurt it as it came across as King imposing his hobbies on the story instead of being more inventive. I haven't read "The Road", yeah that might have made this better.
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Dec 8, 2015 02:39
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Mojo Threepwood posted:You make good points. That said, I cannot think of a single work of fiction (and I've read Camus and Sartre) more bleak and soul-crushing than The Road. Not even The Collector was that harsh. I read it, and I'm glad I did; but I'll never put myself through that again. It has been fun and engaging corresponding with you regarding these stories. Thanks for your post, it inspired me. Dr. Faustus fucked around with this message at 12:06 on Dec 12, 2015 |
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Dec 8, 2015 05:53
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I figured the idea behind "Summer Thunder" was borrowed from the Jethro Tull song "Too Old To Rock and Roll(but too young to die)", since King is a big classic rock fan and all.
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Dec 12, 2015 02:56
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nm
Pheeets fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Dec 12, 2015 |
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Dec 12, 2015 18:42
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http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/10/idris-elba-stephen-king-the-dark-tower-matthew-mcconaughey Ill believe it when i see it.
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Dec 13, 2015 01:02
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joepinetree posted:http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/dec/10/idris-elba-stephen-king-the-dark-tower-matthew-mcconaughey Works for me
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Dec 13, 2015 01:14
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Just as long as they don't let King rewrite any of Roland's lines.
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Dec 13, 2015 09:43
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Well they're going to have to rewrite something, as I suspect that Idris Elba wouldn't pass for a "Honk mahfah". I'm fine with casting him as Roland, but it does open the door to changing Odetta Walker's story or timeline.
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Dec 13, 2015 14:27
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Aquarium Gravel posted:Well they're going to have to rewrite something, as I suspect that Idris Elba wouldn't pass for a "Honk mahfah". I'm fine with casting him as Roland, but it does open the door to changing Odetta Walker's story or timeline. I've seen some predictably horrible internet comments talking about how horribly this would change things and blah blah blah, as if they couldn't find some other way for Odetta to express her displeasure with him from time to time. I mean, these are from people who are obviously trying to avoid voicing their displeasure as "HE'S BLAAAAAACK!!!!", of course. I think it's a fantastic choice, and if we get to see him and McConaughey chewing scenery at each other, it'll be worth it even if we only end up getting one movie.
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Dec 13, 2015 16:51
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fortunately copyright issues will force them to re-write the last few books into something that literally can only be better
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Dec 13, 2015 16:55
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Sarcastro posted:I've seen some predictably horrible internet comments talking about how horribly this would change things and blah blah blah, as if they couldn't find some other way for Odetta to express her displeasure with him from time to time. I mean, these are from people who are obviously trying to avoid voicing their displeasure as "HE'S BLAAAAAACK!!!!", of course. I think it's a fantastic choice, and if we get to see him and McConaughey chewing scenery at each other, it'll be worth it even if we only end up getting one movie. No question that there will be some backlash for reasons that are subtly or overtly prejudiced. I think Idris Elba is an excellent actor, and could do cryptic, grizzled and weary with the best of them. It's probably inevitable that a movie coming out in 2016 or 2017 is going to get a more modern update to the script, since the Civil Rights era of the '60s isn't as new and fresh in the minds of readers/viewers as it would have been at the publication date of The Drawing of the Three. I don't actually expect them to get young Clint Eastwood to play Roland, but I am really hoping that they set Eddie's story in the gritty, violent New York of the 1980s, and generally keep the majority of the story and the references the same. I'm more concerned about the possibility of the writers loving up the story via addition during adaptation, the possibility of which is at least indicated by casting Idris Elba instead of say, Karl Urban as Roland. If they just roll with it, don't make a huge deal of it, then it all makes sense, and I'm fine with it. If they start throwing in a bunch of additional tacked-on references to Roland's race, and how people treat him in respect to it, my eyes are going to roll to the ceiling. There's a crap ton going on in the books, without packing on additional sub plots and new motivations.
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Dec 13, 2015 17:52
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selling my copy of the Bazaar of Bad Dreams at a Bazaar of Bad Books. Jesus, at least Just After Sunset had "N." going for it.
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Dec 13, 2015 23:47
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I remember In Writing king said he has absolutely no time for bad books whatsoever and then releases a pile of poo poo. Something to be learned there
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Dec 13, 2015 23:49
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On Writing, sorry
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Dec 14, 2015 00:02
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oldpainless posted:I remember In Writing king said he has absolutely no time for bad books whatsoever and then releases a pile of poo poo. If you meet
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Dec 14, 2015 00:10
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syscall girl posted:If you meet Run him over? It's been tried.
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Dec 14, 2015 02:15
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Aquarium Gravel posted:Run him over? It's been tried. Hahahahaha! Jesus.
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Dec 14, 2015 04:45
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Aquarium Gravel posted:Run him over? It's been tried. 
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Dec 14, 2015 12:58
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I just saw the creepiest music video, when viewed with "IT" in mind. It's Tom Waits' "In The Neighborhood", and his character in front of the procession, his tophat, his "show off-ness" and forced humor, his gravelly voice, the bleak lyrics, the equally bleak music, and the fish eye lens, just reminds me so drat much of the scene where they're looking in the photo album. The fish eye lens makes it seem like ol' Tom is coming to eat me at any moment! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLDA3GQpYJ4
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Dec 14, 2015 13:21
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If the movies actually do get made I wonder if they'll keep Susannah in the wheelchair instead of giving her a limp or some other disability. Shot composition is really hard with standing and sitting characters and having to carry her is going to be huge burden on the actors.
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Dec 15, 2015 10:58
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I think movies that are just near word for word retellings of the book (the first and to some extent the second harry potters for example) are boring. That said, it does seem like an odd choice to cast a black actor as Roland. Idris Elba is a fine actor, but it seems strange to pick him when it contradicts so much of how Roland is described in the books, and completely changes a major part of the second book. It's not really a problem and I'm sure it'll work out fine, but if you had asked me for a list of people I expected to play Roland, Idris Elba wouldn't have been on the list at all (I still think Russell Crowe would have been perfect for the role). It does make me wonder what other liberties they're going to take with the story. I don't think keeping Susannah in her wheelchair will be much of a problem. They can just skip over the parts where she's being carried and/or keep those shots short. This is all assuming the movie(s) actually get made, which I still doubt despite all the recent news.
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Dec 15, 2015 11:26
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Why yes. Recasting a Stephen King character who is explicitly white as a black man has never worked out. Those people are right to compla-
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Dec 16, 2015 16:01
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The role of Roland deschain can only be played by one man: Vince Vaughan.
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Dec 16, 2015 16:06
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Eddie should be nick cage
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Dec 16, 2015 16:35
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To me, the thing about Elba is more that he feels a little young and too physically imposing for the role. It would take some "dallas buyers club" level of slimming down for him to get part of what I thought was important about Roland right, which was the whole "middle aged, damaged guy who is surprisingly fast," especially post drawing of the three. He does have the sort of dry charisma down, though.
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Dec 16, 2015 16:59
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ImpAtom posted:Why yes. Recasting a Stephen King character who is explicitly white as a black man has never worked out. Those people are right to compla- My point was more that changing his race in this situation changes the plot (mostly just for Drawing of the Three, but still) - in that movie/story Red's race isn't particularly important as far as the plot goes.
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Dec 16, 2015 17:08
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Any changes in a Dark Tower movie from the books can be handily explained as it being part of a different Cycle. 
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Dec 16, 2015 21:10
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joepinetree posted:To me, the thing about Elba is more that he feels a little young and too physically imposing for the role. It would take some "dallas buyers club" level of slimming down for him to get part of what I thought was important about Roland right, which was the whole "middle aged, damaged guy who is surprisingly fast," especially post drawing of the three. Idris Elba's in his loving forties. And Roland's described literally (LITERALLY) as the Terminator, the gunslinger's supposed to be an imposing dude.
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Dec 17, 2015 05:05
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What? Maybe early in the first book. By the end, after the confrontation with the man in black, "Roland awoke by the ruins of the campfire to find himself ten years older. His black hair had thinned at the temples and gone the gray of cobwebs at the end of autumn. The lines in his face were deeper, his skin rougher." . By the drawing of the three, Roland is described as "His face was gaunt, the skin stretched over the bones of his face like strips of cloth wound around slim angles of metal almost to the point where the cloth must tear itself open." By wolves of the calla, Roland is suffering from a fast spreading arthritis of the hip. Pretty much every description of Roland after the end of the first book is of him ragged, old, frequently sickly, so much so that he frequently surprises even Eddie with how fast and deadly he still is.
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Dec 17, 2015 09:07
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joepinetree posted:What? Maybe early in the first book. By the end, after the confrontation with the man in black, "Roland awoke by the ruins of the campfire to find himself ten years older. His black hair had thinned at the temples and gone the gray of cobwebs at the end of autumn. The lines in his face were deeper, his skin rougher." . By the drawing of the three, Roland is described as "His face was gaunt, the skin stretched over the bones of his face like strips of cloth wound around slim angles of metal almost to the point where the cloth must tear itself open." By wolves of the calla, Roland is suffering from a fast spreading arthritis of the hip. Pretty much every description of Roland after the end of the first book is of him ragged, old, frequently sickly, so much so that he frequently surprises even Eddie with how fast and deadly he still is. The Terminator thing is in the Drawing of the Three. One of the cops who saw Roland-as-Mort has a heart attack when he sees the Terminator, because it makes him think of Roland. It was because of the whole 'emotionless cold-eyed killer' thing giving him flashbacks to the gunslinger, though, not the physical appearance; the guy in question didn't even see Roland's body because Roland was riding Mort at that point.
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Dec 17, 2015 09:49
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Doesn't one of the later books plainly state that Roland looks like Stephen King? I'm OK with this casting if for no other reason it means, should they somehow get far enough, the show runners may do away with the self-insert plotline.
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Dec 17, 2015 13:13
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Ornamented Death posted:Doesn't one of the later books plainly state that Roland looks like Stephen King? I thought early on it said he looked like Clint Eastwood, although I may be misremembering someone saying the way he talked/acted reminded them of him. Anyway I think considering the above statement about how Roland resembles King, we should all just be happy they didn't cast King himself for the part. Most of his cameos that I remember have been pretty bad, I couldn't imagine suffering through that for an entire movie.
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Dec 18, 2015 10:36
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Naw he deffo said he thought Roland looked like Eastwood. What I eventually took away (or used to justify silliness) was that SK was admitting to the fictionality of the DT. Hey y'all, come comalla, we're making a jape and it's fun and kind of stupid in parts, c'est...
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Dec 18, 2015 10:54
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