Stephen, Carrie, and Sissy

Having become hooked on horror and Stephen King back in the 70s after reading The Shining, Night Shift and Salem's Lot, I sought out his books every chance I got back then. Plus, when I saw what the auteur Brian De Palma did with the film adaptation of King's first published novel, I had to locate a copy of it from the local library. Carrie was actually the author's fourth novel, but the first one published (in 1974). And, it dealt with a subject that continues to haunt our headlines and landscape.

Critic-Filmmaker-Factotum Bryce Wilson (of the Things That Don't Suck blog), recently wrote a wonderful and insightful review of the 1976 feature film (as part of his grand 31 Days of Horror series this year) and nailed that age-old can of worms with this passage:

"It’s a story that I think, has the best chance out of King’s canon to be damn near eternal. Because as long as there are high schools there are going to know what that furnace of rage that can grow in your belly can feel like. And those who imagine what it would be like if they just let it explode (Or implode. Am I the only one to notice that the only difference between the rash of teen suicides that swept the country recently and the rash of school shootings that happened about twelve years ago is that this time the kids are turning their guns on themselves rather then others? I don’t know what this generational shift means. Or if it can even be termed as a generational shift. I just know that either way it saddens and disturbs the hell out of me.)"

The post has been updated and moved to my current blog, which can be found here.

Response to The Mist

Earlier today, one of my favorite bloggers, Nordette Adams, posted a very good, fun and insightful piece that examines spoilers (and the need of warning of their existence) for those who write about books or movies on the web. And I agree with many things she has to say concerning the storylines/expectations of genres and series. Plus, it has a very funny Buffy meets Twilight vid that's worth seeing. However, she brought up an item that caused me to react on a written work:

Remember Stephen King's movie/story The Mist? Despite it being horror, despite it being King, people were still pissed because they wanted a more pleasant, hopeful ending, a Hollywood ending.

This article has been updated and moved to my current blog, which can be found here.

The Mystery is the Writer

By the time I got home from a long day's work this evening, I noted that some more messages had creeped into my personal email account. Well, in more than one account actually. Imagine that...

Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money]
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.

Anyways... But after being torpedoed by my 9 year-old daughter into helping her with her long division homework (just another chance to go back in Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine of my mind, if there is one), I finally started opening some of those electronic missives. Which then caused this conversation with my long departed grandmother*:

¿Cuál es este email?

Huh, it's a form of mail that arrives electronically to your computer, Ma.

¿Que?

Never mind. So, I sit down again in front of my computer and I'm going through the new messages, when I notice the new email newsletter from The Mystery Bookstore. In it, they list the 2009 Agatha Award winners (my son will be happy to note that Chris Grabenstein won for his The Crossroads novel), The Macavity Award nominees (which includes Sean Chercover's Trigger City and The Price of Blood by Declan Hughes, Corey) and a whole bunch of other stuff concerning mystery writers. They even have some Fifty Grand first editions for sale, too.

O-K... and this is leading where? Alright, I'll get to the point. It's the writer... the mystery writer. The creator of all of that fun and mayhem some of us love to delve into. I can go on about the imagination of these authors... Just then my kids drag me over to the TV for this classic bit that's on a rerun of Malcolm in the Middle involving the incomparable Bea Arthur (may she rest in peace):

Where was I? Oh, yes... the mystery writer. Which lead me to try and recall how many of these writers became the subjects themselves of the stories on TV, books, or movies:

1. Murder, She Wrote (mystery writer solving crimes)
2. Castle (mystery writer helps NYPD solve crimes)
3. Murder by Death (mystery writers being setup to solve a murder while at dinner)
4. Deathtrap (mystery writer pulls off murder... only to be caught by another writer)
5. Sleuth (mystery writer plots to kill wife's lover)
6. The Langoliers

Wait a minute... what's that last one? I know. Isn't that a Stephen King story? The horror writer?!? What is he or it doing in this post (and why am I talking to myself)? It's because this novella (from the author's Four Past Midnight book) is one of my favorites (along with his Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and The Body from Different Seasons). King is now recognized as one of the best storytellers we have in print. And whether its straight horror fiction, redemptive dramatic or nostalgic tales, his skill in writing the prose is exceptional. His dark scary stuff unfortunately puts off many and causes them to dismiss work of his that has nothing to do with that realm of fiction.

The novella The Langoliers, not necessarily the TV movie, is one of those (along with those others I've mentioned) that I encourage people to try and read. If you enjoyed any Twilight Zone episode (ever), you'll be on familiar ground with this one. In fact, one of the key characters in the story, a Bob Jenkins, is a mystery author. And it's he, using the plot devices of the genre, that figures what is actually going on. Yes, King writes a mystery... one a little more fantastical than most. But a mystery, nonetheless. 

Oh, god. It's only Monday. Now... where was I?

* ever since yesterday's Fifty Grand post, she's been in my head.