Palaver's Stephen King blog

“Kashwak=NO-FO”

Cell is dedicated to, and echoes the works of, filmmaker George A. Romero and writer Richard Matheson, but it is also very much a “typical” King book – more so, some might argue, than his most recent other publications. Cellphones bring about an apocalypse perhaps more reminiscent of King’s short story “The End of the Whole Mess” than “The Stand”. What seems at first to be mere bloodthirsty madness in the afflicted turns out to be of a more “ambitious” nature. Illustrator Clay tries to find his son in a world gone mad and finds new friends along the way – enabling King to expound on themes like communication and the parallels between the human brain and a computer.

This is an extraordinarily bleak tale, swinging between stubborn hopelessness and a more alarming sort of terror, but not entirely without it’s brighter moments. They pale, however, beside all the carnage that – presented with King’s usual, inflinching eye – becomes just as tragic as it is gory.

As for similarities between “Cell” and his or others’ tales: as long as King makes all his characters alive and real, the story will always be a new one. Simple as that.

“People ignore it, mostly,” she said, “the way they always ignore things they don’t understand… as long as they can, anyway.”

In a shed belonging to a Pennsylvania police precinct, an old Buick has been standing for some time. It’s not anything as simple as haunted – like Christine, for instance. In fact, the main theme of the book may well be the frustration of not being able to solve a mystery. Curt Wilcox, and then his son Ned, try their best though – and on the way a portrait of a small police station is painted.

Sort of an anti-book in some ways and may leave some readers dissatisfied. Can’t honestly say that it’s one my personal favorites, although I appreciate what King is trying to do here (at least, what I think he’s trying to do).

“SSDD”

Revisiting both Derry, the haunted town of IT, and the bodysnatcheresque Sci-fi tone of The Tommyknockers, Dreamcatcher is a rather extreme and often stomach-turning yarn about the events following the crash of a hostile alien spacecraft in New England. Most of the story is concentrated to one or two eventful days, but there are also a number of flashbacks to the main characters’ past, as a small gang of boys in Derry become friends with a strange boy called Duddits. Dreamcatcher swings wildly between black comedy, horror and moving drama, all these emotions skillfully juggled by a King writing in long-hand, since sitting by a computer was too physically painful after his accident in 1999.

There are a number of memorable characters here, such as general Kurtz, the alien Mr Gray and, above all, Duddits. Many of my favourite scenes involve an alien using the body of Jonesy, one of the main characters, as a vehicle, trying to get used to both this strange planet and unpractical human flaws like emotions and hunger, as Jonesy meanwhile, trapped in a “room” inside his own brain struggles to thwart the alien and his evil schemes. I have a theory that the “memory palace” of Dr. Lecter in Thomas Harris’s Hannibal inspired some of these strange and fascinating scenes.

“Write a lot and read a lot.”

A non-fiction book on writing fiction. Begun before the road accident in 1999 and finished afterwards, this book is a should-read for not only every King fan but people who are serious about writing and want some initiated advice. The book consists of three parts, equally interesting. First out is a brief memoir of events that shaped King as a writer and a person, from childhood memories to the beginning of his success. King, always an honest writer, tells his own story as plainly and clearly as anything else, including the less flattering parts. A collection of tips and thoughts on writing follows, and its not a bunch of vague, philosophical nonsense, either. Some very practical advice can be found here, often conveyed in a very humorous way, and best of all, it makes you want to write. King manages to infect the reader with his obvious love for the craft of telling stories. Finally (well, almost), King summarizes the events around and after the accident in 1999 that nearly killed him. A perfect ending for a book like this, as it ends with the difficult road for King back to writing. Perhaps the main point of the book is that writing is hard work (emphasizing work), but can be very rewarding.