dann@wxlvax.UUCP (Dan Neiman) (12/21/83)
Normally my tastes don't run to horror, but I ran across the following
in the stacks of the town library, so...
Christine : Stephen King
You don't really have to read more than one Stephen King book. After
the first, you have a good idea what's going to happen. It starts with
minor supernatural manifestations which build in intensity until finally
people are dying right and left in picturesque and sanguinary ways.
Usually the forces of good triumph in the end, which means that at least
one of the protagonists is left standing.
I don't really care for King as a horror story writer because most
of what he writes doesn't convince/scare me. In Christine, there just
doesn't seem to be enough motivation a) for the existence of Christine in
the first place and b) for the sheer malignity of the supernatural
influence. King seems to have the impression borrowed, no doubt from
1950 horror movies, that anything supernatural will as a matter of course
delight in carnage. Anyways, Christine is a good, semi-suspenseful read
of the mental popcorn variety worth keeping around for the first blizzard
of the season. After reading, you can use it for kindling.
Legion : William Peter Blatty
William Peter Blatty is another type of author entirely. I suppose
you know he wrote The Exorcist, in fact Legion is kind of a sequel to
Exorcist. Blatty takes a more philosophical look at the question of
evil than King does and manages in the process to create a more
fundamentally terrifying sort of evil. The viewpoint is that of a
detective trying to solve a series of murders which strongly resemble
those committed ten years previously by a psychopath who was
supposed to have died in a fusilade of bullets but whose body was
never found. Good suspense and some reasonable plot turns.
Blatty's works usually contain a substantial amount of black
humor, Legion is no exception. Two of his earlier works also are
worth looking into, John Goldfarb, Please Come Home, and Twinkle, Twinkle,
Killer Kane. Goldfarb concerns the misadventures of an aviator, labeled
"Wrongway Goldfarb" after he leads his squadron to an enemy airbase during
the war. After the war, he is on a spy mission and gets lost *again*.
Twinkle,Twinkle, Killer Kane is the story of a mentally troubled,
highly trained soldier who gets assigned, by accident, to the position of
head psychiatrist at a lunatic asylum for prospective astronauts.
Kane is an extremely funny ultimately tragic book and is the best of
Blatty's that I've read.
dann
cprg@security.UUCP (Michelle Gosselin) (12/22/83)
> You don't really have to read more than one Stephen King book. After > the first, you have a good idea what's going to happen. I have to disagree with dann. I find Stephen King to be a very good writer. I find that his books do not follow the typical horrow story patterns. True, I did not find 'Christine' to be one of his best. I would suggest you try reading 'Firestarter' which deals with psychic and para-normal phenomena in humans. He brings out some very interesting ideas about sanity vs. insanity and the human potential for each. Also, 'Night Shift' is a great book of just short stories. Try reading them alone some night. My favorite has to be 'The Stand' though. This one is a 'stereotypical' story about a fight between good and evil, but it is well done. I have to disagree with dann also when he states that the circumstances are not believable. In 'The Stand', he creates a situation in which 90% of the human population is wiped out, and it is very possible and logical. 'Firestarter' also starts on a believable note. The starting point for the psychic events stems from some experiments done by the government with LSD in the 60's. Well, enough support for Stephen King. Sorry dann, I just could not let that one go by.
engels@ihuxs.UUCP (SME) (12/28/83)
Have you read King's 'Salems Lot? I haven't because it's supposed to be his scariest. I know several Stephen King fans who recommend it. They all agree that Christine is predictable. I'm reading it now. The Dead Zone was terrific (movie was good,too.) and so was Firestarter. I scare pretty easy and won't read his books if I'm alone at night, but I'm not the only one who enjoys his books! He's got quite a few fans. His short stories-like the Night Shift collection- are pretty intriguing.
twt@uicsl.UUCP (01/03/84)
#R:wxlvax:-19900:uicsl:16700007:000:348 uicsl!twt Jan 1 13:24:00 1984 Dann, Read the short story Trucks in King's Night Shift, then see whether you get real nervous when you're driving down the highway and a trucker is either tailgating or coming up on you real fast. Call me and tell me if you don't (but I bet just about anyone would.) Mary It's been years since I read that story, but sometimes I still wonder.
rene@umcp-cs.UUCP (01/05/84)
Not a book, but ...
The story Trucks - was it like the movie "Duel" (directed by Steven
Spielberg, starring Dennis Weaver)? After seeing "Duel", I was
paranoid about fast trucks for a while ...
- rene
--
Arpa: rene.umcp-cs@CSNet-relay
Uucp:...{allegra,seismo}!umcp-cs!reneberry@zehntel.UUCP (01/17/84)
#R:wxlvax:-19900:zinfandel:18100011:000:526 zinfandel!berry Jan 16 13:08:00 1984 >> Not a book, but ... >> >> The story Trucks - was it like the movie "Duel" (directed by Steven >> Spielberg, starring Dennis Weaver)? After seeing "Duel", I was >> paranoid about fast trucks for a while ... >> >> - rene Well, yes "Duel" IS a book - sort of. It was originally a short story (or maybe novella) first published in Playboy. Sorry, I can't remember the author or the Date of publication. Berry "I don't just look at the pictures" Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) (415)932-6900