Monday, March 12, 2012

Whose that author?




Let's talk, you and I. Let's talk about fear. The house is empty as I write this; a cold February rain is falling outside. It's night. Sometimes when the wind blows the way it's blowing now, we lose the power. But for now it's on, and so let's talk very honestly about fear. Let's talk very rationally about moving to the rim of madness...and perhaps over the edge.Be afraid.....be very afraid.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh that sounds very familiar, something I heard in my head as I raced up and down the back stair well in the old insane asylum. My keys weighing down my uniform pocket and my pager buzzing like mad.

The Dude said...

That man has written millions of words. He is like Elvis or something, only cornier, and maybe a mile or so further down the road. One could drive furiously in a Plymouth, dodging dogs and drunks in the road, even a running man, no matter what you are carrying, you would still find nothing but misery.

But I don't read his work. Can't stand it.

chickelit said...

I'll admit to never having read a single book by Stephen King. I always preferred science fact to science fiction.

Trooper York said...

Sometimes hacks are the scariest things going. Just sayn'

Anonymous said...

I haven't read any of his books in years. I'm not a great fan of horror or science fiction, although I did like The Dune Trilogy and some of Heilein's stuff.

Chip S. said...

It's official! There's now a tag for "TOP".

Steven King is a huge Red Sox fan. Don't know if he's got a thing for rare clumbers, though.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I am getting scared by this...

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Stephen King is a hack

@ Allie & Chicke. No comparison between good sci fi the 'horror' genres. I prefer sci fi and sometimes can take the 'horror' writings. King is NOT science fiction.

But...Stephen King is a hack and I haven't changed my mind.

blake said...

It was always amusing when my dad read King. He read, and totally deconstructed Firestarter.

Sometimes he'd point out the bad writing. "He writes, 'His nerves were slowly unraveling, like a kitten with a ball of yarn.' A kitten doesn't slowly unravel a ball of yarn!"

Sometimes he'd point out issues with verisimilitude. "So, here he's describing a super-secret facility, that's so high clearance nobody knows it exists—but it has horses on it! That would require a large staff of low-level employees!"

Fun.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Blake. I like your dad.

Upon watching Terra Nova, I thought....

Why do they have all these swaths of white fabric hanging everywhere? They can't possibly have a white fabric factory. So this means that the people in the future are shoving yards and yards of white fabric through the glory hole. Since it is a one way trip, how do they know that the people dealing with dinosaurs really WANT more and more white fabric. Maybe what they really want is some more candles and bottles of Chianti.....And.....where are they getting those uniforms that fit? How do they know what sizes to shove through? Ammo? Guns? Why aren't they picking up the brass from the ammo. Do they think there will be an endless supply. Didn't they go through the glory hole because things were running out in the future. What if the people up stream just get sick of the settlers and shut off the stream of goods...After all out of sight out of mind....???

LOL...Makes it hard to watch a show with me.

I do this all the time with books too

blake said...

Heh. My dad probably would've liked that show. He was a "Stargate" fan. But he was also a hardcore science-fiction reader going back to at least the '50s.

He never confused Hollywood sci-fi with what he expected from writers.

He loved "Road Warrior," for example, but noted, "Gas wouldn't be the problem in the Outback. Tires would be."

Ha!

Dust Bunny Queen said...

That's really funny, because that was one of my things about Road Warrior...Where are they getting the tires and repairing them when they go flat or get shredded by driving over that Outback terrain? Do they have compressed air somewhere? Plus not all tires fit all wheels. Not all wheels fit all vehicles. Count the lug nuts.

LOL.

blake said...

You know, it used to be easier to overlook those technical things because, at least, you could argue they got the social elements right. Or if not right, then plausible. Or if not plausible, then at least entertaining.

I've been watching "Falling Skies" and "The Walking Dead" and it's just outright insulting. "Skies" was stupid from day one while "Dead" has shambled along to increasing levels of idiocy.

It's gotta be hard to be so cocooned in your beliefs that you can't imagine The Apocalypse changing opinions on gun control or the death penalty.

BJM said...

Um...lived in Oz when they made RW and there wasn't much choice in cars...you bought a MB, Jag or Rover if you had big $$$...but the Holden(GM), Chrysler and Ford mid-size models were what most drove and the competition between Holden & Ford was fierce. The occasional Toyota Land Cruiser could be found back of beyond but the Aussie's pretty much wouldn't buy anything Japanese back then.

The outback started 75mi outside any city and there weren't any parts except used or junk so you'd be surprised how many cars ran bolt adapter plates.

Cars were also way more expensive than in the US for the average family or working stiff so there were still a lot of 20 yr old cars on the road. I drove a 1956 British Racing Green Morris Minor...a couple of years later I got a posh job in advertising ($125 a week!) and traded up to this baby in Pearl Grey. *G*

BJM said...

Agreed...Clancy is another who kept churning out crap.