beautiful – Tony's Horror Corner

Review Time: “The Road That Takes You There”

I got the pleasure to read Jason Sechrest’s newest story “The Road That Takes You There,” and it was creepily beautiful. Check out below for a full review!

“My God, her face… what happened to her face?”

From the opening lines, “The Road That Takes You There” immediately draws you in. Jason Sechrest, writer of Cemetery Dance Magazine’s column, “What I Learned From Stephen King,” definitely channeled his inner King with this story. You can find an excerpt to this wonderful story on Jason’s Patreon page!

After those ominous first lines, we are introduced to George Tinker as he is driving down an old farm road, a road he has known his entire life. Upon our meeting him, George notices something that was never there before: a church with an accompanying graveyard.

George drives past this new fixture twice a day. We never know where he is going or coming from, only that the church has become something he cannot look away from, something dwelling on him. George talks to his wife about his growing concerns, only his wife isn’t there.

Sechrest mixes in interludes like the opening lines to build the eerie air of the story and give readers insight to George’s life and sanity. This is a sad, creepy and seamlessly written tale. Sechrest delivers in just over 6 pages of work. It left me wanting more, in a good way.

“SALEM, that lone word which hung in the air over the tombstones, was the only commentary the place would offer… The word meant peace. He remembered that now from his Sunday school days as a kid. ‘Funny thing,’ he called up to it. ‘That’s just what I’m looking for.’”

Don’t read beyond here if you don’t want me to spoil the ending! Just know that Sechrest wrote a very fine story and I’m looking forward to seeing reactions from more readers.

One night, George finally decides to face this abnormality and he visits the church and graveyard. Once in the graveyard, George finds the grave of his wife and one next to it with his own name on it. Upon seeing his wife’s name, George is flooded with memories of the car crash that killed them.

After this memory dump, George sees his wife and finally can apologize and move on. They drive off together down the road, the road that will take them there.

Overall, Sechrest put together a great little tale and I’m excited to read more from him.

4.5 out of 5

Review Time: “Elevation”

Stephen King’s newest tale, “Elevation,” was released October 30, 2018. It is a very short, heartwarming story constant readers can breeze through. After finishing this one, my knee-jerk reaction was “meh,” but after letting it marinate for a few days, I have actually come to like and appreciate it more. Read below for my full review!

“Elevation,” weighing in at only 146 pages, tackles themes of the more real-life horrors in today’s society. This novella is vastly different from King’s other works and if you go into it expecting his usual stuff, you will be disappointed. Go in with an open mind, however, and you will probably end up enjoying this one.

A short and truly beautiful little tale that leaves your heart feeling full and a smile on your face. “Elevation” is a touching story of acceptance and King shows how much it means to be selfless… especially in the divisive world we live in today.

“Not a wind, not even a high exactly, but an elevation. A sense you had gone beyond yourself and could go further still.”

I did enjoy this novel, my rating at the end may not reflect that, but in general terms it was a good story, it just had a few moments that left me shaking my head and other moments where I know King could have done things differently.

“Elevation” makes you think of his Richard Bachman story, “Thinner,” and it feels like it belongs in “Different Seasons.” For a short, somewhat spoilery synopsis, keep reading. If you just want to get to my rating, scroll to the bottom! Without further ado, lets get elevated.

King starts us off with the main character, Scott Carey, visiting a friend and former doctor, Bob Ellis, about his sudden weight loss. Scott is losing weight, but you can’t see it in his appearance. He is a man in his 40’s who looks like he should weigh 240 lbs., but he when he steps on the scale, it reads much less than that.

Scale malfunction, right? Wrong. No matter what Scott is wearing or holding, no matter what scale he uses, it reads the same numbers, and these numbers are decreasing by the day. With no answer to his mysterious affliction, Scott decides to accept his new weight-loss program and live his life anyway.

Next door, Scott’s new neighbors are a married lesbian couple with two dogs who regular leave presents in his yard. Scott confronts his new neighbors about this and one of the women takes this as Scott being intolerant of their relationship like the rest of Castle Rock.

The women, Diedre McComb and Missy Donaldson, have opened a new restaurant in town, Holy Frijole, and, due to their marriage, it isn’t doing well. Castle Rock is a very conservative town and Scott, seeing his neighbors are being stigmatized, tries to help.

Scott attempts to befriend his new neighbors and even stands up for them at another local restaurant. Diedre continues to give him the cold shoulder, but Missy befriends Scott and apologizes for her wife’s demeanor.

“Scott hung up, thought about what giving things away meant – especially things that were also valued friends – and closed his eyes.”

Castle Rock hosts an annual Turkey Trot, 12k around Thanksgiving. Scott enters the race and makes a wager with Diedre. If he wins, her and her wife must come to his house for dinner. Diedre was an Olympic runner before an injury, but she still is excellent at the sport.

Scott’s weight loss has continued to progress, but the muscles he gained from being a man weighing 240 are still there; carrying a body that now weighs barely over 100 lbs. He feels very light on his feet. At the end he catches Diedre and she is so shocked, she falls. Scott could easily win the race at this point, but instead he helps Diedre up, and she wins.

A picture is taken of Scott helping Diedre to her feet and it is plastered in every local paper. Scott’s selfless act inspires the other residents of Castle Rock to join the rest of the 21^st century and accept the married women for who they are. After the race, business at Holy Frijole is booming.

“The only thing harder than saying goodbye to yourself, a pound at a time, was saying goodbye to your friends.”

Diedre, Missy, Dr. Bob and his wife join Scott for dinner. Here he tells all of them about his continuing weight loss and how he believes “Zero Day” is coming soon. “Zero Day” is the day Scott believes will weigh nothing.

The rest of the novel quickly goes through Scott’s life as a figurative leaf in a windy park. We see flashes of how Scott’s weightlessness affects his everyday activities. This section is very sad and a few moments had me close to tears. Scott’s character, admirable from the start, is even more so here at the end solely due to his ability to accept his affliction and still attempt to make the best of it.

The novel ends with Diedre, Missy, Bob and his wife literally letting Scott float into the sky where he lights off a load of fireworks. Talk about going out with a bang. The ending, as heartbreaking as it was, was a tad cheesy for my liking, but it was the best way to send this story off.

Overall, I enjoyed this little tale. I really liked Scott as a character, but to me he was the only one that was fully fleshed out. The social justice and political aspects bogged down the very intriguing and somewhat intense journey of Scott’s decreasing weight.

I feel like King could have gone way further into the affects of Scott becoming weightless, but I understand why King wrote a novel like this and released it now. It is something everyone should read and take to heart. America needs to look at someone like Scott and take extensive notes.

ANYWAY, in the end, I am giving this novel a three because it just wasn’t quite enough for a four. It was very close though, mainly because of the message and the uplifting nature. I do recommend everyone check out “Elevation.”

3 out of 5

Review Time: “Hearts in Atlantis”

My 70th Stephen King book, “Hearts in Atlantis,” was incredible. Check out my review for this interconnected collection about the Vietnam generation.

“Hearts in Atlantis” was released in September, 1999 but King had this 522-page collection of two novellas and three short stories finished in December 1998, before his near-fatal car accident in June of 1999. Sales and reception of the collection were probably hindered by this, but the collection is still a thing of beauty.

This is King’s deep dive into the generation involved with the Vietnam War. King repeatedly refers to this generation, and America during this time period, as the lost city of Atlantis. In one passage, King even refers to the war itself as “the apocalyptic continent drowner.”

These stories span from 1960 to 1999 and are all connected by feel, theme, and recurring characters. The first two stories have a feel of a brewing storm and impending doom while the last three all seem to deal with the after-effects of the storm (flood). They are all beautifully written; it is truly some of King’s best work.

“Low Men in Yellow Coats”

1960: They had a stick sharpened at both ends.

The first story in the collection is a beautiful coming of age tale, somewhat similar in feel to King’s novella “The Body.” Here King introduces the readers to all the main characters you will encounter later. Bobby Garfield, Carol Gerber, John Sullivan (Sully-John), William (Willie) Shearman and Ted Brautigan.

Bobby is the main character in this one. He lives with his mother and pals around with his best friends, Carol and Sully-John. An older gentleman, Ted, moves into the apartment above Bobby’s. Ted and Bobby soon become unlikely friends and Ted hires Bobby to read him the paper and keep a lookout for Low Men in yellow coats, as well as a few other signs.

We learn Ted is a “breaker” and the Low Men are after him because he can help destroy the beams supporting the dark tower, the nexus of the universe. Bobby, upon learning all of this, was obviously confused. All of that makes more sense if you’ve read “The Dark Tower” series.

If you have already read “The Dark Tower” series, then Ted and all his little references are incredible pleasing. If you haven’t, well, read that series. That’s all I’ll say because it is amazing.

Anyway, Bobby comes to love Ted, learn from Ted, and see Ted as a father figure. When Ted must leave toward the end of the novella, Bobby doesn’t take it well. The last few pages, watching Bobby turn from a sweet young boy to an angry teen, are heartbreaking.

“You had to keep your nose to the grindstone and your shoulder to the wheel. Life wasn’t easy, and life wasn’t fair.” – Bobby Garfield.

There’s a lot more to this novella, but I don’t want to spoil too much for you and there are more stories to get to!

“Hearts in Atlantis”

1966: Man, we just couldn’t stop laughing.

The titular story in the collection. This one almost felt like a non-fiction story. Pete Riley is the lead here and we get to journey through freshman year at the University of Maine during the beginnings of the Vietnam conflict through his perspective.

Pete makes many friends on his hall, one of whom, Ronnie Malenfant appears in the following two stories as well. Another is Carol Gerber. Yep, the same Carol Gerber. Carol and Pete get pretty chummy if you know what I mean, but she leaves school for good after Thanksgiving break to protest the Vietnam War.

“Hearts are tough. Most times they don’t break. Most times they only bend.” – Carol Gerber.

Ronnie gets Pete’s entire freshman dorm hall enamored with the card game Hearts. The freshman are so obsessed with “chasing the bitch” that over half of them move dorms, or flunk out. This becomes problematic and much more serious once the reality of being drafted hits the boys.

Toward the end of the semester, Pete and his best friend Skip plead to their teachers for extra opportunities or make-up tests to bring their grades up. Their pleas work and both boys pass their freshman year and successfully avoid the war.

“Years later I realized that for many of the instructors it was a moral issue rather than an academic one: they didn’t want to read their ex-students’ names in a casualty list and have to wonder if they had been partially responsible; that the difference between a D and a C-minus had also been the difference between a kid who could see and hear and one sitting senseless in a V.A. hospital somewhere.” – Pete Riley

Throughout the novella, King emphasizes the feeling of impending doom that is the escalating crisis in Vietnam. We see Pete fall in love, and lose her to protests. We see Pete make friends, and lose them to Hearts. We see Pete start to fail, revitalize his schooling, and then throw it all away to protest the war himself.

King leaves us with conflicting feelings of empowerment and dread. “Hearts in Atlantis” is a beautiful novella and King utilized the realism and non-fiction feel to drive home the Atlantis metaphor.

“Time goes by, Atlantis sinks deeper and deeper into the ocean, and you have a tendency to romanticize.” – Pete Riley

Both, “Low Men in Yellow Coats” and “Hearts in Atlantis” deal with the youth learning the world is bigger than what they thought. The next three stories deal with how that world is not a nice place.

“Blind Willie”

1983: Godbless us every one.

“Blind Willie” follows a day in the life of Willie Shearman, yep the Willie I mentioned from “Low Men in Yellow Coats.” Willie leaves home every morning, goes to an office building where he writes notes apologizing to Carol Gerber (yeah her again) for helping his friend beat her up when they were kids. After this is done, Willie dresses as a blind homeless man and panhandles for money.

Willie is a Vietnam War vet. He fought alongside Sully-John (yep, same guy) and Ronnie Malenfant. He was sent home after being partially blinded by a flash-bang grenade and carrying a seriously wounded Sully-John to safety.

Willie is not actually blind, only pretends to be when he panhandles. He has to pay off a cop who isn’t convinced of his ploy.

This was the weakest story in the collection, but it was still good and dealt with heavy themes guilt and contrition.

“Why We’re in Vietnam”

1999: When someone dies, you think about the past.

This story follows Sully-John in his post-war days. After being wounded and saved by Willie, Sully starts to see the ghost of a Vietnamese woman whom Ronnie had killed, seemingly for no reason.

Years later, Sully is attending the funeral of one of his fellow soldiers and reminisces with his old Commanding Officer. They discuss how everyone who came home is falling apart (drowning), dying too early and selling out.

After the funeral, while stuck in traffic on his way home, Sully spots a woman who looks like Carol Gerber. Sully dated Carol before college and had been seeing her photos in the news at anti-war protests. One article in particular mentioned a house she was in had burned down.

Sully realizes the woman is not Carol and random objects begin falling from the sky, crushing cars and killing people. He gets hit by a baseball glove… his old friend Bobby Garfield’s baseball glove.

In the final pages, I won’t say how, but King tears our heart out.

“Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling”

1999: Come on, you bastard, come on home.

The final story in the collection, the epilogue of sorts. Bobby Garfield has returned home for a funeral.

Bobby and his mother left their hometown shortly after Ted did. In the years that followed, Bobby was troubled and a problem child. He eventually cleaned himself up, and that is where we see him now.

While home, he revisits areas around the town, churning up old childhood memories. Bobby is sitting on a park bench when Carol comes up to him. Bobby is shocked because he had presumed Carol was dead after reading about her protests in the paper.

Throughout their conversation, Bobby reveals he received a package from Ted. The package contained his baseball glove and a message telling him to go home.

This was a mini reunion and slightly heartwarming, while at the same time very sad. The few remaining survivors of Atlantis. King brought everything full-circle… as he tends to do.

Overall I thought this collection was incredible. King absolutely crushed it. These stories were beautiful, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and impactful.

I hope I didn’t give too much away in my review, and I hope, if you’re confused or thought some things were too vague, then you’ll grab yourself a copy. I highly recommend you check it out.

5 out of 5.

Review Time: “Nightmares & Dreamscapes”

“Nightmares & Dreamscapes” was Stephen King’s third short story collection, and my 69th book of his and it was absolutely incredible. Check out my review below!

King released this 960-page collection of 24 short stories in 1993. The only King collection I have left to read is “Hearts In Atlantis,” which has novellas and short stories mixed in, so really “Nightmares & Dreamscapes” was the last one… and for me, it was the best one.

The introduction, which King titled “Myth, Belief, Faith, and Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” was truly incredible and inspirational. It was without a doubt the best introduction to anything I have ever read. I highly recommend you check out the intro, even if for some stupid reason you don’t read the rest of the book, at least read that.

“First, repeat the catechism after me:

I believe a dime can derail a freight-train.

I believe there are alligators in the New York City sewer system, not to mention rats as big as Shetland ponies.

I believe that you can tear off someone’s shadow with a steel tent-pole.

I believe that there really is a Santa Claus, and that all those red-suited guys you see at Christmastime really are his helpers.

I believe there is an unseen world all around us.

I believe that tennis balls are full of poison gas, and if you cut one in two and breathe what comes out, it’ll kill you.

Most of all, I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks.”

– Stephen King

Forewarning, this post will be long because I am going to briefly go over each story, so sit back and enjoy the ride!

“Dolan’s Cadillac” – The lead-off story, as King put it, got readers right in the zone. A noir revenge story with an extremely intricate build-up. I really enjoyed this tale and it was one of my favorites in the collection.

“The End of the Whole Mess” – Another gem, and probably my favorite in the collection, just purely for the thoughts you’re left with afterward. One man’s genius brother discovers the saying “there’s something in the water” is actually true. The cure to violence ends up having some serious side-effects.

“Suffer the Little Children” – this story was very dark and pretty disturbing. It leaves you questioning what the right “answer” was. Once you read it, you’ll understand.

“The Night Flier” – A writer for a tabloid magazine, one that seems to specialize in blood, guts, horror and all things supernatural, chases a vampire with a private pilot’s license down the east coast. The final confrontation was intense. The 1997 film adaptation was decent too.

“Popsy” – A young boy gets abducted and later saved by his grandfather, Popsy, who displays similar characteristics to the antagonist of “The Night Flier.” In the notes at the end of the collection, King confirms they are indeed the same person. This story started off somewhat disturbing in the sense of the subject matter but finished in classic bloody-King fashion.

“It Grows on You” – I was disappointed with this one. I was intrigued with the Castle Rock setting and the elderly characters whom had survived the events of “Needful Things,” but the story was just… meh. It has a couple creepy bits but overall, I think it would actually serve better as a novel where we could get more detail.

“Chattery Teeth” – A classic case of King turning something mundane, such as the toy wind-up teeth with feet, into something utterly horrific.

“Dedication” – This story was strange. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. It had a sense of realism that made it good, but overall it was slow and not very exciting. This story would be better suited in the collection “Full Dark, No Stars.”

“The Moving Finger” – CRAZY. That’s seriously the best way to describe this one. A man discovers a finger prying around his sink poking through the drain… It was intense, and the way King wrote it made you feel like you were going insane too. WAS IT REAL????

“Sneakers” – this was a strange ghost story, but it definitely gave me the creeps and I really liked it. You’ll never look at a pair of shoes underneath a bathroom stall the same way after reading this one…

“You Know They Got a Hell of a Band” – A couple takes a wrong turn and ends up in a town called Rock and Roll Heaven. Little do they know, it IS Rock and Roll Heaven, and they are now trapped and must listen to nightly concerts from dead rockers. Doesn’t sound too bad actually.

“Home Delivery” – King spins out another gem here. A pregnant woman on an island off the Maine coast, loses her husband while he’s catching Lobsters. She decides to have the baby in the comfort of her own home. Why? Well only the small matter of a zombie apocalypse on the mainland. This is one of my favorites in the collection mainly because of the way King hides the horror and spins a great tale around it.

“Rainy Season” – This story has a very classic King feel to it. A couple staying at a summer home in Maine decide to stay there the wrong year. That night, they get rained on by killer toads with razor sharp teeth. As you can guess, this one doesn’t end well for our “heroes.”

“My Pretty Pony” – A slower tale about a grandfather sharing some wisdom with his grandson. Reading it I really didn’t think I was going to enjoy it, but as the tale unfolds, I grew to really appreciate it and the lesson it left me with. A great message about the passage of time. Not a favorite, but really a beautiful story.

“Sorry, Right Number” – This one blew me away. I didn’t cry, but I definitely got close. King wrote it like a screenplay and I think it really added to the pace and atmosphere of the story. Super dark and depressing but a great tale with a wild twist.

“The Ten O’clock People” – King spins an excellent story here, tapping on real social issues while also adding his usual supernatural twist to it. Every day, at 10 O’clock, people converge outside to smoke their cigarettes (since the office buildings started to ban smoking inside). These people can see things… What they see, are people in higher-power positions with giant grotesque bat heads. This story escalates quickly and is super interesting. One of my favorites.

“Crouch End” – Another favorite of mine from this collection. A couple (huh, King likes screwing with couples, doesn’t he?) gets lost in the suburbs of London and find themselves in the mysterious town of Crouch End. The wife loses the husband after a series of creepy events and begins seeing and hearing disturbing things. She finally makes her way to the police station to share her story. The ending makes readers shout “NO!” King wrote this one as a little ode to Lovecraft.

“The House on Maple Street” – Four siblings discover metal growing beneath the floors and behind the walls of their house. In the cellar, they then discover a control panel with a series of numbers counting down. The eldest hatches a plan to trap their evil step father in the house when the countdown hits zero. When it does, the house takes off. It was a crazy little tale but very fun and left you with a smile on your face.

“The Fifth Quarter” – This felt like a Bachman story, and King even admitted as much in the notes at the end. A man discovers one of his friends got mixed up with some bad people. These people stole money, buried it, made a map to find it again, and tore the map in four pieces to be distributed amongst themselves. Of course, no one trusts one another, and all are trying to get the pieces for themselves. Our main character, the fifth quarter, seeking revenge for his friend, slowly gathers the pieces. It was a cool little tale and I don’t think I did it justice here.

“The Doctor’s Case” – King writes about the classic characters Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in this murder mystery. In this case, Dr. Watson is the one to discover the murderer, but Holmes, Watson, and an Inspector all decide to hide the evidence and leave the mystery “unsolved.” This was a really interesting tale and pretty ballsy of King to do his own take on such classic characters.

“Umneys’ Last Case” – Umney is a private investigator or detective of sorts who goes about the same daily routine. The day of the story however, things have changed and Umney can’t deal. He gets to his office where he meets his doppelganger who happens to be “God” aka the man who created Umney. Umney is fiction and the doppelganger is the author of the Umney stories. The author intends to write himself into Umney’s life and Umney into the real world. It is a very unique and very cool story.

“Head Down” – This is a non-fiction essay, originally published in “The New Yorker,” about Stephen King’s son Owen’s baseball team, Bangor West, and their run at the Little League championship. King, being a huge baseball fan, and a gifted writer (obviously) was able to spin the tale of his son’s team’s triumph out for readers like one of his own stories. He kept it light and factual but still extremely intriguing and heartwarming. When King told readers of a non-fiction tale in the intro, I was like “Oh boy this will be boring.” WOW was I wrong. Reading this story gave me HUGE feelings of nostalgia back to my little league days.

“Brooklyn August” – King spins out a little poem about baseball for us. It’s a nice conclusion before we reach the notes section where he tells us about some of the stories.

“The Beggar and the Diamond” – After the notes, King hid an extra story. This one is somewhat religious and its King’s take on a Hindu parable. The story wasn’t anything amazing, but the message and the lesson were nice.

Overall, this short story collection was absolutely incredible. I was blown away. If I could give this collection more than a perfect score, I would. But alas, I give “Nightmares & Dreamscapes” a:

5 out of 5

Review Time: “The Outsider”

“The Outsider” was my 67th Stephen King book, and it is his most recently published novel. It was an absolute thrill ride from start to finish. Ill warn you when spoilers are on the horizon.

Quick synopsis: Flint City (a fictional city in Oklahoma) detective Ralph Anderson makes an extremely public arrest of Terry Maitland. Terry is a very well-known and respected member of the community. He coaches little league baseball and football and works as an English teacher. Ralph arrested Terry for the brutal murder of a child.

DNA evidence and eye-witness accounts all point to Terry, but Terry claims he was in Cap City (another fictional city in Oklahoma) for a literary convention on the same day the murder occurred. Video evidence and statements from other teachers who were at the convention with Terry support his defense.

Ralph and his team are stuck with conflicting evidence and one impossible question: How can someone be in two places at once?

“The Outsider” was released just two months ago, (May 2018), but this 560-page thriller is an amazing and fast paced page turner. It felt like vintage King but also gave Constant Readers the new modern touch King has acquired.

The characters were amazing as usual, the story was tight, and the villain was great. A beautiful yet horrifying novel. It is the best novel King has put out since “11/22/63.” King takes some shots at Trump and even throws a diss out to Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of “The Shining.”

Warning: Spoilers Below! Scroll to the bottom to see some future “Outsider” info and my rating, (you’ll see the “End Spoiler” marker).

Have you read “The Outsider” yet? If so, keep reading, if not, scroll down and why did you ignore the spoiler blocker??

So, if you’re here, I’m assuming you’ve read “The Outsider.” First, the description of the murder: BRUTAL. Second, as I said before, King’s usual amazing characters sucked me right in once again and, of course I was upset when a few died. Damn you King! (Just Kidding).

Third, the mystery King lays out is extremely intriguing, and the villain, the Outsider, El Cuco or El Cucuy, is one hell of a creep. He/she/it, is a sicko but is definitely up there on the list of my favorite King villains (hmmm maybe a future post). The back-story King weaved in is characteristically disturbing.

As usual, King ties in other stories, specifically the Hodges Trilogy, “Mr. Mercedes,” “Finders Keepers,” and “End Of Watch.” Holly Gibney, Bill Hodges protégé, is recruited to help Ralph Anderson in discovering how Maitland could have been in two places at once.

Holly, having dealt with the supernatural before with Brady Hartsfield, must convince Ralph that even the impossible can be reality. Holly relays the events of the Hodges trilogy to Ralph and his team, bringing up major nostalgic feelings for constant readers.

The final confrontation was a tad anticlimactic, but it also included one of the most terrifying scenes in the novel.

SPOILERS OVER, if you haven’t read “The Outsider,” do not read above, but feel free to read everything beyond this point.

“The Outsider” was heart-pounding, unique, creepy, and just downright amazing. It is so good; a TV adaptation is already in the works. Media Rights Capital, writer Richard Price, and executive producers Jack Bender and Marty Bowen are teaming up for a 10-episode series of the #1 bestseller.

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Bender and Bowen worked together on the Mr. Mercedes series, the TV adaptation of King’s Hodges Trilogy. Richard Price is best known for his working writing for shows and movies like “The Wire,” “Sea of Love,” “Ransom,” and “The Color of Money.”

Anyway, this is a review, so to finish it off, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: my rating. It is a no-brainer and from what I’ve seen in other reviews, many agree.

Drumroll please…

5 out of 5

Review Time: “Bag of Bones”

“Bag of Bones” was my 66th Stephen King novel and it was a good one (as usual). The tagline: “A haunted love story” is a next to perfect description. Read below for my review, and don’t worry, there are no spoilers ahead.

“The most brilliantly drawn character in a novel is but a bag of bones”

Quick synopsis: Mike Noonan, a famous author, is still grieving four years after the sudden death of his wife and decides to leave his current home in Derry (you may recognize that town name) and stay at his lake house on Dark Score Lake in TR-90, near Castle Rock (more towns you may recognize).

Mike hopes the move will get him past his current writers block and also help him along the grieving process. While staying in the lake house Mike gets wrapped up in a custody battle and discovers there are some angry spirits on the lake and in his house.

One of my favorite parts of this novel was the way King had the spirits communicating with Mike through the magnets on his refrigerator.

Stephen King released this 529-page Gothic beauty in 1998. “Bag of Bones” was the first book King released after leaving Viking and signing a deal with Scribner to be his new publisher.

I really enjoyed this one. There were some scenes that were genuinely terrifying, and a moment or two even brought out tears. The last 100 pages were incredible, they flew by.

The novel was paced very well, with a great start. it did have a somewhat jumbled middle though and was maybe a tad slow during some of the custody battle bits, but overall it was fine and all the middle jumble came to a head and shot from a cannon, creating the fire of the last 100 pages.

“Bag of Bones” was adapted into a TV mini-series in 2011 coming in at a little over two and a half hours long. It was very boring. Could have easily cut an hour out and it would have been better.

Pierce Brosnan portrayed Mike Noonan and he did fine. He had the look of Mike down, but Pierce is just so cheesy. The whole movie was cheesy.

The film caught the essence of the novel, but it was definitely just okay. The ratings say just that: 34% “Liked It” on Rotten Tomatoes and it received a 5.8 out of 10 on IMDb. I give the movie a 5 out of 10 myself.

In the end, I definitely recommend reading this gothic romance novel, but the movie is totally skippable. I give the book a:

4 out of 5

Stephen King Releases Short Story “Laurie,” Novella “The Gingerbread Girl” To Be Adapted and “IT: Chapter Two” Finds Two More Actors

Stephen King released a new short story, the rights to one of his novellas was purchased for a film adaptation, and Andy Muschietti’s adult Losers Club is coming together.

King surprised everyone May 17, with the online release of a brand new short story, “Laurie.” (that is a link to the pdf). You can find the story through a link in King’s tweet announcing the story’s release, or through his website.

I’m posting a brand new short story, if you want to read it–think of it as an appetizer to the main course, THE OUTSIDER, coming next week. The story is free. Read, print, share, whatever. Go to my website or click the link. Enjoy! https://t.co/tfHIWTPoNw

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) May 17, 2018

“Laurie” tells the tale of Lloyd Sunderland, an elderly man living alone in Florida following the death of his wife. Lloyd’s sister stops by one day and gives him a puppy, Laurie.

For fear of spoilers, I’ll stop there, but “Laurie” is a very nice, heartwarming tale with an interesting King-esque thrill dropped in later.

I give it a 4 out of 5. It had some reminiscent themes from “Insomnia.”

In other news, the movie rights to King’s novella, “The Gingerbread Girl” were purchased by Brainstorm Media.

“The Gingerbread Girl” was first published in Esquire magazine but can now be found in King’s 2008 short story collection “Just After Sunset.”

The novella tells the tale of a woman who forces herself into a grueling running routine to avoid dealing with loss. One day she runs into the mysterious Pickering (dun dun dun).

Craig Baxley will be directing the film and he is co-writing the script with King himself. Baxley directed “Storm of the Century,” a screenplay King wrote and released in 1999.

Mitchell Galin has signed on to produce the film. King fans may recognize his name seeing as how he has produced the adaptations of Kings “Pet Sematary,” “The Stand,” “Thinner,” “The Langoliers,” “The Night Flier” and “Golden Years.” You could say King likes his work and vice-versa.

No release date has been announced yet, but casting is currently underway.

A couple weeks ago I told you the second part Andy Muschietti’s adaptation of “IT” had found a few actors, well this week they added two more to the adult Losers Club.

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On May 16, James Ransone announced via his twitter page that he will be playing adult Eddie Kaspbrak and constant readers everywhere are sucking on their inhalers in excitement.

Ransone is known for his work in “Sinister,” “Sinister 2” and “The Wire” along with a few smaller films and shows.

Only a day after Ransone made his announcement, Andy Bean was announced as adult Stanley Uris.

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The announcement came via Wyatt Oleff’s Instagram page. Oleff played young Stan in the uber successful first part of Muschietti’s adaptation.

Bean’s previous work include “The Divergent Series: Allegiant,” and TV shows “Power” and “Here and Now.”

Bean and Ransone aren’t very well-known actors, and they’ll have to fight for screen-time with James McAvoy, Bill Hader, and Jessica Chastain, but I’m sure the two new additions will do very well in their roles and I have complete faith in Andy Muschietti’s direction.

Lastly, let’s not forget the release of “The Outsider” is fast approaching… constant readers can practically taste the 22^nd.

In other writing release news, a collection of short stories edited by Stephen King and writer Bev Vincent, “Flight of Fright” is set for a September 4 release.

“Flight or Fright” contains stories all about the horrors of plane travel. It includes stories from King himself, as well as his son Joe Hill, and 15 other authors.

A month after “Flight or Fright” hits shelves, King’s newest novella, “Elevation,” will be released October 30.

It is seriously a great time to be a constant reader and Stephen King fan.

Review Time: “Lisey’s Story”

“Lisey’s Story” was my 65th Stephen King novel and it was definitely one his most beautiful works yet.

Baby. Babyluv.

“Lisey’s Story” tells the tale of Lisey Landon who lost her husband Scott two years ago. Scott was a famous author, and Lisey is in the process of attempting to clean out his study.

Published in 2006, this 509-page novel received relatively good reviews, with some negative ones, as all novels will. I personally loved it. It was fantastic. Paced well, tender, honest, imaginative, and emotional.

Stephen King said this is one of his personal favorites. He said he came up with the idea when he returned home from the hospital following a fight with pneumonia and saw his wife was redecorating his writing studio and had a lot of his things in boxes. This sight gave him the thought, “this is what it will be like when I die.”

This is a very sad novel. We as constant readers relive Lisey’s time with Scott. King intertwines Lisey’s memories and flashbacks of specific events with her husband and her present efforts to finally finish the grieving process.

King seamlessly weaves the past and the present, showing us Lisey’s heartbreak, but also showing us her strength. I cried a couple times, was shocked quite a few times, and even caught myself with a goofy smile on my face a couple times.

I said it was sad, but “Lisey’s Story” is heartwarming, shocking and has its scary bits too.

Below I am going to go into a bit of a spoilery review, so if you haven’t read yet, I highly recommend you do and you can continue reading this review, it won’t ruin the book, but it may not surprise you as much when you do read it.

If you have read, please, continue reading this review. If you haven’t, continue if you want, and whether you stay or go, make sure you read this vivid and amazing story.

This may be one of King’s most imaginative books to date.

King introduces us to Boo’ya Moon, another world, adjacent to ours, that Scott discovered when he was a child.

Scott grew up with his older brother Paul and their insane father. Scott adored his older brother, but his father would torture the poor boys. To escape and recuperate, Scott would take his brother to Boo’ya Moon, a world adjacent to ours. A world where you are not safe at night.

King’s vivid descriptions of Boo’ya Moon are absolutely incredible. The flowers, the tall grass, the trees, the pool, the laughers, and of course, Scott’s creepy “long boy.” (I won’t go any further into details)

While cleaning out Scott’s study, Lisey often hears the voice of her late husband and his terms of endearment, “Baby. Babyluv.” Hearing his voice and his other quirky sayings trigger the flashbacks.

One day, Lisey receives a call from John Dooley. Dooley wants her to give Scott’s unpublished work to a professor at Pitt. Dooley threatens Lisey with her life if she does not cooperate.

Dooley shows up at Lisey’s home one night and maims her as a warning. Once he is gone, she travels to Boo’ya Moon and takes a dip in the pool, healing her wounds.

Once healed, Lisey returns to this world and visits her catatonic sister Amanda. She travels back to Boo’ya Moon and brings her sisters conscious back to the real world, waking her up. Together, Amanda and Lisey confront Dooley and bring him to Boo’ya Moon where he meets Scott’s long boy.

This novel is truly fantastic. The writing is flawless, the pace is perfect. There are some creepy bits, some beautiful bits and some heartbreaking bits.