In Which We Discuss the Stand and the Long Walk

So, continuing with my project to read all of Stephen King's work in chronological order I've just finished The Stand.  The Stand was Stephen King's sixth published novel.  It originally came out in 1978, and was set five minutes in the future, in 1980.  It was republished in 1990, in a version that was about three hundred pages longer.  When King had only published six novels, his publishers felt that readers would have trouble with a novel over one thousand pages.  Ten years later, they had no such qualms.

It may have been more true to the challenge if I'd first read the original, 1978, edited version, and then, when appropriate, read the 1990 version.  Oh well.  I couldn't be bothered to track it down, and by the time I realised there were two versions, I was way too into mine.

My Kindle edition had real pages numbers, and according to those, my copy of The Stand was 1320 pages.  It felt exactly the right length.  Nothing felt like filler, or like waiting for the good parts to happen.  I think a major part of this was the sheer number of characters.  Sometimes I'd forget who someone was, and then King would drop in a quick reminder and it'd all come flooding back.  That didn't bother me; I think the only way the book could have worked was with its huge cast of characters.

I reread The Long Walk over the course of two days.  I do like that one.  Apparently it was one of the first novels Stephen King wrote, way back when he was in high school.  It isn't perfect.  It's about an event in which one hundred boys try to outwalk each other.  If they drop below 4mph for longer than 30 seconds, they get a warning.  If they get three warnings, then slow down for another 30 seconds, they're shot in the head.  That was the thing that really bugged me; the speed limit. 4mph is not a walking speed, it's a running speed.  I'm taller than the average woman, and my walking speed is just over 3mph.  These guys were probably taller than my 5'6, but how much taller would you have to be for 4mph to be your natural speed?  It just doesn't make sense to me.  Also, why had so few of these guys trained and equipped themselves properly?  Annoying.

Of course, the point of it is really more a character study than anything else, so I can overlook those things.

I've just bought a copy of The Dead Zone, which is apparently one of Stephen King's favourites.  I've never read it before, so let's see if I agree.

Darker than your Wonderland, Chapters 7-9

Part 2 is here.

7. Promises

"I apologise for my father's behaviour," said Scorpius, as soon as they were outside. Rose gaped.

"Your father? I'm sorry about my father. He's not normally -"


"He's just very formal, he didn't mean - "


They stopped, and smiled at each other. Rose was relieved to see Scorpius' face thaw.


"Let's go get ice creams," she said, feeling more cheerful.

"Rose?" asked Scorpius, as they walked.

"Yes?"

"Could we – could we go to muggle London, one day?"

Rose looked at her friend's face. Unusually, for him, there was a slight flush along his cheekbones. She realised that he was asking a lot from her.

Rose wondered what Scorpius' father would think of his desire to explore a muggle city. He'd been allowed to keep the books, but she knew that he'd never been able to buy his own. It had probably never occurred to Draco that Scorpius would want more books. Even if it had, would Draco know how to get around the muggle world well enough to buy more? Rose knew her own father would struggle with that.


Rose realised it had cost Scorpius a lot to admit, even as subtly as he had, that this was something his father couldn't give him.

Wizarding fiction was nowhere near as broad as muggle fiction and the books that did exist didn't often cover fantasy or science fiction. There were myths and legends, and there were books about wizards losing their powers for whatever reason, but there were very few about worlds where magic worked differently, or where technology was fantastic and advanced. It was simply not a subject that many wizards were concerned with.

"Of course we can," she replied, vowing to make it happen somehow. Her muggle grandparents would be fine with her bringing a friend to stay with them, she thought, although they might raise eyebrows about it being a male friend. The main problem would be persuading her parents, but she was sure they'd come around.

Scorpius and Rose got so caught up in debating the works of Philip K. Dick that they were almost ten minutes late getting back to the Hogs Head. Draco Malfoy was waiting outside. As soon as Scorpius realised that, he stopped running, flattening his hair, and smoothing out his clothing.

"Father," he said, in greeting., his face still flushed from their hurry Draco nodded, and stepped forward, placing an arm around his son, guiding him away.

"Good day, Miss Weasley," he said as they passed.

Rose hurried into the Hogs Head, to find her dad sitting at the same table they'd left him at, with rather more empty glasses in front of him than before.

"Rose Perdita Weasley," her father said. "I think we need to have a talk with your mother."

Rose gulped.

8. Flash Git

"Hermione!" Ron called, as soon as they got into the house. Her mother looked up. "You'll never guess who Rose's new friend is!"

Reading her husband's mood, Hermione looked at Hugo. "Hugo, you want to go play with Lily?"

Hugo looked torn between seeing his favourite cousin and missing whatever was about to happen. His mother gave him a firm look, and he made up his mind.

Ron handed him some floo powder, and Hugo stepped over to the fireplace. "Remember not to go too far, son," Ron cautioned. Hugo nodded and was gone.

"What's this about Rose's new friend?" asked Hermione.

"Go on Rose, tell your mother who your new friend is."

"I already told you mum. He's a really smart boy, who likes muggle books. He's in Ravenclaw with me, and he's really good at charms, but I'm better at transfiguration."

"Tell her his name, Rose."

"Is that more important?"

"Rose!" Ron shook his head. "It's Scorpius Malfoy, 'mione! That flash, albino, git's son!"

Hermione looked between her daughter and her husband.

"Rose," she said, finally. "Take some floo powder, and go and see Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. I need to talk to your father."

9. The Pioneer Plaque

Her father didn't mention Scorpius again, and Rose didn't dare ask if they she could meet up with him. They exchanged owls frequently, and they were both glad to see one each other again when they got back to Hogwarts.

They didn't talk about what they'd been up to over the summer. Instead, they talked about the books they'd read. Rose explained some of the things that weren't immediately apparent to someone of a purely wizarding background. Scorpius was amazed to find out that man actually had walked on the moon. More than amazed.

He'd read books about space travel, of course, but he'd always assumed that that part was entirely fictitious. He hadn't realised that the reason for the explosion of space-based sci-fi in the 50s and 60s was due to man walking on the moon.

Rose felt quite amazed herself, as she described what she could remember of the space program. But, you couldn't keep up that level of amazement for long, and they soon found themselves talking about the upcoming year instead.

Part 4 is here.

In Which We Discuss Famine

Early this morning (ie. 1am) I finished reading Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, and it was a revelation for me.  The book is non-fiction, and entwines the stories of six people who lives in North Korea through the eighties and nineties.  It's a method that works really well to bring home the living conditions the North Koreans had to deal with.  After all, to the human mind, a million is a statistic; Barbara Demick gets around this by using these individuals to stand in for larger stories.  Each individual does exist, and went through events as described - it's just that Demick backs up the idea that these weren't unusual situations for that time and place.  It's well worth a read.

The bit that really stood out to me was the description of living through the famine in the 1990s.  Around 10% of the population died.  It's hard to track because - and I didn't realise this - most people don't actually starve to death.  The hunger weakens their immune systems, and they die from other illnesses that take advantage of it.  Apart from that, of course, the North Korean dictatorship are well known for their propaganda, and actually prevented donated food from reaching the right place out of their desire to hide their need for it.

That makes me want to do something to help, and yes, I know the 90s were fifteen years ago.  Here's a more recent article on life in North Korea today.

My first instinct was to look to Kiva, which is the way I prefer to give money.  Essentially, you loan money, in $25 increments, to people who otherwise would not be able to get a loan at decent rates.  You don't literally loan them the cash; basically, your money underwrites a loan from a provider near to the person in question.  In other words, your money pays the loan company back if that person defaults on the agreement, ie, doesn't pay back the money.  That guarantee is what enables the loan provider to take that risk, and then once the loan is paid back, you can lend out your $25 again.  There are some limitations of course - there aren't any loans going in North Korea, because internet access and aid access are so very restricted there.  So that won't work for this purpose.

Incidentally, while browsing Kiva, I found my next loan - Mrs Thùy in Vietnam, who wants to build a toilet, bathroom, and water filter system.

Going back to famine and starvation, I want to take part in a fast to better understand and appreciate hunger.  I'd also like to raise some money to donate, either to sponsor a child, or to lend through Kiva, or to just straight out donate to a charity which helps to prevent famine.  I'm not sure how to do that yet.  Have people sponsor me for fasting?  I hate asking people for money.  Donate any money leftover from my normal food budget for that month?  I'm not sure.  For the actual fast, I'm planning to follow the basic principles of Ramadan.  I'm an atheist, but there are several reasons for doing it this way.  Firstly, it's an established time-frame, with set beginning and end points that other people observe, not just me.  That'll make it easier to stick with, I think.  Secondly, it has set rules and criteria, and although I don't plan to follow all of them, using an existing structure is, again, easier than making up my own.  Thirdly, I have family members who are Muslim, and having their support will, again, make life easier.

The reason I won't be sticking strictly to the rules is that, firstly, I'm an atheist, and intend to use the time to better understand human experiences, rather than get closer to god, so those elements will not be a part of it, for me.  Secondly, I'm due to donate blood during that time period.  Ramadan, this year, begins around June 29th, and my next blood donation will be due on July 7th.  I'm not quite sure how to manage this.  If I'm eating between sunrise and sunset, will it be okay if I fast the day before, eat a lot before sunrise, eat normally on the day, and then fast the next day, depending on how recovered I feel?  Should I avoid fasting for a longer period around then?  I'm not sure yet, but I've asked Blood.co.uk's facebook page for their suggestions.

The question of blood donation doesn't normally come up, as losing blood is automatically considered to break the fast during Ramadan, so Muslims would avoid it, if possible - obviously, avoiding menstruation is a little trickier than avoiding a blood donation!  That's sensible - people who are losing blood should take in slightly more calories, and they should definitely be replacing iron and various other bits and bobs.  We'll see.

I could just donate blood slightly later, but I don't want to.  This is partly because I'm taking part in an interval study, which is designed to find the optimal gap between donations.  It screws up their records a bit if I leave it too long.  Secondly, since the point of this, for me, is to try to understand and help other people, it seems a bit silly to go out of my way to avoid donating blood.  We'll see.

Anyway. the book is very powerful and thought-provoking - obviously! - and I highly recommend it.  A lot of people have written very powerful reviews here, and I also recommend reading them.

In Which We Discuss Night Shift and the Stand

Appparently, I never wrote a post about Night Shift.  I'm sure I read it, and checking GoodReads confirms that.  I read it in August of last year.  So, my apologies for never posting.

Edit: Oh hey, I did post, I just didn't finish all the tags.  It's here.

Night Shift is a collection of short stories, some written by King in high school or college.  The collection itself was first published in 1978.  Stephen and Tabitha King had three children by now, Naomi, Joe and Owen.  The two boys grew up to be writers as I mentioned here.

Night Shift is a collection of twenty stories, including two related to 'salem's Lot, Jerusalem's Lot and Graveyard Shift. One that stands out to me is Quitters, Inc, which illustrates a rather extreme anti-smoking viewpoint.

I do like Stephen King's short stories.  This isn't one of my favourite collections, but it's worth a read, as they all are.

At the moment, I'm reading The Stand.  I'm 520 pages through, and that's not even halfway.

The Stand was originally published in 1978.  At the time, about 300 pages were cut.  Later, in 1990, it was republished with those cut sections put back in, and the setting updated to 1990.  This lead to quite a few anachronisms; the one that's stood out to me so far is mention of what I think is a record player.  I was born in 1988, but they did have CDs by then, didn't they?

I actually quite like the stand, more than I did The Shining, and a lot more than I did 'salem's Lot.  It feels like the right length for the story.  There are quite a few books of Stephen King's that feel too long - Christine, for one, and 'salem's Lot - but this isn't one of them, despite being one of the longest single books I've ever read.  The story jumps between quite a few characters, not all of whom connect, and it's sometimes difficult to remember who's who right away.  I think the length works because they're all interesting.

At this point, there are a few references to King's other novels.  There's a government agency which also appears in Firestarter, and Randell Flagg who shows up again in The Dark Tower series amongst others.  More when I've read a bit further through.

Darker than your Wonderland, Chapters 4-6

Part 1 is here.

4.  Reactions

It was two days before Rose received a reply.  She didn’t share it with Scorpius; he didn’t share his with her.

Later that day, Scorpius and Rose wandered out to the grounds of Hogwarts, both clutching piles of books.  Along with the reply from her father, Rose had received a package from her mother.  It was full of books she'd left at home.  She’d regretted that, now that she had Scorpus to share them with, and had pleaded with Hermione to send them.

It was a crisp autumn day and it didn't take them long to find somewhere to sit and read, away from prying eyes.  They leaned against a tree and quickly lost themselves and each other in the sheer joy of the stories.

After a while, Scorpius put his book down, and looked up at the sky.

"Father loves me," he said, apropos of nothing.  Rose stayed silent but lowered her book in order to gaze at him.

Scorpius scratched at the back of his neck, nervously. "He asked if it was something he'd done. If he'd turned me away from ambition. He said that, although ambition can be a bad thing, like it sometimes was for him, it didn't have to be.  He said he hoped this didn't mean I was turning away from my future."

Rose didn't know what to say.

"He's so disappointed," Scorpius continued, quietly. "I don't know how to tell him that he shouldn't be."

"My parents don't understand either," Rose confessed. "My mother was intelligent too, but she was put into Gryffindor. They're glad that I inherited that, but, I think…I think they wonder what I'm missing. Why I'm not brave."

5. Comrades

Gradually their parents came to accept that their children's paths differed from their own, and Scorpius and Rose began to feel a lot better about the letters they were receiving.

As far as they both knew, their parents were still unaware of their friendship.  Scorpius didn't have any other close relatives at the school to tell his father and Rose knew that her cousins hadn't said anything.   Rose had told her parents about a new friend – her best friend if she were honest – but she’d avoided mentioning any names.

Rose hated saying goodbye to Scorpius at Christmas. She loved her family, but there was nowhere she could just sit and read quietly at home.  They’d always want her attention, to go and play or to help with something.  And there was no one with whom she could talk about books like she did with him.

Scorpius had given her a list of books he'd like to borrow "if it's not too much trouble," and she'd promised to see how many she could fit into her trunk.

Despite all the fun she had with her family, it was a long winter break.  When she came back after Christmas, she headed to their usual table in the common room, pleased to see him already there.

"Good Christmas, Scorpius?" she asked.  He nodded, flashing a quick smile.

As they'd both settled in at Hogwarts, they'd moved away from their initial, shy, mannerisms.  Scorpius had cultivated his cool expression, and, in class, preferred not to volunteer to answer questions.  Often he didn’t seem to be paying attention at all, and it was only his near perfect marks that betrayed him.  In contrast, Rose was eager to answer questions first.

Scorpius’ face had seemed stern and haughty once but Rose had come to realise that that was just his natural expression.  Part inherited, part cultivated to get people to leave him alone.  Rose and Scorpius tended to work together, and this had ceased to draw comment from their classmates very rapidly.  In many ways, they made up for one another's weaknesses.  Rose was good at Transfiguration, while Scorpius showed an early talent for Charms.

6. Papa Wolf

The summer holidays promised to be even longer than Christmas had seemed.  Rose missed Scorpius.  Eventually they agreed to meet in Hogsmeade, one day in July.  Rose asked her father to take her.  She had yet to divulge exactly who her new friend was, so her dad had almost choked on his butterbeer when she waved at Scorpius Malfoy.  Draco Malfoy had not reacted so strongly, merely raising his eyebrows until they almost disappeared into his hair.

"So," he'd said, as they drew close to the table. "This is your new friend, Scorpius."

Rose held out a hand, eager to make a good impression. "Pleased to meet you, Mr Malfoy."

After a glance at Ron, Draco shook Rose’s hand. Scorpius glanced between them. At the start of the year, he and Rose had been of much the same height but now she was an inch or two taller than he was.

"I didn't lie, father," Scorpius said, so quietly that Rose thought that he probably didn't realise she could hear him. "She does come from a pureblood family."

Draco glanced at his son, but didn't reply. Rose's father had finished coughing and greeted Draco curtly.  “Malfoy.”

"Weasley."

"I wasn't aware that your son was my Rose's new friend." Ron finished, with a glance at his daughter.

"Quite." Draco nodded, and then turned to his son. "Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, I will see you back here in two hours."

"Father -"

Draco held up a hand. "Not a moment longer. Do I make myself clear?"

Scorpius stopped. "Yes father."

Rose, Ron, and Scorpius watched as Malfoy stalked out of the pub, his coat swirling behind him.

Rose had seen a great resemblance to Scorpius in Draco. The hair, eyes, and general features, for a start.  And the cold, brusqueness...that was something she knew Scorpius adopted amongst people he didn't know well, as part of his shyness.  It was a defence mechanism.  She wondered what Draco's reason was.

"Flash git," said Ron, and Rose watched as Scorpius' face closed up. He turned to her father.

"I'm honoured to meet you, Mr Weasley," he said, smoothly, his face utterly blank. Rose wished her father had been friendlier.

Ron and Scorpius shook hands, and then Ron turned to Rose.

"I guess I'll see you here in two hours, too," he said. "Don't wander too far."

Rose nodded, and she and Scorpius left. Rose felt the coins in her pocket, and wondered if she had enough for ice creams.

Part 3 is here.

Darker than your Wonderland, Chapters 1-3

Here's a Harry Potter fanfic.  I wrote it in 2011, but I'm now working on editing it.

I'm not the world's biggest Harry Potter fan - in fact, I haven't even read all of the books.  But something about Scorpius and Rose fascinates me, and I'm particularly proud of this story, in which they bond over books.  All of the books mentioned are real, and the descriptions are accurate, if biased towards what they want or need to see in them at any given time.  It has twenty-seven chapters, but I'll post them in batches of three.  You'll be able to find the others through the tags, or you can read the original, unedited, version here.

Darker Than Your Wonderland

1.      In Common

When Rose looked back, it was her first day of Hogwarts that stood out as the moment her life took a different direction.  That was the day she wasn't sorted into Gryffindor, against all expectations but her own.

She’d intended to think Gryffindor, to want Gryffindor with all her might, but when it came right down to it she just couldn’t make herself do it.  Rose had read everything she could about Hogwarts, ever since her mother had taught her how to read.  Despite all the family stories, she knew she was more of a Ravenclaw than a Gryffindor.  She’d managed to keep that a secret right up until the hat shouted it out to everyone.

It had helped that just a few minutes before she'd watched her cousin Al being sorted into Slytherin, and Scorpius Malfoy being sorted into Ravenclaw. She knew she wouldn't be alone in disappointing her parents.

In the common room after the feast, she’d sat down intending to write a letter home.  He'd sat down next to her, returning her shy smile.

Come to think of it, maybe her life had changed earlier that morning - on the train.

2.      Understanding

Rose had lost Al only after a few minutes afterembarking.  She assumed that he’d gone off with his brother and Rose's other cousin, James.

Rose pictured herself walking through the train, asking everyone if they’d seen her cousins. She decided she really wasn't in the mood to be that social. Instead, she sat down in the empty carriage, and pulled a book out of her pocket.  Al would find her if he needed her.

The door opened, and the boy she'd noticed earlier poked his head round.  Scorpius, she recalled, the boy her father had warned her against.  Rose examined his face; the blond hair, and the cheekbones which already looked finely sculpted, even at eleven.  His expression seemed haughty, but when his eyes met hers, he flushed pink.  He looked like he might say something, but, instead, dropped his eyes and made his way to the seat opposite without looking at her again.

Rose felt embarrassed, too. She never quite knew what to say to strangers.

He took a book from his pocket, a battered paperback.  Rose couldn't help but try to read the cover.  She made out the author’s name, Jack Williamson, but she couldn't see the title.  She gave up and went back to reading her own book.

After an hour or so, Rose looked up, and met Scorpius' eyes. She smiled shyly, feeling awkward again.

"What are you reading?" He asked. Silently, she held up her book, so he could read the cover.  He did the same with his.

Alice in Wonderland. Darker than You Think.

Rose felt her pale skin flush again, and felt an irrational hatred towards her father's genes. Stupid pale skin!  She felt embarrassed over her choice of book; Alice in Wonderland seemed so babyish!

Scorpius’ didn’t seem to notice her blush; he asked for a closer look at her book, so they swapped.

Rose had never read Darker Than You Think.  It was a muggle book, as far as she could tell, and although Rose had often been exposed to her grandparent's library, it was one she'd never come across.

"This is a muggle book?" Scorpio asked. She looked up.

"Yes," she said. "It's a classic. Everyone's heard of it."

He looked down. Rose regretted her comment, as she realised he might have taken it as a criticism.

"Everyone in the muggle world," she added, hurriedly. "I wouldn't expect a wizard to know it."

He looked up then, his blue eyes vulnerable. She understood him then, in that moment. Like her, he hated to feel stupid about anything.

"I've never heard of this," she continued, holding his book up, offering her own ignorance as a gift. "Is it a muggle book, or a wizard book?"

"It's a muggle book," he confirmed. She'd suspected as much; it was science-fiction, as far as she could tell, and wizards went in for that even less than muggles did. "I found it in our attic."

Rose wondered why his family had had muggle books in their attic, until she opened the book, and saw the name written inside the front cover. Severus Snape.

Rose knew of the history of her family, and of the Malfoys, and of Severus Snape.  She guessed that Scorpius' father had inherited, or otherwise taken possession of, Snape's belongings.  She wondered why Draco Malfoy had never disposed of them, but she knew enough to realise she should avoid the subject. She handed the book back.

"Do you like it?"

His face lit up.  He explained the way magic worked in the book, so different from how their spells worked, how fascinating he found it.  She'd made him promise to lend it to her when he'd finished rereading it for what he told her was the seventh time.  Then she’d told him about Alice, and he’d extracted a similar promise from her.

They discovered that they both loved stories of magic, any kind, as long as it was different from what they'd grown up with. She'd told him about her beloved Three Hearts and Three Lions knowing he'd understand the appeal, something her family never had.  Her mother shared her love of reading, of course, but what her mother loved was books about real magic. Hermione had never quite understood why Rose liked fantasy and science fiction. Rose’s grandparents hadn't either, but they'd been happy to take her to muggle bookshops whenever she visited them.

Rose realised that what Scorpius loved about Darker was the same thing she loved about Three  and other books like it. Magic, in those books, worked scientifically, had an explanation she could understand logically.  Even though she knew that that wasn't how magic worked.

3.

Later in the common room, Rose was cursing her Weasley genes again. When Scorpius had sat down next to her, the whispers had started, and she’d blushed as red as her hair. She was undeniably a Weasley – red hair, freckles – and he was undeniably a Malfoy, and every student in the room knew the history of their families.

Scorpius had kept his eyes focused on the parchment in front of him. He hadn't gone red, but Rose knew his refusal to look up was a sign of his own embarrassment.

Apart from the stares, the Ravenclaw common room was heaven. Three of the four walls were covered with bookcases, with comfortable sofas and desks taking up space in the middle of the room.  Rose reached behind her, and took some books from the nearest shelf, stacking them in front of her and Scorpius.  He'd looked up when he realized what she was doing and smiled at her properly.

"Good idea," he said quietly. She smiled back, and gestured to her own sheet of parchment.

"I don't know how I'm going to tell them," she confessed.

"Your parents? Me either. The Malfoys have been Slytherins for generations -"

" – and the Weasley's have been in Gryffindor for even longer!"

They exchanged a wry smile, realizing that they were fast friends, already.

"That's what father says," Scorpius continued. "But I've looked at the family tree. Father's cousin, Nymphadora Tonks, was a Hufflepuff. And grandmother's cousin, Sirius Black, was a Gryffindor! It's about time we had a Ravenclaw in the family!"

Rose knew he was rehearsing. It wasn't her he was trying to convince, or himself. It was his father.

He'd know as well as she did that those arguments wouldn't work on the Draco Malfoy she'd heard about.  They were both Ravenclaws after all, he wasn’t a fool.  So either she didn't know Draco as well as she thought she did or Scorpius was unduly optimistic.  She'd guess the former; she'd only heard stories told by Draco’s enemies, and Scorpius had grown up with the man.

Rose filed that thought away for future reference, and looked down at her own parchment. Chewing her lip, she decided to go for the fast and brutal option.

Dear daddy,

I'm in Ravenclaw! I guess you were right about me inheriting mother's brains!

Love,

Rose

PS – did you hear that Al's in Slytherin?

There. She'd appealed to her father's affections, complimented her mother, and, if none of that worked, dropped Al in it too. Damage limited.

Part 2 is here.