In Which We Discuss Wizard and Glass and the Little Sisters of Eluria

Wizard and Glass and Little Sisters of Eluria are a novel and a short story set in the world of the Dark Tower. Wizard and Glass was published in 1997 while Little Sisters was published in the Legends anthology in 1998.

I actually read Legends way back in 2004 or so because it also included the Discworld short story, The Sea and Little Fishes. I hadn’t read any of the Dark Tower books at that point, so it didn’t make a huge impression on me, aside from creeping me out a little. The one that did make an impression was Terry Goodkind’s Debt of Bones; maybe I should actually read his Sword of Truth series!

Both stories are set in Roland’s past, for the most part; Little Sisters entirely, and Wizard and Glass almost entirely, apart from the opening and ending. At some point in Wizard and Glass the characters travel to the world of The Stand, while the titular Little Sisters speak in Tak’s language at times.

After this point, King took a brief break from the Dark Tower; the next book in the series, Wolves of the Calla, wasn’t published until 2003. So, the next book I’ll be reading – or listening to, rather – is Bag of Bones, another book I’ve read before.

In Which We Discuss the Gunslinger

I have to admit, The Gunslinger is another one I didn't particularly like.  I didn't particularly dislike it either, and I'm glad to have read it, just so I can now discuss it when it comes up.

It's a western.  I'm not that big on westerns.  And I think Roland is a very stupid and annoying name.  I don't know why I think that.  I just don't like how it sounds.

The Gunslinger was published in June of 1982.  Stephen King was very prolific in that year.  The Gunslinger and The Dark Tower series as a whole do eventually connect the vast majority of King's work together, mostly through sharing characters.  The Dark Man, Randal Flagg, for instance, we have already seen in The Stand.

I also think Randal Flagg is a stupid name.  Probably why he doesn't appeal to me as a character or as a villain.  It makes me think of Randal from Recess, which is not really the intended effect.

I don't think The Dark Tower series is for me, but I'll plough on regardless.  James Smythe enjoyed it a lot more and has lots of intelligent things to say about it.

Next up is Creepshow.  It was released as a graphic novel, with script by Stephen King, but first it was a movie, screenplay also by Stephen King.  Since the comic is expensive and the movie is not, I'm going to watch it rather than read it.

In Which We Discuss Firestarter

I first read Firestarter several years ago, in a collection with Eyes of the Dragon.  I'm not totally sure why they were lumped together especially considering that Firestarter came out in 1980 and Eyes of the Dragon came out in 1987.  They're not similar in theme, either.

Firestarter is about a man who took part in an experiment while in university, along with his future wife.  The drugs they were given gave them psychokinetic powers.  They have a daughter who has stronger powers, specifically, the ability to create fire.  The entire book is basically them running from the US government.  More specifically, they're running from The Shop, which is also the agency who tried to contain Captain Tripps in The Stand.

It isn't one of my favourite King novels.  This time, I listened to it as an audiobook, and it took me more than two months.  I just couldn't get into it.  I love the ending, but the book just doesn't interest me as much as some of his others.  James Smythe explains it all rather better.

At the end of the book, King mentions that both the USA and Russia have spent money in investigating paranormal and psychokinetic abilities, which he seems to find both terrifying and fascinating.

I quite want to read another collection of King's short stories, but it'll be 1985 before I get to one.  Here's the updated list with the dates I finished them this time round.  The ones in red I have read previously, while the ones in blue were new to me.

Carrie - 1974 -  June 15th 2013
'Salem's Lot - 1975 - June 30th 2013
The Shining - 1977 - July 28th 2013
Rage - 1977 - July 31st 2013
Night Shift - 1978 - August 28th 2013
The Stand - 1978 - March 20th 2014
The Long Walk - 1979 - March 23rd 2014
The Dead Zone - 1979 - June 2014
Firestarter - 1980 - August 16th 2014


- Checkpoint -

Roadwork - 1981
Danse Macabre - 1981
Cujo - 1981
The Running Man - 1982
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - 1982

Creepshow - 1982
Different Seasons - 1982 
Christine - 1983
Pet Sematary - 1983
Cycle of the Werewolf - 1983

The Talisman - 1984
Thinner - 1984
Skeleton Crew - 1985
It - 1986
The Eyes of the Dragon - 1987

The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three - 1987
Misery - 1987
The Tommyknockers - 1987
Nightmares in the Sky  - 1988
The Dark Half - 1989

Four Past Midnight - 1990
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands - 1991 
Needful Things - 1991
Gerald's Game - 1992
Dolores Claiborne - 1992

Nightmares & Dreamscapes - 1993
Insomnia - 1994
Rose Madder - 1995
The Green Mile - 1996
Desperation - 1996

The Regulators - 1996
Six Stories - 1997
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass - 1997
Bag of Bones - 1998
Storm of the Century - 1999 

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - 1999
The New Lieutenant's Rap - 1999  
Hearts in Atlantis - 1999
Blood and Smoke - 1999
"Riding the Bullet" - 2000  

On Writing - 2000
Secret Windows - 2000 
The Plant - 2000      
Dreamcatcher - 2001
Black House (with Peter Straub) -2001

Everything's Eventual - 2002
From a Buick 8 - 2002
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla - 2003  
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah - 2004
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower - 2004

Faithful - 2004
The Colorado Kid - 2005
Cell - 2006
Lisey's Story - 2006
Blaze - 2007

Duma Key - 2008  
Just After Sunset - 2008 
Stephen King Goes to the Movies - 2009
Ur - 2009     
Under the Dome - 2009

Blockade Billy - 2010
Full Dark, No Stars - 2010
Mile 81 - 2011    
11/22/63 - 2011
American Vampire (with Scott Snyder) - 2011

"Throttle" (with Joe Hill) - 2012
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole - 2012 
A Face in the Crowd (with Stewart O'Nan) - 2012
"In the Tall Grass"  (with Joe Hill) - 2012
"GUNS" - 2013

Ghost Brothers of Darkland County - 2013
Joyland - 2013
The Dark Man: An Illustrated Poem - 2013
Doctor Sleep - 2013
Mr. Mercedes - 2014      

Revival - November 2014
Finders Keepers - 2015

...that's nine out of eighty-six (!) which puts me 10.47% of the way through.  I divided them into groups of five to make for easier counting.

Putting the dates on makes me wonder what on earth I was doing for the second half of 2013.  I'm going to make an effort to read some of my current King novel every day, just to speed this up a bit.  It's taken me over a year to get 10% of the way through - this needs to go a bit quicker.

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.

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.