Under the Dome



Just listened to Under the Dome by Stephen King. 
It's been my experience with the horror genre that the bark is often worse than the bite.  Dean Koontz, for example, is just barely a horror writer in my opinion. I love Dean Koontz, by the way.  But I always thought of him as a thriller writer.  That's not right either, of course.  

I think it goes back to my own early experience with the word "horror".  For me "horror" lived in movies like Friday the 13th, Halloween, Wolfen, The Howling not to mention the seemingly endless stream of B movie get-downs I watched on a black and white TV, in the dark, in my room, on the show called Creature Features.

But to READ horror is a whole different ball game.  It's still scary, but it seems more psychologically so. It can still put you on the edge of your seat, but not make you cover your eyes. Maybe that's it. Maybe because it can't really make you jump, it can't startle you, maybe that makes written horror different, more cerebral somehow.

I don't know.

Point is, I read... listened to that is... Under the Dome and I thought it was brilliant. I am so overwhelmed by King's talent that I can hardly bring myself to write anything.  (excuse) 

He's 62 years of strange and still pumping out mind-f's as if he was young, poor and penning Carrie so he could promptly throw it in the trash.  If you don't know that story, look it up. Or better yet, read about it in his book, On Writing, which is also brilliant.

I guess that's enough SK love for one day.

Cheers,

Casey 

Comments

  1. CiCi12/5/10 07:22

    There can never be too much love for Stephen King. We own every one of his books and read them over and over. His book On Writing and his life experiences and survival are an inspiration. What a mind he has. Nice post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Casey Freeland12/5/10 11:22

    A true fan! I recommend listening to On Writing as he narrates his own story. It's pretty incredible.

    Casey

    ReplyDelete
  3. Joanna Jenkins12/5/10 12:12

    i am a big fat chicken and have a really hard time reading/listening to/watching scary stuff. I know I'm missing out but at least I can sleep at night :-)
    jj

    ReplyDelete
  4. Casey Freeland12/5/10 17:42

    Well if you are interested in some suspenseful stuff that won't keep you up at night, think about the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Juli12/5/10 21:12

    On Writing is a great book. I also liked The Stand.

    "Misery" and "The Shining" are terrific films. And "The Green Mile".

    My English teacher went to high school with Mr King. She said he was a weird kid!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Casey Freeland12/5/10 21:20

    He's still a weird kid. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Unknown13/5/10 09:10

    My first SK book was 'It'. It was creepy, and made me look at clowns in a different way.

    My fav SK was 'Needful Things'. I imposed the evil character Leland Gaunt's characteristics to mine when I was a teenager. Made me grow up weird and morbid. :)

    Another reason for me to buy his book was; the books are ALWAYS thick. I want quantity with my money :)

    ReplyDelete

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