Xander ,'Dirty Girls'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
It was a short story of his that was actually the first King thing I ever read. I remember it vividly, a magazine piece, I think in Esquire, like, 30 years ago. A scifi-horror piece called "I Am The Doorway".
Scared the tar out of me. I kept checking between my fingers for alien eyeballs.
King's short stories are the worst, in the way one likes to pay for.
I'm still freaked out by The Mist, and I last read it 20 years ago.
King's short stories are the worst, in the way one likes to pay for.
"You have been - deleted."
Jeepers. And that one? Had a happy ending.
I'm still freaked out by The Mist, and I last read it 20 years ago.
10 for me, but it was the previous contender for Scariest King Story before I read "1408." The man should have been a contemporary of Lovecraft to join in the formation of the Cthulhu Mythos—he and Ramsey Campbell are the only modern authors I can think of who can do work that's similar in both motif and quality (though until this week I thought King lost the touch long ago).
I agree that King's short works can be very, very good and very, very scary.
"Apt Pupil" is the scariest King Short story I've ever read. Eek. And way scarier than the movie, I suppose, goes without saying.
I seem to be more susceptible to unnatural horror than the reality-based sort. As awful as the progression of "Apt Pupil" was, it didn't tell me anything worse than what I'd already read in true life accounts of war crimes.
I can see that, and yes, obviously you're right. Real war crimes are much worse. Maybe it was just timing, when I read it.
A scifi-horror piece called "I Am The Doorway".
Written for his college literary journal. I know because two of my sisters were pals of his at UMO (University of Maine, Orono) and my brother in law was a one-time roommate. I think my family has a copy of that kicking around somewhere. Also, the other one from NIGHT SHIFT that was a sort-of dry run of The Stand (Night Tide, maybe? My copy of Night Shift is buried in my book collection so I can't get to it easily), was published there too.
I also knew about the Bachman psuedonym about 5 years before anybody else. Rage is still a favorite of mine. It was a VERY adolescent acting out novel, but I was in high school when I read it and it hit SO many of the right buttons for me.
The ending of "Strawberry Spring" creeped me right. the fuck. out. Brr. Not to mention the one with the rats, and the one that read like a dry run for Salem's Lot.