The Summer of Stephen


...King that is.

The first time I heard of Stephen King's latest novel, Cell, I thought he had definitely run out of ideas. Cell phones that turn people into mindless crazies? Sounded like a rejected Goosebumps tale. And then, check out the tagline:

THERE'S A REASON CELL RHYMES WITH HELL.

Whoa! Talk about words to send chills down any man's spine! Sheebus!

The book finally came out and I didn't so much as bat an eyelash (I'm not sure if it's socially acceptable for guys to use that phrase, but I did anyway... I'm just a rebel like that). And months passed without me even caring. Let's just say I forgot about its existence. The book got good reviews though, many hailing it as Stephen King's return to form.

Then a friend of mine raved about the book. She was completely enamored by this gory tale. So I asked her if this book was anything like some of the old stuff that I couldn't get into. I've only read one Stephen King book, as you may recall from way a way earlier blog, called The Long Walk. And I loved that book. Then I tried to read Dreamcatcher, which was completely unreadable if you ask me. But she assured me that she was just like me. She hated Dreamcatcher and Cell was very different in that it moves along at a very nice pace.

So, needing another book to read, I took the bait and ordered it off the Amazon Marketplace. Great place to get newly released books because people get these bestsellers, read them, and then unload them onto eBay or wherever. I like to collect books that I read since I don't read that often anyway. And so, I got the book for $2 (like new), with $3.49 shipping. Pretty damn cheap.

And I am loving the book. Page 6 rolls along and already the book gets to the point and the shiz hits the fan!

The book is also a great conversation piece. I get a lot of looks when I'm reading it in public and people ask me about it, which is neat.

Also this summer, TNT is showing a Twilight Zonesque show called Stephen King presents Nightmares and Dreamscapes. The title is from a collection of short stories; a book that I gifted to Angel Wing Jasmine back in college and she read the hell out of that thing. I read some of the stories, namely the ones about the chattering teeth and the teacher that killed her students one by one. But the TV event series is based off of many short stories from many books by King; a lot of which I'm unfamiliar with. The show has its great episodes and its dull ones and its ones with crappy endings, but I'm enjoying it anyway.

Hmm, isn't that peculiar? I'm enjoying summer. Who'da thunk?


Heat waves suck,

Rast!
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