rave, that much I will give him, and all due respect accorded. I've had days when it's tough to get ten words down on paper. think I read somewhere that he averages 5,000 words a day.
"If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director?" -- Charles L Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com From: ravena...@yahoo.com Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2010 11:24:06 +0000 Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: ‘lazy’ author Stephen King releases his 51st novel I was just impressed with his output. I don't know if I can TYPE 51 novels. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Martin Baxter <truthseeker...@...> wrote: > > > And he could've kept the tome, IMO. I glanced at it, and I want that ten > seconds of my life back. > > "If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody > hell hired the director?" -- Charles L Grant > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik > > > > > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com > From: ravena...@... > Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2010 00:03:35 +0000 > Subject: [scifinoir2] `lazy' author Stephen King releases his 51st novel > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > http://www.popmatters.com/pm/article/116440-self-proclaimed-lazy-author-stephen-king-releases-his-51st-novel/ > > > > Self-proclaimed `lazy' author Stephen King releases his 51st novel > > [18 November 2009] > > > > By James Lileks > > Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (MCT) > > "You know, I'm a lazy son of a gun." > > > > So says Stephen King: a man who just published a story in the New Yorker and > a review of the Raymond Carver biography in the New York Review of Books. He > also has a piece in the horror mag Fangoria and a poem in the current issue > of Playboy. Anything else? "Under the Dome," his 51st novel, all 1,072 pages, > drops this month. He just finished a five-part graphic novel for DC comics, > as well. In his spare time, perhaps between putting away the breakfast dishes > and waiting for the computer to boot up, he wrote a musical with John > Mellencamp. > > > > Lazy? > > > > We'll get to that. Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way first. No, he's > not spooky. Anyone who expects a creepy guy with a ghoulish laugh probably > thinks Vincent Price sat around the house in a black cape, casting spells. > Stephen King is an affable, funny, gracious, effortlessly conversational > fellow. He could be a guy you worked with in a college restaurant who'd > dropped out but knew lots of stuff and had some interesting ideas. > > > > A normal fellow — except for the part about being one of the most successful > authors in human history, the American answer to Dickens. > > > > His latest, "Under the Dome," might be described as "`The Stand' Under > Glass." It has the epic length and apocalyptic character of his > eschatological pandemic classic, but instead of a cross-country tale of > harrowing collapse, the story unfolds under a clear dome that seals off a > small town in Maine (just north of Castle Rock, for all you Constant > Readers). It can't be breached. There's no explanation. How things fall > apart, how ordinary folk react to extraordinary, inexplicable circumstances — > these are timeless King themes. So perhaps it's apt that they come together > in a book he's been working on for longer than half of his fans have been > alive. > > > > "I started it in 1976, got about 75 pages into it — and then I saw what the > scope of the thing was going to be, how many technological issues it raised, > and I buckled. I'm not a sci-fi writer; I don't know a lot about technology, > so I thought I'd try again, set it in an apartment building, and then I > wouldn't have to deal with what the weather would be like under a dome. But I > didn't like any of the characters, so I put it away." > > > > When he returned to the book years later, he had help with issues most of us > don't confront in our jobs: the proper way to amputate a leg, meteorology in > closed systems and the consumption rate of LP gas, which matters a lot when > you're cut off from civilization, all you have is propane, and most of it's > been diverted by the bad guys. But King had the same question as the readers: > What caused a typical American town to be cut off from the world on an > ordinary October day? > > > > "I knew what was generating the dome, but I had no idea who or why or what. I > think things happen, and we don't understand why; one of the great > attractions of some stories is the uncertainty." > > > > That's his strong suit, really; the uncertainties provide more delicious > shivers than the answers. "From a Buick 8," a novel about the Maine Highway > Patrol that also happens to be about a car from another world that spews > nightmarish flora from its trunk, has no answers. We're not really sure what > happened in the `20s at the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining," are we? There's > a handful of smoke at the heart of his best stories. Is this any different? > > > > "I went into this with a commitment to letting the reader know they find out > why it all happened. In a book this long, the reader deserves an explanation." > > > > That's reader, singular. Not "readers." It's a one-on-one relationship. At > this point in his career, the 62-year-old King has extraordinary creative > latitude, but he doesn't write to the readers' expectations; he writes first > for himself and the work. > > > > "With `Under the Dome' I wanted to write a story that's all story," he said. > "I wanted to amuse myself, because if it doesn't interest me, it won't > interest anyone else." > > > > When he first starting selling big, he hit a sweet spot that seldom happens > in publishing, and is rarely maintained over decades: instant connection with > a large audience. It was as if the subconscious of the era was a downed power > line, sparking and dancing, and King just happened to pick it up and plug it > in. > > > > Or so it seemed. The success annoyed some critics, who regarded the books as > the literary equivalent of a big tub of buttered popcorn. The much-praised > movie version of "The Shining" was seen more as director Stanley Kubrick's > work than King's, and the pop-cult mulch that King heaped around his stories > made it easy to dismiss them as things you'd take to occupy the hours on a > beach vacation. "Misery," a lean, horrifying and grimly comic account of a > popular fiction writer held captive by a sweet crazy fan, was the first book > it was OK for critics to like, it being meta and self-referential and all > that cool stuff. > > > > Since then he's alternated between enormous tales of things unworldly, and > spare novels whose brisk economy intensifies the unsettling effects. "Under > the Dome" is definitely the former. But is this the unexpurgated version? > > > > "The original manuscript was longer, but it's not like `The Stand,' which was > cut by 600 pages. Not that there was anything wrong with it — the kind of > book-binding Doubleday used back then made it impossible to be printed as one > volume. So I said yes to the cuts — I needed the money!" > > > > When the uncut version of "The Stand¡" came out 10 years later, King had to > update the pop-culture references. > > > > "I tried as much as I could to move the book from 1978 to 1988 ... I didn't > want it to be something caught in the past — you want to believe the flu is > happening the day after tomorrow." > > > > But keeping up with pop culture is more difficult now; things arise faster > and become passe just as quickly. > > > > "If you read `Under the Dome' closely, you'll see my blind spots. There's a > reference to Facebook, but not to Twitter — that's the Internet I don't > understand." He laughs about the one pop-culture event he missed completely: > "My sister read it, and said, you know, there's something like this in the > Simpsons movie. The whole town is under a dome. At least someone in the book > should mention it." > > > > If the movies don't get in front of you while you're typing, politics will: > > > > "In the first draft of the book, the president is consistently referred to as > she, because I was convinced that Hillary Clinton was going to win. It's > hard; all this stuff becomes obsolete. Things move on. When you write it, > you're a prisoner of your time." > > > > So: a lazy son of a gun, eh? We were discussing "Duma Key," a book partly set > in the Twin Cities. "Researching things can be such a pain in the butt. > Probably should have come to St. Paul, walked around for a few weeks, but I'm > too lazy," he said, laughing. "When the book was published, I waited for > people from the area to tell me I got this wrong and that wrong, but it > didn't happen." > > > > Possibly because no one cared if he made Summit Avenue a north-south street. > The man can make stuff up. > > > > But "Under the Dome" has no fanciful demons. The monsters are ordinary people > turned sour by power, drugs, their own hapless failings; the good guys have > no amulets or spells. The same wind hits everyone in Chester's Mill; > depending on which foot they'd put their weight on all their life, some fall > on the light side, some on the dark. Human nature is the most horrifying > thing in the story. You can read what you want into it, but don't go farther > than you have to. > > > > "It's a natural allegorical situation, without whamming the reader over the > head with it. I don't like books where everything stands for everything else. > It works with `Animal Farm': You can be a child and read it as a story about > animals, but when you're older, you realize it's about communism, capitalism, > fascism. That's the genius of Orwell. But I love the idea about isolating > these people, addressing the questions that we face. We're a blue planet in a > corner of the galaxy, and for all the satellites and probes and Hubble > pictures, we haven't seen evidence of anyone else. There's nothing like ours. > We have to conclude we're on our own, and we have to deal with it. > > > > "We're under the dome. All of us." > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________________________________ > Hotmail: Powerful Free email with security by Microsoft. > http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/196390710/direct/01/ > _________________________________________________________________ Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. Get Windows Live Hotmail Free. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/196390709/direct/01/
