by Jay Wilburn
The plan is to reread all of Stephen King’s novels and collections in their order of publication. Richard Chizmar of Cemetery Dance set out the challenge for himself and invited others to join in. I’m doing it because I am a writer and I want to improve my storytelling. I think there are secrets to be discovered or rediscovered in it, too. As Chizmar posts his after read posts and Bev Vincent posts his accompanying history, I will add links to those in my corresponding posts.
Here is Bev Vincent’s historic essay.
Here are Richard Chizmar’s thoughts.
You can also go back to the beginning and read Before Carrie or any of my other posts up through this one and beyond by checking out this link to the Master List of all my #StephenKingRevisited posts.
Much of what I write in these posts will really be notes for me. I will do my best to make them into coherent observations for you. I will also style my comments to be as spoiler free as possible for those who haven’t read the book, but in a way which will also work for those who have read the books. Be warned though that I am discussing the content of the book and the writing.
Let’s walk the walk the 300 steps to the top of the Needle and begin weaving our escape.
This one is illustrated. I can’t remember if the version I read originally was. I seem to recognize some of the pictures, so I think it might have been.
We have a Roland serving as king. Delain is the kingdom, and Flagg is the villain. It wasn’t until this rereading that I had made the connection that this is a Dark Tower story set in the InWorld kingdom at some point in the past. I had read the first three Dark Tower books before I read Eyes of the Dragon for the first time. I thought he was just reusing names. Silly me.
“A huntsman’s zest for the kill.” King has used the word zest in two books I’ve found so far, Salem’s Lot and this one. I’ll keep you posted.
The biological details of the dragon are so precise that you must believe it is as real as any creature in our own world. It has to exist in this described world same as the wolves, the huskies, and the two-headed parrot.
The stories of the napkins and the dollhouse serve the story and the relationships between the characters expertly well. Obviously, the action and plot of the story swing on them, too.
Thomas’s desperation to be loved and accepted are heartbreaking. Each of the important characters are given some heart-touching humanity. The redemption offered at the end was good. A lesser author would have fallen to the temptation to put the final shot in a different character’s hand.
Bats are used to induce terror in a tower, and that reminded me of a scene that stuck with me in another tower in Tommyknockers. Maybe bats are good for terror.
Thomas learns contempt by seeing his father with his masks off, from a voyeuristic breed of familiarity.
Creative poisoning utilizes horror well as a tool in a fantasy story.
Stephen King has an artful way of having schemes and plans not go perfectly. Little mistakes take them off-course or put them back in motion. Something as simple as crying could be the end of it all. An effort to hide a crime leads to clearing out the obstacle of rats.
King does that thing where he lists off a series of things a person forgets about as he is getting an ass kicking. He used that twice in Cycle of the Werewolf.
Curran becomes a priest with another story to tell. Of course, as soon as I read that, I looked up to see if King told this “other story.” If King has ever told it, I can’t find it.
Peter ends up with a “lightning bolt” scar on his face from a fight.
When Flagg has a bad dream, everyone has a bad day.
King writes the thoughts and feelings of animals as well or better than any author I can think of. “The scent of Flagg was that of a monster – some horrible It.” Great line.
“A tale for another day.” The characters move on to other great adventures. Apparently, the darkness and the traveling light of this story do meet again. I sadly doubt that King will ever tell that tale, but we will see.
The pieces of this story come together with precision. It is nearly a perfect tale. Nothing to add and nothing to take away. This is not true of every story written by every author for sure. Probably not even true of most Stephen King stories, with all due respect. It is close enough to perfect in this story though. My next post will be Before The Talisman which will be linked on Master List of all my Stephen King Revisited posts.
— Jay Wilburn, I try to always use a napkin.
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