Haven

One of the shows I've gotten into lately is Haven.  Funny story about that.  The show is loosely based on a Stephen King story called The Colorado Kid.  I got all the way into the third season of Haven wondering when they were going to reference the book before I finally looked it up online.  Turns out I haven't actually read that story.  I was thinking of Blockade Billy THE WHOLE TIME.  If you're familiar with those two stories, you're definitely cackling at me right now. 

So, the show is not about a minor league baseball team.  It's about a town near Derry, Maine where tragic supernatural things happen.  The things are called 'the troubles' and the people who make them happen (usually unintentionally) are 'troubled' people.  I'm not finished with the series yet but it seems that there's only one person who can fix everything but she doesn't know how to, or even who she is.  That's quite the obstacle, as you can imagine.  It's originally a Syfy show but I watch it on Netflix, as I mentioned here.  Check it out.

The Dark Tower

This is the second of what will probably be many Stephen King related posts.  Stephen King is my favorite writer and there's plenty of material to cover, so just expect them to keep coming.  Today I'm writing about The Dark Tower, which is a seven-book series* about a gunslinger named Roland who teams up with three other people (and one pet, a billy-bumbler) to save the world... and in fact, all worlds.  They travel between parallel universes to places that are much like what we know but have moved on, to our own world and back again.  They fight dangers both magical and natural, and they become a unified group, a family, a team.  An idea very much like fate is Ka.  Ka is a wheel, you can't get off and you can't change the direction.  You can fight all you want or you can just ride along but you have to know when to do either one because Ka is a wheel that can crush you in an instant. Roland's group is called his Ka-tet.  

The whole series, via Viking Press/Schribener

First is Eddie, a drug addict who was born in the 1960s and joined the Ka-tet at age 22.  Next is Susannah, who joined the group from the 1960s as an adult who had seen a very difficult life, and whose mind contained multiple personalities.  Last in the Ka-tet is Jake, who is only a child but possesses 'the touch'.  He is very sensitive to the signs and clues that the universe shows us and he uses this intuition whenever he can.  The Man in Black is a force of evil who has been working for hundreds, if not thousands of years to balance out all the world's good.  Well, that's maybe not quite right but it's close enough to get you started.  In the quest for the Dark Tower, not everyone makes it to the end (a bit of a spoiler, but that's how King works in general so you really should've guessed that much).  If you want to find out if ANYONE  does, I guess you'd better read for yourself. 

When I started my journey to the tower with book one, I really just couldn't get into it.  Granted, I was only 9 or 10 years old, but I've had other people tell me the same thing.  If you find yourself in that situation, my advice would be reading the second book, then going back to the first one.  The second book has more action and less back story, so if you read it first, you actually ask the questions before you get them answered.  That worked for me.  There was one in the series that I didn't love, and that was Wizard and Glass.  Some people like it best though, so please don't think it isn't well- written.  It's just not my favorite part of the story.  Read it, though.  Decide for yourself.

If you try it and like it, let me know.  I'd love to hear your opinions on it, especially if it's because of my blog that you find new books that you love.  If you've already read it or tried and it wasn't your thing, let me know that too.  I love a good book discussion, especially with the new movie version being filmed as we speak.  It's an exciting time in the journey!

*I say seven books because that's what it originally was, but then later on Sai King added another book in between books 4 and 5.  Also, as you follow on the journey you'll see where a lot of his other books are either loosely related or VERY closely tied in with this series.  They stand alone just fine but whey work even better when you're one of his Constant Readers.

Game of Thrones

Okay, complaint:  I don't like to watch TV shows until they're completed.  Like, when I'm a few weeks out from the final finale I'm okay to watch the pilot.  So I've been waiting patiently for Game of Thrones, right?  Because it's not done yet.  I'm not too bothered by spoilers but I can't stand the wait between episodes, or worse, between seasons.  Because...

I did my waiting! Seven years of it! In Azkaban!!!

Actually, I did do six years of waiting for one of the Dark Tower books by Stephen King.  And then six more years for the next one.  I've used up my allotment of patience. 

But then my husband decided he couldn't wait any longer and he had to watch it whether I was joining him or not!  Can you even?! So about halfway through last season we caught up with real life.  To be honest, it was a jolt.  Waiting a week to see how my Westeros crush, Tyrion Lannister was faring was horrible, but now... I swear, I've been waiting MY ENTIRE LIFE for next season to start! This is no way to live, guys.  It's barbaric. 

So while I wait, I'll leave you with a question: Do you think Jon Snow is really dead?

And with this amazing picture that my friend Carrie-Ann Pierson (who's on Facebook and takes commissions) drew for our public library's "hero" day.

 

Stephen King

This one... may be lengthy. But that's totally fitting because the subject is Stephen King, the wordiest mofo in the business.  I have a little story about Stephen King.  Actually, I have a bunch.  I'll most likely end up posting stories about him a few times.  For today, though, I'll just start at the beginning.  When I was a kid I read a lot.  I don't ever remember reading many picture books, just Little Critter and The Berenstain Bears.   I read a lot of chapter books about little kids like myself and I read them quickly. After I got tired of re-reading all my own books, I began to go to my mom's bookshelf and read whatever she had there.  Like I said, I was really young, so I forget what kind of books I read at first, but I clearly remember when I got to Cujo, my first King novel.  I was eight years old, and I was used to scary movies, so I was sure I'd be fine.  Just a few pages in I stopped where I was and took the book nervously to my mom.

"Mom, are you sure I can read this?" I asked.  "It has bad words in it."
"Hey, if you can read it... you're big enough to read it."

Now, clearly the 80s was a different time.  Looking back I realize that my favorite movie, The Goonies (and most kids' movies at the time), were filled with cussing.  I just never noticed until I went to show those old movies to my own kids.  Oops.  That doesn't fly nowadays.  Anyway, when I took that book back to my room to read it, I just sat at first and thought about what my mom had said.  It seemed I was done with the days where the grown-ups controlled what went into my head.  The fact that my skill level was sufficient to read this adult book meant that I was advanced enough to read anything anybody had ever written about anyone.  It meant that if I could sound it out, I could know it.

So there I was, eight years old, and I realized that I didn't need someone else to approve of my thoughts.  That's pretty liberating for such a little kid.  It's kind of exciting even now, and I'm glad I recognized it in the moment.  I don't know if everyone sees it that way, but I'd love to hear if anyone else has a similar story.  Put yours in the comments if you have one, because I'm very interested in reading it, and learning whether it was a book, a movie, music or something else altogether that did it for you.  You know, it's funny.  A few years ago he did a reading in New Orleans (through Octavia Books, found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/octaviabooks) and I was one of the first few people to buy a ticket.  My friend and I got there hours early and there were only about 8 or 10 people ahead of us.  We sat all afternoon and evening with a huge line forming behind us. 

When the woman who introduced him started to speak, I started to cry.  Yes, already.  I mean, not like Sanjaya Girl or anything. Just slow, silent tears that basically didn't stop until I was on my way home.  In my defense, I'd just had a baby and my hormones were all over the place.  Two years later I went to see The Jacksons while I was 8 months pregnant with my second one. Full. On.  Sobbing.  But that's a story for another day.  At the end of the Stephen King event, there was a Q&A and the line was crazy long.  I considered standing there anyway, but I just couldn't think of anything to say.  You read that right, as long winded as I am, as overdramatic with my stories, as talented as I am at pointless rambling... I couldn't even think of a single thing to tell the man I owe most of that to.  I just sat there trying to come up with something, anything to say.  I wish so desperately that it had occurred to me to tell him the story of how Cujo led to my own little renaissance and began to lead me out of the Dark Ages that I consider childhood to be.     

All I wanted at the time was something to tell him that would make him remember me.  After all, I'll remember seeing him for the rest of my life, you know? Of course, sitting on the front row in a room full of 1,000 people and silently weeping all Annie-Wilkes-style may have done the trick, so mission probably accomplished. 

*shrug*

Anyway, a few more pictures for your enjoyment: