The Stand: Limited Series (2020) — a review

Is there a better time than during a global pandemic to release a limited-run television series about . . . a global pandemic? Probably not. I’ve been a fan of the novel The Stand, by Stephen King, since the late 1970s, when it was published. In his dedication of the book to his wife, Tabitha, […]

Plotters Vs. Pantsers Vs. Stephen King

“Outlines are the last resource of bad fiction writers who wish to God they were writing masters’ theses.” ~ Stephen King That’s what King says, anyway. He should know, right? The man has written a few million words of fiction. Mostly, it seems, without outlining. This story may be apocryphal, but I remember reading, or […]

Horns, by Joe Hill — a book review

Prior to reading this novel, I read Hill’s first published novel, Heart-Shaped Box, and a collection of his short stories, 20th Century Ghosts. I loved both of these books. This first was a horror novel about an aging death-metal rocker who purchases a ghost online. It elevated a run-of-the-mill ghost story into something infused with […]

Castle Rock: Season 2 — a review

When I finished with Season 1 of Castle Rock, I really couldn’t see where they could go with the story in the future. I thought that the show writers had written themselves into a corner. When Season 2 began, and featured none of the characters or apparent storylines from the first season, I thought: “Aha! […]

NOS4A2: Season 1: Episode 1: “The Shorter Way”

I’ve never read the book NOS4A2, by Joe Hill (who we all know is Stephen King’s eldest son). I have it on a shelf in my library closet. This is a deep, walk-in closet in our office that’s lined with bookshelves, which are, naturally, filled with books. The closet was built like this when we […]

Castle Rock: Season 1 — a review

I’ve been letting my feelings about the first season of Castle Rock marinate for a while. I finished watching the series around Christmastime. Since then, at odd hours of the day (and night), I’ve thought about the show. I’ve thought about what I would say about it when I finally got around to typing these […]

Revival, by Stephen King — a book review

Concerning Stephen King . . . Up until about 1992, I read everything he wrote. Then, he continued to write, seemingly faster than I could read. I estimate that I’ve missed fifteen of his novels, unless he’s published another one in the past few minutes, which is always a possibility. Oh, I’ve read some of […]

Stranger Fonts (a minor digression about typeface design)

On television, it is popular to characterize nerds as people who dedicate too much time to minutiae. I haven’t watched Big Bang Theory in a couple of seasons, but I remember that Sheldon hosted a web series about flags. And on The Middle (a show I still watch, which is completing its final season […]

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Read. Play. Watch. Listen .

Stephen King