Salem's Lot by Stephen King (1975)
When a book is as well known, well loved and as critically revered as Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, it seems somewhat redundant to write yet another review of it. I doubt I can add anything significant or original to say about its virtues and merits. So I won’t attempt to do so. I’ll simply share some thoughts on the book in question and leave it at that. Firstly, I read the novel in 1981 when it was more than half a decade old. I had already seen the 1979 television mini-series, directed by Tobe Hooper, which I had enjoyed immensely. Luckily, I had an exceptionally good English teacher at school at the time, who impressed upon me the challenges involved in adapting books for TV or film. Hence, when I actually sat down to read Salem’s Lot I expected it to be distinctly different to what I had seen already. And it was. An utterly enthralling story, that absorbed me totally and scared me shitless. It left a profound mark upon me. Last month, approximately 41 years later, I read it again and enjoyed it even more.
When a book is as well known, well loved and as critically revered as Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, it seems somewhat redundant to write yet another review of it. I doubt I can add anything significant or original to say about its virtues and merits. So I won’t attempt to do so. I’ll simply share some thoughts on the book in question and leave it at that. Firstly, I read the novel in 1981 when it was more than half a decade old. I had already seen the 1979 television mini-series, directed by Tobe Hooper, which I had enjoyed immensely. Luckily, I had an exceptionally good English teacher at school at the time, who impressed upon me the challenges involved in adapting books for TV or film. Hence, when I actually sat down to read Salem’s Lot I expected it to be distinctly different to what I had seen already. And it was. An utterly enthralling story, that absorbed me totally and scared me shitless. It left a profound mark upon me. Last month, approximately 41 years later, I read it again and enjoyed it even more.
Salem’s lot contains a lot of the hallmarks of why people love King’s writing. He has an uncanny ability to depict everyday people with their flaws, quirks and vices. He will often devote a lot of time exploring the thoughts and feelings of characters, which often are not entirely necessary to expedite the plot but it just adds to credibility of the world he has created. In the case of Salem’s Lot, the town is ultimately defined by its people and not just the detailed description of the buildings and local geography. Hence King devotes a lot of time to interesting vignettes about Dud Rogers who runs the town dump, telephone repairman Corey Bryant and the graveyard digger, Mike Ryerson. The novel is at its best when getting to know the townsfolk, especially as things gradually take a turn for the worse. I appreciated this aspect of the book so much more the second time round, whereas my younger self craved the horror and panic of the book’s latter stages.
When the vampire infection begins to spread, King manages to generate a palpable sense of creeping dread. The vampires are not just a clumsy plot device but are wily and sophisticated foes. This is made worse by the close knit nature of the community and the fact that people are being hunted by those they know. The story fosters a keen sense of hopelessness, as it becomes clear that the remote and insular nature of Salem’s Lot is working against the interests of our protagonists, author Ben Mears, college graduate Susan Norton, school teacher Matt Burke, doctor Jimmy Cody, local boy Mark Petrie and local priest Father Callahan. The story reaches its peak when the vampire threat feels overwhelming both physically and spiritually. The ending is far from black and white and although it addresses and resolves some issues, it does not neatly conclude all the story lines. It implies a successful conclusion to a battle but not necessarily a definitive victory.
Salem’s Lot is a great example of vintage Stephen King, succinctly highlighting why he was a rising star at the time. The novel is a microcosm of the time it was written, capturing the neurosis and world weariness of the US public in the years after Watergate and the Vietnam war. It is about disillusionment and a fear of the future. A concern that forces are abroad that are unchecked and uncontrollable. It is also a metaphor for the continuous battle of wills between rural and urban America. Even the parochial town of Salem’s Lot is a bastion of modernity compared to the ancient and sinister powers of Kurt Barlow. But perhaps the jewel in the crown of this novel is King’s ability to capture the realities and cultural distinction of living in a small town. Salem’s Lot remains a milestone in horror writing and in American literature per se. It is a book I would recommend not only to horror enthusiasts but to anyone who enjoys well crafted characters. If you are a student of writing then Salem’s Lot has a lot to teach.
I am a big fan of Audible as a service. Over several years I have built up a sizeable collection of audiobooks and whenever a new title is released that is of interest to me, I instantly consider do I wish to buy a physical copy of the book in question or an audio version. I consume a lot of non-fiction titles, especially science based content. I find audiobook versions of such material a lot easier to digest, mainly due to the measured pace of the narrator that gives me time to consider and mentally digest what I am listening too. If I struggle with a point, I can instantly rewind the audio back 30 seconds and listen again. Plus listening to Stephen Fry or someone else with a distinctive and charismatic voice read something is eminently superior to my own inner monologue. Hence I find audiobooks to be a medium that if both convenient and enjoyable for me. Furthermore, the various subscription tiers of Audible have proven beneficial. That is until this March when they altered these.
Last August I listened to The Battersea Poltergeist podcast by Danny Robins and was subsequently introduced to his other production Uncanny. Both are investigations into alleged supernatural events but unlike other shows of this kind, these are far better researched, produced and most importantly even handed. Danny makes a great deal of effort to try and keep a foot in each camp; team believer and team sceptic. Overall these podcast work as they genuinely appeal to multiple audiences and they are not excessively hyperbolic or credulous. A lot of this comes down to Danny’s personality which is upbeat and relatable. Perhaps his greatest strength is being a sympathetic ear to those recounting their experiences. He lightens the mood from time to time with humour when required. He also liberally litters the proceedings with pop culture references. However, he will probe and ask pointed questions but does so in a non-accusatory manner.
The zombie genre is a narrative seam that has been heavily mined in recent years. There seems to have been a never-ending supply of films, television shows and video games involving the undead over the last two decades. Which is why the notion of society being destroyed by its own citizens has somewhat lost its intellectual and horrific lustre. Hence I can understand people rolling their eyes at the mention of the novel World War Z by Max Brooks. The 2013 film adaptation starring Brad Pitt, which jettisoned most of the source text's innovations, isn’t the best advertisement for the book’s virtues. However, if you take the time to look beyond the hyperbolic title, you’ll find World War Z a work of singular intelligence which uses the zombie genre as a means to explore multiple socio-economic and political themes.
Dr Richard Shepherd is a senior forensic pathologist with over 30 years’ experience, consisting of 23,000 postmortems. His book, Unnatural Causes, explores his career and his devotion to the truth in determining how each of his cases died. Over the course of his career this includes victims of mass disasters, homicides, and those who have died in their own homes from unknown causes. Dr Shepherd’s job is to ascertain a cause of death based upon the facts and data presented. Each case is described with detail and empathy and it’s surprising how much the reader becomes immersed in the methodical approach that each postmortem entails. Furthermore, it is very satisfying to learn of Dr Shepherd’s verdict. However, far from being a technical dissertation on a succession of cases, this is a deeply personal and humane book which addresses the impact of the author’s career upon himself and his family. It is written with a surprising degree of literary flair and is profoundly thought provoking and moving.
When a book is as well known, well loved and as critically revered as Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, it seems somewhat redundant to write yet another review of it. I doubt I can add anything significant or original to say about its virtues and merits. So I won’t attempt to do so. I’ll simply share some thoughts on the book in question and leave it at that. Firstly, I read the novel in 1981 when it was more than half a decade old. I had already seen the 1979 television mini-series, directed by Tobe Hooper, which I had enjoyed immensely. Luckily, I had an exceptionally good English teacher at school at the time, who impressed upon me the challenges involved in adapting books for TV or film. Hence, when I actually sat down to read Salem’s Lot I expected it to be distinctly different to what I had seen already. And it was. An utterly enthralling story, that absorbed me totally and scared me shitless. It left a profound mark upon me. Last month, approximately 41 years later, I read it again and enjoyed it even more.
Charles Dexter Ward is a young man from a prominent Rhode Island family with a keen interest in history. He spends much of his childhood wandering the streets of ancient Providence, drawn inexorably to its architecture, as well as it’s colourful heritage. As an adult he continues his antiquarian leanings and subsequently discovers a hitherto unknown ancestor, Joseph Curwen. One with a shadowy past which hints at the pursuit of alchemy and other arcane practises. Charles decides to uncover the truth regarding Joseph Curwen and over time his interest changes into obsession. His Father begins to worry about his son’s fixation and the family Doctor, Marinus Bicknell Willett, decides to keep an eye upon the youth’s state of mind. A series of curious events hint at a growing eldritch malevolence and Doctor Willett begins to suspect that Charles is in grave danger from a menace stretching across time.
At the Mountains of Madness is a story told from a first-person perspective by geologist William Dyer, a professor from Miskatonic University in Arkham, a fictional town in Essex County, Massachusetts USA. When a new scientific expedition to Antarctica is announced, Dyer breaks his silence and discloses hitherto unknown and closely kept secrets about his own explorations of the continent and exactly what befell his own expedition. He details how his team found the preserved remains of 14 prehistoric life forms unknown to science and outside of the existing geological and evolutionary timescale. He goes on to recount how some of the men and sled dogs are killed under mysterious circumstances. Dyer and graduate student Danforth, subsequently explored a mountain range by plane and discovered a vast, abandoned stone city, which is alien to any form of human architecture. What is the secret of this ancient ruin? Can Dyer convince subsequent explorers to stay clear of “the mountains of madness”.
Let’s not be coy about this. J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion is not in any way a light read. It has a complex narrative, filled with staggering amounts of lore to digest. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to anyone as their first point of entry into the Tolkien Legendarium. I think this is a book that you tackle after The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, if you are sufficiently enamoured with the threads of a wider backstory that are alluded to in both those volumes. If that is the case then brace yourself. However, despite its sprawling histories and dense genealogies, The Silmarillion is an incredibly rewarding book. There is an air of majesty surrounding the epic stories it contains and its themes about the eternal struggle between the dark and the light are timeless. Due to the immense detail that Tolkien lavishes upon the text, Middle-earth feels like a genuine living, breathing world. A world of languages, culture, geography and history. To date it has never been equalled.
First published in 1980, Unfinished Tales is a collection of stories by J. R. R. Tolkien, that spans from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring. For those who have read both The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, this book provides additional insights and more detailed accounts of many key events of the First, Second and Third age. Such as Gandalf’s informative tale of how he came to send the Dwarves to Bag-End in search of a burglar, the appearance of the sea deity Ulmo before Tuor on the coast of Beleriand and an in depth description of the military organization of the Riders of Rohan. This collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien were never fully completed during the author’s lifetime but were posthumously edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and present with notes, annotations and were required a detailed commentary.
“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”
The problems that beset the modern world are complicated and nuanced. Thus any potential solutions will be equally complex and subtle. There are no quick fixes for issues such as climate change or nuclear proliferation and anyone trying to sell you one is either a charlatan or a fool. In his book, The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan strongly advocates that adopting a scientific approach to thinking is essential in a modern democracy. By this he means questioning ideas critically and requiring evidence based arguments. If something cannot be effectively measured, tested or verified we should be deeply sceptical of it. He even goes so far as to argue that it is patriotic to ask questions and that any person, institution or organisation that avoids such scrutiny should be deemed suspect. Published in 1995 Sagan’s concerns regarding the coming century have proven sadly accurate. A quarter of a century ago, he predicted the rise of misinformation, fake news and alternative facts. When information is controlled and a population lacks critical thinking it becomes "unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true".
In my youth I was a prodigious reader. I spent many a happy weekend visiting my local library and often spent my pocket money on books as a child. Overtime, I changed from reading fiction to non-fiction. More recently, a lot of my reading has been done online, consumed either via my office PC or tablet. That’s not to say that I don’t buy paperback or hardback books anymore. I still consider this to be the preferred experience. There is something fundamentally exciting about sitting down in a comfy chair, reading at your own pace, away from distractions. However last year I injured my left arm and I have subsequently found holding a large hardback book to be a difficult experience. So for the sake of convenience I started listening to audiobooks instead. I’ve always enjoyed them considering them a great alternative to traditional print media. What my recent foray into this format has taught me is how much the medium of the audiobook has grown.
If you wanted to find me on a Saturday afternoon during the late seventies and early eighties, then the local library was a safe bet. At one point I belonged to three including one in a neighbouring borough but Blackfen Library was my favourite. It was the nearest to our home and I was fond of the oddly austere building. Both of my parents have always been prodigious readers so going to the library quickly became a regular part of my youth. Initially, I was content to confine myself to the children’s section reading Hergé's Adventures of Tintin and the escapades of Asterix the Gaul. However, I was never really content with fiction aimed at children and especially stories about children. Hence as I grew older I expanded my horizons and strayed into the adult section. My parents didn’t interfere in my choice of books and took the attitude that if I were reading, then I wasn’t getting into trouble. My Dad would make the occasional recommendation. Usually classic science fiction by authors such as Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.
The gaming community (as well as many others) can be somewhat myopic at times. I'm sure many people are aware of Father Roderick and his prolific body of work. Is there a game, genre movie, TV show or some form of technology that he doesn't cover on his various podcasts and YouTube videos? Yet outside of this environment, his championing of all things "geek" still comes as a culture shock to the wider world with their somewhat entrenched attitudes towards both the “nerdy” and the religious. His 2013 book Geekpriest: Confessions of a New Media Pioneer, endeavours to address this issue. Furthermore it clearly advocates that the church should embrace all forms of new media and engage with all communities. Fandom, shared interests and hobbies are a great starting point for this.
Many of my fellow bloggers regularly posts details of what they’ve been reading of late. I must admit that although I received several books and graphic novels as Christmas presents, I’ve yet to start any of them. The bulk of my reading is done via my PC or Tablet and usually tends to be news articles, blog posts and research for my writing. The last book that I physically read was Titus Crow, Volume 3: In the Moons of Borea & Elysia by Brian Lumley and that was last November. So, I’ve decided to get back into reading in the traditional sense and as ever have allotted time in my schedule and set myself goals. As a carer I have numerous appointments to attend throughout the week with my parents. Rather than waste time on my phone perusing twitter and gawping at the internet, I shall use these periods to read.
During the eighties, I was an avid fan of the novelist Clive Barker. I consumed all his work voraciously and sought out magazine and television interviews with him whenever I could, finding the man equally as fascinating as his work. Oh, to be a twenty something horror fan during the genre renaissance of that decade. Despite the yolk of the Video Recordings Acts and the scaremongering of the tabloid press over “Video nasties”, horror fiction both in print and on the big screen was elevated to new levels due to the creativity of one British author and director. These were halcyon days for fan boys and girls.
Many people consider history (or at least books about it) to be a dry and a somewhat dull experience. If you are such a person then I cordially invite you to think again. Suetonius’ book “The Twelve Caesars” is a catalogue of degeneracy, perversions and general behaviour that would upset the vicar. It is both gripping and informative, proving that with regard to human nature, no matter how things change, they remain the same.
I recently started reading fiction again after spending half a year focused upon academic subjects and ploughing my way through numerous non-fiction books. I’ve always been a fan of the Bond franchise so decided it was time to familiarise myself with Ian Flemings’ the source material. The results so far have proven to be quite surprising and not at all as I expected. I managed to purchase the first seven novels in the series from a second hand book shop and have so far completed five of them. I also have audio book version available of the all of Fleming’s stories should I need to consume them in such a fashion.
The Land That Time Forgot is the first part of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Caspak” trilogy of science fantasy novels. Commencing as a wartime sea adventure, hence its original working title of The Lost U-Boat, Burroughs’ story ultimately develops into a saga with similarities to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World and Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island. What makes Burroughs work unique is his plot device of a biological system specific to his island, in which the slow progress of evolution manifests itself as individual metamorphosis. This biological feature is only implied in The Land That Time Forgot and explored in greater depth over the course of the next two novels, The People That Time Forgot and Out of Time’s Abyss.
Robert E. Howard’s collective literary work is often overshadowed by his most famous character, Conan the Cimmerian. As with Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, the success of a single creation can lead to subsequent material being overlooked or discounted. This can be a dilemma for many a popular author. Fortunately we live in an age where the back catalogue of many a writer is now freely available and lesser known work is re-evaluated. The publisher Wordsworth has recently compiled a collection of Howard’s short stories that squarely fall in to this category. Like his more popular work, the anthology The Haunter of the Ring and Other Tales focuses on the supernatural, the fantastic and baroque.
Mr. Tickle was written in 1971 and if we wish to gain a greater understanding of this work, then we need to consider the political and historical landscape of the time, as so much of it is reflected in the subtleties of the text. This was the year that the UK changed its currency through decimalization. While Cambodia was ravaged by the Khmer Rouge, America opened Disney World as a shrine to capitalism and consumerism. These were turbulent times which saw the passing of old established world orders. The idea of whether the individual can have a meaningful impact upon the world during such an era is examined and stripped bare in Mr. Tickle, if one takes the time to find it.
William Hope Hodgson (November 15, 1877 – April 1918) was an English author with a penchant for baroque and arcane horror, fantasy and science fiction. His style and insight drew heavily on his own colourful experiences. The son of a Priest he ran away to sea at an early age and travelled widely. He was a keen amateur photographer and achieved some renown as a bodybuilder and escapologist. He died in World War I at the age of 40. Although moderately successful during his lifetime it was not until after his death that his work, especially his short stories, received the acclaim they deserved. This was mainly due to posthumous publication of all the material regarding one Thomas Carnacki; investigator of the supernatural.
For many years, Tolkien fans only had a tantalising glimpses of the Second Age of Middle-earth via the appendices found within The Lord of the Rings. It was only after The Silmarillion was posthumously published after Tolkien’s death, that a more comprehensive narrative could be presented. While much of that book focused on the First Age of Middle-earth, it also included events surrounding the rise and fall of the island of Númenor in the Second Age. This kingdom, raised from the Great Sea and bestowed upon the Men of Middle-earth as a reward for their assistance in defeating the Dark Lord Morgoth, became a centre of power and wealth. However, as the Númenóreans' influence grew, the seeds of their destruction were inevitably sown. Over the years further publications edited by Christopher Tolkien, such as Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth and the twelve-volume series, The History of Middle-earth have provided further historical lore.