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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha World Chat Champion
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Pigeon |
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Posted: 21:32 - 09 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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https://d1w7fb2mkkr3kw.cloudfront.net/assets/images/book/lrg/9781/7824/9781782438045.jpg
Elspeth Beard - Lone Rider
Bought this on a whim to get free delivery from Amazon on some other stuff, effectively for £2.
Took a while to get comfortable with her style and some of her personality, but the book itself, wow.
Her story is incredible, an amazing and emotional read. Loved it!
Turns out she lives just up the road from me too. Small world innit. |
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ZX-7R |
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CBFcarl |
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CBFcarl Nearly there...
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 01:50 - 11 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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Picked up a couple on the Kindle from the horror genre. I've tried to go more for the supernatural rather than outright gore-fest stuff, as I prefer chilling to brutal. Nothing dearer than 2 quid a shot, so just took a chance really. We'll see. Might be spending the winter walking up the stairs backwards when I go to bed of a night (as my ol' grandma used to say) ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
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panrider_uk |
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panrider_uk World Chat Champion
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ZX-7R |
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chris-red |
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chris-red Have you considered a TDM?
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Posted: 12:13 - 14 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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I have just finished The Phillip Pullman book, La Belle Sauvage. It is fantastic. If you liked 'His Dark Materials' You will love this. ____________________ Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything. |
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 14:11 - 15 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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Stephen King's The Stand, again.
Dammit, why can't I find any other fiction writers I enjoy? So many others I try seem so amateurish, like they're trying too hard, or just can't hold my attention. I'm not even really bothered about plot (most horror stuff seems to disappoint in the endings anyway), but just want something gritty, earthy, realistic, with characters that are believable. Something with a bit of suspense that draws you in. Ah, sod it, I don't know what I'm looking for really ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE! |
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Matt B |
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Matt B World Chat Champion
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Posted: 10:35 - 16 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/9780751541755-us-300.jpg
Jupiter's Travels. Lent to my by GroovyLee, cheers dude
It's straight out of the 70s and definitely reads that way but harks back to a time when parts of the world were still unexplored, people used maps not satnav and carried Travellers Cheques.
I'm not far into it but it's a decent read so far. Much more about the people he meets on the way (he relies heavily on the help of strangers). Less about the actual roads travelled. ____________________ stinkwheel: He had an animated .gif of a cat performing fellatio. It's not socially acceptable. It can have real life adverse effects on other people. |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha World Chat Champion
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Posted: 10:56 - 16 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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chickenstrip wrote: | Stephen King's The Stand, again.
Dammit, why can't I find any other fiction writers I enjoy? So many others I try seem so amateurish, like they're trying too hard, or just can't hold my attention. I'm not even really bothered about plot (most horror stuff seems to disappoint in the endings anyway), but just want something gritty, earthy, realistic, with characters that are believable. Something with a bit of suspense that draws you in. Ah, sod it, I don't know what I'm looking for really |
Are you reading the slightly longer, unedited version? I've read the original far too many times - esp. as a kid. The longer one, I had a go at more recently. There isn't a lot of difference tbh. The part I remember most clearly was some weird guy in a muscle car / dragster. Pointless, really - didn't add anything.
I think I've probably said this before when this book comes up, but the older I get, the more I resent the religious shit in it. There's absolutely no need for that crap. True, the dreams the survivors have are an important and genuinely unsettling aspect of the tale. And, yes, I can't quite fathom how this part of the story could be retained if the obtrusive religiosity was done away with.
However, I do often end up thinking that there's rarely anything more horrific and disturbing than reality. Or the potential for horror and suffering that exists within reality.
In other words, I tend to think - these days - that The Stand would've been a better book if it'd taken a realist approach to the story - for instance, as Stephen King does with Cujo. I concede that this latter book is nowhere near as good as the former - but damn it, all that white hat / black hat Christianity shit in The Stand is bloody rubbish and seriously weakens what could have been an awesome book dealing with the very real-world eventuality of a bio-weapon catastrophe. Nine-tenths of the story could've been retained, and - with skilful plotting and character development - a more powerful book would have resulted.
For me, the most compelling sections of writing are the beginning - the small town blue collar backwater US Americana - excellently captured, as the first victims of the plague emerge. Next, that scene involving a shoot-out in a shop - a botched robbery. A brilliant sort of frame-by-frame, cinematic piece of writing. Also, the escape from Atlanta plague centre. Etc. etc. Point being that imo the hardest hitting parts don't rely on anything to do with magic-realism, way-out whacky supernatural horror, or any other fantasy crap.
Here's where I recommend a novel by King (and Straub) that's magic realism, fantasy crap - The Talisman. Worth a dekko if you haven't already been there. ____________________ "Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."
Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125 |
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Rogerborg |
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Rogerborg nimbA
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Ed Case |
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Ed Case World Chat Champion
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 12:24 - 16 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha wrote: |
For me, the most compelling sections of writing are the beginning - the small town blue collar backwater US Americana - excellently captured, as the first victims of the plague emerge. Next, that scene involving a shoot-out in a shop - a botched robbery. A brilliant sort of frame-by-frame, cinematic piece of writing. |
This is exactly where King's writing works so well for me. The lower end of the spectrum of humanity, the characters, they way they speak and act. It doesn't matter much to me whether it's horror or some other genre. One of my favourites is The Dark Half. It still has the supernatural side to it, but reads more like a crime thriller.
Having said that, I'm still very fond of Salem's Lot, one of the few vampire tales that works for me. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 12:36 - 16 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha wrote: |
Are you reading the slightly longer, unedited version? |
I've no idea which version I'm reading. Got it on Kindle, if that gives the game away.
King also exhibits a comically cynical side now and again, and I love that. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
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hedgehugger |
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hedgehugger World Chat Champion
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chickenstrip |
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Posted: 18:12 - 16 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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Not much Stephen King I haven't read/re-read (countless times ).
Yeah, I remember the tv version of Salem's Lot. David Soul (of Starsky and Hutch, or "car keys and clutch" as it got nick-named, and "don't give up on us bay-ay-by!" fame). Seemed pretty good at the time. But I read the book first. First horror story I ever read in fact.
I'd probably, like Trevor, prefer to read King writing non-horror now, but keeping to the small-town characters, keep it gritty, keep that somewhat twisted sense of humour in it. He comes close with the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, but it's still got the supernatural twist. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha World Chat Champion
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Posted: 19:35 - 16 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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chickenstrip wrote: | I'd probably, like Trevor, prefer to read King writing non-horror now, but keeping to the small-town characters, keep it gritty, keep that somewhat twisted sense of humour in it. He comes close with the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, but it's still got the supernatural twist. |
Fwiw I don't dislike horror - what I can't quite get into any more is what might be called fantasy horror. So for instance, the former would be something like The Rats by James Herbert, or The Fog. Plenty of scope for gore, splatter and terror - but without the fantastical stuff of chain rattling ghosts etc. of stuff like, well, like Salem's Lot. It's like I said above, there's nothing more horrific than reality e.g. when you think of what it must've been like to fight in the trenches of northern France during WWI, and so on. ____________________ "Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."
Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125 |
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 20:08 - 16 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha wrote: | what I can't quite get into any more is what might be called fantasy horror. So for instance, the former would be something like The Rats by James Herbert, or The Fog. Plenty of scope for gore, splatter and terror - but without the fantastical stuff of chain rattling ghosts etc. of stuff like, well, like Salem's Lot. |
If you don't like fantasy horror, why on earth are you reading Stephen King at all? Then criticising it?
I might as well read romantic novels, then tell you how much I hate them. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
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hedgehugger |
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hedgehugger World Chat Champion
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Posted: 20:27 - 16 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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Have you read Eyes of the Dragon?
Another excellent book.
Am currently reading Sleeping Beauties, which is Stephen King and his son Owen. An easy read so far. Joe Hill (his other son) is also worth a gander.
Just don't do Mills and Boon, or do, I don't care . Once you've read 5 you'll realise it's the same story, just replace the words doctor/nurse, with secretary /boss, or some such pairings. All the same. |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha World Chat Champion
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Posted: 21:21 - 16 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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chickenstrip wrote: | trevor saxe-coburg-gotha wrote: | what I can't quite get into any more is what might be called fantasy horror. So for instance, the former would be something like The Rats by James Herbert, or The Fog. Plenty of scope for gore, splatter and terror - but without the fantastical stuff of chain rattling ghosts etc. of stuff like, well, like Salem's Lot. |
If you don't like fantasy horror, why on earth are you reading Stephen King at all? Then criticising it?
I might as well read romantic novels, then tell you how much I hate them. |
As I said - because he writes straight horror as well as what I'd refer to as fantasy horror.
And please also note that I said "any more". Once I could enjoy the fantasy stuff - although admittedly a fair while ago - and now I can't.
But in any case, Stephen King has written lots of great things that aren't reliant on fantasy and indeed are nothing but harsh, relentless realism - The Body, Apt Pupil, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption plus a number of the short stories in Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, also the shorter novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, such as Roadworks and Rage. To all these can be added Misery, Cujo and Danse Macabre.
None of those have a fantasy element, and in fact, a fair few have no horror aspect either. But they're all eminently readable and in the case of a several, I'd say they're widely recognised as his best.
Haven't you read any of these? I'm a bit nonplussed as to why you've got it in your head that it's somehow impossible to read and rate Stephen King whilst not being into fantasy shite, when even a cursory glance at his published output shows he's written a fair amount of straight horror, realist thriller, non-fiction, crime, mystery, and even memoir. ____________________ "Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 22:06 - 16 Nov 2017 Post subject: |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha wrote: |
As I said - because he writes straight horror as well as what I'd refer to as fantasy horror.
And please also note that I said "any more". Once I could enjoy the fantasy stuff - although admittedly a fair while ago - and now I can't.
But in any case, Stephen King has written lots of great things that aren't reliant on fantasy and indeed are nothing but harsh, relentless realism - The Body, Apt Pupil, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption plus a number of the short stories in Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, also the shorter novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, such as Roadworks and Rage. To all these can be added Misery, Cujo and Danse Macabre.
None of those have a fantasy element, and in fact, a fair few have no horror aspect either. But they're all eminently readable and in the case of a several, I'd say they're widely recognised as his best.
Haven't you read any of these? I'm a bit nonplussed as to why you've got it in your head that it's somehow impossible to read and rate Stephen King whilst not being into fantasy shite, when even a cursory glance at his published output shows he's written a fair amount of straight horror, realist thriller, non-fiction, crime, mystery, and even memoir. |
I probably did miss that you said " any more"
Yeah, funnily enough, I just re-read both Night Shift and Skeleton Crew, and I do take your point on the non-fantasy horror. Actually, I think I'm getting more into horror short stories than novels, but I do like something chillingly supernatural now and then. It all depends on how good the writer is really.
I've just dipped for a couple of new (to me) authors to try. If I like what I read, I'll report back. It's fantasy horror, so probably don't watch this space but they sound like they have a bit of a twist to them, which is why I'm gonna give em a whirl. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
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waffles |
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Posted: 13:29 - 16 Dec 2017 Post subject: |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha wrote: |
Here's where I recommend a novel by King (and Straub) that's magic realism, fantasy crap - The Talisman. Worth a dekko if you haven't already been there. |
I didnt read The Talisman but I did read the sequel Black House, and really enjoyed it. There's less Stephen King voice, but the characterisation is typical of him.
On a tangent, if you need another author, try James Lee Burke. Its not horror, more sort of drama/thriller, set in the US deep south (usually Louisana, although I notice lately he's been writing about Montana, so must have moved ) His main character is Dave Robichaux, some sort of a troubled detective ____________________ Not nearly as interesting in real life. |
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Old Thread Alert!
The last post was made 6 years, 131 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful? |
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