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I Don’t Like Horror, But…

Barbara Vey at Beyond Her Book has written an interesting post that I quite agree with. It kind of goes along with why people like Stephen King- he’s a fantastic storyteller. And Vey’s premise is that that is the job of both books and movies- to tell a good story. If it’s a good story, even if it’s not “your kind of story”, it’ll capture you. If it’s not, it’s not gonna grab you, and it doesn’t matter if it’s the only kind of story you read, ever. Vey wrote about her experience with two different movies this week. The first, Mirror, Mirror, caught her interest because she’s been sucked into the addictive world of Once Upon A Time (okay, those weren’t exactly her words, but I’m there with her). So she was primed to like it… but found the characters unlikable and shallow, and the movie boring. Moral of that story: even if you want to like it, if the characters and plot can’t grab you, it’s not enough.

She also saw Cabin in the Woods. It’s probably unfortunate that this was billed as a horror film, since there are a lot of people who immediately dismiss a movie labeled “horror”. Vey says she “doesn’t do horror” but the story was good and the characters were interesting. She called it “funny and clever”. The fact that the story is good- that it’s not straight out gore, that the characters are relatable (and also that Joss Whedon is involved) means that even someone who assumes they can’t like horror, may be able to find something that appeals. Heck, even my mom, who is completely unenthusiastic about horror in all of its forms, finally found a movie, The Selling, that she thinks is totally great.

If you want to catch the folks who don’t like horror, you do what Cabin in the Woods, and what Stephen King, have figured out… get past the genre label and tell a fantastic story. And getting fantastic stories, however they’re billed, into the hands of readers, watchers and library lovers of all kinds? That’s what it’s all about.

Posted on April 27, 2012 by , Reply

The Best and Worst of Stephen King

I think we can all agree that Stephen King is such a part of American pop culture that it’s hard to have gotten through the past forty years without experiencing at least one of his stories in book, graphic novel, television, or movie form. Even people who don’t read horror may have read Stephen King- my sister, for instance, who has complete disdain for genre fiction, loved The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. It’s actually one of the few books that she and my dad, who has much different reading tastes, will both discuss enthusiastically with each other.

King is a huge draw for reluctant readers. One King-obsessed guy I knew in college had never read anything until he discovered and devoured King. The Stand is the ONLY book I know of that my best friend has read cover to cover twice (she also brought the audiobook of Nightmares and Dreamscapes with her on an endless car trip we took together one summer to the Pennsic War. King in audio is pretty awesome).

Still, I am really pretty darn impressed that someone took the time to read everything he’s ever written and rank the books in order (click here to see the rankings). I know there are people who have read all of his stuff, but I certainly can’t claim to have done so. The rankings, as rankings always are, are pretty subjective and open to debate, but my gosh! It takes perserverance to get through some of those books (ahem, IT), and for the very reason that many non-readers of horror have found a King book they like, it’s hard, I think, to find someone who will find that all of his books will be personally appealing. I think that actually makes it hard for librarians to know which of his books to recommend. If someone comes in looking for another King book, is it because they loved Lisey’s Story, or because they were scared out of their wits by The Shining? I’d love to know if Becky Siegel Spratford, the RA queen of horror, has a list of read-alikes for them, since so many of them are so different in nature.

I will admit that I haven’t read a lot of the books that made the top ten. Some I had no desire to read, others I had no access to (a lot of the King I read was stolen from my dad’s bedside table). And my favorites, with the exception of Misery, didn’t make the top ten on this particular list. Carrie is right there at the top for me. When I read it in high school (which is the best time to read it) I literally jumped out of my seat when the bell at the end of study hall rang.

So, King. What are your top picks? Do you agree with the author of the rankings list?

Posted on April 26, 2012 by , Reply

Woohoo! Tor/Forge To Drop DRM For Its Ebooks!

Tor/Forge has announced plans to make all of its ebooks free of DRM by July of this year. This is the first major imprint to do so, and hopefully others will follow, although at this time Tor’s parent company (Macmillan) is not following suit. Let’s face it, DRM is more annoying than it is effective. In an awesome statement of the kind rarely heard from publishers- the kind that acknowledges readers- Tom Doherty, president and publisher of Tor/Forge, said, “Our authors and readers have been asking for this for a long time… DRM is a constant annoyance for them. It prevents them from using legitimate purchases in perfectly legal ways”. Yeah, that!

First steps are good. Publishers everywhere, take note!

Posted on April 25, 2012 by , Reply
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