Episode 27: Secrets.
Hi folks:
RIP Salem’s Lot, 1975-2012.
Fondly remembered.
I’m back with episode 27 of The Kingcast, featuring some thoughts about the power of secrets in Stephen King’s work. In other news… there was a death in the family last week. I’m a little broken up about it, but I know that with your support I’ll get over it.
In addition to some meandering about secrets, there’s always Stephen King news to be shared. For example:
- Justin Long is booked to star in “The Ten O’Clock People”, an adaptation of the story which appeared in 1992′s “Nightmares and Dreamscapes.” The adaptation will be written and directed by Tom Holland, who previously adapted “The Langoliers” for TV and “Thinner” for the big screen. (He also played Carl Hough in “The Stand”). Here’s a little glamour shot of a younger Mr. Holland:
- The Rock Bottom Remainders recently played their last show. The band, which has featured tons of authors but has had a core membership including Dave Barry, King, Ridley Pearson, and Amy Tan, has been playing benefits and fun shows for nearly 20 years. Dave Barry claims they’ve quit because nobody can get through a show without a pee break anymore.
- Haven starts season three in September. A primer on the series will catch new viewers up on the action.
- My fellow Stephen King podcaster and fan Matt Jacobs recently nailed a remarkable guest to interview– physicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. You can read about the encounter on his site.
- Via the Stephen King forum, I got a chuckle or two out of “The King’s Road,” a series by Mind Circus Comics featuring SK in some wacky (and possibly NSFW) adventures.
In any case, here’s the episode. Enjoy. As always, your comments are welcomed.
You have my deepest condolences on the loss of Salem’s Lot. It’s a shame when bad things happen to great books.
This was a really good episode. The idea of “secrets” being a major motivating force in King’s work can probably be extended into any number of other books of his that you didn’t mention. For example, “Carrie,” in which a huge amount of pain and distress are caused by Margaret’s decision to keep the facts of menstruation secret from her daughter. The best recent example is maybe “A Good Marriage,” in which a husband is keeping a whopper of a secret from his wife.
The idea of secrets being divulged when we don’t want them to be — or, conversely, the idea of secrets being kept from us — has probably played a major force in horror fiction in general, actually. There was always some “unspeakable secret” lurking behind H.P. Lovecraft’s work, just as one example. I’ve been reading early Peter Straub lately, and the idea of secrets is practically dripping from each of his first five novels.
Excellent food for thought here, Bob, as always with The King Cast!
Well, this is sort of a first time caller long time listener deal. I’m sorry for your loss, looked like a collectors’ sake that one.
The main reason I’m calling is because I found out I’m not the only one who thinks “Doctor Sleep is a bad idea. What I’d like to suggest is, well, why not make a podcast out of your misgivings about this.
You know, whether or not you think it’s fair to the characters or in keeping with their character from the firs book, what are the books natural liabilities etc.
Just a thought. Keep on podcasting.
ChrisC
THat’s a great idea! And I appreciate the condolences. Gonna look in my usual haunts for a replacement copy, one with a few miles on it.
In the midst of death, we are in life. I don’t know how much condolence this will be, however I turns out that just last night I ran across a copy of “The Stephen King Story, a Literary Profile” by George Beahm.
It’s a used hardback but it looks like near mint condition. It was just there in the horror section of a local Half-Price Books in the middle of King’s oeuvre. How lucky can you get. Calvin Tower wouldn’t leave me the hell alone if he were real.
This sort of brings me back to Doctor Sleep. I don’t know, but feel free to mull over and use whatever you want from the following thoughts free of charge.
To be continued.
Continued from last reply.
Anyway, I have an idea why King made what on the surface is such an unnecessary move.
He said to Neil Gaiman that writing Sleep was “The cheesed off thing to do,” and that he was tired of hearing people complain about how sequels were always inferior to to originals.
There’s an old quote by C.S. Lewis about writers and writing that I live by, and the gist of it is, “You mustn’t believe everything a writer says about their books. It’s not that they mean to lie, it’s just that sometimes even they mystified by the process that goes into their own stories.” That’s not an exact quote bu t you get the idea.
Anyway, I think that applies to King as much as aauthor, and in particular to his comments on Sleep so far.
My basic idea is this, feel free to disagree. The two factors that brought about these events are: !. He’s getting older. 2. He’s been in an accident. King has gone on record as saying the accident slowed him down, and that he finds it harder to keep track of the narrative thread.
I think the frustration of this got to him and out of that frustration came an act of quiet desperation, i.e. Doctor Sleep. I differentiate between two types of stories, Inspired and Invented. Of the two, inspiration is the best. Invention has it’s place, i.e. South Park. Yet invention can never match inspiration.
To me, Sleep says “Invention”, the Shining says “Inspiration”. I guess this shows the kind of reader I am. I’ll leave off with this one last quote from Lewis:
A child is always thinking of those details in a story which a grown up regards as indifferent. If when you first told the tale your hero was warned by three little men appearing on the left of the road, and when you tell it again you introduce one little man on the right of the road, the child protests. And the child is right. You think it makes no difference because you are living the story at all.
ChrisC