Douglas E. Winter

I was a little disappointed with this book though I was forewarned by a snippet from an anthology of essays on pulp fiction I read some years back which I cannot recall the name of at the moment. This book follows a format of synopsis of parts of the discussed work with plot points paired with biographical anecdotes from Stephen King|3389|Stephen King's life along with some uncritical commentary and the direct interpretation of symbols in the said work. Between the biography and analyzed bits of King's work you would think some great insights could be found but no. To me, and I am not the biggest fan of Stephen King's work by the way, this book simply does not provide any unique insights or cast a new light on Stephen King's oeuvre up to its writing (1984) and does little than the previously mentioned to explore King's work. To be frank, it seems the author is manually stimulating Stephen King and providing copious amounts of lube to boot at the turn of every page. I really cannot recommend this book. However, I do recommend Danse Macabre and On Writing A Memoir of the Craft. Although both are written by King himself, they do a much better job of digging deeper.… (mais)

Pretty good old school horror anthology. The only stories I didn’t like much were the [a:David Morell|3871294|David Morell|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] story Orange is for Anguish, Blue is for Insanity and the King offering. The Morrell is highly derivative and then totally ruined by a hackneyed explanation at the end, eliminating whatever eeriness there was. The [a:Clive Barker|10366|Clive Barker|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1430330407p2/10366.jpg] story showed, once again, that he used to be able to write something really interesting and actually horrifying. The [a:Peter Straub|6941|Peter Straub|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1200468903p2/6941.jpg] story had nary a supernatural scent but was horrifying nonetheless. A hint of Bradbury there too. Tessier, Grant, Ligotti, all solid. The weakest story is Night Flier by [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg]. Docked another point by me for being self-referential.

Why did anthologist always slaver over the King story and put it first? Oh wait, I know, money.… (mais)

Contains:
The night flier / Stephen King --
Having a woman at lunch / Paul Hazel --
The blood kiss / Dennis Etchison --
Coming to grief / Clive Barker --
Food / Thomas Tessier --
The great god Pan / M. John Harrison --
Orange is for anguish, blue for insanity / David Morrell --
The juniper tree / Peter Straub --
Spinning tales with the dead / Charles L. Grant --
Alice's last adventure / Thomas Ligotti --
Next time you'll know me / Ramsey Campbell --
The pool / Whitley Streiber --
By reason of darkness / Jack Cady.… (mais)