Then and Now
I just finished reading Doctor Sleep, Stephen Kings' follow up to The Shining. I loved the book. I loved the connections to the original and I like how Danny evolved and grew up. I knew it wouldn't be pretty and I was right. He is truly a master writer in my opinion.
Reading this book took me back to the first summer I read for fun. I might have been 13 or 14, and had bought a red covered book called the Bachman Books. Inside those pages were a few short stories, four I think, that took my rural country girl ass on several wild adventures. I finished that book fast and went back to to get more of Richard Bachman's stories. It was then I learned the man whose writing I craved was Stephen King. I began to read novel after novel of his, as many as I could find, buy, swap and borrow. My favourite is of course The Shining. I love many others but once I read The Shining, I became a forever fan.
I had discovered the thrill of horror thanks to Stephen King, and I just couldn't get enough. I stayed up late to watch Alfred Hitchcock repeats and as much Twighlight Zone I could take. Fast forward a few years and I can say it is Kings' fault that my children were raised on horror and the incredibly mysterious.
My kids are well adjusted, for the most part and have no lasting scars. They love the horror genre in all forms as well. They can watch anything with me, although often we figure out what happens next and who will survive and who will die. The best movies are the ones where we're wrong, the joy at being duped by the ending is fantastic, those are our fave's.
So here's to a great book and to a great writer that opened the doors to my imagination so many years ago.
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