8. 'The Blue Air Compressor' and 9. 'I Am the Doorway' (both 1971).

Apparently, this is an air compressor. Who knew?

I had mixed feelings about the next two Kings on the list, mainly because I am not a big fan of either self-aware fiction, or science fiction. The Blue Air Compressor is more self aware than all the Scream movies put together, and I Am the Doorway is wandering the fine line between horror-sci-fi and pure science fiction. So, neither would be my choice for preferred King style, but they're on my list, so read them I must.

The Blue Air Compressor

This story is pretty ordinary King at first glance. A young man named Gerald Nately writes a story about the enormously fat woman he is living with. The woman finds the manuscript and laughs at it (oh dear), suggesting that she was just too much woman for Gerald to write about. Gerald takes this insult to heart, and murders her by shoving an air compressor (a piece of machinery I had to google) down her throat and essentially inflating her to death.

All in all it's a funny, grisly, fairly typical comedy horror story from King. Except that, at regular intervals King talks directly to us as readers. He includes snippets of speech, ideas for bits of description, comments on the situation unfolding. It reads as though King himself is confessing to the crime.

In many ways, I actually quite liked this. I enjoyed the idea of this story being read by some of the idiots that believe King must be crazy simply because he chooses to write horror. Here's how to give them real pause! I also liked the fact that, just for a moment, I actually considered it myself. It seems likely that if King were going to murder someone, he'd do it pretty well, whatever that means.

It's not a story I would choose to read gain, but an interesting experiment all the same.

I Am the Doorway

I Am the Doorway is a grim, and yet somehow rather funny little piece. I wasn't sure I'd like it initially, as it starts with a space excursion and I'm rarely able to get on board (excuse the pun) with outer space horror, and before anyone screams at me, there are of course some notable exceptions; Alien; 2001: A Space Odyssey... no, that's about it.

The story deals with the aftermath of an exploratory journey to Venus, and the fate of one of the astronauts, Arthur, who is permanently disabled in the bad landing back on earth. Since returning to earth, Arthur's hands have begun to itch madly, and he has the strange feeling that he is looking out at the world as more than just himself. An alien life form slowly takes over Arthur's body and mind, forcing him to do its bidding, and viewing the world through tiny eyes that have opened along his itchy fingers. Ick.

It is the 'ick' of this that makes it successful. It feels like a 1950s or 60s B movie, and reminded me, particularly at the end, of The Man with the X-Ray Eyes. If you know this movie, you'll understand that this does not mean a happy ending. The description of the eyes, particularly the things Arthur does to try and get rid of them, made me wriggle in my reading chair, and I'm not even particularly eye-squeamish. I think if you were a reader for whom eyes were 'a thing', this story could easily give you nightmares. As a lifelong contact-lens wearer, I think I'm just too used to poking and prodding around the ocular area.

One criticism I have of this story is that, to my surprise, I actually found the bits set in space a little too brief. Venus is shown just for a moment, and given the smallest fragment of description, which left me really curious and wanting to see more of its weirdness. I also do prefer King when he writes settings in his Maine comfort zone. I just couldn't quite visualise the sweeping sands of the Gulf in the same way I can see the small towns of Castle Rock, Derry, and Jerusalem's Lot.

Overall, not a bad pair of reads considering my initial assumptions. On to the next one, which has haunted me since childhood...