The Girl Who Loved Stephen King

'Salem's Lot - Beware: Spoilers ahead. I first read Salem's Lot  when I was about thirteen, and it was perhaps the fourth or fifth King I had read. I had seen the miniseries before reading the book, and other than the horribly striking scene of Ralphie Glick dragging his nails squeakily down his brother's bedroom window, found the whole thing a disappointing bore-fest, particularly coming from Tobe Hooper. I have to admit that my first reading of Salem's Lot  was probably influenced by my opinion of the miniseries, and I really had to drag myself through it. It didn't help that very few of the major protagonists were women or children, unlike It and The Shining,  and at thirteen, my range of empathy didn't extend much further than myself. I really wasn't looking forward to re-reading this, so imagine my surprise when I found I was thoroughly enjoying it. I read the much more recently written introduction at the start of the text, just to get a se...

This particular blog post won't be a long one - from what I can tell there is only one short story separating Carrie  from Salem's Lot , and it's not one which has a huge amount to say for itself. It's a bonkers, gruesome, pretty silly story, that I enjoyed in less than fifteen minutes. The Lawnmower Man It's difficult to outline the premise of this story without simply spilling the entire thing. It's told from the perspective of a fairly ordinary, suburban family man, Harold Parkette, who is reluctant to get his lawn cut after an unpleasant accident caused his neighbour's cat to be run over by his lawnmower the year before. When the lawn eventually gets out of control, Harold calls a new service he finds advertised in the newspaper, and unfortunately for him, discovers that the service provided is anything but ordinary. This is a short story even by short story standards, and I was initially baffled by how anyone could have made a feature length pic...

A Head Full of Ghosts -  Beware: Spoilers ahead. This is my first non-King related post, and I've chosen this particular book because it was one of the first I read as part of my New Year's Book Resolution (part 2). I had heard about this book countless times, and became even more intrigued after listening to Paul Tremblay speaking as a guest on the Books in the Freezer podcast (which is great for your reading list and terrible for your bank balance). A Head Full of Ghosts  is a modern take on the possession sub-genre. At first glance, the premise doesn't sound particularly original; Marjorie, a teenage girl from a comfortable, middle-class family, suddenly starts behaving strangely, frightening her little sister, swearing at her parents, vomiting in her dinner. The usual. Bring in the priests, right? The only difference is that Marjorie's exorcism will be filmed, edited, and played to the nation on prime time television. The story is told through a mix of flashba...