The A-Z Blog Challenge, Letter F

Letter F of My Favourite Books by title

Three authors this time because all three need mentioning!!
But one genre - Horror

The first is Fear Nothing, from Dean Koontz, an American Horror writer. Here's the blurb:

Christopher Snow is athletic, handsome enough, intelligent, romantic, funny. But his whole life has been affected by xeroderma pigmentosum, a rare genetic disorder that means his skin and eyes cannot be exposed to sunlight. Like all Xpers, Chris lives at night - and has never ventured beyond his hometown of Moonlight Bay, a place of picturesque beauty and haunting strangeness; he knows it as no one else can possibly know it, is intimate with its shadows and darkest hours. Despite the limitations imposed by nature, he has always been determined to lead the fullest life and, with the help of family and friends, he has on the whole succeeded.

But for Chris - and all the inhabitants of Moonlight Bay - a terrible change is about to happen; a change of potentially catastrophic proportions.

Startling, mysterious, moving, Fear Nothing is a compulsive masterpiece of tension from Dean Koontz, whose internationally bestselling novels have sold over 200 millions copies worldwide and garnered extraordinary critical acclaim.

Dean Koontz is another big name Horror writer, and I came to him quite late, and he is actually one of the few authors I enjoy but don't own everything they've written - why?

1) He has so many books! (in excess of 45 and I only own 7!)
2) He tends to repeat the same characters/personalities, so if you read too many they get a bit samey.

However, he is a great horror writer, with superb story lines and this one is my favourites. It has a sequel called Sieze the Night, but this one captured me the most because of the characters - which may seem odd after saying they get samey, but in this one they are really well rounded - and not just human characters, but a dog too!

Besides the main character in this book, who is unable to to go outside except at night, he has a friend who is a surfer dude and a dog who he finds out is not just a dog, and they come straight off the page bringing humour and warmth, lightening the darker sides - and don't worry there is plenty of darker side!

Koontz also plays with the idea of animal testing and developing animal intelligence. The concept fascinated me and it was delivered in both a dark and light way in this novel.

***

The second is Fluke from James Herbert. Here's the blurb: 

He was a stringy mongrel, wandering the streets of the city. Driven by a ravenous hunger and hunting a quarry he could not define. But he was something more. Somewhere in the depths of his consciousness was a memory clawing it's way to the surface, tormenting him, refusing to let him rest. the memory of what he once had been......

A man......

This book is unique in that it is a dog who remembers his existence as a man and tries to find his family. James Herbert writes from the dog's point of view and in such a way that you forget it is a dog, and don't find the concept difficult to conceive.

It's one of the few books where writing from an animal's perspective is done well and believably - with the exception of the book above (Fear Nothing).

In my youth I read several books where they tried to put across stories where animals had the same intelligence as a human, or were somehow possessed by a human, but none of them worked like Fluke. For its time, it was original and quite a breakthrough. He created something unique and it made him stand out from the crowd.

***

The third is Firestarter, another Stephen King novel. Here's the blurb.

The Department of Scientific Intelligence (aka "The Shop") never anticipated that two participants in their research program would marry and have a child. Charlie McGee inherited pyrokinetic powers from her parents, who had been given a low-grade hallucinogen called "Lot Six" while at college. Now the government is trying to capture young Charlie and harness her powerful firestarting skills as a weapon.


You sick of me sharing King's novels yet? Well I had to add this one as it is has a special place in my heart: this book was the one that got me hooked on Stephen King's books and become a constant reader.

Why? Because he starts this book right in the middle of the story, which was unique to me then and is actually now recommended as a way to write. The story then unfolds around it and you get to find out what is going on with Charlie and her dad as it does. I also like the twists and turns in this novel, when you expect it to go one way but it doesn't.

In the modern day, the TV series Stranger Things is definitely a nod to this book - along with many others, like Scanners - and I feel it has influenced a lot of writing and storylines, as much as the Matrix has. King was the first to breakout using these themes and ideas with Carrie, but for me Firestarter delivered it much better.


And if you are sick of me raving about King's works, don't worry, he's skipping the next couple of letters.😉

The A-Z Blog Challenge, Letter E

Letter E of My Favourite Book by title

Two, both from Stephen King.  

But two different genres.

The first is End of Watch, the final part in a trilogy. Here's the blurb: 


The cell rings twice, and then his old partner in his ear . . . 'I'm at the scene of what appears to be a murder-suicide . . . Come and take a look. Bring your sidekick with you.'

Bill Hodges, who now runs a two-person agency called Finders Keepers with partner Holly Gibney, is intrigued by the letter Z written with a marker at the scene of the crime.

As similar cases mount up, Hodges is stunned to discover the evidence points to Brady Hartsfield, the notorious 'Mercedes Killer' who they helped to convict. It should be impossible: Brady is confined to a hospital room in a seemingly unresponsive state.
But Brady Hartsfield has lethal new powers. And he's planning revenge not just on Hodges and his friends, but on an entire city.
The clock is ticking in unexpected ways...

This trilogy sits firmly in the crime thriller genre, which is not quite a first for Stephen King, he has dabbled before, but it is his first fully developed one where there is one main detective that runs through all three books - Bill Hodges. I think King pulls it off well; he's excellent at character development and with his darker, horror side and ability to craft great suspense, he is really able to keep the reader engaged and on the edge of their seat.

This is the final book of the three - you don't strictly have to read them all to enjoy this one, as he covers enough of the backstory for it to be a standalone novel - and the reason why I enjoyed this one the most is because Stephen gives this one a surreal edge, less believably, sort of pushing the boundaries. Is it really possible for someone with such a severe brain injury to be able to not only recover and function but in an extremely intelligent way and then telepathically?

This is not the first time Mr King dabbles in this possibility, we see it in Firestarter, Carrie, and many more, short and long stories. He loves to entertain the impossible. And End of Watch does that indeed with the altogether dislikeable character of Brady Hartsfield.

Just remember, with Stephen King there will always be an element of horror, and this series isn't lacking just because it's parading as a crime thriller.

Where does Stephen King get all his dark ideas? He asks the question 'what scares me?' He has said that most of his book ideas are based off things that he fears the most. He said that his wife put a linen chest at the end of their bed and he hates it. He has to make sure the sheets and blankets are tucked in on his side in case anything decides to crawl out!



The second is The Eyes of the Dragon. Here's the blurb:
 
A captivating tale of heroic adventure, of dragons and princes, of mysterious mice and magical men, as only Stephen King can tell it.

The king is dead, murdered by a strange and horrible poison. But while the land of Delain mourns, the magician Flagg, unscrupulous, greedy and powerful, plots. Soon the king's oldest son, Peter is imprisoned at the top of a high tower, the Needle, for his father's murder, while his younger brother Thomas inherits the throne.

Only Peter knows the truth of his own innocence, and the truth of the evil that is Flagg. And only Peter can save Delain from the horror Flagg has in store. He has a plan, but it is dangerous and desperate and if he fails there will be no second chance. And all the while, Flagg's words echo in his mind: "I'll carry your head on my saddle-horn for a thousand years. Here I come, Peter! Coming for your head!" 

This has often been referred to as the only children's book in Stephen King's collection, as it is light enough for children to enjoy too. It is indeed a classic fantasy and I enjoyed it very much. It was my top favourite for a long time - well until I read The Talisman (but you'll have to wait until we get to the T's to hear about that one!😉).

It is also a novel where we get to know more about the character Randall Flagg, a mystic and mythic character who appears under a variety of guises in his many novels and short stories, starting in the Stand and also appearing in the Dark Tower series. Stephen King likes to tease his Constant Readers with this particular character and we love it!

Stephen King loves to connect his books, many of them are set in the same area of Maine, and Castle Rock is a common location. A character in one book might refer to an event from another book. It helps the reader feel more connected to the stories and want to keep reading more books. 

And the whole Dark Tower mythos is linked through many books; The Stand. The Talisman, The Black House, Hearts in Atlantis, including The Eyes of the Dragon, to name a few. But there are many more, and he lists them on his website.

The A-Z Blog Challenge, Letter D

Letter D of My Favourite Books by title

Two authors, two genres - sort of.

The first one is Domain, by James Herbert. Here's the blurb:

Part of the Rats trilogy, international bestseller James Herbert's Domain pits man against mutant rats, who are back with a vengeance.

The long-dreaded nuclear conflict. The city torn apart, shattered, its people destroyed or mutilated beyond hope. For just a few, survival is possible only beneath the wrecked streets - if there is time to avoid the slow-descending poisonous ashes. But below, the rats, demonic offspring of their irradiated forebears, are waiting. They know that Man is weakened, become frail. Has become their prey . . .

As the blurb indicates this is the final book in the trilogy and, although I loved all of them, this one is the best of them. It culminates the story in an epic way, with an apocalypse and then with the rats - giant, mutant rats mind - realising they have the upper hand. Can rats become this conscious and intelligent? - in James Herbert's version they can be.

He leaves nothing to the imagination, and offers horror in all it's forms (psychological and physical) like most of his early books. Later he moved into more paranormal horror, but his early books were dark, scary and full of gore. It was this book - along with The Dark, (also a D Title) which really cemented my love of his writing - but of his earlier books this one stands out. You don't need to read the other two in the trilogy to enjoy this one.

Here's a little tidbit of info on James Herbert: He designed all his own covers. He was an Art Director before he became a full-time writer.

***

The second one is The Drawing of the Three, by Stephen King. Here's the blurb:

The second volume in Stephen King’s acclaimed, epic Dark Tower series.  

After his confrontation with the man in black at the end of The Gunslinger, Roland awakes to find three doors on the beach of Mid-World's Western Sea—each leading to New York City but at three different moments in time. Through these doors, Roland must "draw" three figures crucial to his quest for the Dark Tower. In 1987, he finds Eddie Dean, The Prisoner, a heroin addict. In 1964, he meets Odetta Holmes, the Lady of Shadows, a young African-American heiress who lost her lower legs in a subway accident and gained a second personality that rages within her. And in 1977, he encounters Jack mort, Death, a pusher responsible for cruelties beyond imagining. Has Roland found new companions to form the "Ka-tet" of his quest? Or has he unleashed something else entirely?

The stunning Plume edition features full-color illustrations by Phil Hale and is a collector’s item for years to come.

You didn't think we'd get through the letter D without me mentioning The Dark Tower series, did you? 😉 As a die hard 'Constant Reader' (SK's term for his devoted fans), this has to be his ultimate opus. Although he is considered a Horror writer, this is actually Dark Fantasy and he writes it extremely well. 

As the blurb says, this is the second of a series of eight books. I've used the hardcover edition picture and blurb as this is one of the few books - or series - that I own in hardcover. I have the first four in trade paperback as well, but when he released the last three, some ten plus years after the fourth (Wizard & Glass), he re-wrote the first one, The Gunslinger, so I had to buy it again, and so I chose to get the entire series in hardcover. The eighth book - The Wind Through the Keyhole - was released five years after the seventh (and final) book, and is actually book four and a half in the series, slotting in between the fourth and fifth. 

I have been doing a re-read of this series which is a wholly immersive experience, where you get lost in the world of Roland Deschain, where the world 'has moved on' and where time has become strange and warped. You get to know his companions - Jake, Eddie, Susannah and Oy (a four footed member) and feel like they are your friends too. 

And this particular book is when he brings Eddie and Susannah (or Detta Walker as she is at the beginning) through into his world. He pulls them through doors - depicted on the cover - which are hanging in the air on a beach. When he opens them he sees through their eyes to their lives and their 'when'.

Stephen King has a particular knack for surreal fantasy which I adore. It makes me think about things in my own world differently and see things from another perspective. One of my favourite lines is from the first Dark Tower novel, The Gunslinger, when the man in black sits down with Roland in a palaver and says:

"Size defeats us. For the fish, the lake in which he lives is the universe. What does the fish think when he is jerked up by the mouth through the silver limits of existence and into a new universe where the air drowns him and the light is blue madness? Where huge bipeds with no gills stuff it into a suffocating box and cover it with wet weeds to die?

Or one might take the tip of the pencil and magnify it. One reaches the point where a stunning realization strikes home: The pencil tip is not solid; it is composed of atoms which whirl and revolve like a trillion demon planets. What seems solid to us is actually only a loose net held together by gravity. Viewed at their actual size, the distances between these atoms might become league, gulfs, aeons. The atoms themselves are composed of nuclei and revolving protons and electrons. One may step down further to subatomic particles. And then to what? Tachyons? Nothing? Of course not. Everything in the universe denies nothing; to suggest an ending is the one absurdity.

If you fell outward to the limit of the universe, would you find a board fence and signs reading DEAD END? No. You might find something hard and rounded, as the chick must see the egg from the inside. And if you should peck through the shell (or find a door), what great and torrential light might shine through your opening at the end of space? Might you look through and discover our entire universe is but part of one atom on a blade of grass? Might you be forced to think that by burning a twig you incinerate an eternity of eternities? That existence rises not to one infinite but to an infinity of them?"

The relativity of size - are we just a drop of water on a blade of grass is in someone else's universe? Blew my mind when I first read it. Love it. 

The A-Z Blog Challenge, Letter C

Letter C of My Favourite Books by title

Two authors - two very different genres.

The first one is The Carpet People by British author Terry Pratchett, sadly deceased in 2015. Here is the back blurb:

In the beginning, there was nothing but endless flatness. Then came the Carpet...

That's the old story everyone knows and loves (even if they don't really believe it). But now the Carpet's home to many different tribes and peoples, and there's a new story in the making. The story of Fray, sweeping a trail of destruction across the Carpet. The story of power-hungry mouls - and of two Munrung brothers, who set out on an adventure to end all adventures when their village is flattened.
It's a story that will come to a terrible end, if someone doesn't do something about it. If everyone doesn't do something about it...

This was the first non-discworld book I read by Terry Pratchett. He has several and this one is particularly good about a tiny people that live in your carpet. It is a patterned carpet and the different colours denote different countries. I love this book and the very concept. It makes me think about when I walk around on my carpets and what or who might be living in them.

Terry Pratchett's book are especially good at making you think about things from an entirely different perspective. He also writes with so much humour, always making them enjoyable. This book is not just great for adults but a good book to ween your children onto, preparing them for his epic Discworld series. Brilliant high fantasy that keeps you laughing. We will be returning to Terry Pratchett, because he is another author who has many books that I love.

***

The second is Cell, another by Stephen King.
Here's the back blurb:


Civilization slipped into its second dark age on an unsurprising track of blood but with a speed that could not have been foreseen by even the most pessimistic futurist. By Halloween, every major city from New York to Moscow stank to the empty heavens and the world as it had been was a memory.' The event became known as The Pulse. The virus was carried by every cell phone operating within the entire world. Within hours, those receiving calls would be infected. A young artist Clayton Riddell realises what is happening. He flees the devastation of explosive, burning Boston, desperate to reach his son before his son switches on his little red mobile phone ... 

This is about as close to a zombie novel Stephen King has ever come. It is an apocalyptic tale about what would happen if a virus could be transmitted via mobile phones and turn people rabid. When I first saw the opening of the film Bird Box I thought of Cell as it is very similar in how it starts out. But the people do not really become zombie's they become something else, something that we the reader discover more about through reading the book. And Stephen King left this one on a massive cliffhanger! I am hoping for a sequel - as I am with a couple of his books.

I felt a bit misled by the copy I had because I thought I wasn't at the end yet, only to find out that I was and the last thirty pages plus were devoted to his next book and the opening chapter of it. I was gutted!

Some of you may know that we almost lost Stephen King to a nasty car accident back in June 1999. He said himself that it was like something out of his own novels. There is an account of it at the beginning of his book On Writing. Pretty horrific stuff. It made me painfully aware that losing such a prolific writer (one who produces two books a year - minimum) would be dreadful and it makes me cherish his books all the more, and yearn for him to finish those that are 'inconclusive' like this one. 

Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 101

This week's picture prompt is an oil painting by French artist Edouard Manet. This is Two Roses on a Tablecloth and created in 1883. I just find something so delicate and evocative about this painting.


 It's seems I've turned this beautiful picture into a rather dark tale!


The General Guidelines can be found here.

How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here.

There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.

Beauty Within Roses 

Dabbing at one of them, he paused observing the roses he’d painted. They were both so delicate and intricate, their beauty reflected in their subtly different colours, tone and texture.

Just like the girls.

As he continued to touch round the edges, he thought about the day he had brought the roses to them, hoping to see delight on their faces but instead only seeing fear. He had hoped they would cherish the beauty of the blooms as much as he cherished the girls’ beauty. He had wanted them to feel as nurtured, loved, and cared for as the roses he had grown especially for them.

The roses had been fed the best nutrition and kept in the warmest and most protected environment, just like he was keeping them. But unlike the roses they didn’t bloom.

He had come to realise that it was all about their roots. They hadn’t been cultivated in the same environment like the roses, they had been cut, or plucked, and then transplanted. And even though, like a rose in water, they survived for a time still seeming to open and blossom, they soon faded and dried up, wilting and refusing to be coaxed by anything.

Maybe it had been the lack of natural light, or the lack of decor in their cells. He was sure it couldn’t have been his nightly visits; they had been to give comfort, nurture ... and love. Similar to the love he’d given the roses, delicate but persistent, ruthless but enduring. Their tears of gratitude when he left made him certain it couldn’t have had a negative effect on them. 

But like the long stemmed roses he had put in the tall vases next to their beds, they had waned and weakened, gone pale and faded. And now he wasn’t sure what to do with them. So like the roses, he would leave them until they were ready to be disposed of.

The A-Z Blog Challenge, Letter B

Letter B of My Favourite Books by title

Two authors and two different genres.

The first is Brave New World, a science fiction classic by British author Aldous Huxley, published in 1932. Here's the back page blurb.

Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone in feeling discontent. Harbouring an unnatural desire for solitude, and a perverse distaste for the pleasures of compulsory promiscuity, Bernard has an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress ...

I saw the 1980 film version in my teens and it always stayed with me. I pondered on the ideas that the film depicted with how they controlled childbirth and grew babies in a sort of production line.

When I read it - only recently - I found the book offers so much more. Aldous Huxley was a true visionary of his time. There is a steampunk edge to it as it is fresh out of the Victorian industrial period and you can see the influence of that in what he imagines the future will be like - especially the flying machines and technology.

But it is a dark depiction of humanity, and even today it is still very relevant as it brings up ideas that people work for their ration of a drug that makes them 'happy' and they engage in sex and continual socialising to keep them in a certain utopia to avoid the realities of life or enable them to think for themselves. Babies are manufactured, and children raised en masse and at different intelligence levels to be used for different functions in society and it is altogether a false, even perverse existence. And the lead character Bernard, although respected in society, seems to be the only one to see this. I found the story completely immersive, and really on some levels a true horror novel.

However, it is dated in its writing style, and the repetitive use of the word 'pneumatic' can be very distracting - I believe the meaning may have changed as it rarely made sense in the context intended. A controversial book in some ways, with many layers, and had it been written better might have been a prolific as 1984.

***

The second is a collection of four short stories by American author Stephen King under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman, called The Bachman Books. Here's the blurb:

A story of stunning psychological horror about a group of nice, ordinary kids who learn savage secrets of lust and violence...a chilling glimpse into a future America where a macabre marathon is a contest with death...an eerie variation on the theme of “Home Sweet Home”...and a nightmare version of a ghoulish game show where you bet your life—literally.

Each novel is marked by the undeniable fascination of one of the most brilliant imaginations of our time—collected here for a full house of spine-chilling suspense from the man who made shivering believers of us all.

My actual favourite in this is The Long Walk. An utterly captivating sort of dystopian horror story from the point of view of a boy who joins a marathon that is a contest to the death - last one still walking wins the prize - financial abundance. The one hundred eighteen year olds qualified to walk must maintain a minimum of four miles an hour or they will be shot by security/army vehicles trailing them. They can't stop for anything or any reason or they will be shot. And we watch this in detail through the eyes of the main character. We, the reader, see inside his head and how he deals with the realisation of this. It seems to be something he hadn't quite believed up until that point. He debates whether the reward is worth it, but he can't stop walking or he won't get to live. There is no real background about when it is set, just some point in the future. The focus is entirely on the marathon and its dying contestants. I was gripped with this story and found it a mind blowing concept at the time I read it, pondering the incredulity of such a shocking event.

I also love The Running Man, which is nothing like the film that claims to be based off it (an awful, cheesy, gaudy overdone movie with a very slim similarity to the story). It is a  dark science fiction tale about a man trying to get money for his sick child, because only rich people are allowed medicines in this future reality. He signs up to a game show where a bounty is put on his head, and he is hunted along with several other contestants. If he manages to stay alive and be the last man standing, he wins the cash. It is a fast paced immersive story, with heart-wrenching points and a brilliant, satisfying ending. Worth your time.

I will note that this book in its original form (which my copy is) contains the story Rage, which is now banned in the United States and is no longer published in the new editions of this collection. Stephen King pulled it himself after the school shooting in Columbine. It is the tale of a boy who goes to school and holds his class hostage at gunpoint and shoots his teacher, and then talks to the class explaining his point of view and what drove him to this point. It was first published in 1977, when school shootings were relatively rare, but as the occurrence increased this story was cited as having inspired some of the shooters, so Stephen King made a public apology and had it pulled. I personally think it is an excellent psychological thriller, but I understand his reasons for pulling it.

And just to let you know, this is the first of many Stephen King books that will be raved about through this challenge as he is my ultimate favourite author. 😉


 

The A-Z Blog Challenge, Letter A

Letter A of My Favourite Books by title

Kicking off with the first letter, I have two books for this one. 

They are completely different genres but I love them both the same. 

The first is Ash, from one of my favourite Horror writers - James Herbert. The back cover blurb: 

David Ash – detective of the paranormal – is sent to the mysterious Comraich Castle, secluded deep in the Scottish countryside, to investigate a strange, high-profile case: a man has been found crucified – in a room that was locked. The reports suggest that the cliff-top castle is being haunted . . .

Who – or what – is the reclusive hooded figure that Ash has seen from the window walking across the courtyard in the dead of night?
What are the strange, animal-like sounds that come from the surrounding woods?
And why are the castle’s inhabitants so reluctant to talk about what they have seen?

. . . what Ash eventually discovers is truly shocking

James Herbert is a British horror writer who is sadly no longer with us. He died in 2013 at age 69 (suddenly and unexpectedly), and this was his last published book. This is the third novel following the character, David Ash - he was also in Haunted and Ghosts of Sleath - and it's a wonderful culmination of the character's work in the paranormal field. 

James writes with depth that evokes emotions, good and bad, you almost feel like you are there - but you'd rather not be! He enables the reader to get a sense of the a darkness without and the darkness within. There's a brilliant scene in this book where they are walking through tunnels in caves by the sea, it's pitch black, and there are spiders they can't see falling on them, when they discover this by striking a light, it's chilling. Not one for those that suffer arachnophobia!

***

The second is All The What Ifs from an Indie author who is a friend - and client, I'm her editor! -  Angela Lynn. The back clover blurb:

Ashley Morgan is trapped. She’s spent the last three years of high school being groomed to follow in her father’s footsteps. It’s a future she’s unsure of. Yet she tries her hardest to avoid her father’s disapproval while keeping the peace for her high-strung mother and autistic brother. Whenever her fears fester, Ashley works harder.

At the start of her senior year, Ashley reluctantly joins ACT an after-school community service club that is in disarray. The members argue. The advisor sleeps. And Lucas Malone, the club’s president, conjures unwanted memories of freshman year and his disastrous attempt to ask her to homecoming.

Ashley tries to remain uninvolved, but with each success in ACT she gains the confidence to face her future. She sets in motion plans that force her to choose between the bright future her father's mapped out or an unknown path of her own design. When the moment comes to make her choice, she’s plagued with doubt, because what if … she gets it all wrong?

 

This ranks as one of my favourites not because I have worked on it with the author and read it many, many times, but because every time I read it I found something else I loved about it. Within the first two pages I had strong emotions about one of the character - the main character's father - I hated him! And I also fell in love with Lucas Malone - *cough* I mean a serious book crush.

It is an engaging, heart-felt book and Angela writes with a light style, adding humour as well as depth. I can't rave about this one enough. But hey, this is the first letter of the alphabet, I am sure I'll be saying that about a few others too! 

So many books, so little time!