#peter straub

[weirdlookindog]

“I thought you'd be dying to see me”

Ghost Story (1981)

[the-walrus-squad]

From “The Waste Lands” by Stephen King

[sesiondemadrugada]

Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981).

[countesspetofi]

Ghost Story (1981) dir. John Irvin

[creepynostalgy]

Mia Farrow in Full Circle aka The Haunting Of Julia (1977)

[grownups-are-the-real-monsters]

New fic just dropped. If you've read the Talisman please read it cause I'm sad.

[thoughtplickens]

"Everything goes away, Jack Sawyer, like the moon. Everything comes back, like the moon." - Wolf

Jack Sawyer moves with his mom to a secluded part of New Hampshire and becomes restless. After meeting a man that seems to know him and his history, Jack sets out on a journey across the country searching for a magical orb (The Talisman), because he believes/somehow knows it will cure his mother's cancer.

The mysterious man gives Jack a liquid that can take him to a parallel universe call The Territories. He can travel the country faster in the territories but there is evil in both places trying to slow down and stop Jack's journey for good, so he goes back and forth between worlds, meeting fascinating characters along the way.

Where in Maine are we in? We don't quite get that far. They move to New Hampshire at the beginning where Jack's mom remains. Then he works his way west to California

Where in the King Timeline are We? Book #22, Novel #14, Collab With Peter Straub #1

Connection to Previous King books: They may have made an offhand reference to The Territories in the Gunslinger, which leads to...

Connection to The Dark Tower: The Territories later become a bigger plot point and get mentioned in The Wastelands. The DNA of these two works is so intertwined. Both involve epic journeys and parallel universes and worlds. I wouldn't be surprised to learn this was what propelled King to follow the path he did with the rest of the Dark Tower novels.

Good Guy #1: Jack Sawyer. This is classic hero stuff. Yes, Jack is destined to do great things, but he still has to do those great things: and he does.

Good Guy #2: Wolf. Ahhh Wolf. So loveable, so screwed. Jack's faithful companion from The Territories wasn't cut out for Jack's world, but he was still awesome while he was there.

Bad Guy #1: Morgan Sloat. Formerly a partner of Jack's father. It turns out he killed his partner and stole his pipeline to The Territories. He must kill Jack Sawyer to keep it.

Bad Guy #2: Sunshine Gardner/Osmond: Twinners between the two worlds. These guys were bastards no matter where you encountered them, always working for Morgan.

Freakout Factor: At one point of the journey, Jack needs to leave a terrible situation at a greasy spoon he works for to make road trip money. It's a harrowing experience and just as he escapes, he runs into a beastly demon that will haunt him the rest of the trip.

That ending though: Pretty perfect actually. King tends to nail the ending of Good vs. Evil books: mainly because he gets out of the way and let the Good side kick ass.

Overall thoughts: I like this book a lot. I got a little bored/frustrated at the beginning of his journey when he took the side quests to make money, etc. With it being so long, there are bare spots, but everything really comes together and ratchets up the tension as it approaches the climax.

Total rating: 7.3 translucent orbs (out of 10)

[luxshine]

Can you imagine The Never Ending Story written by Stephen King? Well, wonder no more, because The Talisman is... sort of like that. It's a fantasy story about a child traveling to a parallel world in order to save the life of his ailing mother AND the other world's queen, but written jointly by Stephen King and Peter Straub? It brings a lot more horror to the table than what we're used to from fantasy tales. Still, it's an amazing read, and one I absolutely recommend! https://youtu.be/nEZ99xIgDSY?si=CrzMusvFvdWncxn-

[mistys-sinners]

“The world is full of ghosts, and some of them are still people.”

—Peter Straub, “The Throat”

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[pixelnoctis]

Lecture du moment

Qui va durer encore un bon moment

Le Talisman des Territoires

[thejazzera]

Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown (2020) 

A chronicle of the life, work and mind that created the Cthulhu mythos.

[thekimdelacreme]

Finished reading Ghost Story - it was really good.

[justsostuff-1]

"Sometimes, the only way to defeat darkness is to embrace it."

[pagingdrmusic]

Picked these titles up today!

[akiraofthefour]

"There's the feeling, definitely, that part of what they want is just someone to talk to. They've been talking to themselves for too long."

Peter Straub, Ghost Story

[grownups-are-the-real-monsters]

"He began to cry, not hysterically or screaming as people cry when concealed rage with tears, but with continuous sobs who has just discovered that he's alone and will be for long. He cried because safety and reason seemed to have left the world. Loneliness was a reality, but in this situation, madness was also remotely a possibility." - 'The Talisman' by Peter Straub & Stephen King