Four past midnight is the only Stephen King book I ever read. I first read it about 20 years ago, and the Langoliers is the story from this collectionFour past midnight is the only Stephen King book I ever read. I first read it about 20 years ago, and the Langoliers is the story from this collection that stayed with me vividly. I cannot remember any of the others.
Re-reading it now it seemed totally familiar. The story is just brilliantly cinematic. Perfectly set up and pace to build mystery and tension from the very start, withholding as much information as possible about the strange limbo space the characters find themselves flying into on their airplane. Although they are somewhat of a stock disaster movie bunch, the worst being the caricatured English secret agent type guy, Stephen King masterfully mixes between their own internal dramas and the tension building around them. Then plays them off against each other to milk every last piece of drama out of the strange situation the characters find themselves in. It is a great lesson in dramatic writing techniques, and a thoroughly original concept for a story....more
I wish I could write like David Levithan. This is a fantastic book of Y.A. short stories about love. Good, bad,ugly, indifferent, redemptive. Lesbian,I wish I could write like David Levithan. This is a fantastic book of Y.A. short stories about love. Good, bad,ugly, indifferent, redemptive. Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Queer, and straight. Most of the stories feature teenage or college protagonists, but one or two are about older couples.
The writing really captures the open-hearted, self-conscious, obsessive, un-selfaware, romantic yet cynical quality of the teenage voice. Most of the stories have a hopeful optimism to them in the end, but despite that there's bitter-sweet sadness to much of the writing. It infuses the interior space of the characters adults and teenagers alike, all aching to be whole, to be truly heard and felt and understood. And who cannot relate to that?
There are some repeating themes: proms, and unlikely cupids, first meetings, coincidences. Nearly all the stories are great, but Starbucks Boy, The Alumni Interview, and The Good Witch, stood out for me. And my absolute favourites, the two that made me cry big time, were: Princes and The Number of People Who Meet on Airplanes. The Number of People Who Meet on Airplanes in particular took a really startling and beautiful turn in the second half of what was already a great story.
This was a really mixed bag of science fiction stories, and many of them felt a little flat to me. There were a couple that I really liked - A sound oThis was a really mixed bag of science fiction stories, and many of them felt a little flat to me. There were a couple that I really liked - A sound of Thunder and Here be Tygers being the two most memorable - but having read a collection by Phillip K Dick before reading this, it was a hard act to follow. ...more
I love the paranoia of these short stories. All about identity and people who think they are robots, or robots who think they are people, or people whI love the paranoia of these short stories. All about identity and people who think they are robots, or robots who think they are people, or people whose minds have been wiped by drugs or their history has been altered. All sorts of ideas to do with questioning the nature of reality and what you are being told - even by your own senses....more
As yet I have only read about ten stories from this massive volume, but what strikes me about them is the way he shows character through such originalAs yet I have only read about ten stories from this massive volume, but what strikes me about them is the way he shows character through such original descriptions and exactingly observed gestures - it's somehow like watching a virtuoso actor....more
99 hilarious short plays. Each one a two or three page conversation between different characters from around Great Britain. A quick read. The bitter a99 hilarious short plays. Each one a two or three page conversation between different characters from around Great Britain. A quick read. The bitter and pithy quality of the plays and the quintessentially modern Britishness of them reminded me a little of the Modern Toss cartoons. A great book to study how to write this kind of understated but funny dialogue. Craig Taylor seems especially good at suggesting with just a few words the way people don't listen to each other or deliberately misinterpret or ignore the words of the person they're talking to. How people only hear what they want to hear and how often this is what makes conversations funny....more
A great collection of short stories, each one very different in form and style. I particularly loved FISH and THE RED CEMENT TRUCK, A CASE OF VERTIGO,A great collection of short stories, each one very different in form and style. I particularly loved FISH and THE RED CEMENT TRUCK, A CASE OF VERTIGO, and also MISS FATTE AND MISS THINNE - whose theme of eating and bodies reminded me of elements of both the Faber novels I've read: THE CRIMSON PETAL AND THE WHITE and UNDER THE SKIN. The stand out story for me was TOY STORY. About a little boy called God who finds an abandoned planet in the trash round the back of a factory down the road and then hangs is on a string from the light in his bedroom like a mobile. At night, just as he is drifting off to sleep he hears voices from the planet, but he cannot make out what they are saying....more
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