CBR 12 # 1 The Stand (Uncut) Stephen King

When I was as kid, like maybe 12 or 13, every Sunday after church, my family would go the the mall where we had a store selling outdoor equipment.  Across our store was a used bookstore.  I would spend hours reading while my parents did errands or whatever.  At the end of the day, they let me choose one book that I could buy.  I was a very fast reader and devoured books so for practicality's sake (to make the book last longer), I always chose the thickest books with the smallest letters.  Which led to me reading a whole lot of James Micheners and of course, Stephen King.  But somehow, I missed The Stand.  I remember enjoying his work a lot when I was a kid, plus, I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic literature so I decided to read it.True to form, I got the longer, uncut version.

An artificially engineered superflu virus has ravaged the US, and most probably the world.  The survivors gather together for human connection and survival but end up having to face an epic showdown between good and evil.  The book follows the different survivors  until they meet up in small groups and finally into two communities, those who follow Mother Abagail and those who follow the Dark Man.

In typical King fashion, there are a lot of digressions and long backstories, which I quite enjoy. I like to guess which ones of the characters that are introduced will ultimately become important to the story. There were some digressions I did not particularly enjoy, like the Trashcan Man parts were not for me (from what I gather those parts were not part of the shorter version, in which case, I probably would have enjoyed that version better).  I enjoyed the the stories that don't really move the plot along but flesh out the post flu world, the horror of it.  I liked the parts when they were travelling and was excited for everybody to meet up.  I liked all of the background stuff better than the parts when they were gearing up for the final confrontation and the final confrontation itself.  There is also a lot of familiar stuff if you've read a lot of Stephen Kings.  The Dark Man, the shining, destiny, supernatural stuff, good versus evil, etc.  

I enjoyed reading it and it didn't feel that long (except for the Trashcan Man parts).  Likeable characters and interesting premise, and lots of backstory.   This is vintage Stephen King.

CBR IV # 14 - Fevre Dream by G.R.R. Martin

After the strain, another vampire novel for me! I have not made a secret my intense love for ASOIAF and naturally, since the next installment is soooo far away, needed another GRR fix.

Abner Marsh is a tugboat captain who has fallen on some hard times. A mysterious stranger, Joshua York, approaches him wanting to invest in his company, but with some very strange and secretive requests. York turns out to be a vampire who needs a boat to unite all vampires for the good of human and vampirekind. They however, run into some trouble when they meet the bloodmaster, Julian, an evil and possible crazy old vampire based in New Orleans.

I'm sorry, I am horrible at summarizing plot. Anyway, holy vegetarian vampire!! Now this here is a true vegetarian vampire. Joshua York is a vampire who grew up amongst humans, and as such, are sympathetic to us. He does not like to kill for blood, and so , he created a potion that suppresses the blood lust that vampires feel. As I said in previous posts, I am very much interested in the mythology that each author makes for the origin and characteristics of their particular brand of vampires. In this case, the vampires were the same, but also very different to the classical vampire. They died by sunlight and fire and drank blood. That is where the similarity ends. For these vampires aren't contagious! They were born vampires and could not make others like them. They were truly a different specie of animals. I think this is the first time that I've read vampires being imagined that way.

Another unique characteristic with these vampires is that they can actually eat and drink normal food. Their bloodlust only comes approximately once every month and it is only then that they feel the very string urge to drink human blood.

I liked the book because at the start, you are never sure if Joshua is really a vampire or not. You don't know if he is good or evil. Like the good Captain, you are also kept in the dark about the real nature of this stranger. I mean, he eats real food!!

The story is long and it spans many years. I like books like these but some might find it tedious. It really focuses on the friendship and trust between Abner and Joshua, two very different men. Hell, they're not even from the same species.

GRR has once again, failed to disappoint.

CBR IV # 7 - Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

It was hard for me to separate the book from the movie which I loved. Hard also to tell which one I liked more but I think this is one of those rare times that the movie is as good as the book.

Lonely 13 year old Oskar is a Mama's boy. Lonely and bullied by his peers. He doesn't really have any friends. That is, until he meets Eli, his new neighbor. They form a friendship, a bond. But Eli is like no other little girl. In fact, she's not even a girl. Eli is a 200 year old vampire, stuck at 12 year old. She moves in to Oskar's suburban neighborhood with her "handler" Hakan and quickly causes a whole lot of trouble and dead bodies.

The plot of the movie follows the book very closely. But there are some differences, of course. The characters are more fleshed out, their back stories and inner thoughts stated. There is no need for the guessing of motives here, unlike in the movie. Oskar is less likable her, more weird and violent. Many of the ambiguities in the movie is made clearer. Hakan and Ely's past and motivations.

I also liked that the author took the time to follow some minor characters, such as the local drinking group. It made me care much more about them and their tragic lives. One thing that was totally different in the book is that Hakan turns into a gruesome undead monster. This is also one of the things that I like least. It felt so common horror book which the rest of the book definitely was not.

It seems that I could not avoid making this review into a book vs movie comparison. But this I can say about the book, it is good. A worthwhile read even if you've already seen the movie, there are still some surprises and additional details waiting to be discovered. It is also a very good book in its own. Dark and strange. Like its characters.

# 28 - Coldheart Canyon by Clive Barker

One twisted mothafucker, he is. The only other books of his that I had read were The Great and Secret Show and Cabal and other Short Stories. Those books I quite liked, although I read those in my high school horror novels phase. Cabal had quite a bit of sex and gross stuff, but man did he dial up the ick factor in this one.

Todd Pickett is a Hollywood golden boy, except he's getting just a teensy bit older. Needing to recuperate in secret after a plastic surgery gone horrible wrong, his longtime agent finds him a secluded mansion in an unnamed canyon beside Laurel. But the Canyon isn't really unnamed, it used to be named Coldheart Cayon, and it was the site of decadent parties and orgies, and all manner of sexual perversities. And it was all lead by the Queen, silent film star Katya Lupi, a beautiful but cold and mean woman, dedicated to pleasure. I'm starting to sound like the book jacket, aren't I?

Anyhoo, Todd moves in, weird stuff happens, and different characters come in like his agent and the president of his fan club, excuse me, appreciation society.

What I liked about the book was that the true protagonist wasn't the movie star or his beautiful agent. It was this overweight, obsessive, but also competent, calm, maternal and loving fan. It has themes of redemption and is a cautionary story about addiction, and excess and loneliness. Of Hollywood, actually.

But the ick factor, man, it was icky. Ugh. I mean, I understand why it's there, it is needed in the context of the book, but sometimes it was pointless. I mean, why does *SPOILER. haha* ghost Todd have a perma-hard on before going into the light? huh??!!

# 7 - I Am Legend (And Other Short Stories) by Richard MAtheson

That is an one ugly book cover. More so considering how much i was enraged, ENRAGED!, I tell you, when I realized how much they changed the ending of the film. It was, however, the cheapest copy I could find and I was really impatient to find out what the difference between the book and the movie was. So, I had to make do with Will Smith.

I saw the movie before I read the book and I actually quite enjoyed the movie. But that was before I knew that the book was really quite awesome. I mean, the movie was ok and all, but why didn't they just make another movie completely not based on the book? Changing the ending and even some details (like there are dead vampires and alive vampires, and that hello! they are sentient!) completely change the essence of the book.

Enough ranting about the adaptation and on to the book itself. It was good. Neville is the last man left on earth. All the other have been infected by a horrible disease that turns them into bloodsucking monsters. The first part was basically just about how Neville lived his daily life, in the face of vampire apocalypse. Surviving and protecting himself. It also tells his past, which is heartbreaking, through flashbacks. We stay with Neville as he goes through depression and excessive drinking (who wouldn't be driven to drink when faced with a nightly onslaught of scary-ass vampires) and eventually just deals. He tries to learn all he can about the origin of the plague and tries to find a cure. In the day, when the vampires are helpless, he goes out and systematically kills all that he can find.

All the "action" happens at the last third of the book when he finds a seemingly uninfected woman and takes her in. Eventually, he starts to suspect that she is infected, and that part for me was really thrilling. Like Neville, I constantly wavered between believing she was normal and thinking she was infected. And this propels the story until the end when Neville, in the final seconds of his life, realizes that he is legend.

The book, in making the vampires sentient creatures, elevated the book from being just a regular zombie apocalypse movie (like the movie version) and presents some thought provoking ideas on how human beings evolve and adopt. In having Neville as a SOLE survivor of the human race, it presents a compelling portrait of loneliness. Being truly alone.

So I gathered from research (wiki. shush.) that this book was the first time that vampirism was "explained" through science. That is, that it had a scientific, instead of a supernatural cause. It is also, I guess because of the whole wiping out humans stuff, the inspiration for modern zombie films. However, I think it is totally different from most zombie films, as I already mentioned. The fact that the monsters were sentient and are trying to build a new society is totally different from the zombies who just want to eat everybody.

Oh, there were other short stories included in this book, thus making it elegible for the cannonball read. The stories were ok, some twisty and scary, some were forgettable. Ultimately, none reached the depth Matheson reached in I Am Legend.