Stephen King
Stephen King (September 21, 1947 - ) is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, memoirist, graphic literature writer, and singular force to be reckoned with in publishing, book selling, and popular entertainment. He is the author of 61 novels (at the present moment) and over 200 short stories. His range of style and subject is underrated by assumptions of reviewers and readers who prefer (or abhor) one “Stephen King” over another “Stephen King.” I would suggest that there are few writers, no matter what pretensions they or their readers have, who have provided a more comprehensive analysis of post-WWII America into the 21st Century. King pursues relentlessly our fears, our paranoias, our comforts, our dreams, our nightmares, our obsessions, our moments of grace. He is breathtakingly familiar with our materialistic dependencies, sometimes to a satirical extent, sometimes as a secular hymn to his love of American culture. Always, however, King is curious about people, the everyday remarkable and interesting people who live in his and our world. He sees how they act, imagines what they think, deduces what they believe — and then he tests them. And us.
I remember seeing the all-black-but-one-red-blood-drop cover of ‘Salem’s Lot in a book kiosk in Dulles International Airport when I was a kid. That hooked me. It is still one of the scariest books I know. As a bookseller I have sold King for 40 years as of 2022. He never gets old. Enjoy — if you dare.
Gerald's Game
Gerald's Game
Now a Netflix movie directed by Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Hush) and starring Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood.
Master storyteller Stephen King presents this classic, terrifying #1 New York Times bestseller. When a game of seduction between a husband and wife ends in death, the nightmare has only begun...
"And now the voice which spoke belonged to no one but herself. Oh my God , it said. Oh my God, I am all alone out here. I am all alone. "
Once again, Jessie Burlingame has been talked into submitting to her husband Gerald's kinky sex games--something that she's frankly had enough of, and they never held much charm for her to begin with. So much for a "romantic getaway" at their secluded summer home. After Jessie is handcuffed to the bedposts--and Gerald crosses a line with his wife--the day ends with deadly consequences. Now Jessie is utterly trapped in an isolated lakeside house that has become her prison--and comes face-to-face with her deepest, darkest fears and memories. Her only company is that of the various voices filling her mind...as well as the shadows of nightfall that may conceal an imagined or very real threat right there with her...