@Loki
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sheetsadam1 — 5 months ago(October 08, 2025 03:05 AM)
Finished
If You Could See Me Now
.
It's a little odd that Peter Straub - to the extent that he's known by to the general public at all - is inextricably linked to Stephen King. While the pair did indeed collaborate on two novels and were lifelong friends, they seem like the definition of an "odd couple." Where King was always unabashedly commercial, with his novels (particularly in his "golden era") sometimes seeming to be custom-made for inevitable film adaptations, Straub's work has been adapted to film only once and quite badly (Fred Astaire! Are you ****ing kidding me?). Where King is a lifelong small-town Mainer who used to write his books in the midst of coke binges with metal blaring, Straub was a world-traveling, Ivy League-educated sophisticate who probably enjoyed a gin and tonic with some jazz records. And while King was a child of the TV era, influenced in equal parts by late-night showings of old horror and sci-fi films and the postwar horror fiction of Bradbury, Matheson, et al., the older Straub's work harkens back to 19th century's literary horror.
I read Straub as a teenager, of course, alongside King, Barker, Anne Rice, Robert R. McCammon, and even authors like John Saul and Dean Koontz. But I'd be lying if I said that he was an easy read back then, the themes often going completely over my head. What I remember most from his novels was the creepy, slow-burn atmosphere and a prose style unmatched in contemporary horror fiction. I really should have returned to him sooner…
Last October, I re-read Straub's 1979 novel
Ghost Story
, which cemented that book as one of my favorite horror novels of all time. After finding that
If You Could See Me Now- published two years earlier - is every bit it's equal, I've decided to make a Straub novel an annual tradition (and if the rumors are true about King's next novel, I'll be revisiting
The Talisman
and
Black House
even earlier).
Truthfully, all I remembered going into this one was the prologue and the vaguely suspicious small town vibe. This allowed me to read it as if for the first time and the theme I really didn't pick up on back then was the desolation of someone approaching middle age and still held back by old ghosts. Straub's Miles Teagarden is a bit of
'Salem's Lot
's Ben Mears, a bit of
The Shining
's Jack Torrance (King was certainly reading Straub for years before they collaborated), but even more troubled than either. Police corruption, homophobia, religious trauma, and misogyny are among the many things touched on here - and handled very well - but it remains, at it's core, a very effective ghost story that leaves the reader wondering until the final chapter if the ghosts are real or figurative.
Two books into rediscovering Peter Straub and they're both 10/10. Stephen King was likely correct in stating of him that, "He was a better and more literary author than I was." Now if only somebody would slip his entire bibliography to Mike Flanagan…
Next up, I will be taking a slight detour from my horror reading but not from the seasonal vibes with this Agatha Christie novel, one of her Poirot series.
Draft Barron Trump - published two years earlier - is every bit it's equal, I've decided to make a Straub novel an annual tradition (and if the rumors are true about King's next novel, I'll be revisiting
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Celestia Bloodshed — 5 months ago(October 08, 2025 12:23 PM)
i'm currently 150 pages into
The Flamethrowers
by Rachel Kushner (2013) - phew this is definitely one of the strangest novels i've read in my life, but i really do like it so far. just 350 pages more to go tho!
The year is 1975 and Reno—so-called because of the place of her birth—has come to New York intent on turning her fascination with motorcycles and speed into art. Her arrival coincides with an explosion of activity in the art world—artists have colonized a deserted and industrial SoHo, are staging actions in the East Village, and are blurring the line between life and art. Reno meets a group of dreamers and raconteurs who submit her to a sentimental education of sorts. Ardent, vulnerable, and bold, she begins an affair with an artist named Sandro Valera, the semi-estranged scion of an Italian tire and motorcycle empire. When they visit Sandro’s family home in Italy, Reno falls in with members of the radical movement that overtook Italy in the seventies. Betrayal sends her reeling into a clandestine undertow.
The Flamethrowers is an intensely engaging exploration of the mystique of the feminine, the fake, the terrorist. At its center is Kushner’s brilliantly realized protagonist, a young woman on the verge. Thrilling and fearless, this is a major American novel from a writer of spectacular talent and imagination.
cursed, scarred & forever possessed -
sheetsadam1 — 5 months ago(October 08, 2025 12:28 PM)
I've actually had that one on my list for quite a while. I've read two of her other novels -
The Mars Room
and
Creation Lake- and "strange" seems like an accurate descriptor. She is an amazing writer though!
Draft Barron Trump
- and "strange" seems like an accurate descriptor. She is an amazing writer though!
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Celestia Bloodshed — 5 months ago(October 08, 2025 12:35 PM)
oh cool. well this is my first foray into Kushner's universe but from what i can tell right now, i'm interested in exploring more from her after Flamethrowers and
The Mars Room
seems like the perfect follow-up to this.
cursed, scarred & forever possessed -
sheetsadam1 — 5 months ago(October 08, 2025 01:49 PM)
Yeah,
The Mars Room
is definitely my favorite of the two I've read.
Creation Lake
is very dense, but I enjoyed it once I'd done some rudimentary Wikipedia research on some topics she would bring up every few pages
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sheetsadam1 — 5 months ago(October 09, 2025 01:17 AM)
So how I mentioned above that I was going to make a Peter Straub book an annual October tradition? On second thought, **** that. The year has 12 months last time I checked
Dude is gooood… Even better than I remembered!
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Celestia Bloodshed — 5 months ago(October 09, 2025 01:21 AM)
On second thought, **** that. The year has 12 months last time I checked
true lol
oh btw since you're here, there's one chapter in
The Flamethrowers
that is dedicated to Barbara Loden's film
Wanda
. just saying.
cursed, scarred & forever possessed -
sheetsadam1 — 5 months ago(October 09, 2025 01:35 AM)
That is a promising touch for sure… I mentioned it the other day as one of the greatest Appalachian films.
1.
Harlan County USA
(1976, Barbara Kopple)
2.
Wanda
(1970, Barbara Loden)
3.
Matewan
(1987, John Sayles)
4.
Spring Night, Summer Night
(1967, Joseph L. Anderson)
5.
Lawless
(2012, John Hillcoat)
6.
The Devil All the Time
(2020, Antonio Campos)
7.
Coal Miner's Daughter
(1980, Michael Apted)
8.
Cold Mountain
(2003, Anthony Minghella)
9.
Where the Lilies Bloom
(1974, William A. Graham)
10.
The Deer Hunter
(1978, Michael Cimino)
Honorable mention:
Justified
(2010-2015)
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Celestia Bloodshed — 5 months ago(October 09, 2025 10:22 PM)
i've only seen 2, 6, 7, 8 & 9 from this list and liked them all pretty much. Matewan and Harlan County are the ones i really wanna catch up with tho.
back to
The Flamethrowers
tho, now that i'm 3/4 through it i can say that after a challenging start, the novel becomes much more accessible later on. maybe it's just that i got used to Kushner's style or whatever, but i can't put it down as it is. she's a great writer and i love the images she creates with her style which is really quite something else, but i'm not sure how much depth especially her main characters have here. as of now, i can't see or feel much of that and i'm finding myself not really caring about any of them tbh…
cursed, scarred & forever possessed -
sheetsadam1 — 5 months ago(October 09, 2025 10:51 PM)
Yeah, I sort of got that vibe with
Creation Lake
too. The lead character was kind of the least interesting of them.
I'm still working my way through
Halloween Party
. I set it aside for a virtual movie night yesterday evening, but should finish it pretty soon. Classic Agatha Christie so far!
After that… George R.R. Martin vampire book or revisit some Laird Barron short stories?
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sheetsadam1 — 5 months ago(October 10, 2025 12:14 AM)
With this in mind and given that it is October… complete chronological list of all King books with my rankings.
Carrie
(9.5/10)
'Salem's Lot
(10/10)
The Shining
(9/10)
Rage
(7.5/10)
Night Shift
short story collection (10/10)
The Stand
(10/10)
The Long Walk
(8/10)
The Dead Zone
(8/10)
Firestarter
(7/10)
Roadwork
(7.5/10)
Danse Macabre
nonfiction (8/10)
Cujo
(8/10)
The Running Man
(8/10)
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
(7.5/10)
Different Seasons
novella collection (10/10)
Christine
(7.5/10)
Pet Sematary
(10/10)
Cycle of the Werwolf
(6/10)
The Talisman
w/ Peter Straub (8.5/10)
The Eyes of the Dragon
(7/10)
Thinner
(6.5/10)
Skeleton Crew
short story collection (9/10)
It
(10/10)
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
(9.5/10)
Misery
(9.5/10)
The Tommyknockers
(3/10)
SOBRIETY
The Dark Half
(6/10)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
(8/10)
Needful Things
(9/10)
Gerald's Game
(6.5/10)
Dolores Claiborne
(8.5/10)
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
short story collection (8/10)
Insomnia
(7.5/10)
Rose Madder
(8.5/10)
The Green Mile
(9/10)
Desperation
(6.5/10)
The Regulators
(7/10)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
(10/10)
Bag of Bones
(8/10)
The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon
(6/10)
Hearts in Atlantis
novella collection (9.5/10)
VAN ACCIDENT
On Writing
nonfiction (10/10)
Dreamcatcher
(3/10)
Black House
with Peter Straub (7/10)
Everything's Eventual
short story collection (7.5/10)
From a Buick 8
(6/10)
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
(6/10)
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
(5/10)
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
(2/10)
Faithful
nonfiction with Stewart O'Nan (1/10)
The Colorado Kid
(2/10)
Cell
(4/10)
Lisey's Story
(9.5/10)
Blaze
(6.5/10)
Duma Key
(7/10)
Just After Sunset
short story collection (7/10)
Under the Dome
(7/10)
Full Dark, No Stars
novella collection (10/10)
11/22/63
(10/10)
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole
(8/10)
Joyland
(8/10)
Doctor Sleep
(8/10)
Mr. Mercedes
(7/10)
Revival
(10/10)
Finders Keepers
(5/10)
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
short story collection (6.5/10)
End of Watch
(5.5/10)
Gwendy's Button Box
with Richard Chizmar (3.5/10)
Sleeping Beauties
with Owen King (5/10)
The Outsider
(9.5/10)
Elevation
(6/10)
The Institute
(6/10)
Later
(6/10)
If It Bleeds
novella collection (8/10)
Billy Summers
(8/10)
Gwendy's Final Task
with Richard Chizmar (1/10)
Fairy Tale
(7/10)
Holly
(7.5/10)
You Like It Darker
short story collection (7/10)
Never Flinch
(5.5/10)
Hansel and Gretel
with Maurice Sendak (7/10)
@Celestia Bloodshed
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Celestia Bloodshed — 5 months ago(October 10, 2025 12:36 AM)
wow thank you for this list! that's a ****load to catch up on…!!
i think i mentioned already that i have
Misery
&
The Stand
waiting in my shelf for me to read. i do keep on glancing at Misery especially every now and then, so i guess that will be the first one i'm gonna start, soon.
one thing tho: i get the "Sobriety" time mark, but what does "Van Accident" have to do with King's subsequent output?
also this,
Faithful nonfiction with Stewart O'Nan (1/10)
just curious, what is wrong with this one? i've read
The Speed Queen
by Stewart O'Nan last year and really liked it… so i'm just curious who is to blame for that low ranking? lol
on another note, Pynchon's new novel is out now since a couple of days ago, are you going to get it and planning to read it?
cursed, scarred & forever possessed -
sheetsadam1 — 5 months ago(October 10, 2025 12:47 AM)
So he was hit by a van while walking back in 1999 and afterwards he was addicted to prescription opioids for a time and kept threatening to retire once he'd wrapped up The Dark Tower series (quite badly, tbh). It kind of explains how wildly inconsistent he was in those years immediately following. He recently had a surgery as a result of the aftereffects of the accident and walks with a cane these days, but I think that he and the fans both have lower expectations these days… And are pleasantly surprised when he still delivers a home run now and then
Yes, the new Pynchon is on my list. Hopefully I'll get to it in November. Along with
Notes from Underground
and probably returning to Barbara Kingsolver again.
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Celestia Bloodshed — 5 months ago(October 10, 2025 01:03 AM)
oh okay, i see. yeah that's the sort of background context i needed here
you know, i sort of wish you'd go with
Crime and Punishment
as your first Dostoevsky novel instead of
Notes from Underground
bc as fascinating as a study of a soul Notes from Underground is, it's really just the author rambling on about how miserable things are with and around him. Crime and Punishment has character arcs and exciting plotlines ruling supreme and works much better as a novel that keeps you on the edge of your seat for the entire time. so, i really HOPE you'll like Notes from Underground and are not going to be discouraged exploring more from the writer if you will end up not liking it. so, you've been warned lol
on the plus side, Notes is a shawty. Dostoevsky usually operates on much larger scales, and his big 5 novels are the ones where he truly shines. still, my fingers are crossed.
cursed, scarred & forever possessed -
sheetsadam1 — 5 months ago(October 10, 2025 01:36 AM)
I'll keep that in mind…
The Brothers Karamazov
is the one I'm really looking forward to, based on everything I've heard about it. But I want to work my way up to that one.
I picked
Notes from Underground
first partially because it's short and also because I was told it influenced
Taxi Driver
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