Complete, Book Addiction

Complete, Book Addiction

By Jacob Malewitz

(Photo Courtesy Stock.Xchng)

There is a book at the beginning and at the end. It could be the Bible, perhaps, or another tome on what it is to Be, just Be and nothing else. That is going down a spiritual track. The book addiction, however, has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with working your way up to the literary noir, or the fantasy fun, or even the science fiction wonderment. Feel the book addiction? I think you do; I always had it. This piece highlights the book addiction.

The book addiction is collecting …

And building a library of good books is, in my opinion, a big thing. You go from the literary noir of Paul Auster, John Updike, and Michael Chabon, to the odd machinations of Isaac Asimov and Dan Simmons (those sci-fi masterpiece). Or maybe you go down the roads of fantasy, where J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Robert Jordan, and many other popular writers of the field go.

But picking names is …

Just picking names. I mentioned a bunch of authors so far, but, truly, the only one I really love so far is Paul Auster, and even he can be bad. Picking out names is, however, part of the book addiction. You go for the big names and the small names, book addict, because that is the way to true reading light.

Reading light has …

Nothing to do with faith and plenty to do with time. I see the reading light as something to be explored by each of us; it has a power which cannot be understated. Opening a book, you smell the pages. Looking at the picture of the author, and you wonder. Reading light becomes something more than building a book library or hoping you can get a discounted copy of “The Lord of the Rings,” “Harry Potter,” or a Stephen King horror. It means adding up all the names together, putting each writer on his/her pedestal, but choosing, choosing which one shows you the true reading light.

Book buying is …

The true path to literary happiness. Maybe I am going too much into theory. Maybe you should just keep it simple, forgetting the light and just picking up that beaten copy of a John Steinbeck masterpiece, or the forgotten dime novel from the 1950s. They say things, these books, and they lead to addiction.

Article by Jacob Malewitz

Author, The Writer Who Smiles, Now Available from Booklocker

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3288.html

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

Book Addiction Part 1

Book Addiction Part 1

By Jacob Malewitz

There is a book at the beginning and at the end. It could be the Bible, perhaps, or another tome on what it is to Be, just Be and nothing else. That is going down a spiritual track. The book addiction, however, has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with working your way up to the literary noir, or the fantasy fun, or even the science fiction wonderment. Feel the book addiction? I think you do; I always had it. This piece highlights the book addiction.

The book addiction is collecting …

And building a library of good books is, in my opinion, a big thing. You go from the literary noir of Paul Auster, John Updike, and Michael Chabon, to the odd machinations of Isaac Asimov and Dan Simmons (those sci-fi masterpiece). Or maybe you go down the roads of fantasy, where J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Robert Jordan, and many other popular writers of the field go.

But picking names is …

Just picking names. I mentioned a bunch of authors so far, but, truly, the only one I really love so far is Paul Auster, and even he can be bad. Picking out names is, however, part of the book addiction. You go for the big names and the small names, book addict, because that is the way to true reading light.

Article by Jacob Malewitz

Author, The Writer Who Smiles, Now Available from Booklocker

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3288.html

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

Complete, How to Know When a Book is Good

Reading is never a waste. In fact, reading can do much for your mind. Sitting on the couch, digging into your favorite romance can be like watching the sun set. Sitting up, your eyes tensed, and reading a horror novel can make all the hairs on your arm stand up. Or just reading the works of Ernest Hemingway can make you question the way the world works, and our role in it. That is the power of a book. But how do you know when a book is good?

Looking at the Clock

Even good books will make you look at the clock often. However, when you are looking at the clock and page number all the time, maybe this book isn’t up your alley. Maybe this history of medieval times is a bit tame for you. Or the literary novel of a divorce too boring. When you start and stop all the time, giving up on the book, it may be time to open a new one.

Understanding the Power of a Book

When a book is good, though, it can make the time go by faster as you turn the page. There is a certain power to a good book: it can have the beat of poetry, the conflicts of an old western, maybe even enough action to out do even Hollywood. When you start looking at all the pieces of a book, and your reaction to them, you come to understand the basic reason you like it—this book has power.

Picking the Same Author Again

The next stage of all this is when you start grabbing the same author off the bookshelf more and more. Maybe you have a collection of Ray Bradbury novels; you started with one and could never stop. Maybe the histories by Civil War historian Shelby Foote are just too good not to buy. And when you start buying these authors on impulse, you will know the books are good.

Experiencing the Scenes

Another useful step good writers do is allow their readers to see the scenes. For a writer to write a scene, often he or she has to see it. It’s the author’s job to make you see it too. It’s more than about just horror, scares, or sex scenes. Any scene can have a power provided it lets you see what’s going on.

Waiting for the End

This is a two sided coin: sometimes you will be waiting for the ending and it will be good; other times you will be waiting for the ending so you can begin the next book. A good book takes you along a journey to the end, and maybe surprises you. A dull book just goes from scene to scene with no real purpose, and has a weak ending.

Building a Library of Favorites

Lastly, a book that reaches your bookshelf, your favorite book shelf, not all the dusty hard covers, will often tell you the book did something to you.

Tip

Don’t just a book by an interesting cover. Judge it by the content of the words. Read a few of the pages to get a feel for the story.

A good book will be passed around to friends, each with his or her own comments on how good it was. Develop your own opinion to share.

Warning

Reviews tell you what to like. But can anyone know exactly what you like? Consider reviews important, but not the final say on whether a book is good.

Article by Jacob Malewitz

Author, The Writer Who Smiles, Now Available from Booklocker

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3288.html

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

How to Know When a Book is Good Part 2

Picking the Same Author Again

The next stage of all this is when you start grabbing the same author off the bookshelf more and more. Maybe you have a collection of Ray Bradbury novels; you started with one and could never stop. Maybe the histories by Civil War historian Shelby Foote are just too good not to buy. And when you start buying these authors on impulse, you will know the books are good.

Experiencing the Scenes

Another useful step good writers do is allow their readers to see the scenes. For a writer to write a scene, often he or she has to see it. It’s the author’s job to make you see it too. It’s more than about just horror, scares, or sex scenes. Any scene can have a power provided it lets you see what’s going on.

Waiting for the End

This is a two sided coin: sometimes you will be waiting for the ending and it will be good; other times you will be waiting for the ending so you can begin the next book. A good book takes you along a journey to the end, and maybe surprises you. A dull book just goes from scene to scene with no real purpose, and has a weak ending.

Building a Library of Favorites

Lastly, a book that reaches your bookshelf, your favorite book shelf, not all the dusty hard covers, will often tell you the book did something to you.

Tip

Don’t just a book by an interesting cover. Judge it by the content of the words. Read a few of the pages to get a feel for the story.

A good book will be passed around to friends, each with his or her own comments on how good it was. Develop your own opinion to share.

Warning

Reviews tell you what to like. But can anyone know exactly what you like? Consider reviews important, but not the final say on whether a book is good.

Article by Jacob Malewitz

Author, The Writer Who Smiles, Now Available from Booklocker

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3288.html

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

How to Escape into the Horrors of Stephen King Part 2

PART 2

Choosing the Best Book

The best book by Stephen King is often different for each reader. However, the Stephen King masterpiece “The Shining” is perhaps his best clear horror novel. It’s not as huge as “The Stand” or as epic as “The Dark Tower,” yet two films were made based on it, and it keeps selling copies across the world. The tale of a alcoholic playwright pointed to the problem King had while writing the book. The portrait of a young boy with a special power—called “the shining”—was a perfect example of King tapping into his youth for stories.

Watching Films

King has had many films based on his work, and he has even written a few scary screenplays himself. The best of his works is “Storm of the Century,” a tale of a small town ravaged by winter, and the devil. There are dozens of other films to watch. One of the best is the recent remake of “Salem’s Lot.”

Tip

Just about any bookstore that calls itself a bookstore will have Stephen King works, maybe in the dozens.

There are many writers comparable to Stephen King in terms of what they do with horror. Two of the best are Robert R. McCammon and Clive Barker.

Warning

Most of these works are intended for adults. If you want children’s horror, go for R.L. Stine.

Article by Jacob Malewitz

Author, The Writer Who Smiles, Now Available from Booklocker

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3288.html

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

Complete, How to Escape into the Horrors of Stephen King

How to Escape into the Horrors of Stephen King

by Jacob Malewitz

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

Stephen King is apt to scare you. The renowned author of doznes of novels of terror never takes a day off when it comes to writing something downright spook. Ready to get scared? Let’s escape into the horrors of Stephen King

Study the writer

There is, for me, nothing more interesting than seeing how human writers are. They drink: Stephen King drank a lot. They write odd things: Stephen King has a vivid imagination. They explore their imaginations: King uses his imagination to truly make that haunted house look scary, that dead body walking around as a symbol of terror. So you can study all these things and maybe know the writer behind the desk a little more.

One good way to escape into Stephen King’s mind and imagination is to read his autobiographic work, “On Writing,” which details not only his life but his opinion on writing.

Scared by the horror

The next step is to pick up the book that made Stephen King famous: Carrie. This nvoel was turend into a film because it showed the scared, erratic mind of a young girl going through puberty. “Carrie” put Stephen King on the map. No one would say anything about horror—most times—without bringing up King anymore.

Pick up His Epics

Stephen King seems to like to push the envelope on how many pages he can make a novel. Take “It,” a classic tale of a killer clown which goes well past 1,000 pages. Or look to what many consider his masterpiece, “The Stand,” his longest single work.

Pick up Epics again

But what about that one tale of the gunslinger? “The Dark Tower” series is, in part, influenced by western classics and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien; it’s a western fantasy, a new realm for Stephen King. There is less horror here, obviously, but and many criticize the writing of this series. I agree. Stephen King is at his best with horror.

Choosing the Best Book

The best book by Stephen King is often different for each reader. However, the Stephen King masterpiece “The Shining” is perhaps his best clear horror novel. It’s not as huge as “The Stand” or as epic as “The Dark Tower,” yet two films were made based on it, and it keeps selling copies across the world. The tale of a alcoholic playwright pointed to the problem King had while writing the book. The portrait of a young boy with a special power—called “the shining”—was a perfect example of King tapping into his youth for stories.

Watching Films

King has had many films based on his work, and he has even written a few scary screenplays himself. The best of his works is “Storm of the Century,” a tale of a small town ravaged by winter, and the devil. There are dozens of other films to watch. One of the best is the recent remake of “Salem’s Lot.”

Tip

Just about any bookstore that calls itself a bookstore will have Stephen King works, maybe in the dozens.

There are many writers comparable to Stephen King in terms of what they do with horror. Two of the best are Robert R. McCammon and Clive Barker.

Warning

Most of these works are intended for adults. If you want children’s horror, go for R.L. Stine.

How to Escape into the Horrors of Stephen King Part 2

How to Escape into the Horrors of Stephen King Part 2

Review by Jacob Malewitz

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

Choosing the Best Book

The best book by Stephen King is often different for each reader. However, the Stephen King masterpiece “The Shining” is perhaps his best clear horror novel. It’s not as huge as “The Stand” or as epic as “The Dark Tower,” yet two films were made based on it, and it keeps selling copies across the world. The tale of a alcoholic playwright pointed to the problem King had while writing the book. The portrait of a young boy with a special power—called “the shining”—was a perfect example of King tapping into his youth for stories.

Watching Films

King has had many films based on his work, and he has even written a few scary screenplays himself. The best of his works is “Storm of the Century,” a tale of a small town ravaged by winter, and the devil. There are dozens of other films to watch. One of the best is the recent remake of “Salem’s Lot.”

Tip

Just about any bookstore that calls itself a bookstore will have Stephen King works, maybe in the dozens.

There are many writers comparable to Stephen King in terms of what they do with horror. Two of the best are Robert R. McCammon and Clive Barker.

Warning

Most of these works are intended for adults. If you want children’s horror, go for R.L. Stine.

How to Escape into the Horrors of Stephen King Part 1

How to Escape into the Horrors of Stephen King Part 1

by Jacob Malewitz

Stephen King is apt to scare you. The renowned author of doznes of novels of terror never takes a day off when it comes to writing something downright spook. Ready to get scared? Let’s escape into the horrors of Stephen King

Study the writer

There is, for me, nothing more interesting than seeing how human writers are. They drink: Stephen King drank a lot. They write odd things: Stephen King has a vivid imagination. They explore their imaginations: King uses his imagination to truly make that haunted house look scary, that dead body walking around as a symbol of terror. So you can study all these things and maybe know the writer behind the desk a little more.

One good way to escape into Stephen King’s mind and imagination is to read his autobiographic work, “On Writing,” which details not only his life but his opinion on writing.

Scared by the horror

The next step is to pick up the book that made Stephen King famous: Carrie. This nvoel was turend into a film because it showed the scared, erratic mind of a young girl going through puberty. “Carrie” put Stephen King on the map. No one would say anything about horror—most times—without bringing up King anymore.

Pick up His Epics

Stephen King seems to like to push the envelope on how many pages he can make a novel. Take “It,” a classic tale of a killer clown which goes well past 1,000 pages. Or look to what many consider his masterpiece, “The Stand,” his longest single work.

Complete, Inspiring Paul Auster

Reading the works of Paul Auster, you get a glimpse. Being a creative mind, I’m always astonished at just what Auster can do with the page on a daily basis. Sure, he’s a Brooklyn writer in the vein of Borges, with obvious French influences, French tastes for the certain ways that film makers, as an example, explore the depth of humanity. I love Paul Auster because, no matter how many stories he completes which are oddly similar, it’s as though you are turning the pages not because you have to, but because you must. What Paul Auster does better than many modern novelists is see the page, be the page, turn the page interesting, turn his characters inside out—pushing them to the extremes of humanity.

I first discovered Auster through a grad student who, through some circles, recommended the top novel “City of Glass” which is part of “The New York Trilogy,” a damn good title which fits the mold of what Auster is. Soon I went to the realms of outsiders looking into the madness of the world. Later in his career, his interests were far more plain, yet you could see the interest in this author from the beginning, intersest in what makes us be who we are.

So I look to Paul Auster, the author of so many fine novels, not a single poor one, perhaps flawed but not poor, and I see something akin to the literary sleuth, the kind of writer we need here in America to expunge us of all the finer details of a New York life, the kind you see on the road waiting for an idea to pop into his head. And as a novelist, Auster may have some peers. I would say, in terms of interest, the only comparable living author is Stephen King—and they are so far apart, there is plenty of room for both. I am missing out on many literary authors—Michael Chabon, John Updike—but I believe Auster has a more fascinating treatise on what it is to be in pain, living with all the bad and good of the world. Don’t look to closely too the French writers, because I believe Auster, who lived in Paris, wrote in Paris, and read of Paris, is one of another influences who learned his literary noir while living in the city—only to write about the city that rarely sleeps.

Article by Jacob Malewitz

Author, The Writer Who Smiles, Now Available from Booklocker

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3288.html

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

Inspiring Paul Auster Part 1

Inspiring Paul Auster Part 1

by Jacob Malewitz

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

Reading the works of Paul Auster, you get a glimpse. Being a creative mind, I’m always astonished at just what Auster can do with the page on a daily basis. Sure, he’s a Brooklyn writer in the vein of Borges, with obvious French influences, French tastes for the certain ways that film makers, as an example, explore the depth of humanity. I love Paul Auster because, no matter how many stories he completes which are oddly similar, it’s as though you are turning the pages not because you have to, but because you must. What Paul Auster does better than many modern novelists is see the page, be the page, turn the page interesting, turn his characters inside out—pushing them to the extremes of humanity.

I first discovered Auster through a grad student who, through some circles, recommended the top novel “City of Glass” which is part of “The New York Trilogy,” a damn good title which fits the mold of what Auster is. Soon I went to the realms of outsiders looking into the madness of the world. Later in his career, his interests were far more plain, yet you could see the interest in this author from the beginning, intersest in what makes us be who we are.

Complete Readers Read Session 1

Readers Read Session 1, Complete

by Jacob Malewitz

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

The power is in your hands, young reader, old scholar. You can sit in front of the TV all day and play video games, wasting away, or you can play the thinking game.

The power is in your hands, young reader, for you can pick up a classic, get bored to tears, pick up a genre novel, say “This ain’t so bad,” and just start reading. Readers read. It’s a fun, joyous experience. They sit in coffee shops and book storees because they like reading so much, so very much, nothing is better in the world. So what are you waiting for?

Oh, I know exactly what your waiting for. The right time to read. You don’t want to think about all this and that, why he should pick her instead of the other one, why she started a small detective agency, why this young fella named Frodo has to go up all the mountains to another place. Yes, movies and TV shows have their place in the world. No, they are not wastes. They can tell readers different kind of stories with moving images. But the power is in your hands, as it always has been. Fun. Isn’t it? To pick up a brand new book in a small bookstore that is selling it for a steal. Fun, isn’t it, to pick up an old copy of a Hemingway in a garage sale and wonder why it costs a quarter. Who knows, maybe none of this will happen.

When you read Stephen King and Clive Barker, finding the horror each writer provides, what do you see? I see Stephen King as a man on the edge—read The Shining and find out. I see Clive Barker as a stealthy little writer who pens these little, but big, horrors with such a power its hard to put them down. Don’t you see it too?

Maybe not. Maybe you have little respect for horror and want to delve into some science fiction land made by the mad Philip K. Dick, the wondrous fantasy books of Ray Bradbury, or the modern classics by Dan Simmons.

I still see you shaking your head. Is this all just an exercise? Is he wasting all our time? Read the classic biographies next. They are a step above. Readers read biographies of authors because they show something about our condition. Readers read of Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, F. Scott Fitzgerald, maybe Hentry James, maybe John O’Hara, because they are big names. Yes, they are. And it’s fun to jump into the mind of a novelist. Always so much fun. It’s worth every penny.

Sure you can go to the movies and have a blast. I respect the power of a film too. I leave out much. If you want to go into the realm of what if, reading newspapers really won’t answer your desires. I suggest reading something with its own movable power. You need not love Stephen King to read horror—actually some of his books are bad. If you reading Clive Barker you may just end up ashamed for doing so. But you can do more. You can go for the literary works of someone like Virginia Woolf. The modern classics of Paul Auster.

I guess it’s all an opinion. I am drifting when I write. Something changes on the page as I see into this serious game. Every book has influenced me. Why not find a good book to set the mood?

Reader Read: Session 1, Part 1

Readers Read Part 1

by Jacob Malewitz

The power is in your hands, young reader, old scholar. You can sit in front of the TV all day and play video games, wasting away, or you can play the thinking game.

The power is in your hands, young reader, for you can pick up a classic, get bored to tears, pick up a genre novel, say “This ain’t so bad,” and just start reading. Readers read. It’s a fun, joyous experience. They sit in coffee shops and book storees because they like reading so much, so very much, nothing is better in the world. So what are you waiting for?

Oh, I know exactly what your waiting for. The right time to read. You don’t want to think about all this and that, why he should pick her instead of the other one, why she started a small detective agency, why this young fella named Frodo has to go up all the mountains to another place. Yes, movies and TV shows have their place in the world. No, they are not wastes. They can tell readers different kind of stories with moving images. But the power is in your hands, as it always has been. Fun. Isn’t it? To pick up a brand new book in a small bookstore that is selling it for a steal. Fun, isn’t it, to pick up an old copy of a Hemingway in a garage sale and wonder why it costs a quarter. Who knows, maybe none of this will happen.

When you read Stephen King and Clive Barker, finding the horror each writer provides, what do you see? I see Stephen King as a man on the edge—read The Shining and find out. I see Clive Barker as a stealthy little writer who pens these little, but big, horrors with such a power its hard to put them down. Don’t you see it too?

Complete, Powerful Novelists: Paul Auster, James Morrow, Stephen King, Robert R. McCammon, Virginia Woolf

Powerful Novelists

Notes on some of the most powerful novelists in the last centuries, including Virginia Woolf, Mary Sheller, Paul Auster, Stephen King, and James Morrow.

Article by Jacob Malewitz

Author, The Writer Who Smiles, Now Available from Booklocker

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3288.html

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

Paul Auster is perhaps the foremost novelist here with his own power. When I read “The New York Trilogy” I saw a writer taking us readers to the edge. These novellas, as the book is three, are not perfect—they tend to each have their own life and power. What worked most for me was Paul Auster’s personal flair and touch. This New York writer understood madness and the depths of man’s mind. “City of Glass” is likely his best story ever, odd that it was his first. I reviewed both “Brooklyn Follies” and “Travels in the Scriptorium” here on A Reader’s Eye. I love his writing; he makes me want to keep reading, and not all authors can do that. For a primer on his work, I would begin with “The New York Trilogy” and, maybe, avoid his non-fiction works. They didn’t work for many critics; to Paul Auster has a talent more for fiction than non-fiction. He is also a screenwriter and director, but foremost he is famous as a novelist. He may not be on the edge, but he is oh-so-close. His novels express something powerful.

James Morrow is the next step back and up from the worlds of Paul Auster. I haven’t read as many works by Morrow as other authors (namely Auster and Stephen King) but I have explored many of his visions, even found the time to talk to the fantasy novelist through emails. Morrow might shudder at my calling him a fantasy novelist, especially with the success of his more mainstream work, “The Last Witchfinder.” I, however, saw him at his very best in “Only Begotten Daughter,” a tale which won a World Fantasy award, and for good reason. That is his best work. I read “The Last Witchfinder” after catching a review in the New York Times Book Review. It was, not so good, in my opinion, but still leagues ahead of other fiction.

Stephen King has been fairly popular on A Reader’s Eye in the past months, as I reviewed his novel “IT” and I wrote a piece “Hero and Writer: Stephen King and the Horror.” I will speak of him again. Never read Carrie or Firestarter. But I read “The Shining,” “The Gunslinger,” “IT,” “Bag of Bones,” “On Writing,” and a good number of his short stories. Some say “The Stand” is his best work, but I would find it hard to beat “The Shining,” a perfect combination of madness, alcoholism, and horror. Yes, Stephen King is a writer hero. Sure he gets the big checks. But he deserves them!

The Poor Man’s Stephen King. What a horrible name … but it aptly sums up the works of horror legend but relatively forgotten author Robert R. Mccammon. I read “Swan Song,” “Stinger,” some of “Boy’s Life,” and a few non-fiction articles. It is safe to say “Swan Song” is his best horror work. Since he was tagged as a horror writer, Robert R. Mccammon had trouble publishing later, non-horror books like “Sings The Nightbird.” As a writer of anything, he has plenty of talent. “Swan Song” is my favorite of Mccammon’s, and I think it could give “The Stand” or “The Shining” a run for the money. His name just never reached Stephen King or Anne Rice status.

Speaking of Annie Rice, where are all the female writers? I am more of a genre enthusiast. Powerful female novelists … there are plenty. I have yet to finish one of her books, but J.V. Joyce is one of the masters of the modern fantasy epic. Anne Rice moved away from horror—much to my chagrin—and wrote “Christ Out of Egypt,” which I tried to read, and I should have underlined tried. A powerful novelist named Mary Shelley wrote the best horror novel ever in her 20s, something called “Frankenstein.”

But, now that I think of it, the most powerful female novelist, and one who can give any male writer a run for their money, is …

Virginia Woolf. Who? Yes, you might have picked her up in some lost issue of “The New Yorker” or while scribbling in a crossword. But Virginia Woolf is the best literary novelist I have ever read. Simple as that. “To The Lighthouse” taught me more about language than any other book. There isn’t much tangible story—just tangible words which seem to move on the page. Move and dance.

Of all of them, who would I pick? Sure, I can tell you, soon, sooner … getting close … moving away, running to the next article …

Over on A Writer’s Eye: Complete, Ideas are not a Dime a Dozen

A Writer’s Eye is a blog for the creative writer in you. If you want book reviews on top writing how-tos, or just want to start being more creative, this blog can help. It comes from a published author, online writer, and newspaper editor.

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Over on brand spanking new Story and Script : Complete, From Horror and From Hell

Story and Script is devoted to the script writing trade, but not just movies and TV shows—comics too. If you want to write a screenplay, want to know the basics behind your movie or comic hero, this blog can help. And in a fun way.

Powerful Novelists Part 2: Stephen King,Robert R. McCammon, Virginia Woolf

Article by Jacob Malewitz

Author, The Writer Who Smiles, Now Available from Booklocker

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3288.html

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

Stephen King has been fairly popular on A Reader’s Eye in the past months, as I reviewed his novel “IT” and I wrote a piece “Hero and Writer: Stephen King and the Horror.” I will speak of him again. Never read Carrie or Firestarter. But I read “The Shining,” “The Gunslinger,” “IT,” “Bag of Bones,” “On Writing,” and a good number of his short stories. Some say “The Stand” is his best work, but I would find it hard to beat “The Shining,” a perfect combination of madness, alcoholism, and horror. Yes, Stephen King is a writer hero. Sure he gets the big checks. But he deserves them!

The Poor Man’s Stephen King. What a horrible name … but it aptly sums up the works of horror legend but relatively forgotten author Robert R. Mccammon. I read “Swan Song,” “Stinger,” some of “Boy’s Life,” and a few non-fiction articles. It is safe to say “Swan Song” is his best horror work. Since he was tagged as a horror writer, Robert R. Mccammon had trouble publishing later, non-horror books like “Sings The Nightbird.” As a writer of anything, he has plenty of talent. “Swan Song” is my favorite of Mccammon’s, and I think it could give “The Stand” or “The Shining” a run for the money. His name just never reached Stephen King or Anne Rice status.

Speaking of Annie Rice, where are all the female writers? I am more of a genre enthusiast. Powerful female novelists … there are plenty. I have yet to finish one of her books, but J.V. Joyce is one of the masters of the modern fantasy epic. Anne Rice moved away from horror—much to my chagrin—and wrote “Christ Out of Egypt,” which I tried to read, and I should have underlined tried. A powerful novelist named Mary Shelley wrote the best horror novel ever in her 20s, something called “Frankenstein.”

But, now that I think of it, the most powerful female novelist, and one who can give any male writer a run for their money, is …

Virginia Woolf. Who? Yes, you might have picked her up in some lost issue of “The New Yorker” or while scribbling in a crossword. But Virginia Woolf is the best literary novelist I have ever read. Simple as that. “To The Lighthouse” taught me more about language than any other book. There isn’t much tangible story—just tangible words which seem to move on the page. Move and dance.

Of all of them, who would I pick? Sure, I can tell you, soon, sooner … getting close … moving away, running to the next article …

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Powerful Novelists, Part 1, Paul Auster and James Morrow

Powerful Novelists

A little sampling of this and that.

by Jacob Malewitz

Paul Auster is perhaps the foremost novelist here with his own power. When I read “The New York Trilogy” I saw a writer taking us readers to the edge. These novellas, as the book is three, are not perfect—they tend to each have their own life and power. What worked most for me was Paul Auster’s personal flair and touch. This New York writer understood madness and the depths of man’s mind. “City of Glass” is likely his best story ever, odd that it was his first. I reviewed both “Brooklyn Follies” and “Travels in the Scriptorium” here on A Reader’s Eye. I love his writing; he makes me want to keep reading, and not all authors can do that. For a primer on his work, I would begin with “The New York Trilogy” and, maybe, avoid his non-fiction works. They didn’t work for many critics; to Paul Auster has a talent more for fiction than non-fiction. He is also a screenwriter and director, but foremost he is famous as a novelist. He may not be on the edge, but he is oh-so-close. His novels express something powerful.

James Morrow is the next step back and up from the worlds of Paul Auster. I haven’t read as many works by Morrow as other authors (namely Auster and Stephen King) but I have explored many of his visions, even found the time to talk to the fantasy novelist through emails. Morrow might shudder at my calling him a fantasy novelist, especially with the success of his more mainstream work, “The Last Witchfinder.” I, however, saw him at his very best in “Only Begotten Daughter,” a tale which won a World Fantasy award, and for good reason. That is his best work. I read “The Last Witchfinder” after catching a review in the New York Times Book Review. It was, not so good, in my opinion, but still leagues ahead of other fiction.

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Hero and Writer: Stephen King and the Horror Part 2

Part 2

Article by Jacob Malewitz

Author, The Writer Who Smiles, Now Available from Booklocker

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3288.html

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

There is in “The Shining” a scene where the alcoholic father and husband is beginning to get frustrated at the computer. He’s just plain stuck. It mirrored Stephen King’s own life in a way, being the alcoholic writer who, as he attested in “On Writing,” drank to forget, often to forget the doubts.

Stephen King has a beat to his writing—the perfect beat. He understands how to pull something out of a story. Once, he called writing like uncovering a large ancient relic: you have to dust it off, you have to pick at it until something appears. As a writer, Stephen King may have his equals. But as a mind of horror, there are few who can compare, few who have seen his success.

And what about that success? Did it change him? Maybe he became an alcoholic because of it; maybe he was long before. Only the man and hero Stephen King can really say. But by the press his literary thrillrides have received of late, with “Lisey’s Story” and “Duma Key” being considered some of the best King work in a decade, maybe the imagination of the man is back.

I am finishing up my copy of “IT” which really isn’t the best Stephen King work, but it sure is fun. Tehre is something to be said for the way King can capture memories of childhood and adulthood, drawing a scraggly little line called a story around these devices. King did it in “IT” and many other of his finest tales. We have seen many of his works adapted into films, and recently comic books. What matters is, Stephen King has always been his best on the page.

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Hero and Writer: Stephen King and the Horror Part 1

PART 1

Article by Jacob Malewitz

Author, The Writer Who Smiles, Now Available from Booklocker

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3288.html

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

What a fella’ named Stephen King did in “The Shining” is pure horror, a purist way of looking at madness, alcoholism, family, more madness, and plenty of spine tingling scenes. Many don’t consider this Stephen King’s best work; I do. I, however, must say I never read “The Stand,” only grabbed glimpses of it. I hear from many this is his definitive work. I hear from others that the “Dark Tower” is his most complete work. so maybe “The Shining” doesn’t win, maybe, but maybe Stephen King was at his best in that novel. It’s not this huge sprawling epic—it’s vintage Stephen King. A fun ride into the unknown.

“The Shining” put Stephen up there with all the horror writers; it put him higher than any other horror writer has ever been. Sure, it all started with the short novel “Carrie,” which had a record advance put him right on the map. Perhaps a man named Clive Barker can attest for the power of horror; but Clive Barker is someone different. Maybe Robert R. McCammon would have never existed without a Stephen King writing tales like “Salem’s Lot,” “The Shining,” and the more recent literary classics by the horror legend “Lisey’s Story” and “Duma Key.” Robert R. McCammon is, in my opinion, the next best thing to Stephen King. But that is another story. Let’s talk more about the works of the horror legend.

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IT by Stephen King

IT

By Stephen King

Review by Jacob Malewitz

Stephen King seems to enjoy playing with extremes; Stephen King is an extreme, but that is another fun, sad story of discovery. By extreme I mean in a storytelling sense: he builds and builds, scares and scares, until the reader is totally absent of a normal life, trying to understand what the horror master is truly saying. Yes, Stephen King is much like the evil little alien clown in IT: he plays upon our base fears.

We have a town. What’s extreme about that? Well, the clown is a killer, happens to be in the town, is something bigger than just a killer, an alien killer who brings the best and worst out of people. Don’t trust him; he kills. There are no secrets to this mad idea from Stephen King—the portrait of the clown is a clear portrait of horror novel evil, pure and disturbing. This clown only tells you to watch yourself, watch the dark, watch your emotions, for he is always there, in a small little sewer drain or holding some balloons next to the river. He’s bad. If it’s a “he” in the literal sense at all …

On the other extremes, we have a son and husband who chose a “bigger” woman pushing several hundred pounds. We have Beverly, a strong, talented woman who always chooses the wrong men—the ones who beat her up, like her father, like her current husband. We have a writer, a feature in many Stephen King novels, and he happens to be a horror writer, selling more books than anyone, selling movie rights, just plain selling. There are many more: insane people and bullies. The most important part to know, when reading Stephen King’s “IT”, is that the horror began many years ago in a town called Derry. It actually began long before that. People start disappearing; boys, girls, the clown has an appetite for small children.

Somehow Stephen King has an ability to grab you with his words. It can be hard to pinpoint this beat, as you could call it. He jumps into characters thoughts often, there anger and pain and fear; he plays upon extremes of hate and love; he plays upon the power, even in little boys and little girls, the power each of us have.

But the words—the words are the true winners here. Special. It’s not James Joyce, but something downright magical in its own right.

Stephen King does like his aliens (which doesn’t give too much away). And he also seems to like these vast horror epics pushing a thousand pages or more, like “The Stand,” “Bag of Bones,” and the huge “Dark Tower” epic. He does it less in “IT.”

Children are known to make promises they cannot keep. In “IT” a few children of a small town, a small town known for tragedy, make a promise to come back and fight the evil again … if it just won’t go away. Children had disappeared, found dead, people had seen things, heard things.. But that was all in the past, except an evil and dark memory of a few children who have returned.

This Stephen King work is the kind of horror that has a theme of looking back to the past while trying to forget it. “IT” is a powerful, emotional piece that is hard to put down. Stephen King plays out on all the clichés, all the darkness of a good horror, coming out with a powerful horror novel. And a fun one.

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Over on A Reader's Eye: IT by Stephen King

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Can Horror Films have Adverse Effects on You?

Can Horror Films have Adverse Effects on You?

by Jacob Malewitz

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Let me first run the gauntlet. Horror films make a lot of money, most are very interesting, and last but not least, they allow for writers to subvert the minds of others. There is nothing like getting in the head of a movie watcher, showing them, yes, yes this can be done, it could happen to you, and it just might. For horror films to do all these things—to get into your mind—they have to be powerful stories. Just a haunted house or a slasher killer, the narrative of hundreds of horror stories, isn’t enough.

I do feel horror films can get into your dreams. Sometimes the violence can be gratuitous. Sometimes the writers behind it are just trying to make you scream. More than that, they are art. They are not high minded art, perhaps they could be considered low brow—but they are truly art. There is a reason Henry James wrote “The Turn of the Screw” or even why Edith Wharton wrote some ghost stories. There is a reason some writers pen nothing but pieces of horror, pieces apt to make you scream and shriek (Stephen King, my friends, Stephen King writes mind bending horror, occasionally something else.

Sometimes the dreams can be too vivid. I recall watching the film “Chucky” as a young boy. It stayed with me, got into my dreams, and all after the last fade out. For some reason the idea of a killer doll had my imagination running. I shouldn’t have watched it early. I feel children are exposed to racy horror too often. For one, something like “Chucky” should never be released to the mind of a young boy. The same can be said of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “The Silence of the Lambs.” These are thought provoking horrors. Horrors too thought provoking.

I know many people who say horror is just about gratuitous violence and sex. In some ways I agree with that statement; in others, foremost as an artist, I feel it’s a tool like any other.

And yet millions of kids wait until R films come out on DVD to get their fix. Maybe I am approaching all this in the wrong way, as children know more than they are telling. Maybe horror just tells and shows too much. I think death shouldn’t be subjugated to the trial of a horror film; some things shouldn’t be played with. But will I stop watching Rob Zombie films—like the latest “Halloween”—or will I stop? I think I’ll keep going. It helps me sleep, sometimes …