#john saul

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: The Kids ain't alright

TL Bodine: Submitted for the approval of the Midnight society, I call this the tale of children in peril Stephen Gresham: no! John Saul: YES!

Saul: i love stories with reckless child endangerment! Barker: yeah that's true Barker: hard to think of anyone who likes them more Poe: except roald Barker: yeah except roald

Roald Dahl: how many children die in this story Dahl: oo i hope it's a lot Dahl: nasty nasty little rotten children Dahl: never do as they're told

Bodine: there's this poor couple and they have two children Bodine: but they can't afford to keep them Bodine: so they take them into the woods and abandon them Barker: this sounds familiar Angela Carter: shut up, let her cook

Bodine: so they abandon them in the woods Bodine: but it turns out there's a whole society of feral children there Bodine: cuz people just keep abandoning children there Bodine: you know how it is

Bodine: people have a kid as an easter present and then 2 weeks later they realize it's actually too big a responsibility Bodine: so they flush it down the toilet Bodine: in the sewer, the kids grow to massive sizes Bodine: it's a real problem

Bodine: what if an alien brood parasite took over your womb Bodine: and you gave birth to an awful baby that gets bigger but never grows up? Bodine: kind of like bobo and lil debbul from nothing but trouble

Bodine: now you're stuck with a weird baby that just grows and grows Bodine: but it's still just a baby Edward Gorey: beastly!

Bodine: that would sure test the limits of your selfless parental love, don't you think? King: i was in that exact situation, actually Bodine: King: but i still love my large adult son owen Bodine: Bodine: that's not what i mean

Bodine: what if you were at camp and there was a monster? RL Stine: classic premise, classic Bodine: but here's the twist Bodine: it was a fat camp King: a fat camp??

King: boy, i don't know how i feel about this King: maybe if it was a fat camp where fat boys lose weight and prove their worth Bodine: the heroines are fat girls King: oh i don't like that at all King: there's no redemption for that

King: is the monster actually the health risks of obesity? Bodine: what? no! King: cuz you know King: being fat is unhealthy

Bodine: actually it's about how a group of fat teens, underestimated by adults because of their size, use ingenuity and cunning to fight back and save themselves from being eaten by a monster King: King: ok yeah but you know being fat is unhealthy Meg Elison: i am going to fucking kill you steve

King: why would anyone want to read a story about fat people? King: i just don't get it King: cuz being fat is unhealthy King: especially for girls Bodine: is he always like this? Poe: yes pretty much

[stephenkingporn]

Great charity shop haul yesterday. Started buying the L. Ron Hubbard books ironically but now I have 3 🤔

[pagingdrmusic]

Some new finds from a used book store!

[bitchy-peachy]

Still reading The Hollow Kind and the kid found an old family album. Now I'm overanalyzing shit about his great grandma and coming up to the conclusion that she killed one of her twin sons cos she thought he was possessed by the devil... just cos her eyes got meaner looking in each pic. (Yes, I'm this lame LOL)

Gonna read more cos I'm just theorizing especially after the birth scene in which she didn't see one of her twins as her own.

After this book I might reread some faves from Dean Koontz or John Saul or Karin Slaughter.

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

John Saul - Punish The Sinners - Dell - 1978

[fallout-lou-begas]

Nathaniel (1984), John Saul

[fnvminorcharacterpoll]

I'm mad about Nathaniel

Sorry. I agree that the ending of the book is simultaneously too fantastic and too literal in a way that really undercuts the initially established and compelling theme of how the idealized fantasy of a rural lifestyle is a smokescreen for the normalized rampancy of patriarchal abuse in isolated small towns with no oversight, no recourse, and no escape when the shackles of survivor's guilt, generational trauma, family obligations, and financial ties lock around you before you even notice them snaking around your limbs, especially when you're in such a vulnerable position as a financially dependent and widowed and newly pregnant single mother, and with nothing but a name that's forbidden to speak about but that gets whispered on the wind in a haunting and ominous voice to suggest that something, anything, is wrong at all.

[formerlibrarian]

Tagged by @castrahiberna to list 10 books that have stuck with me in order that they popped into my head.

(Warning: #spoilers in my comments to each book.)

The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham (Just a really beautiful well written book that I could 100% relate to and see myself in.)

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder (Maybe one of the most well-written beautiful books I have ever read.)

Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon (The end of the world has always fascinated me. )

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Really, it is the image of the final paragraph that has stuck with me since I read the book back in high school.)

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert (Just like Brave New World, it is the death at the end that has stuck with me.)

Nathaniel by John Saul (I remember wanting to read a horror novel around the time I was 13 or 14 in 1984/85. And as I scanned the paperback rack at the store, I bought the 3 or 4 horror novels that they had. This was the only book from that bunch that I finished and I proceeded to devour everything that John Saul had written until 1986. Why did I stop reading him in 1986? Probably a combination of things, I got tired of his repetitive formula (I had just read ten of his books within a year or two.) and I also discovered the Beat Poets and started reading Jack Kerouac instead.)

The Forsaken by Cameron Read (This was the first "adult" book I read - meaning not written for children or teens. I was probably 12.)

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (The concept of going to war with God, and God being a decrepit old man.)

The Last Days of Christ the Vampire by J. G. Eccarius (The book is horrible, but the idea of "Christ the Vampire" has stuck with me. I have a long gestating story idea around this concept - including how he was turned into a vampire and where he is now.)

Grendel by Matt Wagner (I'm including one comic book series that has stuck with me as well. Back in 1988 I saw issue #1 for sell on the newsstand at a grocery store. I knew nothing about it, except for the idea of starting a new comic book series with issue #1. It changed who I am and became a big part of my DNA. If I were to get fictional characters tattooed on my body: Godzilla, Ponyo, and Grendel would be three of them.)