The Twelve by Justin Cronin

The Twelve is the second book in the planned trilogy of Justin Cronin's apocalyptic series of books. Following up on the huge success of The Passage this book introduces us to more of the backstory of the outbreak of the plague itself, shows us survivors in a Texas Republic in a time prior to the survivors we met in the original book, and most of all of a period of time five years hence from The Twelve.

The survivors of the Colony are featured strongly in this book. Peter Jaxson, Hollis, Sara, Alicia, and of course Amy, the one girl to save them all. This book is not perfect. In this book we learn of " the familiars" who act as guardians to the members of the twelve. Two books in I am still a little foggy on the relationship between the workers recruited to care for the twelve in the lab prior to the outbreak and the twelve themselves.

Another concern could be the incredibly likable characters we meet in the section of the book that introduces us to a few survivors in post breakout Denver. Danny, an autistic school bus driver becomes an out of the box hero. Knowing Cronin's habit of zooming in and out on various characters and places in time we might well see them again in Book three to see how Danny's heroism turned out. This could be another story inside the later story of the final conflict between the Virals and the Survivors that we anticipate seeing in the next book. Much has been written about the similarities of this series and Stephen King's The Stand and in this, the Danny section, the similarity is most easy to see. M-o-o-n spells Tom Cullen, but it could easily spell Danny the Bus Driver as well. No matter I guess in apocalyptic scenarios there are only so many.

The book is well told, once we get to the last 400 page section on the conflict between a tyrannical society in Iowa and the Texas group which has taken in our survivors from Book one. Amy, the girl who was to be part of the twelve, still surivives, well over a one hundred years old but still looking like a teenager but Amy knows her time is coming, a change is coming, one she will not be able to turn away from.

I do not want to give away too much. After reading this book I feel a little silly, like a book snob that has read comic books in secret, but one cannot deny that what Cronin does he does very well.

If you are looking for some escapist reading and a bit of a different take on our vampire, zombie fascination of late this book series is a good place to start.

NBC's Revolution Continues to Improve

While I have written earlier about the difficulties shows of this nature have in keeping the excitement they create at their beginning Revolution continues each week to bring it's viewers into a world that is more and more interesting.

JJ Abrams is making use of the same device we saw on Lost, that is, slowly filling in the backstory on the characters in the show. Of course many shows might follow this practice but each time it is done in this show thus far I have never failed to be surprised at the history of the character being revealed. It makes the characters much more complex to have this information.

Aside from the plot twists and the fact that we are learning much more about each of the characters we also are becoming used to offhand references and asides which, for those of us in the know, create smiles, nods, or if you are playing along at home a checkmark for another " cookie" found.

In just the past couple of weeks we have seen a reference to Stephen King's The Stand characters such as Stu Redman and Frannie Goldsmith, as well as last night having the password for members of the resistance be asking for a biography of Joe Biden. Pretty clever stuff.

We still do not know of it's long term success but if you have been waiting for the right time to catch up on this show and enjoy the new episodes now might be an opportune time. It is becoming must see television.

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

Stephen King just cannot seem to get enough of The Dark Tower. Or at least the characters in the book. The very good thing about this book is that one does not need to have read all or any of the seven books of The Dark Tower series. For those that have read the books we are told that one could place this between books four and five as at the end of the book we see the heroes heading off to Calla Bryn Sturgis which becomes the setting for The Wolves of the Calla.

In essence this book becomes simply a book of stories. Told in a unique story within a story within a story method this is a very good book.

The book begins with Roland and his ka'tet, Susannah, Eddie and Jake and the ever loyal Billy Bumbler Oy traveling on their quest to The Dark Tower. Oy on the trip is acting odd, looking always behind them to the North. At last Roland remembers the legends of his youth and realizes that a storm, a starkblast is on the way. A Starkblast is like a Tornado on steroids, one in which the temperature can drop a hundred degrees in ten minutes.

The group stumbles into a town and gets behind shelter in the nick of time. Well fortified with wood to keep warm they settle in and Roland agrees to tell a story. He tells a story of a time of his youth when he and one of his young friends were sent by his father to deal with a problem in a neighboring town. The town was beset by a shape shifter, known as a lizard man who was terrorizing and murdering the citizens.

As this story progresses a time comes where Roland must keep a young boy, named Bill, now an orphan, safe and sound. To pass the time he tells the boy a story. This story is called The Wind in the Keyhole and is the centerpiece of the whole book. This story passed on to Roland from his own Mother tells the story of Tim Ross a young man who lives with his Mother and Father in a happy home. With little material wealth Tim's Father has him recite each night what he has to give his son which is " a plot, a place, my ax ( for he is a woodcutter ) and my lucky coin. Things never seem to stay the same however and when Tim's father is killed by a dragon his life changes forever. This story truly is one of the best I have read of King's. With features of The Wizard of Oz, The Hobbit and other famous tales it is truly one can enjoy in a quick evening.

With the story in a story mode as the stories end we come back to Roland his group. With both stories ended, the storm abated and dawn breaking the group gathers and sets off to the tower again.

A very interesting trick by King to garner another story out of these characters and Mid World. Certainly one that we could see him do again. Clearly there are many stories yet to tell.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Stayed up way too late last night reading the last two hundred pages of this latest King doorstop. At eight hundred pages plus this book will be an investment of your time. Overall however the payoff is there.

In this book we meet Jake Epping a high school Science teacher recently divorced. Being newly single he dines often at a diner called Al's and enjoys the house special..a fatburger. As school lets out for the yer he gets a call from Al asking him to come by. When he arrives at the resteraunt he finds Al looking haggard and ill.

It comes to pass that Al has found a time portal. It takes him back to 1958 each time he goes. Having seen him the night before Epping is surprised to see him 30 pounds lighter, a whole lot grayer and looking close to death. In the time portal no matter how long your gone it is only two minutes on this side.

Al had been gone for five years trying to change history. Jake as they talk soon realizes what history he was trying to change five years from 1958 and refuses to consider fulfilling this mission.

As the book has over 750 pages left we know that Jake does. Stopping to fix a couple of local tragedies he is aware of on the way Jake them begins his movements to Dallas.

This is a very good book. A page turner. King has always been clunky when writing about love and Epping, called George Amberson in 1960 when he makes his way to the small town of Jodie, Texas develops a love interest. It is good for the story but not good for us to have to read King's references to lovemaking. Ewww.

Still a great book. Oswald, Kennedy and Epping/Amberson have a date with history or as it turns out several alternative dates. Which one will be the final outcome holds sway over all our futures.

Nightwoods by Charles Frazier

I read and loved the book Cold Mountain. It was a book that felt like it was written a century ago. Not just for the subject material, being about the Civil War, but in the style of it's writing as well.

For whatever reason Frazier has not been able to follow up his first novel successfully. Perhaps it is true that there are just so many ideas for so many books but Frazier writes this book like a Lifetime movie. Perhaps the best way to describe it is if I had not read who wrote this I would never have taken this to be a book written by a man. Now Frazier is in good company. I was convinced for a long time that Stephen King has Tabitha writing a few of his books years ago, the Dolores Claiborne, Rose Madder phase. Still while it might well be a quirk of mine I do not want to read a book touted as having a bit of a bend toward being literary if not literature and read a woman in danger book.

The characters are broad and not that well written. Just a bad vook. 150 pages in and I had to remind myelf I was under no ovligation to finish. That qas my best choice all day. A bad book .

Slaid Cleaves in Ellsworth Maine

Slaid Cleaves is a singer songwriter raised in Berwick, Maine who has lived in the Austin, Texas area the last twenty years. Having recorded albums such as Broke Down, Wishbones, and Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away Cleaves has not had the " big break" but he has had a measure of success and gained some very good reviews.

Cleaves has been featured on Stephen King's WKIT in Bangor, Maine, in fact King wrote liner notes for Cleaves last album. So it was not a surprise to see Cleaves playing a benefit concert in Ellsworth.

The concert featured many songs that Cleaves fans would be familiar with such as Cry, Broke Down, Breakfast in Hell and Black T Shirt. Cleaves is very engaging, telling stories with the crowd freely and easily. Cleaves even has a yodeling portion of the show telling of the mentoring relationship with an Austin singer who has since passed who he always tries to feature a song for in his shows to keep his music alive. Yodeling may or may not be for you but it is quite an exclusive talent.

Cleaves, with the exception of the yodeling does nothing many others do not also do but he does do it well. A singer, songwriter, storyteller he might be closer to Todd Snider than Bob Dylan but for me his spoken voice is close to Arlo Guthrie. In all three cases these are not comparisons he would shy from I am sure.

Intelligent. Funny. Witty. Talented. A good songwriter. Listen to Green Mountains and Me to convince yourself of that fact. A night with Slaid Cleaves should be something you enjoy. When he comes to your town you should go. Buy the records. Artists like Slaid Cleaves need to be supported.

The Stand ( The Miniseries)

Having read this book long ago and actually having watched this miniseries when it was originally on years ago I did notice this being rerun monthly on SyFy Channel I chose to record it to watch the movie with my wife.

It holds up pretty well. Not as well as the book of course but the movie is good. Rob Lowe, Gary Sinise, , Molly Ringwald led a strong cast that includes Stephen King in his bit part is strong.

At eight hours long with commercials the movie takes it time to set up and deliver and it does deliver. The ending, a little supernatural but it had to be is strong.

Jamey Sheridan as Randall Flagg the evil presence in the movie is scary as can be. A great performance by him.

Under the Dome by Stephen King

I finished this behemoth of a book by Stephen King recently. Published in November I was able to purchase it from Target for a remarkably low price when Amazon, Walmart and Target were having their price war. The book itself was King at his best. Multitudes of characters who you instantly cared about and wished to see come to a good end. Of course, being a Stephen King book, many of them do not.

While there are quite a few villains in the story the major one is Big Jim Rennie, a caricature of every self important, small town blowhard selectmen you might have come across in your lifetime. The character is that person you have met to the tenth degree and then some and when he reaches his end it is not one you feel bad about.

However, like many of Stephen King's largest books, at least for me, the conclusion does not measure up to the very long lead up. Perhaps this is an unfair assessment of what is still a wonderful read. King sucks you so far into the story in this book, as well as other very long books of his such as Insomnia and It, that perhaps the ending in a book like this cannot measure up to the expectation. On the other hand King's book The Stand is still the best thing he has ever written and to me at least had no weaknesses in the beginning, middle or end.

The Stand's place in popular culture was reaffirmed this fall as the Swine Flu epidemic heated up and I heard a few radio personalities talking about Captain Trips and dreaming about Mother Abigail. No other book of King's has so permeated our popular culture.

Under the Dome is a good book. It also represents a significant investment in time. However, I subscribe to the too many books too little time philosophy so urge an informed decision. If you have not read The Stand pick that one up instead, you will not be disappointed.