Official Score = 3 Devils[/caption]When I was younger, an author that my Dad seemed to enjoy was the author, 'Stephen King'... And so when I was a kid, we used to some times enjoy the movies that were based on his novels... And as I began to be interested in Stephen King's novels, he gave me his Stephen King novels.
Well one of the novels that he gave me was the novel, 'Four Past Midnight'... This novels was actually a collection of novellas that I found to be a total blast... As a matter of fact, not only have I seen the movie adaptions that have been made based on these novels, but I actually own them!
Now as for the novels themselves... They are freaking amazing! I mean the first one that I thought that I would mention here of the novellas is the story: The Langoliers:
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The Langoliers... A great first novella in this epic book of short stories![/caption]Stephen King weaves an amazing tale of a group who while on a flight to the East Coast go to sleep, when they wake up, they come to discover that short of those who had fallen asleep, that everyone else on the plane has vanished... Well when they finally decide to start investigating what has happened, they end up landing only to discover that not only is there no one on the ground, but that there is something wrong with the world... i,e... 'The Beer is flat, but becomes carbonated on the Plane', along with other bizarre occurrences... But there is something more...
You see, a blind girl who has some psychic ability, ends up letting the remaining humans on the planet know that there is something coming after them... It's not there... But it will be soon...
So the survivors will end up having to figure out what is going on, and how to escape the coming threat, before their guests arrive!
Now this movie ended up being turned in to a truly awesome TV/Miniseries back in 1995... (Not quite as good as the novella, but still good.)
The next one that I wanted to talk about is the Novella, 'Secret Window Secret Garden'.
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Another awesome novella in, 'Four Past Midnight'![/caption]Now this story I have to admit was a personal favorite of this book (and the movie, which stars: Johnny Depp (A Nightmare On Elm Street), I found to be so good, that it is one of a few examples of the written word being adapted to the big screen that was so good that it was almost as good as the story for which it was based off of!
But anyway, this novella tells the story of a famous writer whom after he discovers his wife cheating on him, ends up having a mental break down... Months after this experience, his mental break down will turn in to something a lot worse when he starts fantasizing about his wife and her new boyfriend becoming permanent residents of the, 'Secret Garden.'
This next one, 'The Library Policeman'...
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A much more... 'meh'... addition to this awesome series![/caption]I have this addition to the series was pretty unremarkable, but told the story of a malevolent entity that feeds on fear and is the embodiment of an evil woman who had died in the 1960s. This entity ends up going after Sam Peebles, a man who had some problems at a library years earlier...
In the end... You can't always have winners... for me I found this one to be pretty bland, and not have the same flare and awesomeness that has made a lot of King's novels real amazing!
This next one, 'The Sun Dog'...
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This one had some very strong potential![/caption]Now this novella was fun... I think this one should have been expanded upon and turned in to a novel, but the truth is, is it wasn't a bad one and worth it... You see this novella told the story of a boy who gets a sort of paranormal, 'camera' in which the only picture that it takes of, is a sort of, 'Monster Dog'... And as weird stuff begins, it looks like there might be something a little more to this camera then meets the eye... And this kid is going to have to figure it out, before the Monster in the picture becomes real!
In the end, this series of Novellas is well worth a read, it took me a few days to read this novel... And I will be honest and say that I am glad that I did!
