Lilja's Library (46 page)

“Graduation Afternoon” can be found in
Postscripts Magazine
, issue 10, and besides King’s story you also get stories from Joe Hill (“Thumbprint”), Peter Atkins (“Between the Cold Moon and the Earth”), Graham Joyce (“The Last Testament of Seamus Todd”) and many, many more.  

Lilja’s final words about
Graduation Afternoon
 

Make sure you read “Graduation Afternoon.” It’s very short, but it’s among the best King has written when it comes to short stories! 

**** 

Blaze 

Posted: June 11, 2007  

Richard Bachman is back from the grave…well, sort of. His latest book,
Blaze
, was written in the early 1970s, over thirty years ago. When King found it he edited it somewhat before he published it, and both he and Bachman were very careful not to reveal what year the story takes place. The book never mentions an exact date for any event. President Ronald Reagan is mentioned, though, so if you wanted to calculate the approximate time, you probably could.  

The story is about Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., or Blaze, as his friend and partner George Rackley calls him. They are petty criminals who mostly deal with cons, but now have decided to do the big one—the last hit before they’ll be able to retire. They plan on kidnapping the small child of a wealthy family. 

The only problem is that George now only exists in Blaze’s head. In real life he is dead. Blaze goes through with the plan anyway, and even though he isn’t very smart he has the luck he needs to be successful in grabbing the baby. 

Now he just has to find a way to get the ransom money delivered without getting caught and then return the baby. Or maybe he should keep the baby? After all, he is starting to get rather attached to him… 

Even though
Blaze
is an old novel it feels very fresh. I’m not sure how much King edited it before he released it, but it feels new. Personally, though, I think it’s more King than Bachman. The other Bachman novels were all more critical of the U.S. society, something Blaze is missing. Still, it’s fun that it’s released as a Bachman book. I like Bachman.  

It’s revealed pretty early, though (in the foreword in fact), that it was really written by King and not Bachman. If there is one thing I would want to change with
Blaze
it’s that it should have less mentioning of Stephen King, like
The Regulators
had. That one was more of a Bachman book while
Blaze
is a King book, even though it has Bachman’s name on the cover.  

Still though, it’s the story that matters and the story of
Blaze
is very well told and it deals as much with the kidnapping as with Blaze’s background. Bachman/King switches between the two timeframes in a very effective way. 

Ron McLarty, who is a master, if not
the
master, of narrating books, reads the audio edition. The only one beating him in reading King’s books is King himself, if you ask me. He has a voice that’s perfect for narrating and you can really feel that he puts his soul into giving the characters their own personalities.  

Lilja’s final words about
Blaze
 

Blaze
is a very good book and a very fast read, as it’s just under three hundred pages long. It’s nonetheless a very good book that gets you hooked from page one and doesn’t release you until the end…just as a good book should. All I wish now is that we’ll get to see more of Bachman in the future.
 

****

The Gingerbread Girl 

Posted: June 25, 2007  

“The Gingerbread Girl” is the story of Em, a woman who leaves her husband to go running (literally)…and ends up in her worst nightmare.  

After finding their daughter, Amy, dead, Em and her husband can’t manage to get their marriage back on track. One day Em just decides to leave. When she does, she leaves for her father’s place at Vermillion Key, where she decides to start running to help her deal with the grief over her daughter. However, fate wants other things for her… 

One day while out running she happens to look into the open trunk of a parked car on one of the driveways she passes. There, she sees a dead girl, and before she gets much further she’s knocked unconscious. She later wakes up inside the house, taped to a chair. 

“The Gingerbread Girl”
starts off rather soft and feels a bit like
Rose Madder
, even though Em and her husband aren’t in an abusive relationship. It then quickly changes into a totally different story that is very intense in that it finds Em fighting for her life. 

I personally felt Em’s panic and fear when I read the story, and I must say that with “The Gingerbread Girl”
King shows how he is such a talented writer. “The Gingerbread Girl” is a short story (twenty-three pages), but King still takes the time to give us a feeling of what’s going on in the mind of Jim Pickering, Em’s perpetrator, and also tells us a great deal about Em and her background. “The Gingerbread Girl” is King showing why he is
the
King.  

Lilja’s final words about “The Gingerbread Girl”
 

“The Gingerbread Girl” is definitely becoming a favorite of mine and I’m really blown away by how well King channels Em’s panic and fear over to the reader. Whatever you do, don’t miss this one! It’s now out in the July issue of
Esquire
. 

**** 

Ayana 

Posted: November 1, 2007  

King’s latest short story, “Ayana,” is a very soft tale about a miracle that happened a long time ago. The story’s narrator was advised not to tell it to anyone, but now, a very long time after it has taken place, he does…and that is what we get to hear in the story. 

“Ayana” is about a man whose father is dying of pancreatic cancer. Just as he and his family are preparing for him to pass away, a young girl named Ayana appears in his room at the hospital. She kisses the dying man, and guess what: he beats the cancer and goes on living for a few more years. 

The girl also touches our narrator, and by doing so involves him in the miracle. Years later, while in the waiting room for a follow-up from kidney stones (from which he recovers very well), he is approached by a man, and his part of the miracle starts… 

While reading “Ayana” I got the same feeling I got when I read “The Woman in the Room”
and parts of
The Green Mile
, and I suspect King was in similar moods when he wrote those stories. It’s no secret that his mother died from cancer, and I guess that has put its mark on him. It’s good to see that he can transform those feelings into such a good story, though. 

“Ayana” is just fifteen pages long and a rather quick read, and I must say I really enjoyed it. It’s an emotional story with a lot of heart in it.  

Lilja’s final words about “Ayana”  

“Ayana” is a very good story and I felt very good reading it, even though it’s a rather sad story. But at the same time, it’s a very happy story. Confused? You won’t be when you read it. Please, make sure you don’t miss this one!
 

**** 

Mute 

Posted: November 7, 2007  

“Mute” is a nice little tale about a man, Monette, and his struggle with his wife’s recent betrayal. After twenty-six years of marriage she has now confessed to him that she has had a lover for the last two years, that she has stolen money from her workplace and that she is leaving him. 

Monette confesses all this to a priest, and during his confession he tells the priest about a deaf-mute hitchhiker in old clothes and dirty sneakers that he picked up not long ago. 

Once Monette picks up the hitchhiker he tells him his story. It really doesn’t matter that his new friend can’t hear a word of what he is saying. It’s just nice to say everything out loud. While Monette visits a restroom along the way, the hitchhiker leaves without a trace and without a goodbye. The only thing that really shows that he has been there at all is a St. Christopher’s medallion that is missing from the car’s rearview mirror.  

Monette gets it back, but only after his wife and her lover are found murdered in their hotel room, beaten to death with a pipe. The police think it’s the deaf-mute hitchhiker that has done Monette an unwanted favor and are now looking for him. 

That is the story as we read it. However, if you look at the illustrations/photos that accompany the story you will find one of the priest on his side of the confession booth and one of Monette on his. And, if you look closely at Monette, you’ll see that he wears old clothes, just like the hitchhiker did, and a sign saying “Mute.” He also probably has dirty sneakers, but those we can’t really see. 

This leads me to think that the deaf-mute hitchhiker and Monette are one and the same. That is why he kills his wife and her lover, and why he can disappear so completely while Monette is in the restroom. And why else would he have the deaf-mute’s sign?  

****
 

Lilja’s final words about “Mute”
 

I like that “Mute” is so open for interpretation, and regardless if you agree with me about the ending, it’s a very good story that grabs you right from the beginning and doesn’t let go until the end.  

Duma Key 

Posted: January 21, 2008  

King’s latest book,
Duma Key
, tells the story about Edgar Freemantle—a building contractor until the day his car (with him in it) is crushed by a crane. Edgar loses an arm and spends a lot of time in the hospital after the accident. As he gets better he also learns that he has a problem with finding the right words as well as controlling his temper.  

After he tries to strangle his wife, Pam, she leaves him and Edgar finds it harder and harder to see a reason to get up each morning. Edgar’s doctor suggests that he finds something to do that really makes him happy. The only thing Edgar can think of is painting. 

Newly separated both from his wife and his right arm, he moves from Minnesota to Duma Key, Florida, to start his “new life.” There he takes up painting and, to his surprise, is far more successful than he could ever dream of. 

While at Duma Key he gets to know Jerome Wireman and Elizabeth Eastlake. Wireman is taking care of Elizabeth, who is sick with Alzheimer’s disease. Edgar himself gets his help from Jack Cantori, a young man who helps him with what he can’t do with just one arm. They all soon become very good friends—Edgar and Wireman develop a very special relationship. 

During all this time Edgar paints like crazy and soon realizes that his paintings are special—that they are a way for him to see what has happened in the past, but also a way for him to change the future. The only problem is that Edgar doesn’t know if his newfound abilities are a good thing or not. Not until he sees the two dead twins… 

Duma Key
is a very strong book, and if I should compare it with other books by King they would be
Bag of Bones
and
Lisey’s Story
. I get some of the same feelings when I read
Duma Key
as I got when I read
Bag of Bones
.
Duma Key
is definitely a ghost story, but not only a ghost story. 

We get the story told from Edgar’s perspective, but also in chapters called “How to Draw a Picture,” which tell the background story of what is happening at Duma Key. The first part of the book is kind of easygoing and we get to know all the characters: who they are and how they ended up where they are today. Then, in the second part, things intensify and you are swept into the story in a way that makes it hard to put the book down. 

Another thing that impresses me with
Duma Key
is the depth of the characters, especially Edgar, Wireman and Elizabeth. You really feel for them and you also get a very good feeling about them, a feeling that makes the second part of the book so much sadder. 

As usual, there is also an audio edition, and
Duma Key
is very satisfyingly narrated by John Slattery. He really makes the characters come to life and lifts the story to new heights with his narrating. His voice and narrating style are perfect for books like
Duma Key
, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we find him narrating more King books in the future.