Or, to put it another way, several potentially valuable and readable pages of my Entertainment Weekly were destroyed by their being taken up by a Stephen King novel. :mad:
I have it on hold at the library, but I’m like Annie Wilkes…I just can’t wait! Thanks, ivylass!
Since when has there everbeen valuable and readable pages in “Entertainment Weekly?” 
Remember that SNL sketch that parodied Stephen King’s hypographia, churning out novels about eeeevil versions of whatever common objects happened to be in his line of sight? “A lamp… …that kills people!”
It definitely looks like he’s gone back to the same well, here.
I think he’s hit on something there that can turn the bowels to water, though.
This is definitely more sinister and terrifying than industrial laundry equipment, classic cars, big rigs, or even the family dog. Almost as chilling as that cymbal-smashing toy monkey.
Gaaaah! Cell-phone zombies! Cell-phone zombies with tacky ringtones!
I haven’t gotten Colorado Kid yet…have you read it?
No, I’m about to start it as an audiobook though. 
Hypergraphia, dammit. Hypographic Stephen King. Cha, right.
They hit on that also in Family Guy, when King was pitching his new book idea to his publisher. It was also a lamp.
The first 2 chapters were quite intriguing. I have high hopes. I’m buying it tomorrow. I’m excited because, well…ZOMBIES! Stephen King zombies! I just hope my my expectations don’t exceed the reality which has been my experience with the last few of King’s books.
But then again…ZOMBIES! How can you possibly go wrong with that?
I’m not Dung Beetle, but I read it and liked it. I don’t see how it fits into the Hard Case series, but I hadn’t heard of the Hard Case series before King wrote one for them, so that’s probably why he was included – marketing.
I’m looking forward to Cell too. Haven’t heard any complaints from folks who had ARCs, except for a bit of wonky science. King said he debated including any kind of explanation. Science isn’t his strong suit.
I was just irked because he mixed up Boston Common and the Public Garden. I know that ice cream truck. It is indeed often parked across from the Four Seasons. However, the Four Seasons overlooks the Public Garden, not the common. Someone who spends as much time in the Fenway/Back Bay area as Steve does should know that. It’s a minor thing, but it bothered me way more than the zombies did.
Yes. There’s no horror in it. In fact, IMO it’s really nothing but a pointless masturbatory exercise in storytelling art. Two old editors at a rural Maine newspaper tell their intern the story of a body that turned up on a beach and was, eventually, identified, but the circumstances of death never determined. A mystery is set up that is never solved. Not even a hint of a solution. Nothing but character development is really achieved. And not much of that. For all of that, it’s very readable, in spots actually gripping, until you get to the end of the last chapter and scream and tear the curtains and smash the dishes.
Fellow nitpicker here: The business woman is first described as ewaring a “pantsuit”. A few sentences later, this turns into a “power suit”, and is later referred to again as “the lady in the power suit”. Illustration shows woman in, you guessed it, a - well, I guess it could be called a “power suit”, but that’s a pretty dated term. Anyways, I thought this was pretty sloppy right off the bat, and I think King is back to his “throw another few car payments out of the word processer” mode. Less than compelling storytelling, if you ask me. What happened to his “retirement”?
And for the record, his crap in EW is self-congratulatory smugness, and is the only thing in that mag that has ever provoked me into writing to the editor. I am just about done with him…
He admitted as much when discussing Firestarter.
I’m a little wary of checking this out. The last time I did that if was for Dreamcatcher. The first chapter was great, I loved the setting and thought the book could really go places. Then I read the enitre thing. I’ve never forgiven myself for that. So, I’m afraid of the same thing happening here. I’ll wait for the movie to come out to get the basic premise, then decide if I want to buy the book.
I love Stephen King, although when I read that, I wondered if maybe it wasn’t a spoof of his own writing style to illustrate the evil of talking on a cell phone while conducting a business transaction. Because that is indeed evil.
That said, I’ll still look forward to his book, because I’ve always thought that excerpts of his novels don’t fare very well at first blush. One of his strengths, IMHO, has always been the sweep of his novels, which doesn’t come across very well in just a chapter.
Now, now…there’s no need to bring up all that unpleasantness. Let’s just try and forget that ever happened.
But cell phones ARE truly evil… 
I read the chapters in EW this week, after ordering the book. I do hope that things get better soon.
Here is a video of Bill Maher interviewing King. Looks like it’s the first of a series of video interviews. Cool.
I’m not sure I like the way King’s wearing his hair these days. It makes his face look even longer.