January 2025 Wrap-Up

Stephen King Cometh & Character-Driven Stories

I don’t want to speak too soon, but I will speak.

I started 2025 off quite well in terms of reading and writing, and it seems that the prolonged reading slump I was in is behind me. I can finally get around to the

Daniel W. Davison

stories that I’ve missed, and the Dracula essays by

The Brothers Krynn

.

I’M EVEN READING STEPHEN KING.

Reading

My Joe Abercrombie read-through continues!

I am onto the final standalone novel set in the world of The First Law - Red Country. It is a Western-style novel in a frontier setting and I am as happy as a swine in shite with the return of a character, a violent character. I just saw a Reddit thread appear on Google called ‘The Violence of the Lamb,’ a title which thoroughly amused me.

THE PAST NEVER STAYS BURIED.

They burned her home.

They stole her brother and sister.

But vengeance is following.

Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she'll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she's not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old stepfather Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb's buried a bloody past of his own, and out in the lawless Far Country, the past never stays buried.

Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust...

The past never stays buried...

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I have been on a big Stephen King kick over the last few months. I have torn through many of his adaptations - both TV and Film - during that time. But more on that later.

I know he is a good writer but I haven’t enjoyed 3 of the 6 King books I’ve read. I wanted to bite the Silver Bullet (Cycle of the Werewolf) and give his books another go to learn how he writes his characters.

I am currently hacking my way through Revival (2014) and I am thoroughly excited by it. I am glad I didn’t pick up a dud King book to start this binge off with because it would have flattened my momentum.

Revival has excellent character work and having recently watched a non-spoiler review, I hear it is one of his best in recent years.

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie's mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.

Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family's horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil's devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.

The books in the picture for this post are all the king books I acquired in the last two weeks.

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I also read a couple of HP Lovecraft short stories, though I do not have the book handy and cannot recall the title of one (maybe it was The Street). The other I read was a reread of The Transition of Juan Romero.

Writing

I’ve got a couple of stories to edit and one more to write and my collection In Plain Sight, Unseen will be finished.

With the collection wrapping up, I will be back to writing essays about themes and topics from Gaslamp Horror again.

After the collection is published, I will be launching straight into writing the novella that I have mentioned in previous wrap-up posts. It is set in and builds upon the same Victorian world that the stories from the collection, and follows fresh as well as familiar characters.

I can’t wait to tell that story!

Watching

Two things have dominated my viewing of late - Westerns and Stephen King adaptations.

The Western obsession came from an interview with Joe Abercrombie on YouTube. I cannot remember which because I have seen them all.

Anyway…

He mentioned a book called Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty when he was talking about his inspirations and his character-driven writing style. I watched Lonesome Dove on YouTube and have every intention of reading the book (someday). The adaptation was superb and will be well worth your time.

Other Westerns of varying quality I have watched:

• The Warrant

• The Warrant: Breakers Law

• American Primeval

• Butchers Crossing

• Monte Walsh (2003 version)

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My recent obsession with Stephen King - an author I’m not keen on - is mainly for research purposes.

With that said, I started watching a lot of his adaptations and have really enjoyed them. A worthy mention is the original screenplay Storm of the Century. This is available on Youtube and think you should watch it right away.

I have seen a lot of his adaptations in the past, but between YouTube, Prime and Netflix I have watched the following adaptations in the last year:

• Silver Bullet

• Rose Red

• Storm of the Century

• Big Driver

• Sometimes they Come Back

• Graveyard Shift

• Needful Things

• The Running Man

• The Stand (Latest one)

• The Outsider

• The Tommyknockers

• A Good Marriage

• The Langoliers

• Apt Pupil

• Dolores Claiborne

• Sleepwalkers

• Salems Lot (2024)