SchomeBase Litererature Discussion Group Meeting 3 Book Choices of Lambchop Magic
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The Stand by Stephen King
The book is a post-apocalyptic Horror / Science Fiction novel about a man made bio-chemical weapon escaping and spreading rapidly across America. The few who survived ‘Captain Trips’ and the virus is called started to gather into two separate camps; the good would congregated in Boulder, Colorado, led by an old defenseless woman; the evil in Las Vegas, Nevada, under a strong, powerful young man. The story itself is written in three parts: part one focuses on the escape of the virus and its rapid spread, it is 100% fatal, in this part King describes the breakdown of law and order as ‘Captain Trips’ infects more and more. Part Two describes the gathering of the survivors; they are pulled together by shared dreams of either of Mother Abigail, am old defenseless woman, representing good or Randall Flagg a strong man with supernatural powers – evil. Part Three is The Stand; the final confrontation between good and evil.
Be warned this book is long, but grips you from the beginning it has been acclaimed by fans and critics alike as one of King’s best books
If you come back this way and renew your invitation to 'jine up', Stu, I'll probably agree. That is the curse of the human race. Sociability. What Christ should have said was 'Yea, verily whenever two or three of you are gathered together, some other guy is going to get the living shit knocked out of him.' Shall I tell you what sociology teaches us about the human race? I'll give it to you in a nutshell. Show me a man or woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society'. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they'll reinvent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of His opposite number, and is always trying to get back home.
The Survivor by James Herbert
I chose this as it is the first adult book I ever read and still to this day remember my shock at the end. A place crashes, which Herbert describes in his usual graphically way leaving only one survivor David Keller. The book is based around Keller getting to grips with his guilt at walking away from a disaster that killed 300 people. As always with James Herbert the story turns evil with an unexpected end.
Excerpt here.
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub
This book charts the adventure of a twelve year old boy named Jack Sawyer. The young hero sets out from Arcadia Beach, New Hampshire in a bid to save his mother, who is dying from cancer, by finding an artifact called "the Talisman."
The premise of the novel involves the existence of a parallel world to Earth; called "the Territories". Individuals in the Territories have "twinners," in our world. Twinners' births, deaths, and other major life events are usually paralleled.
In rare instances (such as Jack Sawyer's), a person may die in one world but not the other, making them "single-natured" and giving them the ability to switch back and forth between the two worlds if taught how. Jack is taught how to "flip" by a mysterious figure known as Speedy Parker. Various people help or hinder Jack in his quest. Of particular importance are the Werewolves, known simply as Wolfs, who inhabit the Territories. These are not the savage killers of tradition. They serve as royal herdsmen or bodyguards, and can sometimes under stress voluntarily change to wolf form. A sixteen-year-old Wolf, simply named Wolf, is accidentally pulled into America by Jack Sawyer and adopts Jack as his herd, serving as his companion. Wolf is extremely likeable, kind, loyal and friendly, much like a dog, though his wolf nature shows through on occasion. On the other hand, some have joined the antagonists who are trying to stop Jack.
As the story goes back and forth between the Territories and the familiar United States, Jack escapes from one life-threatening situation after another. Accompanied by Wolf and later by his childhood friend Richard, Jack must retrieve the Talisman before it falls into the hands of evil schemer Morgan Sloat, Richard's father, who, we later learn, was Jack's father's business partner before arranging to have the latter murdered. He wants to seize their business from Jack's mother. Morgan Sloats's twinner, Morgan of Orris, also plans to seize the Territories once Queen Laura is dead.
Excerpt here.
