If A Picture Paints A Thousand Words.....

The Stephen King gobblefest continues. Latest on the menu - Duma Key. Like Under the Dome, Duma Key is a fairly recent novel (post The Dark Tower, post Lost) and it's certainly not 'horror' (obviously, because otherwise I wouldn't have read it). Unlike Under the Dome, Duma Key isn't really an ensemble piece. There are several characters but only one viewpoint, only one 'star'. Edgar Freemantle - crippled accident victim and ...portal? channel? part-time host? for a malevolent, imprisoned spirit entity. Freemantle's frequent mantra is 'I *can* do this'. Sound familiar? Yeah. Me too.

The plot revolves around the power of Edgar's sketches and paintings - art he produces once he has moved to Duma Key, a spooky island off the Florida coast. While it's not horror, shedloads of people die and it's quite scary (but not *too* scary). It's certainly less scary than Under the Dome or The Dark Tower. And that's not a weakness. It's a strength. There's no terror to detract from the character piece - to detract from the beauty and sadness of Edgar's story. There is loss, redemption, friendship, courage. Not much hope though, at the end. Not for Edgar who has now lost two lives - his first 'ordinary' life, and his second life as an artist. And several friends (and closer than friends) on the way.

Despite the low key ending - there is no triumph, the defeat of the malign entity is bought at the expense of such loss and isn't even necessarily permanent (although the loss is, of course) - Duma Key is a fabulous book. Like a finely polished pearl - despite the links to The Dark Tower and (maybe) the nods to Lost - it seems to be all of itself. A meditation on the power of art (any art, ask Sai King) and where it comes from. And a celebration of friendship. The back cover contains a recommendation from Damon Lindelof. Good call.

The Dark Tower. All 3000+ Pages Of It.

What can I say, really? I have no idea where to start. I've been submerged...somewhere, Roland's *where*, plus sundry other wheres and whens for such a long long time now...

Of course, it hasn't been a long time at all. Less than 5 weeks, probably. Why wasn't it a long time given it was certainly a long *read*? (And not fogetting the break I took to read the latest DWJ, too) Because I have gorged myself on Roland's quest, do it please ya. Absolutely binged myself silly. As addicted as Eddie Cantor Dean used to be to heroin. Lovely Eddie (say sorry). As addicted as Roland was to the Tower itself. Poor Roland. (Again, say sorry).

I started my own quest ( to finish the dam things) mainly because I wanted to mine all the parallels to Lost. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Someting to fill the deadspace between the Xmas/new year Dr Who extravaganza and emotional burnout, and the return of Lost at the beginning of February. Something to help with all the travel I'd be doing. Something to mini blog on tumblr.

Well. We seldom get what we expect (and the Sox'll never win the series). I did get all those things. More Lost stuff than you can shake a stick at, say thanks. An addictive time filler. A tumblr subject line. I also got - surprisingly - a series that I loved more than The Gap. So - in other words a new favourite book series. And probably, in Waste Lands, or maybe Wolves of the Calla, an individual book I love more than Ghost Written, or Deep Secret, or even Jane Eyre. And it has nothing to do with Lost, actually, and everything to do with Roland and Jake and Eddie and Susannah and Oy and the Pere. And Stephen King.

Oh, but to begin with it was hard work. Very hard. I wasn't feeling it at all. I almost bailed so many times. The Lobstrocities at the start of The Drawing of the Three nearly finished me (as well as Roland). And I didn't like him, not one bit (cos, you don't kill kids, right Sayid? Or let them die, Jack). But then...then the door opened. And it wasn't that thing anymore, that Tom Bombadil thing, that Real Story thing. It was this thing. This thing that had reached Rivendell. This thing that had boarded Captain's Fancy. This thing I could suddenly love. This thing I could adore. So, I did. And Jake came back. Hooray. Such a neat way to deal with bifurcated timelines ( operating in a many worlds scenario also). I wonder if any TV writers have taken note...

My favourite moments Reading these books include *cheering* the appearance of Captain Trips (cos everyone just loves plague, right); rooting for Randall Flagg when he was confronting Mordred (poor old ageless stranger, uttering nothing but lies) just cos I hate spiders; and the whole demolition of the fourt wall. Which of course was what made it art. (I so want to add 'basically' there but I'm not sure how well West Wing references would sit in this piece).

And what do I say, after it all? After the tears and the 'ending' and the hope and despair? I say thankee sai. I say I loved every minute of it. I say I'm happy to go back jack and do it again. Although I worry about the variables. I say that when I watched the Lost series 6 premiere in the wee small hours of Wednesday morning, I was looking for Dark Tower links in homage to *that*. I say The Dark Tower is an incredible work of narrative and emotion and I love it to bits.

I say true.


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Go Back, Jack, And Do It Again...

The wait is almost over. The final season of Lost is about to begin. I don't think I have ever been so excited, so desperate to get going and yet so scared of what might happen...well, not since the run up to Rose, anyway. Suppose they blow it? They could blow it. It's not, you know, technically impossible. And there's no way it ends happy. Well - no way it remains art and ends happy. Is it Dark Tower all the way, baby (not finished yet but nearly there now)? Or will we return to linear, corporeal life? I'm genuinely scared. This means so much to me. But I'm gritting my teeth. Excelsior!


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And So, The End Is Near.....

Scary and Exciting at the same time. Filled with promise .......and threat. Is my boy toast? Maybe. It looks that way. But who knows? Also.....falling off a cliff? Remember, there are other worlds than these......

Enchanted, Ms Wynne Jones

Diana Wynne Jones is my favourite author. That deal was closed a long long time ago - in the late 1970s, when I first read Wilkins' Tooth - and I have never seen any reason to re-evaluate my position on this.

Inevitably, a new book from DWJ is An Event in my mad little world. Will it be another Hexwood, or Deep Secret? Or, you know, not?

Enchanted Glass is not another Hexwood. And it's not another Deep Secret. But it is a wonderful, charming, inventive and engaging book in its own right, with a beautifully drawn cast of characters and location and an intriguing mythos backing it up. Is it set either in Chrestomanci's world or one of the related worlds? Quite possibly. But equally, it could easily not be. Which is refreshing. I like Chrestomanci, and certainly The Lives of Christopher Chant is in the top 50% of DWJ's output, for me - but all my other favourites are non Crestomanci books. I prefer DWJ when she stretches her wings and tries something new. And if she really wants to go back and revisit old triumphs - well, I wish she'd either consider sequels to Hexwood or Fire and Hemlock, or revist the Magids' multiverse once more.

But I digress. Enchanted Glass appears to be not only written a fresh slate for DWJ it also seems to be nicely set up for one or more sequels, ending as it does on a semi- cliffhanger with some plot threads still trailing. Which is Good News, I'd say.

It's not the most complex book she's ever written. It's not the most challenging. It is however beautifully constructed and played out, and the overall effect is as enchanting as the glass windows which give the book its name. When I finished Enchanted Glass I loved DWJ even more than ever. I hope there are sequels - I want to find out what happens next. I want to find out more about the folk who will not use iron, about the Puck, about Groil and Rolf. I want to know what happens to the counterparts - are they safe? There's plenty of scope for sequels. But *as well* as those longed for sequels to my favourite books though, not instead of .........here's hoping, anyway.


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Mr Friendly Throws Like A Girl. What's Up With That?

Everything you need to know about Lost in 8 minutes 15 seconds

In Pursuit Of Resolution-Based Triumph

Further to my resolutions posted yesterday, in an attempt to promote a positive outlook on life and turn that frown upside down, I'm going to tweet or tumblr at the end of every day the things that have made me happy that day. This will help me go to bed thinking happy positive thoughts instead of Wire ones (grim depressing and unintelligible). I'm also going to start each day recording the things I'm looking forward to. For I am DETERMINED to transform myself into the lovechild of Basil Fotherington-Thomas and Mary Poppins or DIE in the attempt. I WILL achieve positiveness. I will. I'm going to be so bloody chirpy people will look at me and quake. Well. Perhaps that's putting it a smidge strongly. Neverthess - project chirpy is off and running.


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