Article Follow-Up: Stephen King’s 11/22/63

I just finished reading it. Just now.

I’m not sure how to even begin to describe the magnitude of this story, and its effect on me. I guess I’ll just outline it, cause I don’t want to spoil the ending.

The front cover of Stephen King’s latest release shows the headline of the newspaper after President Kennedy was shot. While the back cover shows a headline that says: President survives assassination attempt. Which side are we meant to believe?

Intrigued, I investigated, because it looked like a juicy book and King is one of my faves.

The story is about Jake Epping, an english teacher in 2011. One night he reads an essay by a janitor who is trying to get a GED. The essay topic was to write about a night that changed your life. The janitor writes about how on one Halloween, his drunk father murdered his mother and two brothers, critically wounded his sister and permanently damaged his own mind. With a hammer. Epping is moved to tears.

Then the owner of Al’s Diner, Al Templeton, tells Epping that he has discovered a “rabbit hole” to the past in his restaurant’s pantry.

Wait…WHAAAAT?!?!

So Jake goes on an epic adventure to the past to try to stop the grisly family murders, and eventually, the JFK assassination, in the hopes that the janitor (along with everyone else) can have a better life. (No assassination, no Vietnam, etc.)

The writing style is—needless to say—superb. As it turns out, the main antagonist of the book is not Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of Kennedy, but rather the past itself. See, the past (referred to as the “obdurate past”) does not want to be changed. And the bigger the event changed, the harder it will fight against you.

This book is different from anything I’ve ever read by King. It contains his signature terrifying moments, but they come in surprising new ways with just a twist of tiny details that chilled my spine. Literally.

Especially for history nuts, this book is a must. It is excruciatingly researched and detailed, and it really is very immersive.

If ever time-travel was done right, this would be it. I am proud to add it to my personal collection.

Thanks for reading, I should have a new vlog coming soon!
Junior Varsity

Michael Crichton vs. Stephen King

As you may have guessed, I read a lot of science fiction books. This is a very healthy tradition which I started at a very early age with Crichton’s Jurassic Park, the classic tale of dinosaurs om-nom-ing on some people and scientists and stuff. The book does a very good job of slowly building up the terror while sustaining the already wild belief that bringing dinosaurs back is possible. Crichton does a very good job of pulling you into his worlds and pacing the action.

I was so intrigued by the tale that I went on to read some of his other bestsellers including but not limited to Sphere, The Andromeda Strain, and my personal favorite, Timeline. In each of these books Crichton creates an entire environment which is scientifically…plausible enough to really engage the avid science fiction reader. And aside from the wild elements like dinosaurs, giant squids, or weird mutant viruses, the people in his novels are all authentic and sympathetic (except the dumbass villains, which are very easy to pick out because they’re greedy and evil and stuff). The point is, his books are like Shakespeare: he introduces his characters perfectly, confronts them with a problem, and then in a very engaging series of events that keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end when every single plotline is neatly tied up in a satisfying bow for your pleasure. (NOTE: I’m not saying Crichton is as influential as Shakespeare, BUT his tales are well-crafted enough to hold up to his standard as a writer.)

Now as time went on, I ran out of Crichton books to read, namely because he passed away recently…(RIP. You were awesome.) So, I turned to my parents’ bookshelf. With pride, I can say that my parents have a very impressive sci-fi library filled with Clarke and Asimov and cool peeps like that. The book I ultimately picked up was written by a very intelligent man named:

Stephen King.

STEPHEN.

KING.

The first King novel I read was Needful Things, a terrifying novel which exposes the grittier side of human nature in the best way. As I read it, I was terrified as the characters fought and died and everything in their typically peaceful Maine town WENT TO SHIT. (I think we mentioned my fear of Maine in one of the podcasts – this is where that started.) And once I had finished, I was stupefied by how incredibly insightful the horror story had been. I have a deep love of psychology, and this book really struck me.

From there, I’ve begun reading my way slowly through his massive amount of stories. I read the short story The Mist, and the novels Dead Zone, and Under the Dome. All of them have affirmed my total admiration for King’s deft manipulations of normal Maine townspeople and the supernatural. But the scariest things are never the supernatural parts, they’re actually the people, and the horrific things they do to each other. That’s what’s really scary to me.

Anyway, I’ve just begun reading a recent King release titled: 11/22/63 , a story framed around a guy who goes back in time and tries to stop the Kennedy assassination. I haven’t finished it yet, but so far I’m very intrigued, as it reminds me a bit of my favorite Crichton, Timeline. Yay time travel!

So, my point is, both these authors are especially sophisticated and enjoyable. So you should read them.

This has been a random blathering by Junior Varsity. Hope you enjoyed hearing about my own particular book tastes. See you later!

Red Shirt Podcast #1: Zombie Van Gogh is Coming for Your Ear!

Welcome to the first Red Shirt Crew Podcast. In this episode, MaristPlayBoy (Chase), Junior Varsity (Jason), Huge 8itch (Thomas), and Panda Hat Girl (Elena) discuss Black Dawn, clones, why you never want to travel to Maine, and so much more. And our awesome web manager Kyle (Elyk) joins us. Enjoy!