Stationary Bike

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Doc Creed

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Nov 18, 2015
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The details of this one is fading from my memory. Does anyone here like this story?

I remember thinking it was an interesting premise but for some reason I didn't think it would deliver. I was wrong. I was pleasantly surprised at the freshness of all the stories in this collection. They all were strong, fresh and had perfect endings. I think I'm going to look for this at 2nd and Charles and add it to my Summer Reading List.

This story made me think of the painting in Rose Madder. Anyone else?
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
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The details of this one is fading from my memory. Does anyone here like this story?

I remember thinking it was an interesting premise but for some reason I didn't think it would deliver. I was wrong. I was pleasantly surprised at the freshness of all the stories in this collection. They all were strong, fresh and had perfect endings. I think I'm going to look for this at 2nd and Charles and add it to my Summer Reading List.

This story made me think of the painting in Rose Madder. Anyone else?
If I recall correctly the person in the story is trying to lose weight - I recall him eating oatmeal cookies

Doesn't he go into a parallel or dream world? That is all I remember but I think it was a rather entertaining short story - now I will have to go find it!
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
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...it was a damn cool concept.....

funktionpersonaltraining1-0.jpg
 

grin willard

"Keep the change, you filthy animal!"
Feb 21, 2017
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I'm just now reading it. I thought I had gone 100% thru 'Just After Sunset', but on impulse I grabbed it as a 'breakroom' book (remember when employees use to talk in the breakroom? Now they're all on their smartphones watching TV or playing pokemon), and there was 'Stationary Bike'. I can see why I might has skipped it, or saved it 4 later. You think SK and stationary bike, and you figure you know the story already. Either it's an alien in disguise that's going to eat him, or it's yet another take on 'The Rocking Horse Winner'. But no, catching it in gulps, it's quite a nice read. I've been enjoying it and even stretching it out. It's a bit leisurely, which I like, and the strangeness doesn't begin until the character & situation are well established. The 30-ish 'hero' is an advertising artist who largely avoids the bulk of humanity, who's probably at bit too talented to be doing what he's doing. Ain't we all? -- and who lives in a artsy 'Slaves of New York' loft, and is carrying perhaps an extra 30 lbs on him. His doctor gets a bit rough. Left me wondering if maybe he had issues. :chargrined: So anyway, properly chastised, he ops to buy the bike and have it set up in the building's storage area. I found the 'self hypnosis' thing fascinating. That's a take on the idea I've never heard. Reread that part if you get a chance!
 

grin willard

"Keep the change, you filthy animal!"
Feb 21, 2017
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I finished it. :( I wish it were longer. Well realized tale with a nice resolution.

Were there workmen inside him clearing his arteries, or was he just nuts? This story is widely open to conjecture. Stephen King seems to love the term, "gimme hat"! Not the first time it's shown up in his work. It's the only place I've ever heard it. Maybe something from his youth.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
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Cambridge, Ohio
I finished it. :( I wish it were longer. Well realized tale with a nice resolution.

Were there workmen inside him clearing his arteries, or was he just nuts? This story is widely open to conjecture. Stephen King seems to love the term, "gimme hat"! Not the first time it's shown up in his work. It's the only place I've ever heard it. Maybe something from his youth.
754499b538a97d0576d874175cd45ef4_thats-what-she-said-thats-what-she-said-memes_480-630.jpeg
 

twiggymarie

Daughter of One
Mar 17, 2011
332
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Texas, United States
I finished it. :( I wish it were longer. Well realized tale with a nice resolution.

Were there workmen inside him clearing his arteries, or was he just nuts? This story is widely open to conjecture. Stephen King seems to love the term, "gimme hat"! Not the first time it's shown up in his work. It's the only place I've ever heard it. Maybe something from his youth.

Maybe a little of both!
I liked the idea, and I thought it was a meat extent of the guys moving things around inside he's mentioned several times. I got a little of an Osmosis Jones vibe as well. ;;D
 

grin willard

"Keep the change, you filthy animal!"
Feb 21, 2017
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....knuckle dragging Wilford, that's me....

Wilfred, did Walgreens have a buy one, get one free sale on bronzing gel?!!! With your fake, yet hypnotic, glowing tan, and with them David Caruso sunglasses to disguise how walleyed you are, you're suddenly the stud of the board! (Am I right ladies?!!!) You're a damn Adonis. I blame me for this. With my constant taunts, I somehow triggered some last reservoir of masculine hormone your aging cellulite riddled body had squirreled away. Believe me, it doesn't come without a price Wilfred. Get ready for a deluge of quite explicit private messages. And next time you're shakin' it downtown and walk past a construction site, you're gonna get plenty of catcalls!

david_caruso_in_sunglasses_csi_miami.1nu8njfo50is4w088cgocg0c4.4seibt8chw6ck04c0484s0wk4.th.jpeg
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
Wilfred, did Walgreens have a buy one, get one free sale on bronzing gel?!!! With your fake, yet hypnotic, glowing tan, and with them David Caruso sunglasses to disguise how walleyed you are, you're suddenly the stud of the board! (Am I right ladies?!!!) You're a damn Adonis. I blame me for this. With my constant taunts, I somehow triggered some last reservoir of masculine hormone your aging cellulite riddled body had squirreled away. Believe me, it doesn't come without a price Wilfred. Get ready for a deluge of quite explicit private messages. And next time you're shakin' it downtown and walk past a construction site, you're gonna get plenty of catcalls!

david_caruso_in_sunglasses_csi_miami.1nu8njfo50is4w088cgocg0c4.4seibt8chw6ck04c0484s0wk4.th.jpeg
....as long as I get to say "Book em Danno", I will sashay my jelly rolls happily...
 

grin willard

"Keep the change, you filthy animal!"
Feb 21, 2017
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:biggrin-new:
This was one of my more favourite stories in this collection. Just a funny idea. Overall not one of his top stories ever, but on its own pretty fun.

Yeah, it was fun and he approached the story in an atypical manner, I thought. And the resolution was very satisfying. It makes me wonder if there are King stories I missed in other collections. :disturbed: Certainly not in Night Shift of Skeleton Crew. I've reread each of them probably 4 to 6 times over the last decade!
 

Doc Creed

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Nov 18, 2015
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Hello Doc Creed,
Good golly, Miss Molly! This is a great illustration (watercolour?),even if the guy on the bike doesn't look the way I imagined him.
Hi, Rudiroo

I didn't draw it. I found it on the Internet. I didn't picture him like that, either. It could be colored pencils, I'm not sure.
Do you ever paint or draw Stephen King inspired artwork? I enjoy your photography.
 

rudiroo

Well-Known Member
May 20, 2008
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London, England
Do you ever paint or draw Stephen King inspired artwork? I enjoy your photography.

Hi Doc Creed,
What a lovely complement - much appreciated!

I know my limitations and SK is beyond me, even as a hommage.
That's OK though, because my imagination fills in the gaps.


As you have a Hamlet groove going on, allow me to share this with you:
When I watched this in the UK (allegedly my home, though I do wonder sometimes), my father had died z'l.
And Hamlet seeing ghosts 24/7. . that was me.

Why do you like the Dane?
If you don't want to share, not a problem.
Some things are real private.
Just out of interest - is Shakespeare taught in high schools in the US (or am I embarrassing myself with my lack of knowledge about the US. Again?

Anyway, nice to share the literature that rocked my life. :shake:
 
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Doc Creed

Well-Known Member
Nov 18, 2015
17,221
82,822
47
United States
Hi Doc Creed,
What a lovely complement - much appreciated!

I know my limitations and SK is beyond me, even as a hommage.
That's OK though, because my imagination fills in the gaps.


As you have a Hamlet groove going on, allow me to share this with you:
When I watched this in the UK (allegedly my home, though I do wonder sometimes), my father had died z'l.
And Hamlet seeing ghosts 24/7. . that was me.

Why do you like the Dane?
If you don't want to share, not a problem.
Some things are real private.
Just out of interest - is Shakespeare taught in high schools in the US (or am I embarrassing myself with my lack of knowledge about the US. Again?

Anyway, nice to share the literature that rocked my life. :shake:
Thanks for the link. I have seen it. David Tennant may be my second favorite Hamlet; my first being Laurence Olivier.

I don't know why I like this play so much. There is enough life and marrow in it to appeal to anyone. It's probably the only play that I can just about quote line for line. Shakespeare's tragedies have so much vitality and they speak to the heart. Don't you think?

Lately I think this line appropriate: "Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting that would not let me sleep..."

And yes, Hamlet is still taught but I think Romeo And Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream are more common.