Dear Mr. King,
My name is Denis Bushlatov. I am a horror writer from Ukraine and a great fan of yours. I have ready 99% of your works and that is a lot. Being a freelance journalist I have even sent a request for an interview to your associate but was refused. I still hope, nevertheless…
During your carreer you have written many excellent novels and some not very good. Then, there is a minor quantity of those that are entirely bad but I have never thought you could write something so bad it literally hurts.
I have just finished reading «The Talisman». Repeating myself, I think that you have managed to create a great number of fascinating novels and at least two which are close to genius. It was a torture for me to realize that «Talisman» was written by the same guy who had given us «The Shining».
I will try to be objective and I would greatly appreciate your feedback as maybe I do not understand the purpose behind the way this novel was written.
In your «On Writing» you have mentioned that Peter Straub is a master of dialogues. Well, I always considered him to be one boring writer without any potential (even though he had one good novel) and it was obvious for me that his grave-heavy style had dominated «The Talisman». It even seemed that most of the writing was done by him and only some parts (like the one dedicated to Sunlight Gardener School or Outley) were performed by you.
Talking about the dialogues… They are horrible. People simply don’t talk like that. Jack screaming «Rainbow! Rainbow! like some imbecil-boy after a seemingly endless culmination at the Black Hotel, makes the reader want his immediate and painful death. The lines of characters seem to be as long and meaningless as the story is. They speak as if they were ancient Greeks in Illiada-wait for their turn, then step forward and strike a monologue even if the whole universe is about to collapse. The novel is full of such examples. And of course…the adverbs, the ones you had warned against in the mentioned «On Writing»… They are crawling around the text like ants.
There are other semantic parasites. Pain is always EXCRUCIATING. Antagonists always MULE, etc.
The plot could have been good for a novella but we are talking about a book as big as”IT” and even though “IT” was not one of your best it (ups, here goes the repetition) definitely kept the attention while “The Talisman” just goes on forever. Soon enough the reader stops following the logics of the events. It’s beyond understanding why e.g. Parker, being a ‘Cop of the Territories» could not stop Morgan and his friends by himself and sent a little boy to do the job. Nor one can comprehend how Mr. Jack could eliminate an entire squad of wolves by UZI. I mean-can you imagine a 12-year old shooting an UZI? What kind of a hulk kid that would be?
Morgan flapping between territories and US lands just to stay behind Jack… monstrous fish jumping out of the water to catch bullets like Neo… That was really…excruciating…
IMHO, there can be only two reasons for this story to be written-a) Money, which is impossible as you are a well-off writer and b) an intention to play a sort of a joke on a reader.
I am not sure the above will stay on your site for long and yet, It would have been great if you could comment on it.
I still hope for that interview as wellJ There are millions of fans in Ukraine and Russia needing your attention,
“I am yrolde and true friend and Servt. inAlmousin-Metraton” as Josephus Curwen would have said,
Thanx and kind regards,
Denis Bushlatov
My name is Denis Bushlatov. I am a horror writer from Ukraine and a great fan of yours. I have ready 99% of your works and that is a lot. Being a freelance journalist I have even sent a request for an interview to your associate but was refused. I still hope, nevertheless…
During your carreer you have written many excellent novels and some not very good. Then, there is a minor quantity of those that are entirely bad but I have never thought you could write something so bad it literally hurts.
I have just finished reading «The Talisman». Repeating myself, I think that you have managed to create a great number of fascinating novels and at least two which are close to genius. It was a torture for me to realize that «Talisman» was written by the same guy who had given us «The Shining».
I will try to be objective and I would greatly appreciate your feedback as maybe I do not understand the purpose behind the way this novel was written.
In your «On Writing» you have mentioned that Peter Straub is a master of dialogues. Well, I always considered him to be one boring writer without any potential (even though he had one good novel) and it was obvious for me that his grave-heavy style had dominated «The Talisman». It even seemed that most of the writing was done by him and only some parts (like the one dedicated to Sunlight Gardener School or Outley) were performed by you.
Talking about the dialogues… They are horrible. People simply don’t talk like that. Jack screaming «Rainbow! Rainbow! like some imbecil-boy after a seemingly endless culmination at the Black Hotel, makes the reader want his immediate and painful death. The lines of characters seem to be as long and meaningless as the story is. They speak as if they were ancient Greeks in Illiada-wait for their turn, then step forward and strike a monologue even if the whole universe is about to collapse. The novel is full of such examples. And of course…the adverbs, the ones you had warned against in the mentioned «On Writing»… They are crawling around the text like ants.
There are other semantic parasites. Pain is always EXCRUCIATING. Antagonists always MULE, etc.
The plot could have been good for a novella but we are talking about a book as big as”IT” and even though “IT” was not one of your best it (ups, here goes the repetition) definitely kept the attention while “The Talisman” just goes on forever. Soon enough the reader stops following the logics of the events. It’s beyond understanding why e.g. Parker, being a ‘Cop of the Territories» could not stop Morgan and his friends by himself and sent a little boy to do the job. Nor one can comprehend how Mr. Jack could eliminate an entire squad of wolves by UZI. I mean-can you imagine a 12-year old shooting an UZI? What kind of a hulk kid that would be?
Morgan flapping between territories and US lands just to stay behind Jack… monstrous fish jumping out of the water to catch bullets like Neo… That was really…excruciating…
IMHO, there can be only two reasons for this story to be written-a) Money, which is impossible as you are a well-off writer and b) an intention to play a sort of a joke on a reader.
I am not sure the above will stay on your site for long and yet, It would have been great if you could comment on it.
I still hope for that interview as wellJ There are millions of fans in Ukraine and Russia needing your attention,
“I am yrolde and true friend and Servt. inAlmousin-Metraton” as Josephus Curwen would have said,
Thanx and kind regards,
Denis Bushlatov