Straub absence
Rick Ward
I haven't seen Peter Straub here in a while. Does this mean he's too
busy writing something new to get on the 'net? (please, PLEASE say yes)
--
Rick
(Yes, my address is really rick at rickward dot com)
Bjorn Pedersen
Peter Straub wrote in message <64jitj$p...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net>...
[ cc: through email ]
>Boy, am I busy, but I do check in here twice a day to see what's going
>on. I respond when I think I should, but by and large I don't think I
>ought to comment on individual responses to my work. Whatever anyone
>wants to say is okay with me. All comments are welcome.
I just read Ghost Story for the first time :).
I haven't seen you in the other writing groups - misc.writing, for instance.
Have a sheep, or a goat if you're so inclined, and head over there some
time <g>. Yeah, it *is* that kind of a place <g>.
Take care,
Bjorn
---
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The Art of War, Sun Tzu
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--------------------
Charles M. Johnson
In article <64jitj$p...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net>,
pst...@worldnet.att.net says...
>
>Rick Ward wrote:
>>
>> I haven't seen Peter Straub here in a while. Does this mean he's too
>> busy writing something new to get on the 'net? (please, PLEASE say
yes)
>>
>
>on. I respond when I think I should, but by and large I don't think I
>ought to comment on individual responses to my work. Whatever anyone
>wants to say is okay with me. All comments are welcome.
>
-- (standing,waving my upheld arms) "GO PETER! GO PETER!"
Hello everyone! I've been away until I could read DT4! What's new?
My 'puter only has 104 articles when there should be thousands!?!
BTW, just reread "Floating Dragon" and "IT"...FD still is the champ!
LOL
Anne Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
doing the no-spam thing! remove spambad and insert ionet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bjorn Pedersen
BJTBITS wrote in message <19971116053...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
>Peter sometimes hangs around *his own* ng: alt.books.peter-straub ; )
Yeah, I know. Just, my news server don't have that one. It doesn't even have
alt.writing, so you know how small it is :)
I've enjoyed Peter Straubs work a lot. I particularly liked his ghost
stories Julia, Ghost Story, etc. But that's off course off topic here :).
Peter Straub
Joe Davis wrote:
-allowing for a few snips -
> Peter. I am curious about something. What are your views as to the > impact of
> news groups on a highly successful writer? For the first time you can > get
> direct, detailed, and ongoing feedback on your work from all types of > people.
For me, anyhow, the "impact," though it's a lot more pleasant than that
word suggests, has mostly to do with the opportunity to see what some
people have to say about my work, straighten out actual errors when they
come up, answer some questions and now and then indulge in sheer
playfulness and invent a few jokes. It's always interesting to discover
what readers have to say, how they responded to a particular book,
whether or not they especially liked it. If the response is detailed,
it's even more interesting. Remember, on their publication these books
have already gone over the waterfall of being reviewed all over the
place, which amounts to a fairly intense kind of feedback. Newsgroup
comments let me know that they still have a sort of currency, are being
read here and there, being considered and thought about. This is truly
delightful, truly gratifying.
> Do you feel this is helpful in developing story lines, or would it > interfere
> with the creative process?
Boy, the "creative process." The endless, exhausting, sometimes
despairing, sometime joyous, invariably compelling matter known by that
term is something else altogether. It's nothing if not completely
internal. Story lines? On publication, everything that happens in a
novel is supposed to seem inevitable, but the appearance of
inevitability requires an enormous amount of backing and filling, of
second thoughts and third thoughts, ad infinitum, and contant revision.
Whatever is said on a newsgroup comes long after the fact.
> Stephen King apparently doesn't interact much, yet
> both you and Tom Clancy do. And all three of you are automatic best sellers
> based on your names and upheld by the contents of your work.
That's a nice comment. Thank you. Those other two powerhouses, who
unlike me manage to turn out a glistening new novel almost every year -
in King's case sometimes two or three a year, I think I'm beginning to
feel a bit faint - would no doubt thank you, too.
Peter
>
> To reply remove nobot from my address
Markus Brenner
In article <64onug$6...@mtinsc02.worldnet.att.net>, pst...@worldnet.att.net wrote:
>Joe Davis wrote:
>> Stephen King apparently doesn't interact much, yet
>> both you and Tom Clancy do. And all three of you are automatic best sellers
>> based on your names and upheld by the contents of your work.
>
>That's a nice comment. Thank you. Those other two powerhouses, who
>unlike me manage to turn out a glistening new novel almost every year -
>in King's case sometimes two or three a year, I think I'm beginning to
>feel a bit faint - would no doubt thank you, too.
>
>Peter
I read four or five of your novels, and I discovered one thing I liked best
about your stories: They vary in story, setting and style very much. It's very
similar to what I like about Stanley Kubrick's films: I think he never does
the same film twice. Switching genres like that seems to take its time
(Kubrick, again :), which I guess is perfectly normal given that you have to
get into the new background and general environment of the story - and I
always felt the background was very *good* in your books. Koko was amazing
for me, I guess I didn't understand large portions of the book (but of course
English is only my second language ;) but overall I would never have expected
that kind of book after reading 'The Talisman' (my first Straub impression).
What I really want to say is that: Take your time for writing your
books stories, it's worthwile spent. Each time I pick up one of them it's a
new experience that way, time has passed, and the old book won't overshadow
the new one.
Thanks for lots of great hours spent reading,
-markus
----
Markus Brenner _ no matter how - how hard you try
-==(UDIC)==- ( ) in your own life, and through the years
\/ --+-- with every up - must come a down
Minstrel Dragon | enjoy the laughter and the tears
| of happiness (Roger Taylor)
Lord High Mucketty-muck of the UDIC Greybeards (tm)
email: bre...@biochem.mpg.de * WWW: http://www.biochem.mpg.de/~brenner/
JGM
<sorry about the psuedo-cross post from ABPS; the attempted cross post
from
AOL didn't take -- see followups>
In article <64lqg6$css$1...@ionews.ionet.net>, cjoh...@ionet.net (Charles
M.
Johnson) writes:
>BTW, just reread "Floating Dragon" and "IT"...FD still is the champ!
I'm going to tread on perhaps dangerous ground here, and disagree. I
also just recently finished re-reading these two books, and came away
thinking that King had
taken many of the themes that Straub had used, mixed in his usual great
characterizations and settings, and emerged with a more engaging and
focused novel. (It seems clear that the two authors were influencing
one
another in this period; we know they read each others' books, and one
could
argue that Floating Dragon had some flavors borrowed from The Stand and
the
anti-establishment tone of Firestarter).
Now, while I think IT is among the very best work King has done, I find
Floating Dragon to be probably the weakest of the post-Ghost Story
Straub
books. FD hasn't gotten much attention here, and so I may have assumed
that
this was a general consensus. Now, in the space of a couple of days, we
see two folks sing its praises. Perhaps I'm missing something!
So, Charles (and anyone else who cares to jump in): what specifically
leads you to declare that the Dragon fries the Clown?
Jim
Rick Ward
Bob wrote:
> I may be weird--ok, I am--but I never noticed any similarities
> at all between Floating Dragon and King's It. Am I stupid? Did
> I miss something? Has it been too long since I read the books?
Every thirty years, a mysterious entity kills a bunch of people in a
small New England town. A ragtag group of residents must band together
to destroy the menace.
Of course, it's also kind of like the Tommyknockers--floating cloud of
"stuff" makes people crazy.
I like Shadowlands MUCH more, myself, though I really can't tell you
why, exactly. Just the picture I get of Rose walking on nails, I
guess...reminds me of one of my close friends.
Bob
Anne wrote:
>
snip...
> -- Hello Jim. Sometimes, to me, less is better. That's one reason I
> love the Dragon and it is one of my all time fav stories. Also, I read
> FD first, so when I read IT, I personally felt the tale was being
> recycled too soon. But there are parts of IT I adore. I love the
> background of some of the players. I love Mike's Dad and wish that we
> could have a tale with him in it.
>
> I guess it's a matter of taste. I also like Tommyknockers and am in
> the minority on that one for sure.
>
> Come see me sometime. I stand to the left of the gazebo, passing out
> Slim Jim's. (who has my glider rocker now?)
>
> Happy Reading,
> Anne J.
I may be weird--ok, I am--but I never noticed any similarities
at all between Floating Dragon and King's It. Am I stupid? Did
I miss something? Has it been too long since I read the books?
Bob
Dollfin330
>> I loved The Hellfire Club....
>
>Ah, what a nice thing to read at 1:30 in the morning after finishing the
>day's work. I believe I'll pat us both on the head and fade away.
>
>
<blushing>
<girlish High School giggle>
^^^Eva^^^
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The problem with some people is
when they aren't drunk, they're sober.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Anne
In article <347089...@ix.netcom.com>, the...@ix.netcom.com says...
-- Yep! The fact that the events happen in cycles. Some cycles are
worse than others because the evil force is stronger at times. The
fact that the main players in both tales are childless, hence it may
not ever happen again. The evil has disguises that kind of sorta make
the bad things that happen seem like normal bad things. The fact that
most townies are ignoring what's going on.
That's a few I can think of off the top of my head.
Anne J.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If Hank Hill is my neighbor,am I a cartoon?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
stevie canuck
Bob wrote:
> Anne wrote:
>>-- Hello Jim. Sometimes, to me, less is better. That's one reason I
>>love the Dragon and it is one of my all time fav stories. Also, I read
>>FD first, so when I read IT, I personally felt the tale was being
>>recycled too soon. But there are parts of IT I adore. I love the
>>background of some of the players. I love Mike's Dad and wish that we
>>could have a tale with him in it.
> I may be weird--ok, I am--but I never noticed any similarities
> at all between Floating Dragon and King's It. Am I stupid? Did
> I miss something? Has it been too long since I read the books?
Hey Bob:
I must admit that I too have always been puzzled by the comparison. It
is years since I read the two books, but it was probably around the same
time that I read them both, and similarities never occurred to me.
Anyway, I guess they both need to move to the head of the re-read class.
Stevie C
to e-mail me change .com to .ca
--
Why take when you could be giving,
Why watch as the world goes by,
It's a hard enough life to be living,
Why walk when you can fly.
Mary-Chapin Carpenter
Anne
In article <347060...@bcrvm1.vnet.ibm.com>,
mcl...@bcrvm1.vnet.ibm.com says...
-- Hello Jim. Sometimes, to me, less is better. That's one reason I
love the Dragon and it is one of my all time fav stories. Also, I read
FD first, so when I read IT, I personally felt the tale was being
recycled too soon. But there are parts of IT I adore. I love the
background of some of the players. I love Mike's Dad and wish that we
could have a tale with him in it.
I guess it's a matter of taste. I also like Tommyknockers and am in
the minority on that one for sure.
Come see me sometime. I stand to the left of the gazebo, passing out
Slim Jim's. (who has my glider rocker now?)
Happy Reading,
Anne J.
Andy Fair
My goodness this is a pleasant suprise.
I spend most of my time lurking about at Horrornet, but I'm glad
I made the trip over here.
Peter, if you happen to stop by again I just want to thank you for
your wonderful books which have given me immense pleasure over the past 15
years. Ghost Story was my first and will probably always be my favourite,
closely followed by Mystery and Shadowland.
Haven't read The Hellfire Club yet. I like to let a book sit in my collection
for a while and then I look forward to reading it even more.
Andy Fairclough, London.