Brian Keene: The next Stephen King?

[Abraham Smashington]

So Fangoria, Rue Morgue, etc have said that Brian Keene could be the next Stephen King. While I've read alot of his books so far (The Rising, City of the Dead, Ghoul, Dead Sea, Conqueror Worms, etc) but not all (I''m trying!) I can see where the comparisons come into play. * He deals with alot of the same types of themes in his books. Most of them are set in Pennsylvania much like how King would have his stories set in Maine. He fleshes out his characters well just as King does.

Being a huge zombie fan, I've really enjoyed his take on them. And how some characters are referenced in different books (Frankie from The Rising and City of the Dead is mentioned in Dead Sea) is a nice little touch. His books are a quick read (on average 2 days per book, as I just can't stop reading them) seems to help. I'm never bored. I'm not saying these are high art, but I'll be damned if they are a hell of alot more entertaining than Koontz's books lately. I'd recommend checking out The Rising (for a kickass zombie book) or Conqueror Worms (for a pretty kick ass Lovecraftian type story).


*I'm not a book reviewer. I just like to read.

[Abraham Smashington]

So I finished up "Dark Hollow" on the flight back from Seattle and holy shit, this book was pretty fucking epically awesome.

"After two miscarriages, writer Adam Senft's marriage is on the rocks, and his only satisfaction comes from his bond with his dog, Big Steve. One day, on a walk through local woods rumored to be haunted, man and dog come across a strange sight: a woman performing fellatio on a statue of a satyr—which comes to life and sees them. Soon, all the women in town begin disappearing, summoned to the woods by the satyr's hypnotic piping. When Adam gathers the menfolk to hunt down the satyr and retrieve the women, what they uncover is an unholy evil bent on protecting itself and spreading its seed."

Seriously. This book is fucking nuts. Check it.

[Abraham Smashington]

Finished his newest book "Urban Gothic" a few weeks ago. Good stuff. Like a super fucked up addition to the Home episode from X-Files. Pulpy shit, but a fun read.

[Martin]

I like Keane. He clearly said that all his novel takes place in the same universe, of all different realities. 13 of them or so. Which is why you heard of Frankie in the Dead Sea universe, even if it's not the same as The Rising.

I loved The Rising. It's sequel was ok I guess, and it sent a clear message to fans to asking for sequels will get you what you deserve. Loved Conqueror Worms.

Haven't read Dead Sea, and Ghoul is still sitting on my shelf. Don't know what to make of it.

[Abraham Smashington]

Yeah. I concur with that. I'm still waiting to hear more about the 13 realities. I finally was able to procure the book "The Rising: Selected Stories from the End of the World" and the last story in it is a fucking doozy that I've been waiting for him to go back to.

I dug on Ghoul as it reminded me of a fucked up X-files episode. The only book I couldn't get into was Castaways. And then I remember Alex spoiling it and after reading that I had no interest in finishing the book. Ghost Walk was pretty awesome too. I'm just a fan of authors whose books all take place in the same universe.

[Martin]

Heard about the 2 "selected Scenes" book, for both The Rising and Conqueror Worms.

Worth tracking down?

[Abraham Smashington]

If you're a fan, yeah. I haven't picked up the Worms one yet though. But the Rising one is pretty neat and fills in some backstory for some of the characters. I had to order it from my local bookstore as no one ever had it in stock.

[IggytheBorg]

I have the Rising Selected Scenes book on my Amazon wish list; it's listed for like $997.00. I take it it's out of print & rare. That's what I get for waiting for the goddam paperback. I like Keene (he's a damn site better than most of the young horror turks out there, like Edward Lee for example), but I don't think he has King's raw talent. He doesn't "get" writing from a kid's perspective w/ anywhere near the clarity and believability King does. And his dialogue, particularly that of the kids (as in Ghoul, which I just read last week), is stilted. Ghoul also had an unsatisfying, rushed ending. He seems to have that in common w/ King, anyway. Neither of them can end a story well a lot of the time. The Conqueror Worms' middle portion, the survivors in the skyscraper, was also out of place, & felt tacked on, if you ask me. It wasa neat little story, don't get me wrong, but didn't gel w/ the rest of the story, IMO. Would have worked better as a "selected scenes" tale, I think. All that having been said, however, The Rising and (to a lesser extent) City of the Dead are probably my two favorite zombie novels, and I've read a shitload (my brother's nuts over zombie books, and I like horror in general, so when he's done w/ one he passes it off to me). And by far Keene's best works. Terminal was great, as well. Didn't really care for Dark Hollow. Although using the satyr as villain was an interesting choice. But the convenient finding of the diary/spell book was kind of a hack device, as was their suddenly developing into magical adepts, improving on the powwow magic w/ their own personal touches (wedding rings into the shotguns? Come on).* I am (or was, anyway, before Alex inexplicably stopped posting my reviews on Creature Corner) a book reviewer, and I reviewed Dark Hollow for the Other Site, if you'd care to go look.

[Abraham Smashington]

All good points, and I was able to order The Rising: selected scenes from my local Borders. Cost me like 13 bucks. And I do agree with the Worms problems as the middle half definitely felt out of place. Although I've dug more of Keene's books than King's as a whole (but I also haven't re-read most of King's books in a long time) as they are some nice fun reading. The only one I wasn't a fan of was Castaways. Just didn't do anything for me for the most part. And I believe I may have commented on your review but I can't be sure as I can't find it. I miss Creature-Corner.

[Howard]

I miss Creature-Corner.

What happened with CC anyway? Alex and Iggy tried to keep it going long after Rotten/Butane left but did Nick just withdraw his support? Sure the main CC group all defected with Rotten/Butane but a decent sized community could have been rebuilt.

[Abraham Smashington]

Who knows, but I preferred CC over CHUD always.

[Howard]

Such a great community too. Remember Wetbones? He was awesome.

[Abraham Smashington]

Indeed. I still rock my CC shirt proudly.

[IggytheBorg]

All that was before my time, unfortunately. I stumbled on CC after following a link on an unrrelated ebsite (After Dark's Horrorfest, actually) in late 06. It was still its own entity, linked to CHUD but not under the umbrella. Alex's output has fallen off greatly over the last couple years, but I cut him a lot of slack i that regard. In the relevant time frame, he got married & is now expecting a kid, I understand. Those are both HUGE drains on your time, so I totally get why he doesn't have the time to post & investigate leads like he used to. I never learned how to post articles myself, so I used to send my reviews to Alex, and he'd format them & post them w/ the pix & links and all on CC & later the main CHUD page. Then, inexplicably he just stopped soing it. I sent him my last review like 3 times, and never heard a word about it, and it never saw the light of say. Damn shame, too as I really liked that book ( a rare thing, given the POS books he usually got from publishers & sent to me). I also read 2 more shortly after that, preparing to write reviews of them as well, but figured by then there was no point. I have a couple more lying around unread, as well. I really enjoyed making my small contribution, and wonder if Alex not having time to do as much for the site is the reason my reviews stopped getting posted, or if The Bearded One's ongoing campaign for movies only discussion played into it? I kind of doubt it, since he himself posted a review of Under the Dome a few weeks ago, and he & Alex never saw completely eye to eye, I think. But who really knows. Thanks for commenting on one of my reviews, BTW. Hardly anyone ever did. I cherished each comment I did get. And I proudly rock my Rated ARrgh! T shirt every chance I get; I missed out in the CC shirts, but would gladly sport one. I think I started a thread about that not too long ago, but there wasn't exactly a groundsweel of interest.

[IggytheBorg]

What happened with CC anyway? Alex and Iggy tried to keep it going long after Rotten/Butane left but did Nick just withdraw his support? Sure the main CC group all defected with Rotten/Butane but a decent sized community could have been rebuilt.

I think part of the problem is Alex had to do all of the work himself, pretty much. Other than the book reviews, I knew I wouldn't have time to do much else given my job & family commitments (& lack of computer skills). So I knew better than to commit to much. Chris O. fought the good fight & reviewd DVD's for awhile (and I was a big fan of his reviews), but RL commitments took him out of it, too, and he was never replaced. Maybe Alex shouldhave held another audition for DVD reviewer, and taken some of the onus off himself? At least some additional content would have made its way to CC.