by Jay Wilburn
The plan is to reread all of Stephen King’s works in the order that they were published. Richard Chizmar of Cemetery Dance had the vision. I’m doing it because I am a writer and I want to improve my fiction. And I love Stephen King’s stories. I think there is something to be learned through this process. As Richard Chizmar and Bev Vincent put up their posts on the official site, I will link those in the corresponding ones of mine on this blog, typically with the “After” posts.
You can also go back to the beginning and read Before Carrie or any of my other posts up through this one and beyond by checking out this link to the Master List of all my #StephenKingRevisited posts.
Let’s explore The Talisman …
I had an odd prejudice against certain Stephen King works. These notions were often misinformed, and I’m not sure exactly where or how they set in. For instance, I knew Danse Macbre was a nonfiction book. I assumed it was about some event in history. I thought it was maybe an exploration of a man by that name Danse Macabre and would be a dry history because it wouldn’t involve killer cosmic alien clowns or apocalyptic worlds.
I knew The Talisman was cowritten with some author I had never heard of, and I assumed in my love of Stephen King’s work that this Peter Straub character would do nothing but water down the perfection that was Stephen King in my mind after I discovered him. Why write a story with this nobody, when King could surely write the story better all by himself? Because no one could write a story better than King, right?!
Of course, I know better on several counts now. Stephen King is not perfect, but my opinion of him rates so high as to render that slight demotion in his stature as basically academic. I also know of and have read Peter Straub now. I understand King’s respect for him as a writer worthy of cowriting and many other greats who preceded King. I’ve also passed the King Test of successful writing which includes being paid for writing, not having the check bounce, and paying some bill with said money. I’m wiser about writing on a number of fronts. Maybe wise enough to recognize how wrong I have been about so many things on so many occasions. I’ve cowritten and see the benefits in it when the writers involved are committed to creating something together greater than the sum of parts. If I had to guess, I would bet that The Talisman and Black House, some 25 or so books further down the timeline, fall into this “greater than” category. Even if they are not in objective fact “perfection,” for a devoted reader like myself willing to undergo the full measure of #StephenKingRevisited challenge, it is close enough to make no difference for me.
Later collaborations, in recent years, have fallen under more critical scrutiny than the King/Straub books. Sleeping Beauties escaped too terrible of critique from what I heard among the bottom feeders of the horror world where I dwell. Gwendy’s Button Box was a bit more scathed by people in my circles of horror reading and writing. Faithful is in a category of its own and slipped through under most people’s radar – another one of those nonfiction books and a baseball book to boot … and about the Red Sox to top all!
I have a bad habit of liking media and books which have been maligned a little bit. I’m not sure if it is a rebellious streak in me. I’m not sure if it is the bar being lowered in terms of my expectations. I’m not sure if it is a flaw within myself to really root for something I am engaging in to be good. I want it to succeed because I started it, and no other reason than that is needed for my support. I will let a lot of sins pass in a zombie movie. I love the bad Kevin Costner movies. I owned the Postman and Waterworld on DVD. Loved Dragonfly. I loved A Perfect World. I have no explanation for this. If it is a Costner movie, no matter if it is objectively bad or not, it matters not. I know in my heart I will love it because it is a proven fact about my mind and soul when it comes to Kevin Costner and everything he makes. Stephen King books fall into this same category for me. Even as flaws pop out at me in one form or another, even as I might objectively recognize that there are legitimate criticisms to be made, my mind simply will not accept the fall from perfection. In so many areas of my life with politics, my own faith community, my own writing, and more I am a deep skeptic, but other soft or blind spots of my brain are fatally preprogramed to be a true believer.
I’m not sure why all of this pours out of me over finally righting the wrong when it comes to reading The Talisman, but this is what is running through my mind as I pick up a book that I know almost nothing about in terms of what to expect, except that in my heart I want it to succeed over my long held prejudices.
Let’s right a wrong and take a look at The Taisman. My next post will be After the Talisman which you will find linked on the Master List of all my Stephen King Revisited posts.
— Jay Wilburn, writer, reader, generous cowriter
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