Stephen King became my favorite writer when I was 10. I loved that he cussed and wrote about weird, gross stuff and seemed to be telling it like it is. My entry point to his work was movies. "Pet Sematary," the "It" miniseries, "Stand By Me," "Carrie," "Maximum Overdrive," "The Dead Zone"- I watched all of them long before reading his books.
But now I'm a grown-up and it's like the Frosted Mini-Wheats commercial- the kid in me likes the sugar of King's weirdness. And the grown-up in me likes the healthy wheat of his fantastic characterization, strong story hooks, and surprisingly solid writing- especially in his early work.
Orson Scott Card I discovered later in life, after graduating college. I liked sf & fantasy and wondered if a Mormon could write in that genre. Turns out one could! I was consistently impressed by his work- in every aspect- and promptly devoured his bibliography. Particularly loved his strong sense of empathy as his characters struggle with terrible choices.
He's said some nasty things over the years and is hated by a lot of people. Understandably. I don't know if I'd have become a fan if I'd discovered him after he became a political blowhard. I'm happy my reading experiences were untainted by any knowledge of his personal views.
So- Card first. This is his new book, "Gatefather."
It's not exciting, suspenseful, fun, mysterious, intriguing, or engaging in any way. I kept trying to find something to like about it and just couldn't. The characters are interchangeable and uninteresting and the conflicts are all random and arbitrary and get wrapped up in abrupt, unbelievable ways.
Also...So. Much. Talking. The characters just yap away constantly. There's pages and pages of it. Almost no exposition or action, just telling and telling with nary any showing.
A pattern is emerging, as Card did this in the third book of his other recent new trilogy. Same pattern- solid first book ("Pathfinder"), okay second book ("Ruins"), and then a disastrous third book ("Visitors"). The third book was almost all dialogue, too.1
I think I solved it.
Card started his writing career as a playwright. So his instincts are to convey everything in spoken word. He suppressed those instincts for three or four decades and wrote a lot of great books. But now- for whatever reason- he's falling back on old patterns and writing his recent books as if they're plays. All dialogue.
That would be fine for a romance book or family conflict story, but in sf and fantasy- that don't cut it. Golden age science fiction got away with it- a whole lot of stories in the 30's and 40's were just scientists exchanging ideas about some bizarre scientific experiment, then it would go wrong, and then they'd talk some more about how mistaken they were. Readers were hungry enough for sf stories that they'd forgive that nonsense.
But that was then, this is now. There are infinite sf/ fantasy entertainment options out there. So if you can't properly balance dialogue and exposition, try a different genre. Maybe stage plays?
* * *
Now King. This is his new book, "The Bazaar of Bad Dreams."
Let's rank these bad boys. If you like King but have a short attention span, I'd say just read the "Great" ones. If you like King and have a medium-length attention span, read the "Good" ones, too.
Great:
"Bad Little Kid," "Ur," "Blockade Billy," "Obits"
Good:
"Mile 81," "Batman and Robin Have an Altercation," "The Little Green God of Agony"
Okay:
"The Dune," "Premium Harmony," "A Death"
C'mon, You're Better Than This, Anyone Could Have Written This:
"The Bone Church," "Afterlife," "Summer Thunder," "Herman Wouk is Still Alive," "Under the Weather," "Mister Yummy," "Tommy," "That Bus is Another World"
In categorizing these, I looked at the titles and realized I'd forgotten the plots to about half of them and had to skim back through the book to jog my memory. That's how memorable they are.
I also realized that with several of these- I wasn't really enjoying them, but then there's a real kicker of an ending that leaves you going "Oh, well okay then." Specifically- all the books in the "Okay" category. I would probably say those sucked if not for their cool endings.
* * *
Final assessment on both of these writers that I love:
I might be done with Card. He's just been phoning it in the past few years with more and more "co-written" Ender cash-in books. I tolerated most of his spin-offs, but he lost me when he wrote a "prequel" trilogy to that series- wasn't smart when George Lucas did it, not smart for him to do it. And if he keeps writing in his new bizarrely dialogue-heavy style, his stuff is just better off unread. Which is particularly sad, because he has one book left to write in his "Alvin Maker" series- the last book came out 12 years ago so we've been waiting a while for it now. And I'm concerned that he's gonna write it as an endless Socratic dialogue instead of the fun mystical adventure style of the previous books. I hope someone advises Card that his new style isn't working.
King's fine. I'll keep reading everything he throws out there. His novels are consistently good or great. This collection just happens to lean heavily on his attempts at literary fiction. He's a great storyteller and, quite simply, literary fiction is lacking in the story department. When King writes it, it feels wrong. Like a boxer fighting with at least one hand tied behind his back. I know he wants to show critics his range,2 but it's just not fun to read. If he starts writing literary fiction novels, King and I will stop seeing eye to eye. But for now- fine, ugh, he can keep writing his literary shorts if that makes him happy. They're just not for me and that's okay.
And in closing- yes, I'm cognizant of the Neil Gaiman quote3 about dissing books and how lame that is. So please don't see this as me getting off on trashing two big authors. This is just a reader's advisory- if you are like me and enjoy Orson Scott Card and/or Stephen King, then be aware that their newest work may not be worth your precious reading time. I took these bullets for YOU.
* * *
1. Card's "Visitors" wasn't good, but it was a LOT better than "Gatefather." It had a random ending, but it was kind of interesting and unpredictable, too. Plus some stuff actually happened and the characters are more likable. But Card makes it very hard to enjoy, as the amount of pages eaten up by endless circular yapping was overwhelming.
2. Stephen King wrote the books that "Stand By Me" and "The Shawshank Redemption" were based on. Does ANYONE doubt his range?!?
3. Gaiman's wise words: "These days I can muster no enthusiasm for being cleverly rude about a bad book. There are so many bad books, and there are people who loved to write them and loved to read them, and why would I try and spoil anyone’s fun?"
-Phony McFakename
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