King-dom come

If things continue this way, I'm going to have to change the name of this blog to Stephen King Taproom, as that's who's been taking up so much of my time lately. And in a rewarding way, I might add. Anyway, here are two King projects I've been enjoying lately:

In the car, I've been listening to Just After Sunset, an unabridged audio production of the recent King anthology of 13 short stories. Excellent stuff so far. Some stories have big scary plots, others are more like literary character studies, most combine both of these things. The 13 stories are read by a variety of readers, all polished and effective. I also love the fact that there's a short musical interlude between each story, lasting about 30 seconds, which allows the conclusion of one story to sink in for a few seconds before the next story starts.

I found Just After Sunset for the fairly cheap price of $9.99 on a Borders clearance shelf (even though it's still King's most recent anthology, I guess it's been out a while), and you might be able to find it there, as well. Oh, and as this blog is still called Kindle Taproom (for the time being, at least!), I should mention that Just After Sunset is available on Kindle for a mere $7.99.

On the graphic novel front, I just finished The Stand: Captain Trips, the first of several hardcover graphic novel adaptations of Stephen King's signature novel, The Stand. A sharp adaptation by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and detailed, painterly artwork by Mike Perkins will draw you right in. This initial volume adapts the early sections of the novel, and will make you want to immediately pick up The Stand: American Nightmares, which continues the adaptation. I'm suspecting that it will take at least four or five of these volumes to adapt the whole novel.

In any event, kudos to Marvel Comics for undertaking- and so far fulfilling the potential of- such an ambitious project. The current two volumes of this ongoing adaptation are available in Borders, most comic book shops, and on Amazon, for about $24.00 each. A good time to use those "30% off a single item" Borders discount coupons!