Skip to main content

Calling Doctor Sleep; Get Up Now (Wake Up Now).


I finished reading a novel this morning that has had me gripped for weeks. That book was Doctor Sleep; the sequel to Stephen King’s never-see-topiary-the-same-way-again horror classic, The Shining. 

Until a month ago, I hadn’t read one of his books for years. I’d assumed they were just for teenagers; how wrong could I be? They're not Point Horrors by a long chalk. I resumed my love for his work with the appropriately titled ‘Revival’, which I withdrew from the library on a whim. A few weeks before this, my wife asked me if I fancied reading the follow-up to The Shining, and I said that I didn’t. I then saw it in the library when I was at a loss for book, and thought ‘Sod it’ – so sod it, I did.

Latter-day sequels are best approached with caution, particularly when the original is highly regarded; Blues Brothers 2000, The Green Green Grass and Still Open All Hours spring to mind. At least Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan nearly saw the demise of the sleazy, bad-accented Chekov, thanks to a slug in the ear canal from a big-haired Ricardo Montalban…but I digress. Doctor Sleep had none of these faults. It was the definition of a page-turner.

I put it down for the final time today (except for when I take it back to the library) to find my cat staring at me from across the room. If you’ve read it, you’ll know why this unnerved me. As long as I stay away from room 217, I should be all right.

Popular posts from this blog

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...

Comedy That's Worth a Letch.

Today, I nipped to Letchworth to meet with illustrator (and one-time - two-time - comedy poet) Mushybees, to discuss an event Mostly Comedy will act as surrogate parents to as part of Letchworth’s Arts Takeover in a couple of weeks. Months ago he got into contact to see if we’d be up for co-organising a comedy stage as part of Letchworth’s weekend of arts-based attractions in July; something I’d provisionally said yes to, before things got hectic in the lead-up to Edinburgh and we didn’t take it any further. Despite not getting down to the nitty-gritty straight away, we managed to pull a line-up together in a back-and-forth of emails yesterday, leading to me getting Glyn’s blessing and us deciding we’d officially go ahead with it (whatever ‘officially’ means in this context). In reality, it’s not complicated: from 12pm until 6pm-ish on the 22 nd July, Glyn, Mushybees and I will host four Edinburgh previews from four acts (including me), before Nor...

Stevenage: A (Tiny) River Runs Through it.

If ever a river was mis-sold, it’s the Roaring Meg in Stevenage. I just walked past it on my way to the retail park that has taken its name. They’re similarly uninspiring. The river is less of a roar and more of a dribble; cystitis sufferers produce greater flow. The retail park is soulless. What was once a thriving enterprise is nearly devoid of atmosphere, save an underlying essence of emptiness and despair. With a Toys R Us. When it was first built I was excited. Back then, the thought of a bowling alley, an ice rink, a Harvester and a Blockbuster Video within a small surface area was enticing. I celebrated many birthdays on site. There was an indoor cricket pitch there for a while where I once had a joint party with a friend. Why someone with an almost pathological fear of sport would agree to such a venture is beyond me, but I did it. Now, there’s very little at the Roaring Meg of note. The river would be a metaphor for the shopping ce...