If It Bleeds

FlakeNoir

Notaro said:

Finally got If It Bleeds, cover is different though, not the cool cat/rat face.



 Loved the book,  Mr. Harrigan's Phone was a nice creepy story, Flake is right, you can see where it's going early on but it doesn't lessen the enjoyment. The Life of Chuck was good if a little weird,  one part of the story has Chuck dancing to a street musician which I thought dragged a bit but it being S.K. you know it's not going to end well. If It Bleeds is a continuation of The Outsider, it's clever and scary and I'd definitely love to see more Holly Gibney stories in the future. Rat, this is actually my favourite story in the book, a struggling writer gets an idea for a novel and goes to his isolated cabin to write it,  while there he has a chance encounter with a rat....nuff said. Definitely S.K. on top form on my opinion. 

The more I read about the If It Bleeds novella (is it a novella? I should know this...  ) the more I think I should probably read The Outsider first before going back to If It Bleeds. 

Notaro

FlakeNoir said:

Notaro said:

Finally got If It Bleeds, cover is different though, not the cool cat/rat face.



 Loved the book,  Mr. Harrigan's Phone was a nice creepy story, Flake is right, you can see where it's going early on but it doesn't lessen the enjoyment. The Life of Chuck was good if a little weird,  one part of the story has Chuck dancing to a street musician which I thought dragged a bit but it being S.K. you know it's not going to end well. If It Bleeds is a continuation of The Outsider, it's clever and scary and I'd definitely love to see more Holly Gibney stories in the future. Rat, this is actually my favourite story in the book, a struggling writer gets an idea for a novel and goes to his isolated cabin to write it,  while there he has a chance encounter with a rat....nuff said. Definitely S.K. on top form on my opinion. 

The more I read about the If It Bleeds novella (is it a novella? I should know this...  ) the more I think I should probably read The Outsider first before going back to If It Bleeds. 

There are references made to The Outsider in the novella but overall it's not essential to have read it beforehand. 

spideyman

Really enjoyed this book.

Grant87

Loved this book. I think "Rat" was my favorite story of the collection, but I liked them all.

BevVincent

Stephen King’s latest bestselling four novella collection If It Bleeds has quickly garnered three option deals, with a fourth in the offing because it involves a preexisting character who just starred in an HBO series adaptation. For those who know that King extends options for $1, that’s an extra $4 in the prolific author’s pocket, with a lot more coming when they get made.

Netflix, Blumhouse and Ryan Murphy have teamed to option the book’s first tale, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, which John Lee Hancock will adapt and direct. Jason Blum, Murphy and Carla Hacken will produce the feature.

Rat has been optioned to Ben Stiller, who intends to product, direct and star in the feature.

And Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa has optioned The Life Of Chuck. At this point, Aronofsky is just aboard as producer.

The fourth installment, Let It Bleed, might have found a deal of its own, but it revolves around Holly, the clairvoyant detective played indelibly in the HBO limited series The Outsider by Cynthia Erivo. Don’t be surprised if the If It Bleed bleeds into the future of the series.

>>> Source

Hedda Gabler

Aronofsky did Mother!   I seem to be the only person who found Mother! fascinating.  It was way over my head for sure, but I enjoyed watching it unravel and become ever more chaotic.

He might do really well with The Life of Chuck.

Excited to see all this come together.

FlakeNoir

Hedda Gabler said:

Aronofsky did Mother!   I seem to be the only person who found Mother! fascinating.  It was way over my head for sure, but I enjoyed watching it unravel and become ever more chaotic.

He might do really well with The Life of Chuck.

Excited to see all this come together.

I just watched the trailer for Mother!  

Hedda Gabler

FlakeNoir said:

Hedda Gabler said:

Aronofsky did Mother!   I seem to be the only person who found Mother! fascinating.  It was way over my head for sure, but I enjoyed watching it unravel and become ever more chaotic.

He might do really well with The Life of Chuck.

Excited to see all this come together.

I just watched the trailer for Mother!  

It is very weird, surreal, mind-bending, challenging.  A part of me really loved the odd creativity of it.  The camera flowing through the house as scenes became more violent and depraved was well done.  

Most people I know who even bothered to watch the whole thing hated it.  

Once again, I am the cheese who stands alone.

FlakeNoir

Hedda Gabler said:

FlakeNoir said:

Hedda Gabler said:

Aronofsky did Mother!   I seem to be the only person who found Mother! fascinating.  It was way over my head for sure, but I enjoyed watching it unravel and become ever more chaotic.

He might do really well with The Life of Chuck.

Excited to see all this come together.

I just watched the trailer for Mother!  

It is very weird, surreal, mind-bending, challenging.  A part of me really loved the odd creativity of it.  The camera flowing through the house as scenes became more violent and depraved was well done.  

Most people I know who even bothered to watch the whole thing hated it.  

Once again, I am the cheese who stands alone.

Nothing wrong with having an opinion separate from others. (was going to make a cheesy joke, but I'm not feeling very funny) 

BevVincent

Man, Steve retweeted my post about this and I awoke to a gazillion responses! 356,000 people saw the tweet. 

FlakeNoir

BevVincent said:

Man, Steve retweeted my post about this and I awoke to a gazillion responses! 356,000 people saw the tweet. 

Nice! 

GNTLGNT

Hedda Gabler said:

FlakeNoir said:

Hedda Gabler said:

Aronofsky did Mother!   I seem to be the only person who found Mother! fascinating.  It was way over my head for sure, but I enjoyed watching it unravel and become ever more chaotic.

He might do really well with The Life of Chuck.

Excited to see all this come together.

I just watched the trailer for Mother!  

It is very weird, surreal, mind-bending, challenging.  A part of me really loved the odd creativity of it.  The camera flowing through the house as scenes became more violent and depraved was well done.  

Most people I know who even bothered to watch the whole thing hated it.  

EdwardJohn

BevVincent said:

Man, Steve retweeted my post about this and I awoke to a gazillion responses! 356,000 people saw the tweet. 

Steve who?

EdwardJohn

So this book is getting three different movie deals ... yet there is still to be a The Talisman film? What the heck is worng with the world. 

BevVincent

This is what happens when Steve retweets you! (And still Twitter says...want to reach a bigger audience?)

EdwardJohn

BevVincent said:

This is what happens when Steve retweets you! (And still Twitter says...want to reach a bigger audience?)

Is Steve the most followed twitter account who has retweeted you? 

BevVincent

Quite possibly. I've had a few actors retweet, but I'm not sure of their relative numbers. I always know when Steve does it, though. The next time I sign on, I get a notice from Twitter saying: you have a lot of notifications -- do you want to ... followed by some curation options I always ignore.

willowlove

The other reviews of the book.  No one minds they're nearly a year late, do they?

Library Journal

This collection of four novellas by King (Mr. Mercedes; The Institution) is a new outing with old friends, continuing the Bill Hodges and Outsider universe. In "Mr. Harrigan's Phone," eight-year-old Craig, a prodigious reader, is hired to read to Mr. Harrigan. A bond grows between the child and the octogenarian. When his friend dies, Craig mourns the loss and talks to his friend as though he were still alive. What if Mr. Harrigan responds? "The Life of Chuck" has middle school teacher Marty Anderson experiencing a rough day: Traffic is crazy, the likeness of some guy named Chuck is appearing everywhere, and the world is ending. In the title story, Holly Gibney, of the Finders Keepers agency (and Bill Hodges universe), investigates the bombing of a middle school. The fourth story, "Rat," is that of author Drew, who is broadsided by an idea for a novel; all he has to do is get it on paper. His last three novels were never finished. Will he complete this one, and what will it cost him? VERDICT Longtime readers and new King fans alike will love the fresh tales in this wonderful collection. [See Prepub Alert, 10/28/19.]--Elizabeth Masterson, Mecklenburg Cty. Jail Lib., Charlotte, NC

Booklist

King received a Bram Stoker Award for his previous collection of novellas, Full Dark No Stars (2010), and here he presents four more original suspenseful and chilling stories. "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" recounts the experiences of a young boy who befriends a reclusive, retired billionaire and introduces him to the wonders of a first generation iPhone with unintended and ominous results. In "Rat," a struggling writer determined to complete his novel holes up in the deep woods of Maine, but things begin to go awry. These two tales are definitive representations of King's accessible writing style, which is filled with nostalgia that makes readers feel good, but which is intertwined with menace that can surge and surprise at any moment. "The Life of Chuck," told in reverse chronological order, is a richly conceived tale of the multitudes of lives within every person. In the title story, "If It Bleeds," King places investigator Holly Gibney from his Bill Hodges novels and The Outsider (2018) on center stage, as she hunts an elusive killer who thrives on the misery and despair of others. This set of novellas is thought-provoking, terrifying, and, at times, outright charming, showcasing King's breadth as a master storyteller.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: King's love of short fiction makes this a powerful addition to his megapopular oeuvre and fans will be on the hunt.

Kirkus Reviews

The master of supernatural disaster returns with four horror-laced novellas. The protagonist of the title story, Holly Gibney, is by King's own admission one of his most beloved characters, a "quirky walk-on" who quickly found herself at the center of some very unpleasant goings-on in End of Watch, Mr. Mercedes, and The Outsider. The insect-licious proceedings of the last are revisited, most yuckily, while some of King's favorite conceits turn up: What happens if the dead are never really dead but instead show up generation after generation, occupying different bodies but most certainly exercising their same old mean-spirited voodoo? It won't please TV journalists to know that the shape-shifting bad guys in that title story just happen to be on-the-ground reporters who turn up at very ugly disasters--and even cause them, albeit many decades apart. Think Jack Torrance in that photo at the end of The Shining, and you've got the general idea. "Only a coincidence, Holly thinks, but a chill shivers through her just the same," King writes, "and once again she thinks of how there may be forces in this world moving people as they will, like men (and women) on a chessboard." In the careful-what-you-wish-for department, Rat is one of those meta-referential things King enjoys: There are the usual hallucinatory doings, a destiny-altering rodent, and of course a writer protagonist who makes a deal with the devil for success that he thinks will outsmart the fates. No such luck, of course. Perhaps the most troubling story is the first, which may cause iPhone owners to rethink their purchases. King has gone a far piece from the killer clowns and vampires of old, with his monsters and monstrosities taking on far more quotidian forms--which makes them all the scarier. Vintage King: a pleasure for his many fans and not a bad place to start if you're new to him. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Hedda Gabler

willowlove said:

The other reviews of the book.  No one minds they're nearly a year late, do they?

Library Journal

This collection of four novellas by King (Mr. Mercedes; The Institution) is a new outing with old friends, continuing the Bill Hodges and Outsider universe. In "Mr. Harrigan's Phone," eight-year-old Craig, a prodigious reader, is hired to read to Mr. Harrigan. A bond grows between the child and the octogenarian. When his friend dies, Craig mourns the loss and talks to his friend as though he were still alive. What if Mr. Harrigan responds? "The Life of Chuck" has middle school teacher Marty Anderson experiencing a rough day: Traffic is crazy, the likeness of some guy named Chuck is appearing everywhere, and the world is ending. In the title story, Holly Gibney, of the Finders Keepers agency (and Bill Hodges universe), investigates the bombing of a middle school. The fourth story, "Rat," is that of author Drew, who is broadsided by an idea for a novel; all he has to do is get it on paper. His last three novels were never finished. Will he complete this one, and what will it cost him? VERDICT Longtime readers and new King fans alike will love the fresh tales in this wonderful collection. [See Prepub Alert, 10/28/19.]--Elizabeth Masterson, Mecklenburg Cty. Jail Lib., Charlotte, NC

Booklist

King received a Bram Stoker Award for his previous collection of novellas, Full Dark No Stars (2010), and here he presents four more original suspenseful and chilling stories. "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" recounts the experiences of a young boy who befriends a reclusive, retired billionaire and introduces him to the wonders of a first generation iPhone with unintended and ominous results. In "Rat," a struggling writer determined to complete his novel holes up in the deep woods of Maine, but things begin to go awry. These two tales are definitive representations of King's accessible writing style, which is filled with nostalgia that makes readers feel good, but which is intertwined with menace that can surge and surprise at any moment. "The Life of Chuck," told in reverse chronological order, is a richly conceived tale of the multitudes of lives within every person. In the title story, "If It Bleeds," King places investigator Holly Gibney from his Bill Hodges novels and The Outsider (2018) on center stage, as she hunts an elusive killer who thrives on the misery and despair of others. This set of novellas is thought-provoking, terrifying, and, at times, outright charming, showcasing King's breadth as a master storyteller.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: King's love of short fiction makes this a powerful addition to his megapopular oeuvre and fans will be on the hunt.

Kirkus Reviews

The master of supernatural disaster returns with four horror-laced novellas. The protagonist of the title story, Holly Gibney, is by King's own admission one of his most beloved characters, a "quirky walk-on" who quickly found herself at the center of some very unpleasant goings-on in End of Watch, Mr. Mercedes, and The Outsider. The insect-licious proceedings of the last are revisited, most yuckily, while some of King's favorite conceits turn up: What happens if the dead are never really dead but instead show up generation after generation, occupying different bodies but most certainly exercising their same old mean-spirited voodoo? It won't please TV journalists to know that the shape-shifting bad guys in that title story just happen to be on-the-ground reporters who turn up at very ugly disasters--and even cause them, albeit many decades apart. Think Jack Torrance in that photo at the end of The Shining, and you've got the general idea. "Only a coincidence, Holly thinks, but a chill shivers through her just the same," King writes, "and once again she thinks of how there may be forces in this world moving people as they will, like men (and women) on a chessboard." In the careful-what-you-wish-for department, Rat is one of those meta-referential things King enjoys: There are the usual hallucinatory doings, a destiny-altering rodent, and of course a writer protagonist who makes a deal with the devil for success that he thinks will outsmart the fates. No such luck, of course. Perhaps the most troubling story is the first, which may cause iPhone owners to rethink their purchases. King has gone a far piece from the killer clowns and vampires of old, with his monsters and monstrosities taking on far more quotidian forms--which makes them all the scarier. Vintage King: a pleasure for his many fans and not a bad place to start if you're new to him. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Not i said the little red hen. They are interesting . 

i see you are one of bev’s old school participants, welcome back.

GNTLGNT

....yes, welcome home!....don't allow us new kids to disturb The Force.....