FREE/BARGAIN - Horror/Supernatural

[ZodWallop]

The Auld Mither by William Meikle is $0.99. This is a short (53 pages) but sounds very good.

The Auld Mither, a crone-like hag with razor sharp bones for fingers, is killing off the proponents of a new abattoir in a deer farming community. And Dave Duncan seems to be next on the list. Can he figure out how to stop her? Or will he have to pay for the sins of his father?

[ZodWallop]

Ghost Story by Peter Straub is $1.99. If you haven't read it, do so. It is a classic of modern horror.

What was the worst thing you’ve ever done?

In the sleepy town of Milburn, New York, four old men gather to tell each other stories—some true, some made-up, all of them frightening. A simple pastime to divert themselves from their quiet lives.

But one story is coming back to haunt them and their small town. A tale of something they did long ago. A wicked mistake. A horrifying accident. And they are about to learn that no one can bury the past forever...

[ZodWallop]

Swan Song by Robert McCammon is $1.99 at Amazon US. I just watched a good YouTube review of this one. I'll link to it below. (Swan Song is NOT better than The Stand though.)

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick

Swan is a nine-year-old Idaho girl following her struggling mother from one trailer park to the next when she receives visions of doom—something far wider than the narrow scope of her own beleaguered life. In a blinding flash, nuclear bombs annihilate civilization, leaving only a few buried survivors to crawl onto a scorched landscape that was once America.

In Manhattan, a homeless woman stumbles from the sewers, guided by the prophecies of a mysterious amulet, and pursued by something wicked; on Idaho’s Blue Dome Mountain, an orphaned boy falls under the influence of depraved survivalists and discovers the value of a killer instinct; and amid the devastating dust storms on the Great Plains of Nebraska, Swan forms a heart-and-soul bond with an unlikely new companion. Soon they will cross paths. But only Swan knows that they must endure more than just a trek across an irradiated country of mutated animals, starvation, madmen, and wasteland warriors.

Swan’s visions tell of a coming malevolent force. It’s a shape-shifting embodiment of the apocalypse, and of all that is evil and despairing. And it’s hell-bent on destroying the last hope of goodness and purity in the world. Swan is that hope. Now, she must fight not only for her own survival, but for that of all mankind.

A winner of the Bram Stoker Award and a finalist for the World Fantasy Award, Swan Song has become a modern classic, called “a chilling vision that keeps you turning pages to the shocking end” by John Saul and “a long, satisfying look at hell and salvation” by Publishers Weekly.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Swan Song by Robert McCammon is $1.99 at Amazon US. I just watched a good YouTube review of this one. I'll link to it below. (Swan Song is NOT better than The Stand though.)

I'm curious as to what you found to be weaker than The Stand. I've generally been extremely disappointed by Mr. King's endings (except for the Long Walk and 11/22/63), and everyone says Swan Song has a very strong finish...

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by curtw

I'm curious as to what you found to be weaker than The Stand. I've generally been extremely disappointed by Mr. King's endings (except for the Long Walk and 11/22/63), and everyone says Swan Song has a very strong finish...

I read Swan Song over a decade ago. But then, I also read The Stand over a decade ago. In general, I just think Stephen King is a stronger writer than McCammon.

Having grown up in the '70's/'80's I have a fascination with World War 3/Nuclear Holocaust stories: The Day After, Threads, War Day, Dr. Strangelove, etc. So Swan Song should have a natural leg-up with me.

But I still prefer The Stand. I have vivid memories of that opening at the sleepy gas station, creeping through the tunnel out of New York, Trash Can Man blowing up the oil tanks and so on. I don't have those memories of Swan Song.

I wouldn't be against a reread of the book. Swan Song is a very good book. It's just not better than The Stand.

In the review I linked to, he says that The Stand has higher highs, but lower lows, whereas Swan Song is more steady and even all the way through. I think he makes a good point there.

[BetterRead]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

(Swan Song is NOT better than The Stand though.)

Yes, it is. By a substantial amount.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

(Swan Song is NOT better than The Stand though.)

Originally Posted by BetterRead

Yes, it is. By a substantial amount.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I have vivid memories of that opening at the sleepy gas station, creeping through the tunnel out of New York, Trash Can Man blowing up the oil tanks and so on. I don't have those memories of Swan Song.

It's funny, the vivid memory I have from The Stand is the character talking about masturbating on the pitcher's mound at Yankee Stadium.

Anyway, started on Swan Song. I see what you mean about "more level." the list of potential nuclear threats at the beginning is so mind-numbing, it makes you wonder how the bombs hadn't fallen before page 1.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by curtw

It's funny, the vivid memory I have from The Stand is the character talking about masturbating on the pitcher's mound at Yankee Stadium.

Ha! Yeah, I remember that bit.

One thing I was thinking about is that Swan Song's nuclear war now seems like a relic whereas The Stand's global pandemic is, well...

Not that that should impact someone's decision to read either.

[kyrilson]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Swan Song by Robert McCammon is $1.99 at Amazon US. I just watched a good YouTube review of this one. I'll link to it below. (Swan Song is NOT better than The Stand though.)

Agreed. The Stand is better.

[salty-horse]

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward is $2.99 on Amazon.com

In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three.

A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time.
A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory.
And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible.

An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by kyrilson

Agreed. The Stand is better.

I, too, agree.

BUT, I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that my judgment is based upon my reading of the book when it first came out in 1978. I still have a First Edition (but without a DJ). - I loved this book. Yet, I have yet to read the unexpurgated complete edition (before Bill Thompson got hold of it), even though I own it in both hardback and ebook.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Yet, I have yet to read the unexpurgated complete edition (before Bill Thompson got hold of it), even though I own it in both hardback and ebook.

You lost me. What did Bill Thompson do to The Stand?

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

You lost me. What did Bill Thompson do to The Stand?

Thompson was Stephen King's editor at Doubleday, and he edited/advised his young author's work, seeing it into publication - and success.

Check this out:

https://suntup.press/keys-to-the-kin...mpson-part-one

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Thompson was Stephen King's editor at Doubleday, and he edited/advised his young author's work, seeing it into publication - and success.

Check this out:

https://suntup.press/keys-to-the-kin...mpson-part-one

Ah! I misread your message to imply that there was the condensed version of The Stand (the first version I read), the expanded edition and then perhaps an expanded edition that had some later revisions or something.