FREE/BARGAIN - Horror/Supernatural

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

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.

Yes, the first version [1978] was, indeed, just a bit shorter. King mentions that the original edition - as he originally wrote it before it was edited by Thompson - had some excess 'fat' trimmed from it, in addition to how it first begins. I can't remember how much material was restored (20,000 words ?), but it starts out (for example) in a completely different way.

The Stand, now, is the complete and uncut edition.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Yes, the first version [1978] was, indeed, just a bit shorter. King mentions that the original edition - as he originally wrote it before it was edited by Thompson - had some excess 'fat' trimmed from it, in addition to how it first begins. I can't remember how much material was restored (20,000 words ?), but it starts out (for example) in a completely different way.

The Stand, now, is the complete and uncut edition.

I read both versions, though decades apart. So I couldn't say whether one was better than the other.

I do remember when I first read The Stand, I wasn't sure what to think of it. I have this one:



The description was short and wildly off base. Ultimate horror?

This was before the miniseries adaptation or the internet. The Stand was just another Stephen King book, one that didn't (yet) have a movie. I thought it was going to be a horror story, like Christine or The Shining. Honestly, for a while there I was just annoyed with the book.

That cover though, I still really like it.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I read both versions, though decades apart. So I couldn't say whether one was better than the other.

I do remember when I first read The Stand, I wasn't sure what to think of it. I have this one:



The description was short and wildly off base. Ultimate horror?

This was before the miniseries adaptation or the internet. The Stand was just another Stephen King book, one that didn't (yet) have a movie. I thought it was going to be a horror story, like Christine or The Shining. Honestly, for a while there I was just annoyed with the book.

That cover though, I still really like it.

That's the cover (which may be the original one when first published in paperback) that contains the 1978 edition of The Stand. It starts out with the car crashing into the gas station.

[ZodWallop]

I almost didn't share this one, but in the end, the book sounded promising enough that I bought it. Also, it's one of the Flame Tree Press/Fiction Without Frontiers books.

The Toy Thief by D.W. Gillespie is $0.99 at Amazon US

Jack didn’t know what to call the nameless, skeletal creature that slunk into her house in the dead of night, stealing the very things she loved the most. So she named him The Toy Thief…

There’s something in Jack’s past that she doesn’t want to face, an evil presence that forever changed the trajectory of her family. It all began when The Toy Thief appeared, a being drawn by goodness and innocence, eager to feed on everything Jack holds dear. What began as a mystery spirals out of control when her brother, Andy, is taken away in the night, and Jack must venture into the dark place where the toys go to get him back. But even if she finds him, will he ever be the same?

[kyrilson]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I read both versions, though decades apart. So I couldn't say whether one was better than the other.

I do remember when I first read The Stand, I wasn't sure what to think of it. I have this one:



The description was short and wildly off base. Ultimate horror?

This was before the miniseries adaptation or the internet. The Stand was just another Stephen King book, one that didn't (yet) have a movie. I thought it was going to be a horror story, like Christine or The Shining. Honestly, for a while there I was just annoyed with the book.

That cover though, I still really like it.

That's the original one I read (and still have). Then I read the uncut version that came out with the two people with scythes attacking each other on the cover.

[salty-horse]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I almost didn't share this one, but in the end, the book sounded promising enough that I bought it.

Seems off-topic. How is this related to The Stand, other than being a horror novel?

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I almost didn't share this one, but in the end, the book sounded promising enough that I bought it. Also, it's one of the Flame Tree Press/Fiction Without Frontiers books.

The Toy Thief by D.W. Gillespie is $0.99 at Amazon US

I, too, picked this up because it looks good and it was cheap.

Thanks!

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

Seems off-topic. How is this related to The Stand, other than being a horror novel?

True. Maybe we need to retitle the thread: The Stand... better than Swan Song? (and other horror miscellania...)

[ZodWallop]

Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman is $1.99 at Amazon US.

A man must confront a terrifying evil in this captivating horror novel that’s “as much F. Scott Fitzgerald as Dean Koontz.”*

Haunted by memories of the Great War, failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family’s old estate—the Savoyard Plantation—and the horrors that occurred there. At first their new life seems to be everything they wanted. But under the facade of summer socials and small-town charm, there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice.

It comes from the shadowy woods across the river, where the ruins of the Savoyard Plantation still stand. Where a long-smoldering debt of blood has never been forgotten.

Where it has been waiting for Frank Nichols....

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

True. Maybe we need to retitle the thread: The Stand... better than Swan Song? (and other horror miscellania...)

I have a better title. Ready?

Off-topic Horror Titles Unrelated To Anything Under Discussion

Of course, that means there can only ever be one post on one book under discussion. The next post must be on a book totally not under discussion. Break the rules and you'll be sent to a prison planet named Muh (or Meh).

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by kyrilson

That's the original one I read (and still have). Then I read the uncut version that came out with the two people with scythes attacking each other on the cover.

The scythe one and the quoted are my favorite covers. I tried to find a decent modern one to buy recently but the covers were all awful and I couldn't do it.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

The scythe one and the quoted are my favorite covers. I tried to find a decent modern one to buy recently but the covers were all awful and I couldn't do it.

As an ebook, just use whatever cover you want.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

As an ebook, just use whatever cover you want.

I'll attest to that. Some of the new(er) covers, on ebooks, are absolutely crappy.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Yes, the first version [1978] was, indeed, just a bit shorter. King mentions that the original edition - as he originally wrote it before it was edited by Thompson - had some excess 'fat' trimmed from it, in addition to how it first begins. I can't remember how much material was restored (20,000 words ?), but it starts out (for example) in a completely different way.

The Stand, now, is the complete and uncut edition.

OOOOOOOh! This is fascinating information. I haven't got it yet.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I almost didn't share this one, but in the end, the book sounded promising enough that I bought it. Also, it's one of the Flame Tree Press/Fiction Without Frontiers books.

The Toy Thief by D.W. Gillespie is $0.99 at Amazon US

I'll be interested in what you think after reading. It does sound promising.