From: daw5g@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Vertigo)
Subject: Re: More Barker
Organization: University of Virginia
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1992 05:16:39 GMT

   I'm sorry if nobody wants to hear praise of Barker in this
topic.  Maybe you should stop reading this now, 'cuz that's
exactly what I'm going to do.  I really enjoyed TGaSS.  It was
not the best book he's written, but it was very,very good.  I
guess what might put some people off is that there is a very
long beginning that could be an interesting novella in itself.
There were cliches, but not absolutely glaring ones that made
it unreadable.  I'll be talking about specifics now, with no
other spoiler warnings, so people may want to abandon ship
now.  The stuff about the dead-letter office being the focal
point of everything was well-handled.  *I* was completely
enthralled with the search for the meaning to the object, etc.
I remember being filled with ,maybe not horror, but at least a
powerful feeling of dread/suspense when the questor met the man
in the hut (I REALLY apologize for the TOTAL lack of memory for
the characters, I'm responding to two messages at once here and
it's 1am).  Once it got to the other plane stuff, I couldn't
put the book down(tm).  (Damn!  Barker even inspires cliches
from his fans:-) I'm going to look at the book again before I
try to discuss any more of it, but I will definitely post again
(unless I get a lot of people telling me not to).  One thing I
would like to add, though, concerns the scene where the
reporter is going up the stairs at the party.  He knows he
shouldn't go up there(which is part of what makes him such a
great character), and Barker knows he knows he shouldn,t go up
there(which is partly why Barker is such a good writer), but we
all know he MUST go up there.  To do this, Barker introduces
the throwaway character of the old woman.  She does nothing for
the story except that she is the catalyst for his going where
he shouldn't.  The scene is not poorly written, but I like to
use it to point out my analysis of King v. Barker (He pulls up
his soapbox).  King IMHO would have had a separate chapter on
EXACTLY who this woman was.  What brand of perfume she wears
and why, who she lost her virginity to, the whole history of
why she got an invitation to this party (from the very
beginning of whatever the reason was).  As I said, Barker
didn't write this scene poorly, but I think King would have us
ignore the Deus Ex Machina of getting the reporter up those
stairs a little more after the description.  I think King has a
great strength with who his characters are, even minor one.  I
think Barker knows who his main characters are and why they
are, and everything in between, and can portray that well, but
hasn't fully developed the ability to bring EVERY character to
a believable life.  I haven't read much King, so flame me if
you want, I'm fireproof.  On the other hand, I think Barker has
a stronger command of the plot and what he wants to do with
it.  I believe King should write more Different Seasons type
stories (without lines like "Oh shit, it's shit!") and maybe
take a break from horror.  Has far as scaring, I can't remember
a horror story that actually scared me, but I can think of many
Barker stories/books that disturbed me, intrigued me, and
all-around made me sit back and say,"Wow,Bob,Wow."  This is
what makes me a Barker fan.


				Dave

	Anyone mind if a ramble a little more after I've gotten
some sleep and my facts straight?
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