Today’s Writing Links feature a glowing review of Stephen King’s 11/22/63, a bold prediction on what book series will be TV’s next ‘Game of Thrones’, and the first entry into the AV Club’s feature Author Meet Reader.
Stephen King, who may only be known to girls age 13-19 as the guy who doesn’t like ‘Twilight’, adds another notch to his already impressive belt full of notches with his latest book 11/22/63. The novel probes the Kennedy assassination with the fantastical twist of time travel involved. Here is the synopsis:
“On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen King’s heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination—a thousand page tour de force.
Following his massively successful novel Under the Dome, King sweeps readers back in time to another moment—a real life moment—when everything went wrong: the JFK assassination. And he introduces readers to a character who has the power to change the course of history.
Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students—a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk.
Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life—a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.”
So, be sure to check that one out. Also, as the year draws to a close, one of the many things I look forward to are the end of the year lists that will soon be posted. I really enjoy reading the “best of” lists that come out at the end of the year, especially those regarding books. It’s a great guide for picking up a pile of new books to read for the new year. I’m always perpetually behind on reading books that actually come out that year (I think I only read four or five books published in 2011 this year), but as is the trend, I’ll use most of 2012 to catch up on the rest. I apologize to deserving authors for this twelve month royalty delay, but that’s just the way things seem to happen with me.
Links:
– AV Club Reviews Stephen King’s ’11/22/63′ (avclub)
– Having A Sellable Novel Doesn’t Make You A Sell-Out (sfwa)
– Will Lev Grossman’s ‘The Magicians’ Be TVs Next ‘Game Of Thrones’? (mtv)
– JM Tohline: Your Job Is To Write, Not Worry (writersdigest)
– Reader Meets Author: Patton Oswalt (avclub)
– Angry Robot Launching A Young Adult Imprint (io9)
– Lost Interview Of Mark Hamill From 1977 (sfsignal)
– Author Interview With Michael Dempsey (scififanletter)
– Keep An Eye Out For KC Shaw’s ‘Blood & Ashes’ This Week (kcshaw)
