gategrrl

I returned

"Black House" by King/Straub -- pretty good follow-up to "The Talisman", which is one of those books I read years ago, and had tons of scenes stick in my head for years. "Black House" is annoying at first because it's in that currently fashionable present tense form of narration. But the story picked up, and I was able to ignore it after a while. Lots of Dark Tower references, which made the Dark Tower fangrrl in my squee, but I don't know how it would come across to a nonKing Dark Tower reader.

And "Shadows" by Saul ??? another horror writer. The blurb on this book was more promising than the interior was (I skimmed and yes, I did read the ending). The ending was a lot like the ending to the movie version of "The Lawn Mower Man" by King. Yawn.

And I picked up:

By Peter Straub:
Mr. X
The Throat
Magic Terror

By Stephen King
Different Seasons -- the novella collection which includes the inspirations for "Stand By Me" and "The Shawshank Redemption" films. "Apt Pupil" is also in there; it's one of the creepiest stories I've ever read. I don't remember "The Breathing Method", though. Jeez, I think the first time I read these was in college. A roommate had the book on her desk.

By Dean Koontz
Intensity

On my ordered list:
one girl, one boy by Straub
The Dark Room also by Straub, and a sequel to the first book on this short list.

Right now I'm getting something that science fiction and the usual sorts of fantasy aren't giving me. And this is ttrange in a way, because I'm not into Dark Fic in Stargate, where I know there are some damed fine writers. Ah well.