Different Seasons - Part 2: Apt Pupil

The second offering in Different Seasons is 'Apt Pupil'.

This story is set in the fictional suburb of 'Santo Donato', in San Diego. The main character is thirteen year old Todd Bowden. After discovering an old World War II magazine in his friend's garage Todd becomes interested in Nazi Germany, in particular concentration camps. He is really taken by this one photo of a German camp officer and realizes that the reason why he is captured by it is that it is actually a photo of one of his neighbours.

The rest of the story takes place over a period of 4 years and follows the relationship that develops between him and his 'wanted for war crimes' neighbour.

Everyone can talk all they want about how scary Stephen King books with vampires, ghosts, werewolves, and the like are, but nothing is more scary than the human capacity for inhumane acts on humanity. I found this story disturbing when I read it - I actually lost sleep over it with nightmares. Give me a good vampire story any time.

With that being said, I still enjoyed the story (even though I did lose sleep over it).

This story was also made into a movie by the same name. I found the movie to be alright, and it stuck to the original story fairly well, but I found it less disturbing than the print story.

'Summer of Corruption'

The Mist Movie Trailer

The Mist

The short story, 'The Mist' originally appeared in the collection of 22 short stories by Stephen entitled, 'Skeleton Crew'.

The story has been re-released on its own as a movie tie in. The movie of the same name comes out this Friday (Nov. 23/07). I hope to go see the movie this weekend, but with kids and all it might be tough.

I first read this story in 'Skeleton Crew' while I was attending High School. The post-apocalyptic aspect of the story appealed to me then, and still does to this day - I just finished reading it again tonight.

Over the years Stephen has become better at his prose and I find that a lot of his early work has more of an 'unpolished' feel to it - it is more raw, sharp and aggressive somehow. Not that his current writing lacks those qualities, it just has more of a 'polished' feel to it, if you know what I mean.

All artists experience this, whether you are a musician, painter, or writer, it does not matter, the more you do it the better you get at it.

Anyway, back to 'The Mist'. I still find this story interesting. It is the one story in 'Skeleton Crew' that stood out in my mind 20 years later. I have never forgot the story or the title, unlike some of the others in that collection. That is the kind of impression it left on me.

We are all the sum of our own experiences, and reading it again so many years later I was able to identify with the main character, David, differently than I did in the past. I am now married and have kids of my own so I can better understand what David was going through.

Perhaps the best thing that Stephen King does, and continues to do to this day, is develop his characters in such a way that the reader really identifies with them - or hates them for that matter - and he did that in this story, especially with David and Mrs. Carmody, the doomsday prophecy preacher.

I understand that the movie is going to have to sum up the story a little better than Stephen did, as the general viewing audience likes that sort of thing and I look forward to seeing how it is done. Although, I personally liked the way he ended the story. Perhaps there will be more military involvement in the movie than in the story. We are lead to believe that The Mist and the things in it are the result of some sort of failed military experiment in the story after all.

I wonder when Stephen was writing this story if he had some sort of nuclear experimentation going on in his mind that caused these things or if it is some how linked to The Dark Tower and perhaps the breaking of a beam. In the movie these things will probably be explained by some sort of military genetic experimentation gone wrong.

I just hope that the director of this movie at least stays true to the rest of the story and, more importantly, to the characters. He should, he has done a heck of job with the other Stephen King movies he has filmed in the past - but you never know.

Feast of Fear

Hi there,

I have started this blog site in order for me to write about Stephen King novels, novellas, movies, etc. I will provide my own personal take on each and everything that I read, watch, listen too, and so on about Stephen King and his works.

I hope that you come back often and contribute your own opinions, ideas, etc. about what I have to say about Stephen King's work.