Stephen King 2025 read-along discussion
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If It Bleeds
February 2023 Discussions
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Fantastic February Pick!
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I also agree about reading the source material first. I'm definitely guilty of doing that. And that is why I have so many tv shows or movies that I have not yet watched *cough...Fantastic Beasts...cough*
I’m excited for this month’s read:) I’ve had it on my shelf for a while 🤦🏻♀️happy February friends
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If It Bleeds, published in April of 2020, is a bind-up of four previously published novellas. A modernized Different Seasons, maybe? The novellas are titled "Mr. Harrigan's Phone", "The Life of Chuck", "If It Bleeds", and "Rat".
"Mr. Harrigan's Phone" is about a boy named Craig who finds a job working for the retired Mr. Harrigan. One day, Mr. Harrigan gifts Craig with a winning lottery ticket. With part of his winnings, Craig purchases Mr. Harrigan a cell phone. Mr. Harrigan passes away and Craig begins to believe that he is still in contact with Mr. Harrigan through his old cell phone number as more and more crazed things start happening in his life. In late 2022 a movie adaptation was produced by Blumhouse and Ryan Murphy (of American Horror Story fame). It stars Donald Sutherland and Jaeden Martell who was previously in the IT remakes as Bill Denbrough. So far it appears to have received mixed reviews but I am very excited to check it out after reading the story.
The second novella in this collection is "The Life of Chuck" which is a story split into three acts given in reverse chronological order. Without giving too much away, it spans the life of a man named Chuck who only lives to be 39 years old. It starts with his death and ends with his childhood and it really ponders the meaning of life. The only thing that I could find about an adaptation was that Darren Aronofsky's Protozoa Pictures has optioned "The Life of Chuck", with Aronofsky to produce. No dates of yet.
"If It Bleeds" is the third story in our collection and it follows a familiar character if you've read the Bill Hodges trilogy or The Outsider. Holly Gibney of the Finders Keepers detective agency sees footage of a horrific school bombing on TV. She suspects that there is something odd about the reporter Ondowsky who was first on the scene and that he may be a supernatural 'outsider'. No plans on adaptations any time soon that I could decipher, but it very well could be acquired by HBO due to their use of the Gibney character in The Outsider series.
Lastly we have "Rat". "Rat" follows writer and academic Drew Larson who has published several short stories but has been unable to complete a novel. He has the inspiration to write a Western thriller and is determined to complete it. He sets out for an old isolated family cabin and begins to write, but bad weather and sickness set in. Drew strikes a sinister bargain with a rat; it offers to get rid of his writer's block in exchange for the death of one of Larson's loved ones. It has been optioned by Ben Stiller who plans to produce, star, and direct. It would definitely be a turn from some of his other roles and I'm intrigued to see what he could do with it.
Beyond excited for this month's pick! Which story are you most intrigued by? I'm stoked to read all of them but mostly "Mr. Harrigan's Phone". I've been wanting to watch the movie but I always try reading the source material first. Chime off down below! :)