Stephen King Fans discussion

Discuss story below!

Began reading, up to p.52 in the softbook release that coincided with the movie (haven't seen the movie yet, so please add spoil warnings if you must discuss it). SK in 1st person is always fun, and he's good at group chaos (see also Cell,& Lisey's Story & The Stand, when things just get all futzed up). Lots of cool foreboding, especially in Mrs. Carmody. Carmody (not to flash forward too much here) is the prototypical SK Religious Nut who causes problems for protagonists, going as far back as Carrie, also in The Gunslinger and more--she could be related to Annie Wilkes, I think! (anyone cite some more examples?)

Dave's brief recollections of his past, such as his father the artist, don't seem all that important to the story--or will they later on? Haven't read this in so long.

I also like the uneasy tension between Norbert & Dave...having been in situations where I have been forced to interact with someone I don't like very much, SK nails it!

I've read The Mist several times, to be honest I've read all of Skeleton Crew several time adn I still find this story intriging. I haven't seen the movie either, so I'm in the same boat Agrimorfee.

I love the relationship between father and son, which is repeated thought alot of SK's novels and short stories. There is a desperate need for the father to protect the son while also worrying about his wife, who he left at home when he nipped into town.

The creepiness comes in not knowing what the creatures are, yes there are brief descriptions, but where did they come from? why there? By having the creatures almost invisiable thoughout the novel SK is able to work the atmosphere, the near hystria from Mrs Carmody - she reminded me of the religious nut in Cell, the one they meet on the brigde.

The one thing I don't get was Dave's intimacy with Amanda, he didn't know whether Steff was dead or alive. Maybe a it was a way to release stress and maybe he know deep down he wouldn't find Steff alive but still.

I can't wait to read this.. I am waiting for my copy from the library!

My copy should be in tomorrow at my library. I have read the book before, but I always enjoy Stephen King's writing more every time that I read them.

Lisa I agree, I love the fact you are left wondering what happens and also if this Mist has effected the rest of America. they've escaped but what into, it could be something much worse!!!

just found my copy ill be right with you!!its been awhile none of them really stick out some the basic premise is there but not any details

Has anyone else listened to the audio "play"? It's still available on CD It's a lot of fun, with the stereo "3-D" effect on headphones. I haven't heard it in years, but it is chilling. Interesting to note the weird name-dropping of national food brands mentioned, as well as how the boy is older, possibly 8 or 9, to give him more dialogue.

The CD one sounds great! After I read it (I am picking it up today) I think I might check out the audio version too!

Norbert & other members of King's 'Flat Earth Society' (spoilerage ahead)



Norbert brings to mind other characters in the SK universe who refuse to believe in the otherworldly, the uncanny--in short, a near lack of imagination. SK seems to have no truck with these types of characters...their lack of imagination leads to their ultimate downfall at worst, or near-madness at best. All of these characters are fastidious, all-business, often very fussy to the point of OCD (no offense intended to fellow readers here who might have this psychological syndrome). I think of Stan Urias in IT (SK explains Stan's fears of IT as an "offense" to his very being), or the guy from The Langoliers who loses it (forgot his name), or Richard Sloat in The Talisman (a sympathetic character who is almost a burden for Jack Sawyer more than a help--does Peter Straub's contributions save Richard from his death?).

It's not until The Dark Tower series that King has an unimagining, truculent character, Calvin Tower, redeem himself and ultimately survive.

What are you talking about? Some type of book? Or is this from the story the Mist? I am about to start reading it since I just got my book so maybe I have to read it to get your thread.

SPOILERS

I loved it. This, believe it or not, was my first reading of it. I must say that I preferred the ending to the story over the movie ending (what else is new). Don't get me wrong....maybe ultimately that will be the outcome. ( I hope not.) But I like the way that it leaves you with an inkling of hope.


I really liked 2 lines in the story:


I thought it was interesting, the dream he had during the storm....the night before the mist came in. He dreamt he saw God walking on the far side of the lake. God was so big you couldn't see him from the waist up. He was stamping through the woods, causing all kinds of destruction "and all the houses and cottages and summer places were bursting into purple-white flame like lightning, and soon the smoke covered everything. The smoke covered everything like a mist."


And then...


"In spite of what Steff had said, mist isn't uncommon on clear days, but when there's alot of it, the suspended moisture almost always causes a rainbow. But there was not rainbow here." - This creeped me out a bit. It really lets us know that there is something wrong with this mist.


I loved the foreshadowing of the dream and his wanting us to notice that there was no rainbow. If the mist was normal, there would have been!


Ok, I've picked it apart enough. I really enjoyed it!

Angie, I'm sorry that I wrote the name of the character wrong in the above post. Reread it since the edit, then continue with the story and you will get what I was driving at. (I sometimes tend to have big ideas that I don't convey very well in text form...I hope I don't sound pompous as well as confusing...:))

I get it! Thanks Agrimorfee!


I am reading the Mist now and LOVING it! Even though I have seen the movie and kinda know what is happening I was still totally spooked at the tentacles coming inside the store. I should finish this story today!

OK I just finished this story and really thought it was great. It has been a while since I have picked up a Stephen King book and I realized it's been too long!

I have seen the movie... but it didn't even matter. It was almost like a new story to me. I love these spooky creatures just coming out of the Mist. I love the up in the air ending. Where will they go, has the Mist taken over the whole US? It surprises me how fast everyone fell apart in the store, in only 2 days. And I love the edition of the religious fanatic. That is actually quite scary to me, I would totally be freaked out by that person!

Movie spoilers:

I loved this movie also! And after reading the story I think they did a really good job following the story, well they did change the end but I thought the end of the movie was spooky as well. It was also kinda of left up in the air.


On to the next story!

yeah great all around for the mist. Film version included the 'tower' element which makes you wonder about the world the mist and monsters come from

I was so freaked out by this story-I talked about it all the time. I was 12 when I read it and that summer we went camping in ME and I remember my dad telling me (and trying to scare me) that we were in the town where the Mist took place.

It's been a really long time since I read all of these stories so I really can't comment on much more than my memory of absolute terror when I read this. I still haven't seen the movie but want to check it out.

Here is a part of an interview where King is talking about the ending of the Myst in the movie:

Stephen King: I thought it was good. The ending was obviously gonna be controversial but he had to put an ending to it, the story really doesn’t have an ending. Before it could become a movie it had to be tied up. He couldn’t just leave them there on the road which is what I did. And he became more and more convinced that the ending should be what the ending was when he did it. And originally it looked like it was going to be a Paramount movie and that they were gonna make it for a big budget, you know like I am Legend money, like 80 million, 90 million dollars but they wanted Frank to change the ending before they would do that. And Frank tried a number of different things, God bless him…I mean there is nothing wrong with that guy’s heart or his willingness to work with other people, and none of it really rang true, nothing really worked so eventually he did the deal with The Weinstein’s for Dimension Films. And they said “yes we’ll go ahead and do it your way but we’ll only go in for like 17 million dollars” so they kinda shot it quick and dirty.

Rob, I think that is because The Shining HAD an ending, and Kubrick did what he wanted without honoring the original story. Frank Darabont has worked with King in the past, and, I would imagine, is trusted with the stories that King creates.

I would like to comment on something you said before: "Film version included the 'tower' element which makes you wonder about the world the mist and monsters come from."

I haven't yet seen the movie, but, from reading the story, I think that there may be a connection to "From a Buick 8" at least as far as where the monsters come from. When the trunk is opened, things appear (and sometimes disappear). These things eventually died from our atmosphere (in Buick), so maybe this time around, they brought their own atmosphere with them?

I know that that The Mist was written first, but who knows how old the Buick is...?

Start of the movie mist gives sublte hints to the creatures coming from another world, then you find out they opened a portal or a doorway to another world or as we know level of the tower etc

good points.... the buick is apparntly a car driven by the 'low men' from hearts in atlantis... stephen king supposedly agreed to this on his forums via ms moderator leaving more headache connections :D especially since hearts is directly connected to dark tower.

*********POSSIBLE SPOILER******************



Speaking of the Dark Tower's possible connection to this book, does anyone think that the mist itself could be a fast-growing "tinny" of sorts? I thought that some elements of the mist seemed to fit the tinny image I had and really did not put 2 and 2 together until I read this.

I liked both the book and the movie (except for the ending of course). It was a very creepy story. I like some of the things they added in the movie... like more of an explanation about where the mist could have come from. I honestly think that King could have made this short story into a longer book because there were so many questions left (though I don't think that it diminished the story by not explaining everything. I actually think that it might have made it a little creepier not knowing what it was and it was still a good story regardless).

Dark Tower spoiler:

I think you meant thinny isn't it? And I though about thinny the whole time I was reading it. I could be wrong about thinny/tinny. I will have to pull out my book!

*Spoilers on the Story*
I liked the story but the part where he sleeps with that woman really pissed me off. His son is sleeping the next aisle over and he's so worried about his wife but he goes over and boinks the woman the next aisle over. WTF?

Yea... WHAT was that all about? And if that is how he deals with stress he need therapy now!

I would hope in a similar situation my spouse would have more sense!

It is funny that everyone seem to have problems with this scene. What does this say about him if he is stressed and having sex with someone is his way to deal with it? I have "heard" that men deal with stress by sexually relieving it (not saying that is true) so then what would be the woman's excuse? Maybe if they were virgins and weren't going to go out that way it would make more sense.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I listened to the audiobook with the 3D sound a couple years ago. I skipped this story because I already knew it and wanted to read the other short stories that I hadn't read in Skeleton Crew.

By the way, sex is an awesome stress reliever. Gives you a nice healthy "glow" too. It works for women too, I know all too well ;)

Sex while your kid is in another isle with a stranger and your wife is dying at home? I don't know.....

And...you're married, and your wife may have already been a victim of whatever is happeng...AND your kid is aisles away.

Sorry, it really, really bugs me!

I didn't get it either, and didn't like it but it made the character seem "more real" to me despite my disapproval - because it's not uncommon to make stupid/spontaneous mistakes while under duress.

Maybe we need a male's perspective here.

male perspective:

I don't agree with the decision either. BUT, Bonita has a good point about the realism of people under duress doing stupid things. Emotions are all aflutter, they think they're going to die. Who knows what they'd feel like? It's easy enough to succumb to dumb and spontaneous acts without duress, so add that factor and there you go.

i can see how it may really bug Kandice and others ...

but the Aussie perspective agrees with the Male perspective ... never been trapped in a shop by a mist containin' things that will kill ya ... but done plenty of stoopid emotional stuff before without quite knowing why ... i can make the leap

I don't remember if it was in this thread, and I don't feel like re-reading it all, but I know that a common reaction to the fear of death to have sex. That's why there are so many throw away sex scenes in slasher movies, and they aren't really out of place.

I think this bugs me in particular because King wrote it. Yes, he has sex, including extra-marital sex, in his books, but it has NEVER before felt gratuitous. This time, to me, at least, it did.

ahhh I getcha Ms K ...

My 2 cents...It felt gratuitous to me also, but I have seen it in other books and movies and always figured it was a guy thing and that's why I didn't understand it. Don't get me wrong...I'm no prude & think sex is the greatest invention since sliced bread, but if I'm in mortal danger, I think having sex wouldn't be my top priority.

Well, Betsy. As it turns out, he was in the wrong aisle. He was actually there to get some sliced bread....

Oh Chris ... you didn't

;o)

LOL! I guess he lost his way!

Perhaps he was just "buttering" his bread...

I think this could possibly be one of the best books I ever read. It was basically built on suspense and it was so awesome. I liked how it went to the deepest dand darkest thoughts of the human brain, and also the touch of religion in the book (because of Mrs Carmody). The beginning was a tad bit slow but then once the mist rumbled through the town, then the pace speeded up. It was amazing!

Yeah, "The Mist" is a great story.

I first read The Mist in the collection SK mentions in his notes for it. Can't remember the title - Dark tales of terror or something? Editor was Kirby McCauley.

...anyway...
In the version in the other collection the story has an extra line at the end:

"
One of them is Hartford.
One of them is hope."

Anyone know why?

Great book with a bleak ending but that's how life is sometimes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Mist. I actually just finished it yesterday!

Finished the mist yesterday, found it a good read, was part of the skeleton crew book which I am reading now. I found it a bit strange he slept with that woman so quickly, but I guess he knew that his wife was dead, the window being smashed in would have let all those creatures in to their home. He always lies to himself about this fact, I think it was something that would have happened in a longer novel eventually, and was included in this story as it was a short story.

I loved the Mist, one of my favorites. It's not exactly a real deep novel, you dont learn much about backgrounds and things like that but King seriously pulls off giving the reader a thrill.

Did anyone think that the female character Mrs. Carmondy was a bit like the character Leland Gaunt in Needful things? I was kind of struck by the similarities.

What similarities? I remember Mrs. Carmody as "going God" and inciting others in the store to violence in the name of some sort of retribution. Or maybe I'm remembering wrong.