Way Down in Kokomo, Plus TGB Review
Posted on June 9, 2006 Posted by John Scalzi 10 Comments
Just a reminder, if you’re anywhere close to Indiana tomorrow, that I will be making an author appearance at Don’s Books in Kokomo tomorrow, Saturday, June 10, from noon until 2 p.m. I’ll be signing books for sure; I may also do a reading of some sort. Or possibly some interpretive dance. Or karaoke! It really all depends on the crowd. But, yeah, swing by and say hello and bring me things to sign. Because I’ll sign them, all right. I’ll sign them like you wouldn’t believe.
Via my superultramegafabulous publicist Dot “I’m superultramegafabulous” Lin comes a review of The Ghost Brigades that managed to slip under my obsessive-compulsive data-gathering radar. It comes from the Dallas Morning News, and it starts with a fun bit of hyperbole: “If Stephen King were to try his hand at science fiction, he’d be lucky to be half as entertaining as John Scalzi.” Well, bless you, Victor Godinez (he’s the reviewer). Of course, King has tried science fiction, with Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher and most recently with Cell. I’m not entirely sure that I can rightfully claim that TGB is twice as entertaining as any of those (or sold as much as a tenth of any one of them). That Stephen King, he can tell a story. But I do appreciate Mr. Godinez’s sentiment.
It’s certainly better than The Tommyknockers – I’m a big fan of Stephen King, but that one truly sucked…
Sweet
Off the florida keys
Theres a place called kokomo
Thats where you wanna go to get away from it all
Bodies in the sand
Tropical drink melting in your hand
We’ll be falling in love
To the rhythm of a steel drum band
Down in kokomo
Aruba, jamaica ooo I wanna take ya
To bermuda, bahama come on pretty mama
Key largo, montego baby why dont we go
Ooo I wanna take you down to kokomo
Well get there fast
And then well take it slow
Thats where we wanna go
Way down to kokomo
The Beach Boys
Doh! That’s over three hours away from me! Come closer, John,… yes, closer… look into my eyes…
Aruba, Jamaica, on to Indiana….
TGB is much better than any of the three King novels you mentioned. For the record I am a big King fan. However, the Tommyknockers just sucked.
The difference between Stephen King and John is that John cares how the science works in his science fiction. King is completely happy to leave the central conceit unexplained or supply a bogus rationale that only half makes sense. That’s partly why “Tommyknockers,” “Dreamcatcher” and “Cell” rank among his worst novels.
The Stand would be post-apocalyptic SF, and that’s probably the most popular of King’s novels. OMW and TGB are certainly easier reads than The Stand (or TS to stay with the abbreviation theme) if only because you don’t seem to share King’s fetish for gruesome details. Also, your novels are much shorter than most of King’s novels (or, rather, less bloated – King certainly knows how to chew up the pages).
Neither of those differences make your books more or less enjoyable, just different.
Well, you know. I’m not saying my books suck. I think my books are perfectly entertaining. Otherwise, of course, I would not foist them on to you, the unsuspecting public. Because I care.
I should have said “more or less enjoyable than his”…
Eff King. You’re better than that clown. He’s been writing the same book over and over again for the last 20 years.