NEWS: Calling All Zombies

CULTURE: Calling All Zombies

Stephen King's new novel, Cell will be released tomorrow, and the New York Times has a review. In Cell, cellphones turn human beings into zombies on the warpath as citizens without cellphones, "Normies," fight for their lives. As part of the book's promotional campaign, fans can download Cell ringtones by King: "Beware, the next call you take may be your last" or "It's OK, it's a 'Normie' calling."

On one hand, that premise sounds absolutely stupid. On the other, it makes prefect sense, as I'm certain zombies cannot drive, and have horrid table manners at a restaurant.

I'm going to write a novel about how people who use the motorized printing press all of a sudden turn into catatonics, so self important schlock novelists can't publish and mass distribute their "insightful" anti-technology nonsense.

Can someone please give Mr. King a six pack and a bag of coke?

Honestly, the only writer whose plots became more halucinatory and idiotic after they quit drugs.

I don't need social constraints to prevent me from biting my mama.

i read the first two chapters already and it's actually pure King...reminiscent of the Castle Rock books in tone and visuals...i for one am looking forward to it and i'm sure that i'll get mocked for that, but who cares? i just want to read some good and bloody writing, which is damn hard to find now

OMGZ! You just blew my fucking MIND@!!!

And there has to be a similar book out there that uses tv's instead of cellphones.

why do you all hate King so? if you don't like his writing, don't read it...you don't need to trash him just because you think he's silly....

I don't. You just have to admit the concept for this one is more than a bit cheesy/played out.

Early-mid King is pretty good, and probably underrated, but lately he's pretty bad. And a forum about his new book is the perfect place to criticise him.

Also, someone who writes a book where cell phones turn people into zombies probably has a pretty good sense of humor about themselves...so relax.

i read a book for the story, the entire story, character development that moves the plot along for example, and King is very effective at this, so when i find several other authors who have done the same with this kind of story line, then yes, i will say it is played out...or if i read the book and find it is a copy of every zombie book/movie, then i will say it is played out, but until you read the story, how do you know if it's cheesy?

I think this article makes the book sound worse than it probably is. It's hard to rationally condense some things. I mean, explain LOTR in 3 paragraphs and make it not sound odd.

...although the story would likely be better using tvs.

but have you actually read this book yet? i'm venturing a guess that you haven't, so how do you know what this book will be like....

and i admit that my previous comment read like i was all sorts of uptight about this, but i don't mean to be...i understand that it's everyone's right to criticize who they want, and i respect that, i also criticize writers that i don't like, but i generally wait until i've had a chance to actually read what i'm going to make fun of

p.s. The Times has written bad reviews about just about everything King has written, including Carrie and The Shining

No, and no one is criticising the BOOK, we're criticising the plot. And we're just having fun with it, becuase its, um, sort of (read: very) silly. Have you read the book yet? If not, why are you defending it?

Probably because a plot that revolves around cellphone zombies is more like a call to arms than anything else.

Oh man, the cover is hilarious.

LokisChild said:
i read the first two chapters already and it's actually pure King...reminiscent of the Castle Rock books in tone and visuals...i for one am looking forward to it

Incidentally, I've heard King dedicated this book to George Romero and Richard Matheson, so if it's derivative it's at least purposeful and/or acknowledged up front.

Well, it is sort of a tradition to use zombie stories to make a heavy-handed, overly-simplified, ridiculously obvious point about some social issue.

[Edited on Jan 23, 2006 by Keith]

Sounds good to me. First King book I have been looking forward to in years. Probably because I actually like the cheezey derivitive genre that it is a part of. I'm especialy fond of James Herbert's The Fog and the short story by Alice Sheldon, The Screwfly Solution. Hopfully the imagery in this will be equally disturbing.

This picture answers a lot of questions, I think:



It's too late for him; save yourself!!