Hey howdy beautiful people. This week I have a few things I want to discuss. First and foremost, it is my husband Jamie’s birthday. (Well, it is his birthday as I write this on Oct. 3.) So happy birthday, you beautiful man!
For Jamie’s birthday I got pregnant, and we are expecting. Our four-legged bundle of joy will be joining the family by the end of the month. We are so excited!
We told Riley, our little Pom, and he acts like he is annoyed. But we can tell he is looking forward to having a baby sister.
Next, I wanna know if there are books — or scenes from books — that truly stayed with you, books you think a lot about even after you are finished reading them. Yes, this may be just another way for me to talk about Stephen King, but that man has made a huge impact on my life. And he has been on my mind a lot lately. He recently celebrated his 78th birthday, and I am starting to worry about him. I’m not sure what I will do if anything ever happens to him.
I know it is stupid. I know I don’t know him; I’ve never even met him. But I often fantasized when I was young that he and Tabitha, his wife, adopted me, and I grew up in a home where everyone reads.
In interviews and articles about him, he always seemed kooky and weird. A little strange and unusual, even. I, myself, am strange and unusual (said in my best Lydia Deetz voice).
I read my first Stephen King story when I was 14. It was the novella Cycle of the Werewolf. I checked it out from the Dallas Public Library downtown, and I ended up being fined like four bucks because I kept it so long.
Yes, the book had pictures. It was beautifully illustrated by Bernie Wrightson and is probably what got me into graphic novels and comics.
Another reason I connected to that story so much was because I wanted more than any-thing in the world to be a werewolf — or any other creature that could protect themselves and was never scared. As a little gay boy, I wanted to be anything other than what I was — a weak, slightly feminine little homo who attracted bullies like flies to shit.
After Cycle of the Werewolf, I jumped directly into IT. I almost stopped reading IT because of the Adrian Melon storyline. He was a gay man who gets beaten up by some homophobic assholes who throw him off a bridge where he is killed (partially devoured) by Pennywise.
That part terrified me; it still does. Not because of Pennywise but because getting jumped for being gay is a fear I think many of us have.
Then I read The Stand. The Stand is and will always be my favorite book. I reread it every five or so years. FYI, since covid, this book’s hit differently than it did when I first read it. So much of it doesn’t feel like fiction anymore.
Recently a new book of short stories came out called The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand. It features stories by a bunch of great writers, like Richard Chizmar and Paul Tremblay. It even has a story co-written by Wayne Brady — yes, that Wayne Brady.
If I am being honest, I only liked about six of the 34 stories, but I loved revisiting that universe.
I love how much The Stand has influenced so many other writers.
I think of parts of Steven Kings books so much throughout my everyday life. Okay, maybe not daily but a lot more than what would be considered normal. Whatever normal is. If I ever find myself in a pitch-black room and I cannot see my hand in front of my face, I think of Larry Underwood and Rita going through the Lincoln Tunnel. I freak myself out every time.
Every time I see or hear about someone being a complete jerk, or if I do something I know is dickish, in my head I hear “You ain’t no nice guy!” That line was said by an oral hygienist that Larry had a one-night stand with, and it haunts him throughout the rest of the book.
Sadly, I hear it so much when I watch the news that I don’t even think about its origins anymore.
I think a lot about a random side character — Dana Jurgens — from The Stand. In the story, she was sent to spy on the people in Las Vegas and find out what they were planning for the Boulder Free Zone, Mother Abigail’s group. When Randall Flagg confronts her and tries to pull info about the other spies from her head, she slices her own throat with a shard of mirror she has hidden in her sleeve. She chooses death over betrayal.
Every time I hear of anyone being brave, I always think of Dana Jurgens. She was a total badass, and my brain immediately thinks of her, a character from book who isn’t even a major player in the story, every time I need to do something I don’t want to do. As stupid as it sounds, her character gives me strength to be brave.
It’s not just The Stand, either. Every fall, the first night I go outside and feel a chill in the air, I think of a scene from Cell, where a group of people are walking across Longfellow Bridge in Boston trying to get home after a cell phone pulse make folks go crazy violent. The way he describes their exhaustion, fear and being cold hits me the same every year. That first chilly night floods my memory with how I felt reading that chapter.
It’s a whole vibe.
I could literally go one and on about feelings I have that will trigger a memory from one of Stephen King’s works, but I already feel like I am weirding some of you out. Tell me I am not alone! What books, stories or even movies stay with you and you think of a lot? We are all made up of parts we pick up along the way, and I am proud to be partially shaped, however oddly, by Stephen King.
Oh, and by the way, the new pup already has a name. Her government name will be Pennywise Nova Love-Hart, but we will call her Penny Nova.
Remember to always love more, bitch less and be fabulous! XOXO, Cassie Nova