Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Top 10 Banned Books!

Throughout the history of the world, starting with the church, censors have been put on many different things. The church was able to create a list of banned works, and many of the books were burned. The first list of banned books came from Pope Paul IV who established The Index of Prohibited Books to protect Catholics from controversial ideas. However, authors found ways to get around these censors. Many just published in a nearby country.
Whether it is for political reasons, religious reasons, or some other reason, books, to this day, continue to be banned, extremely looked down upon, or challenged harshly. As for me, I believe it’s completely ludicrous. Who says anyone has to right to ban someone else’s hard work and ideas? In any case, here are the top ten banned books.

10. The Color Purple



“I see Sofia and I don’t know why she still alive. They crack her skull, they crack her ribs. They tear her nose loose on one side. They blind her in one eye. She swole from head to foot. Her tongue the size of my arm, it stick out tween her teef like a piece of rubber. She can’t talk. And she just about the color of eggplant.”
A novel written by Alice Walker, The Color Purple depicts the life of a young black girl, Celie, who speaks about her life in letters to God. Celie has been raped by her stepfather, beat by her much older husband, and is basically alone. The book expresses what life is like in the deep south through the eyes of a black female. It has been banned because of its extreme and graphic violence, troubling ideas about relations between races, African history, human sexuality, and man’s relationship with God.

9. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings



“If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult.”

This novel is an autobiography of the early life of Maya Angelou. It is able to show how trauma and racism can be overcome by strength and a love of literature. Angelou is able to depict her life from age three to age 17, in Stamps Arkansas. She at first lives with her older brother, and in the end becomes a parent. Throughout the novel, there is a lot of racism and violence, including rape. The book has been banned because of its explicit scenes of rape and other sexual abuse, as well as violence, homosexuality, and vulgar language.

8. To Kill a Mockingbird

  “So it took an eight-year-old child to bring ‘em to their senses…. That proves something – that a gang of wild animals can be stopped, simply because they’re still human.  Hmp, maybe we need a police force of children.”

Published in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird became popular quick, and eventually won a Pulitzer Prize. It was immediately successful and has been said to be a classic of modern American fiction. The book is known for its humor and warmth while still dealing with critical and serious issues such as racism, rape, and loss of innocence. Many see the book’s famous character, Atticus Finch, as being a hero both morally and racially. However, the book has been challenged many times because of how it deals with race issues. It is extremely prejudice and stereotypical. The novel also portrays an assault that is somewhat sexual, resulting in a rape. Vulgar language, including the “n” word, is also used.

7. Brave New World



“We can make a new one with the greatest ease-as many as we like. Unorthodoxy threatens more than the life of a mere individual; it strikes at Society itself.”

Written in 1932 by Aldous Huxley, this book revolves around a setting of a drugged, dull and mass society. The book takes place in the future, but it doesn’t provide much hope for generations to come. The book is a parody of a utopian society. The novel explained much disdain for youth, as well as a culture that is driven by the market. The book has been banned for its strong themes of drugs, sexuality, and suicide. In the novel, something as minute as chewing gum is seen as a way to deliver sex hormones, and pornographic films are spread around like free candy. Simply, Brave New World has been banned and challenged for its negativity, the latest being in 1993.

6. 1984

 


“Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside you. Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity. You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty and then we shall fill you with ourselves.”


Written by George Orwell in 1949, 1984 is a novel that depicts an extremely grim future of society. The society has no free will, truth, or privacy. The book was first banned in 1984 by the American Library Association because of its “bleak warning of totalitarian government and censorship.” Many see the novel as one that is expressing immoral themes, as well as being pro-Communist. The book tosses around the idea of “Big Brother,” which is still highly influential and popular in culture today. The book has also been challenged for sexual themes.

5. Lolita



“A normal man given a group photograph of school girl or Girl Scouts and asked to point out the comeliest one will not necessarily choose the nymphet among them. You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy, with a bubble of hot poison in your loins and a super-voluptuous flame permanently aglow in your subtle spine…”

This 1955 novel written by Vladimir Nabokov, analyzes the mind of a highly intelligent, self-loathing man named Humber Humbert, who is a pedophile and has an extreme obsession for “nymphets,” which are young girls, generally around the age of 12. Lolita was first published by a French pornographic press after being rejected by four publishing firms, but soon after, it was banned in France for being obscene. It was also banned in South Africa, New Zealand, England, and Argentina. However, the book was never really banned in the U.S. because when it was published, sexuality and teenage sex weren’t out of the norm. In any case, most countries have challenged the book because of its portrayal of a sexual relationship between a child and an adult.

4. Catcher in the Rye



“Sex is something I really don’t understand too hot. You never know where the hell you are. I keep making up these sex rules for myself, and then I break them right away. Last year I made a rule that I was going to quit horsing around with girls that, deep down, gave me a pain in the ass. I broke it, though, the same week I made it – the same night, as a matter of fact.”

Written by J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye became a best-seller weeks within its release in 1951. The novel explains three days in the life of a 16 year old boy, who is seen as extremely troubled. It is a true expression of teenage angst and rebellion against adults, and many have challenged the book because they fear younger people will look up to Holden, the main character. The book first caused controversy in 1960 when a school principal fired a teacher for using the novel as part of an 11th grade class. Many states around the country have issues with the book, some saying it is “anti-white,” while others express that it puts too much emphasis on slang, sex, violence, and issues with morals.

3. Harry Potter Series



“As much money and life as you could want!  The two things most human beings would choose above all – the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.”


The most recent books on the list, the Harry Potter series tell the tale and adventures of a young boy named Harry Potter, who is a wizard, and his friends Ron and Hermione. The central theme of the book is a struggle against evil, Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry’s parents. Since the first book’s publishing in 1997, the series has been under much scrutiny. In 2001, parents from all over the U.S. and other parts of the world challenged the book because of its witchcraft, violence, the occult, and its overall scariness. Years later, the series is still banned and challenged for the same reasons, including lying, cheating, stealing, ghosts, and promoting Wicca ideology.

2. Candide



“’What! Have you no monks to teach, to dispute, to govern, to intrigue and to burn people who do not agree with them?”

A great book of great satire! Candide is a classic French novel that satirizes all things that many saw sacred in its day. Churches, philosophers, armies, and rulers were all poked fun at. Voltaire, through the use of satire and funny phrases, was doing nothing more than trying to express a man finding the best of all possible worlds while going through some of the worst things that could ever happen in life. The Great Council of Geneva banned the book after its release, but more than 30,000 copies sold in a year. In 1930, U.S. Customs seized Harvard-bound copies of Candide, and then in 1944 the U.S. Post Office wanted the book dropped from Concord Books.

1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn



“I knowed he was white inside, and I reckoned he’d say what he did say – so it was all right, now, and I told Tom I was agoing for a doctor.”

This book, written by Mark Twain, has been banned in many different places since it was published. Huckleberry Finn is a story of a young boy, Huck, and a runaway slave, Jim, who travel down the Mississippi in order to escape “sivilization.” Here in the U.S., the book was banned in 1885, a year after it was published. At first, the book was banned for its use of slang, which was seen as demeaning. Over time, the focus shifted towards the fact that the novel uses the “n” word so many times, in fact over 200 times. Many cannot get around the fact that such a derogatory word is used so much. Readers often substitute the word with “slave” or “servant.” Despite much controversy, many of the most famous writers, such as Ernest Hemingway, see the book as a great piece of literature, as do many readers.

(Source: www.toptenz.net)

Top 10 Stories by Stephen King.

 

10.   Everything’s Eventual (Short Story)

Published in Everything’s Eventual:  14 Dark Tales, this quirky tale follows Dinky Earnshaw, our 19-year-old narrator who has the uncanny ability to draw pictures that kill people.  A mysterious man from a mysterious corporation gives Dinky a house to live in, a car to drive, plenty of money, and pretty much anything he could ever ask for in return for Dinky drawing his pictures (Dinky, as our hero, has no idea the power his pictures wield).  Even as the truth of what he’s doing starts to dawn on Dinky, he starts to realize that the mysterious corporation is not what it seems, and that the people he’s killing might not be the bad guys after all.  Dinky makes an appearance in King’s opus The Dark Tower series, where the mysterious corporation is shown to be linked to the Crimson King.

9. Low Men in Yellow Coats (Novella)

This Novella appeared in the collection Hearts In Atlantis, and is another offshoot of The Dark Tower series.  Ted Brautigan has escaped from his incarceration as a beam-breaker for the Crimson King.  We don’t really fully understand this until the final book of The Dark Tower series, but we know by the end of “Low Men in Yellow Coats” that Ted is going to work for the bad guys in return for them leaving Bobby alone.  Wait a minute; we may be a little ahead of ourselves.  Ted moves into the same apartment building as Bobby Garfield, the child of a single mother who is sleeping with her boss.  Which is scandalous, especially in 1960.  Ted and Bobby form a friendship that makes his mother very suspicious.  Ted lets Bobby know that he (Ted) is being chased by “low men in yellow coats” who put up lost pet signs and draw stars and moons on the sidewalk.  Bobby meets Carol, a lovely young girl who also develops a strong affinity for Ted.  Carol gets attacked, Ted tries to help her, Bobby’s mom walks in at an inopportune moment and we find out that she calls and turns Ted in to the “Can-Toi”, or the low men in yellow coats.  Sound confusing?  Give it a read.  We guarantee you’ll enjoy it.

8.  Misery

Annie Wilkes is Paul Sheldon’s “number one fan”.  Paul writes Annie’s favorite stories about Misery Chastain, a tragic heroine who Paul has the nerve to kill off in what was supposed to be the final Misery novel.  It just figures that Paul would just so happen to get into a car accident right near Annie’s house.  She rescues him, takes him to her house, and at first it seems that Paul’s really lucked out.  He has a “number one fan” to take care of him.  It turns out that Annie is completely off her rocker, and that Paul isn’t so lucky after all.  Made into a movie with James Caan and the incomparable Kathy Bates (who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Annie), the movie was not near as disturbing as the book.  Trust us.

7. Carrie

What can we say?  King can really write crazy.  Carrie was published in 1974 and has been a banned book in schools all over the U.S.  It’s also been widely adapted:  two feature films, a TV movie, and even a Broadway musical.  Not too shabby for a manuscript that Stephen King threw away initially.

6. The Long Walk

Published under King’s nom de plume, Richard Bachman, The Long Walk takes place in an alternate universe where life in these United States is more like life in a police state, where teenage boys are forced to take the “long walk” and are killed by soldiers for their indiscretions.  It is a well-crafted, fully horrifying piece of work.

5. Rage

Also published under the name Richard Bachman, this psychological thriller/teenage horror story is so powerful and has so many social implications that Stephen King has decided for it to stay out of print forever.  Since the odds are pretty slim that you’ll get to read this one, we’ll give you a short plot synopsis.  Charlie Decker is an angry young man.  So angry, in fact, that he beats a teacher with a wrench, grabs his pistol out of his locker, sets his locker on fire, and then shoots two teachers.  As if that wasn’t enough, he holds a classroom full of his fellow students hostage.  Disturbing, but not an original story, right?  The catch is that the story sounds familiar because of things that have happened since Rage was published.  Added to the fact that the story is much more interesting than just a disturbed kid.  The dialog between Charlie and his hostages is riveting, and the story is a testament to how horrible teen life can be and how angry life can make a child that is having a hard time becoming an adult.  Unfortunately, copies of the book were found in the possession of real-life kids who were angry and messed-up enough to commit similar crimes.  Hence, it is out of print.

4. Wizard and Glass (A Dark Tower Novel)

Let’s face it.  This series is Stephen King’s opus, and so many of his works weave into it.  Since we’re doing this list based on stand-alone works, we didn’t include the whole series.  That’s OK, because some of the books are better than the others.  This is one of them.  This is the story that, most notably, talks about Roland of Gilead’s history, and what a history it is.  This is one of the best-crafted, wondrous, disturbing quest stories of all time, not just in Stephen King’s world.

3. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption

This story comes from the short story collection Different Seasons, which was also the book with “Apt Pupil” and “The Body”, both of which were made into feature films.  So was “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”.  As great as the film was, the story is better.  It is rich and delightfully told, and you should read it.  Today.  You won’t be sorry.

2. The Gunslinger (A Dark Tower Novel)

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed.”  If you’ve read this book, that line gives you chills.  A poem by Robert Browning called “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” was the unlikely inspiration for this 12-year-in-development labor of love.  Funny enough, Browning’s poem is said to have come to him in a dream, fully formed in iambic pentameter.  The title of the poem comes from Shakespeare’s King Lear.  Shakespeare got the idea for Edgar’s rant from a fairy tale called “Childe Rowland”, which incidentally takes its inspiration from a medieval ballad.  One might say that the inspiration for The Gunslinger has inspired many other great works before it.  King has often said that he was on a sort of “auto-pilot” during the creation of The Gunslinger and The Dark Tower novels.  Guided by the spirit of creation, anyone?

1. The Stand

If Stephen King considers The Dark Tower novels to be his “magnum opus”, The Stand is perhaps his greatest masterpiece.  A sprawling and magnificent novel, The Stand takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where most of the human population is dead by the hand of a man-made biological virus/weapon.  An oracle’s dreams draws a group of survivors together to rebuild society, but Randall Flagg has other plans.  And that synopsis barely scratches the surface of this amazing piece of literature.  A bonus for true fans, The Stand is totally linked into The Dark Tower series – Randall Flagg is the villain, there is a superflu, everything is a wasteland but as a stand-alone novel it really holds its salt.
(Courtesy of www.toptenz.net)

6 Easy Ways To Get Completely Free Traffic.


1. Blog Contests

Contests are nothing new in the online world. Many people have been using contests to get
free web traffic for years. However, there is a slightly new twist since the blog revolution that
has made running a contest much more effective and fun.

The concept is the same. You come up with a prize (or many prizes) that would be appealing
to your blog readers. Of course, offering your own product as the prize would be preferable
since you can mention it on your blog (so everyone who sees your contest will also see your
product link). But, if you don’t have your own product, you can easily ask around and find people
who will donate.

Once you have your prizes, the fun starts. You have several options for your contest.
  1. If your goal is to get people to interact, ask your readers to post a comment to win.
  2. If your goal is to get incoming links to your blog, and, if your readers are bloggers themselves, ask your readers to blog about your contest (on their blogs) and then commen to let you know they did it.
  3. If your goal is to get to know your readers, ask them to complete a survey to win.
  4. Or a combination of the items above.
Immediately after you post your contest, send a mailing to each of your ezine lists, letting
them know about the contest. You’ll want your loyal readers to have the opportunity to win.
Note: If you don’t have your own lists yet, you’re missing out on big profits.

Next, contact your circle of influence (your friends) and let them know about your contest. Offer
to do a blog post swap. If they’ll blog about your contest, you’ll owe them one the next
time they have something they want to spread the word about.

Then, go and submit your contest to all of the contest websites. Yes, there are sites that list
contests and free offers. This is obviously more effective in certain niches than in others, but it
is free exposure to your contest. (Search google for “submit contest” & “submit sweepstake”.)

Of course, if you really want good mileage for your contest, you can also post on message
boards in your niche with the signature pointing to your contest.

If your wheels are turning… you’re probably also thinking of the possibilities of offering your
product or service as a prize to a popular blog in your niche and asking them to run the
contest. ;) Good thinking. It works both ways!


2. Online Radio & Podcast Interviews


Imagine being a talk show host for a weekly podcast. What’s the one thing you need every
single week? Guests. Lots and lots of expert guests.

You think finding content for your website is hard? Try pinning down guests each week for
interviews. My good friend, Kelly McCausey, has been recording an online show since 2003 –
every single week at www.WAHMTalkRadio.com That’s a lot of guests.

I recently interviewed Kelly to ask the question “What makes a good guest and what makes
you want to invite someone back?”

Here are some pointers to increase your odds of getting on a show and being asked back:

1. Actually listen to the show a few times before even thinking of contacting the host as a
potential guest. Make sure your concept fits into the market that the show reaches. If the
show is about Health, then don’t pitch your candy-making cookbook on there.

2. Do something newsworthy or interesting. Are you having a special event for charity? Have
you recently won an award? If your idea is timely, you’ll stand out and the host may contact
you sooner rather than later.

3. Have something interesting to say. If you just plan to talk about your products, then don’t
ask to be a guest. Buy an ad instead.

4. If you have sample interviews or media exposure, tell the host about it in your inquiry
letter. Direct her to your media page where you link to past interviews, if you have them.
One Good Turn Deserves Another.

With the Host or Hostess giving so much to you, what are you expected to do in return?
  • · Provide a list of questions in advance.
  • · Send a sample of your product to the host before you appear on the show.
  • · Tell your newsletter list about the interview and where to find it. Your host will be more likely to have you back if you are willing to publicize your interviews.
  • · Blog about your interview.
  • · Be a gracious guest and be sure to say “Thank you” when the interview is over. (A gift
  • is also nice.)
Hot Tip! You may also ask the host for a copy of the interview that you can add to your affiliate
center.


3. Find membership sites and ebooks that are HOT and offer them content.


Ride the coat tails of others.

Let’s say you are an expert in Raw Food Nutrition. One thing you can easily do is contact every
weight loss or fitness membership site you can find and offer to give them either an interview
or a report.

Each of these membership sites is looking for ongoing value for their members. If you come
through with a great interview or a quality report, you can bet they’ll add it to their members’
area, especially if it’s unique to their site.

Find one membership site each week and offer them great content. You’ll get your marketing
message in front of a lot of very targeted eyeballs who are interested in your topic.

Many membership sites archive their content. Be sure to check before you agree to do an exclusive
interview to make sure that it’ll be getting exposure for a long, long time.

You can make this offer even more appealing by allowing the membership site owners to use
their affiliate link for your program in the report or alongside the interview.

How do you find these hot membership sites? Easy.

Search google.com for the following terms:
  • · “keyword club” (example “dog owners club”)
  • · “keyword month” (example “diabetic month”)
  • · “keyword join” (example “divorce join”)
Of course, don’t fret if you find ebooks instead of membership sites. That works, too. Find hot
ebooks in your niche that are just a little different than yours, but in the same field, and offer
them a bonus for their customers. I recommend you search directly in the clickbank.com marketplace
for those.

Once you set this up, each and every customer who buys the ebook of a competitor will receive
a copy of your audio or report. If you set this up properly, you’ll turn your traffic on autopilot.
More google research ideas:
  • · “keyword report” (example “fitness report”)
  • · “keyword ebook” (example “recipe ebook”)
  • · “keyword affiliate” (example “dog affiliate”)


4. Jump into Social Networking.

Social Networking comes in many shapes and forms, but the good thing is that it’s easy to
dabble in and I’ve, personally, seen great results with little effort.
It’s free to try, so there are no excuses.
Here’s how it works. You sign up for one or more of the programs below (all are free).
(You can search google to find hundreds more. This is just for starters.)

Next, update your profile on each site you’ve joined, including your URL and photo.
Then, the next time you post something of interest on your blog (or see something on a
friend’s blog), you just submit it to the sites above.

Many of these Social Networking sites expect you to be an active participant. You’re expected
to rate and comment on other people’s contributions. Just jump in and play with it and watch
your stats to see what is and is not working. You’ll see the traffic start to trickle in if you play
by the rules and share quality information. (Don’t be afraid to have an opinion and stand out!)
Along the same lines (but slightly different) is a Social Networking tool called Twitter.com
Now, in the name of disclosure, I’m pretty new to Twitter, but I had to check it out after I realized
that I was already getting traffic from other people Twittering about me.

Basically, Twitter is like a group Instant Messenger Chat. You can add as many friends as
you’d like (which is called “following” people). Then, you just chat about what you’re up to.
For instance, when I’m done with this report, I’ll turn it into a pdf and load it on my site for my
readers to enjoy. Then, I’ll Twitter the link to let my followers know what I’ve been up to today.
Whenever I post on my blog, I quickly Twitter it. Not even a minute later, I get a nice little
spike in traffic (and some comments) on my blog.

Hot Tip! Of course, you can make this even more viral by talking about your affiliate program
on Twitter or on the Social Networking Sites above. That way, instead of getting one visitor to
your website, you’re getting a person who can send you additional traffic. You’re tapping into
their lists, their connections, and their traffic instead. Pretty smart, isn’t it?


5. Create something buzz-worthy.

This is a very fun way to get some buzz about your website.

Create something fun and buzz-worthy.

1. Example of Using Graphics Creatively:
www.MarketingComics.com – 15 hilarious comics about Internet Marketing – some
may hit a little close to home! ;)

2. Example of Using Video Creatively: www.DinnerTimeVideo.com – a video to promote a family menu planning service.

If you’re not a very creative person, then you can certainly hire someone on elance.com to
create an item for you. I’ve worked with illustrators on elance.com and I’ve had good luck so
far. Just communicate your requirements clearly so there are no misunderstandings. In fact,
after I write out my project requirements, I run the wording by two of my assistants and ask
them to tell me what it says in their own words before posting it just to make sure it’s clear.

Once your project is completed, then spread the word.
  • · Blog about it.
  • · Tell your lists.
  • · If you’ve created a video, submit it to YouTube.com and Video.Google.com and all of the other video sites.
  • · Also submit it to Digg.com, Reddit.com, StumbleUpon.com and all of the other hot social networking sites for exposure.
  • Of course, if you have an affiliate program, set it up so your affiliates can link to your
  • creation, as well!
6. Your Own Affiliate Program!

I promised that I’d save the best for last, and I sure did. I even hinted (not so subtly)
throughout this report about my favorite method of traffic generation.
Let me lay it on the line here. I told you at the beginning of this report that I quickly came up
with 26 methods of generating traffic off the top of my head. I’m sure, if I sat and thought a
bit longer I could easily make that 100 or more.
Just a few ideas from my list…
  • · Squidoo
  • · Stumble Upon
  • · Digg/Reddit/etc.
  • · Article Marketing
  • · Ezine Advertising
  • · Google Adwords
  • · Craigslist
  • · Offering Resale Rights
  • · Webinars
  • · Teleseminars
  • · Offline Marketing
  • · Twitter
  • · Forums
  • · Joint Ventures
  • · Press Releases
  • · Creating Viral Software & Tools
  • · PayPerPost
  • · Utterz
  • · Viral Free Reports
  • · Starting your Own Podcast
  • · Search Engine Optimization
  • · Blogging
Are you an expert in each of those things? No? Me, neither. I know quite a bit about each
(more about some than others), but I wouldn’t consider myself an expert in every single one
of those in any way, shape or form.

Do I have time to learn about and do each of those things on a regular basis? Not a chance. It
would be insane to even try to do each of these things each day – or even every week.
This is where an affiliate program comes in handy.

My affiliates are experts in these areas. Where there is only one ME with only 24 hours each
day, my affiliates are many.

  • · My affiliates have created Squidoo lenses to promote my products.
  • · They’ve StumbledUpon pages with links to me.
  • · They’ve posted about my free reports on Craigslist.
  • · They’ve set up Adwords campaigns.
  • · They’re blogging about my products.
  • · They’re posting on forums with signature links promoting my products.
  • · They are making graphics for my free reports, before I can even do it!

Hell, I can’t keep up with everything they’re doing, but I know it’s a lot more than I could be
doing alone.

You can train your affiliates to do more in a day than you can do alone in a month’s time.

You’ll get more done, and you’ll stay a lot saner in the process.

With a little effort and guidance, any group of affiliates can be turned loose onto the world
with the tools to succeed.

The good new is that you don’t have to figure it out alone. My Friend Jimmy D. Brown created a free
ecourse that outlines the absolute BASICS that any affiliate program must have in order to
thrive.

It’s called the "5 Practices of Wildly Profitable Affiliate Programs”. And, it’s free.
And, yes, I highly recommend it.

Click here to get the free ecourse right now.

The ecourse is an introduction to Jimmy’s full “S.A.L.E.S. A.R.M.Y. Secrets” course, which is
the best I’ve seen. (And as an affiliate manager, I’ve seen many.)

I don’t know about you, but I did not start a business to work around the clock, making myself
sick. I started it to have the FREEDOM to work when I wanted to. A successful affiliate
program can help you achieve that goal.

Wishing you much success,

 Erin J Carney

© 2010 Erin J Carney - All Rights Reserved.

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Top 10 Stories by Stephen King.

 

10.   Everything’s Eventual (Short Story)

Published in Everything’s Eventual:  14 Dark Tales, this quirky tale follows Dinky Earnshaw, our 19-year-old narrator who has the uncanny ability to draw pictures that kill people.  A mysterious man from a mysterious corporation gives Dinky a house to live in, a car to drive, plenty of money, and pretty much anything he could ever ask for in return for Dinky drawing his pictures (Dinky, as our hero, has no idea the power his pictures wield).  Even as the truth of what he’s doing starts to dawn on Dinky, he starts to realize that the mysterious corporation is not what it seems, and that the people he’s killing might not be the bad guys after all.  Dinky makes an appearance in King’s opus The Dark Tower series, where the mysterious corporation is shown to be linked to the Crimson King.

9. Low Men in Yellow Coats (Novella)

This Novella appeared in the collection Hearts In Atlantis, and is another offshoot of The Dark Tower series.  Ted Brautigan has escaped from his incarceration as a beam-breaker for the Crimson King.  We don’t really fully understand this until the final book of The Dark Tower series, but we know by the end of “Low Men in Yellow Coats” that Ted is going to work for the bad guys in return for them leaving Bobby alone.  Wait a minute; we may be a little ahead of ourselves.  Ted moves into the same apartment building as Bobby Garfield, the child of a single mother who is sleeping with her boss.  Which is scandalous, especially in 1960.  Ted and Bobby form a friendship that makes his mother very suspicious.  Ted lets Bobby know that he (Ted) is being chased by “low men in yellow coats” who put up lost pet signs and draw stars and moons on the sidewalk.  Bobby meets Carol, a lovely young girl who also develops a strong affinity for Ted.  Carol gets attacked, Ted tries to help her, Bobby’s mom walks in at an inopportune moment and we find out that she calls and turns Ted in to the “Can-Toi”, or the low men in yellow coats.  Sound confusing?  Give it a read.  We guarantee you’ll enjoy it.

8.  Misery

Annie Wilkes is Paul Sheldon’s “number one fan”.  Paul writes Annie’s favorite stories about Misery Chastain, a tragic heroine who Paul has the nerve to kill off in what was supposed to be the final Misery novel.  It just figures that Paul would just so happen to get into a car accident right near Annie’s house.  She rescues him, takes him to her house, and at first it seems that Paul’s really lucked out.  He has a “number one fan” to take care of him.  It turns out that Annie is completely off her rocker, and that Paul isn’t so lucky after all.  Made into a movie with James Caan and the incomparable Kathy Bates (who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Annie), the movie was not near as disturbing as the book.  Trust us.

7. Carrie

What can we say?  King can really write crazy.  Carrie was published in 1974 and has been a banned book in schools all over the U.S.  It’s also been widely adapted:  two feature films, a TV movie, and even a Broadway musical.  Not too shabby for a manuscript that Stephen King threw away initially.

6. The Long Walk

Published under King’s nom de plume, Richard Bachman, The Long Walk takes place in an alternate universe where life in these United States is more like life in a police state, where teenage boys are forced to take the “long walk” and are killed by soldiers for their indiscretions.  It is a well-crafted, fully horrifying piece of work.

5. Rage

Also published under the name Richard Bachman, this psychological thriller/teenage horror story is so powerful and has so many social implications that Stephen King has decided for it to stay out of print forever.  Since the odds are pretty slim that you’ll get to read this one, we’ll give you a short plot synopsis.  Charlie Decker is an angry young man.  So angry, in fact, that he beats a teacher with a wrench, grabs his pistol out of his locker, sets his locker on fire, and then shoots two teachers.  As if that wasn’t enough, he holds a classroom full of his fellow students hostage.  Disturbing, but not an original story, right?  The catch is that the story sounds familiar because of things that have happened since Rage was published.  Added to the fact that the story is much more interesting than just a disturbed kid.  The dialog between Charlie and his hostages is riveting, and the story is a testament to how horrible teen life can be and how angry life can make a child that is having a hard time becoming an adult.  Unfortunately, copies of the book were found in the possession of real-life kids who were angry and messed-up enough to commit similar crimes.  Hence, it is out of print.

4. Wizard and Glass (A Dark Tower Novel)

Let’s face it.  This series is Stephen King’s opus, and so many of his works weave into it.  Since we’re doing this list based on stand-alone works, we didn’t include the whole series.  That’s OK, because some of the books are better than the others.  This is one of them.  This is the story that, most notably, talks about Roland of Gilead’s history, and what a history it is.  This is one of the best-crafted, wondrous, disturbing quest stories of all time, not just in Stephen King’s world.

3. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption

This story comes from the short story collection Different Seasons, which was also the book with “Apt Pupil” and “The Body”, both of which were made into feature films.  So was “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”.  As great as the film was, the story is better.  It is rich and delightfully told, and you should read it.  Today.  You won’t be sorry.

2. The Gunslinger (A Dark Tower Novel)

“The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed.”  If you’ve read this book, that line gives you chills.  A poem by Robert Browning called “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” was the unlikely inspiration for this 12-year-in-development labor of love.  Funny enough, Browning’s poem is said to have come to him in a dream, fully formed in iambic pentameter.  The title of the poem comes from Shakespeare’s King Lear.  Shakespeare got the idea for Edgar’s rant from a fairy tale called “Childe Rowland”, which incidentally takes its inspiration from a medieval ballad.  One might say that the inspiration for The Gunslinger has inspired many other great works before it.  King has often said that he was on a sort of “auto-pilot” during the creation of The Gunslinger and The Dark Tower novels.  Guided by the spirit of creation, anyone?

1. The Stand

If Stephen King considers The Dark Tower novels to be his “magnum opus”, The Stand is perhaps his greatest masterpiece.  A sprawling and magnificent novel, The Stand takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where most of the human population is dead by the hand of a man-made biological virus/weapon.  An oracle’s dreams draws a group of survivors together to rebuild society, but Randall Flagg has other plans.  And that synopsis barely scratches the surface of this amazing piece of literature.  A bonus for true fans, The Stand is totally linked into The Dark Tower series – Randall Flagg is the villain, there is a superflu, everything is a wasteland but as a stand-alone novel it really holds its salt.
(Courtesy of www.toptenz.net)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

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Affiliate Programs

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As I mentioned on my main page, I strongly recommend that you sign up for as many as you can safely manage.

To Your Success
Steelbrand

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