How many folks out there have read Kings "The Stand"?

[Puglover]

Don't y'all think that we'll be the ones who end up in Boulder and the Rovites/Bushies will be in Las Vegas? Honestly, I picked up the book last night and reread a few chapters. The parallels between the Randy Flagg crowd and the Repukes are almost scary.

[NuckinFutz]

1. Yup,

I've been pondering the similarities for quite a while now.

[amber dog democrat]

2. Funny, I have been drawing the same parallel

Its almost manichean, the way the choices seem to be presented.
There seems to be too much at stake AND I do believe the chimp and his junta are evil.

[alphafemale]

3. If I'm not mistaken there's a prominent FR'er who's SN is Flagg.

I seem to remember someone posting an image from their Gallery even.

[dbt]

4. Cheney is the Walking Man.

Poppy looked at him and said "My son's life for yours. Laws, yes."

:freak:
dbt

[NuckinFutz]

9. I think Dubya himself would be Tom,

not Poppy. "Daddy always said I was a little slow on the upchuck. Laws,yes."

"Moon...that spells tax cut."

Then again, maybe not...Tom wasn't evil...Maybe Dubya's more like Trashcan Man...leaving fire and destruction in his wake wherever he goes.


Edited for second thoughts

[Ducks In A Row]

19. dubya is the idiot setting the fires, what was his name?

[noonwitch]

25. Trashcan man, or trashman

Bumpity, bumpity, My life for You

[tom_paine]

40. No, that's the Bushevik Anthrax Assassin

Which of the many murderous ex-CIA spooks kicked out in the late 70s which now form the backbone of the Bushevik Private Army does THAT title fall to?

Whichever one sent those anthrax letters using CIA anthrax.

But THAT is Bushevik Trash Can man.

[laylah]

5. I have a couple of times...

I lived in Boulder while King was writing it...I used to work at the bank on Pearl Street Mall and would watch him sitting on a bench out front, working on the book. That is my favorite of his, along with the Dark Towers series.

I agree with the paralllels...but who is "our" Randy Flagg? I'm thinkin' * is the firebug, just enjoying blowing sh*t up...maybe Cheney Flagg?

Jenn

[Rowdyboy]

6. Great book!

Hope its not prophetic

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

7. The maladministration is a synthesis.

Karl Rove is Randall Flagg.

Dear Leader is Tom Moon gone terribly wrong. Laws yes. M O O N. That spells Bush.

I have read it several times, including the original version, written in Aramaic and inscribed on clay tablets. ;-)

[Carson]

29. Wasn't Tom's last name "Cullen"?

Granted, it's been awhile since I last read the book, however it is one of my favorites of King's.

[acmavm]

8. Of all King's books, that was the one that really freaked me out.

And remember the beginning? The plague? Seen a lot of that stuff lately haven't we? The bird flus, juanta virus, etc.

I agree, I think Cheney is the Walking Man, although it could be any of them. Wolfie is another one who could qualify. I've read where people have called him the 'most dangerous man on the earth today'.

[Puglover]

11. All you have to do is visit

Freeperville and and similarities between the "folks" there and some of the secondary characters in the book are quite creepy. Either just plain ole EVIL or stupid and misguided. Quite frankly I'm not sure which one scares me the most.

[NuckinFutz]

13. A lot of Harolds there...no doubt

misinformed, used and abused, then thrown away.

[RebelOne]

32. Yes, have read both versions.

[SmileyBoy]

10. I'm currently reading it for the 3rd time.

I don't care what anyone else says, I think the scariest/most compelling part of the book was the proccess of civilization collapsing. Chapter 26 in the uncut version was the scariest thing I ever read in my life.

And yes, I think the Free Zone people would mostly be like us. The Flagg followers were all freeper-types probably.

[drhilarius]

12. Hey, they already have us in Free(speech) Zones.

[Kid_A]

36. I just read the uncut version last spring.

Was Chapter 26 the part with the people in the TV studio killing each other and broadcasting it, and Frannie's watching it wondering why it looks so real? That part really scared me. I think Stephen King really understands humanity's dark side better than any other writer, and The Plague section of this book is proof of that.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

14. Many times...especially the latest edition with about 400 pages that....

...were cut from the original.

Every time I see FratBoy, I'm reminded of Randy Flagg, "The Walkin' Dude".

[Puglover]

15. WOW!

400 MORE pages??? You're kidding....is it fluff? Or does it add more?

[SmileyBoy]

16. It's more of the story, I think.

Although I have never read the original 1978 version, just the uncut 1990 version.

[lapislzi]

18. Rounds it out

There is extra plot and character development. It does not move the story along (which is probably why it was cut in the first place) but it makes for a richer read.

For the record, I think bush would be Harold. Desperate, deluded, clueless.

[NashVegas]

30. It's Unnecessary, IMO

Having read both, I preferred the original. A lot of stuff that was cut out didn't really add a whole lot.

And I really disliked how King and/or his editors kept going back every 5 years to update cultural references, so they could push back the year in which the story was taking place.

[lapislzi]

33. He goes back every 5 years to SELL MORE BOOKS

Keeps him looking fresh in the marketplace. Every time he changes a few chapters around he can re-release the book and generate a new sales curve.

(I'm in publishing. We recycle stuff all the time.)

[NashVegas]

38. I Know.

It may work for 17 year olds who've never read it. For someone acquainted with the story since its first publishing, it looks like fixing what wasn't broke. Looks like a vote of 'no confidence' in the story.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

46. Looks like neither one of you have read the forward in the expanded....

...edition and are shooting from the hip.

[lapislzi]

57. I'm not criticizing King (and I have read the foreword)

I'm sure it's absolutely true that 400 pages were cut by the editors. Then some bright spark at the publishing house decided "hey, we can make some money re-releasing this thing with the excised material!Let's get King to add a little bit to update it." It's standard publishing practice.

No disrespect to authors intended (I AM ONE). Publishing's a business. Everyone's in it to make money. Sure, the authors may answer to their muse, but making a few bucks is also nice.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

45. Did you get the part where I stated that the 400 pages were CUT from...

...the original story? King didn't cut the pages...his original publisher cut the pages.

How is this changing "a few chapters around", or anything close to what you're alleging?

[NashVegas]

54. Yes. We Got That

We were discussing the practice of King re-dating the plague every 5 years or so, and changing the cultural pointers to match. For example, the passage of one character's plane flight. In the first printing of the novel, there is a mention of a teenager reading a rock magazine with some icon on the cover. I don't have that version, but I read it when it first came out and it was David Lee Roth or Steven Tyler or some other huge late '70s rock star. A '80s revision changed the cover to Boy George. With every revision, the person on the cover of the magazine changed.

[pinto]

53. clearly off topic, but that's a big peeve I have with King's publishers.

The constant repackaging....

I assume King assented. By the time I was fried with the marketing his later work had grown redundant.

Great writer, though. I still re read The Stand.

[Enraged_Ape]

51. There was a good reason this stuff was edited out the first time

Editors do serve a useful purpose, you know. It took me a whole summer to make it through the expanded version because I kept falling asleep reading it, unlike the original.

And did anybody notice how Harold's candy bar fetish went from Snickers to PayDay bars in the expanded version? I wonder if the M&M/Mars people complained.

[NashVegas]

56. Found This

http://members.tripod.com/~dave667/Mistakes

"In the first version of The Stand Harold's candy bars were called Paydays. But when the book was published someone pointed out to Stephen King that the (original) Paydays weren't chocolate coated, so in the paperback version Stephen King changed it to Milky Ways. Later, when the uncut version was published he used the Payday candy bars again because they were on the market in 1990."

[Enraged_Ape]

58. PayDays are chocolate coated again?

I just had one yesterday and it was naked peanuts and nougat.

I liked the Milky Way reference better because the messy, chocolatey gooey-ness fit with Harold's character.

[telamachus]

17. Anyone see the recent...

stories about a killer flu in asia and the fact the they lost 1/2 of next years vaccine (Medicine?)

[ElsewheresDaughter]

20. yes and yes...i'm having dreams of the old lady on the porch .....

in the middle of a cornfield too .....tubeneck flu :scared:

[Cheswick2.0]

21. Who is our mystic figure ...the old lady who tells us which way to go?

Kerry would be the person who ends up governing the town, but who is our spiritual (so to speak) leader?

[cprise]

22. The "old lady" isn't a person. She's a continent. n/t

[Kelli372]

23. Michael Moore, of course

[noonwitch]

24. Oprah!

Except she's not old.

[prolesunited]

43. Oprah?

:shrug:

[MagicBoy]

44. The Sage Mystic?

Randi Rhodes!

Of course.

[Cleita]

26. This was the very first book I ever read by Stephen King.

His allegory of good and evil certainly makes the Vegas crowd look like today's neo-cons. I feel though that the real life Vegas residents are so pissed off about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump proposed, that the whole state of Nevada will probably vote for Kerry/Edwards. One can keep ones fingers crossed.

[cmf]

27. One of my favorites

I read it once a year.

The Repukes would definitely be the ones in Vegas. They are all about money and power, but covering it with a veneer of morality. Remember in Flagg's Las Vegas - there was no drinking, drugs, etc.

[skygazer]

28. Great book

And yes, I always thought his breakdown of the types of people who would gravitate to Flagg as opposed to those who would coalesce around Mother Abigail was interesting. Very much like the differences between right and left - those who wanted strict order and direction went to Flagg whereas those who were more interested in a community oriented society went to Mother A. Let's hope our Stand ends the same way!

[RandomKoolzip]

31. Kerry is Stu, Dean is Glen Bateman.

Larry Underwood is Clinton (baby, can you dig your man?)

[WVRevy]

34. Awesome thread, guys

This has got to be the funniest...and at the same time, the scariest...damn thread I've seen on this board to date...lol

Might I make a suggestion for the part of "Mother Abigail"...Not female, and far from old....How about a certain soon-to-be-Senator from Illinois ? I don't know anyone else in the party that speaks with such clarity to the very heart of what it means to be on our side...

[Efilroft Sul]

35. Dude, Mother Abigail is...

Helen Thomas. Nobody else comes close.

[THUNDER HANDS]

37. it was a great miniseries

well, the first half anyway. The second half was laughably bad.

[donco6]

39. Great Book

Yes the parallels are eerie.

[Shadoobie]

41. How prescient is King?

The Stand has always been my favorite book by my favorite author (followed by It). I have always thought that King is at his best when writing about people with great characterization.

On a side note, is King prescient? Besides the chracters in The Stand, does anyone recall the ending of The Running Man (book NOT the movie) written under the Bachman alias?

Greg

[T Town Jake]

42. And playing "Nadine"? Ann Coulter is my nominee...

for that role... Great book! One of King's best.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

47. Or Barbara Olson.

[lpbk2713]

49. Nadine had some redeeming values in the end.

That surely rules out Annthrax.

[fedupwithbush]

48. One of my all time favorite books.

Yes, I agree with you totally. Check out another book you'll love too if you liked that one.

The name is Swan Song. I think the author is Robert McCammon but I loaned it out to a friend. It's another I've reread several times over the years. Sorry, I'm notorious for not remembering authors but I can tell you intimate details about the book itself, lol.

[MrSlayer]

50. I've read it several times, great stuff.

Don't ask me about Old Lady Semple's pension check.

[Cat Atomic]

52. Aren't there a few freepers in the Stand?

Like the former police chief, and some army guy who has reporters shot? Seems like I recall a few freeps for satan.

[jonnyblitz]

55. my favorite book by him although its been years since i read it

I don't remember much about it but I remember it sticks in my head as my most favorite one.

[stavka]

59. Organized Democrats would wind up in Vegas too...

Look at all the Boulder characters...if you can find one that had any political sense I'll send you a dollar........

..and you can't count the judge - he's apolitical...