Diabolically Quenching. Back To Black (Part I) : “The Dark Half” By Stephen King.

I am never a self-professed books aficionado but I love reading books – but not to the extend of describing myself as an obsessive.  My family is a Middle-Class and English at home/neighbourhood was an alien language. How English became an affinity to my sister and I was still a very unfathomable secret I myself can never decipher. Alhamdulillah, I am grateful to ALLAH SWT that I have the passion for language and God-Knows that with English, so many doors are opened for me; bridging me out from the Middle Class cocoon to the Worlds-Beyond-There. So, what mediums used to harness mastery of English? Through READINGS, of course!

Tattoo. Why people equals that to bad? 

Stephen King’s books were the first thick-novels I read – largely thanks to my sister who were fan of King and other horror-genre authors such as Christopher Pike (teensy horror). So, you can pretty much say my original niche was actually THAT type of genre, mostly very dark and graphical in violence, etc. People say reading is harmless; but they forgot one thing – the essence for a good savour in reading is to be able to imagine and immerse into the stories. And when I read books, I imagined as what were written in the books…. and threading lines in Stephen King’s books could be very daunting mentally with the excruciatingly gory scenes … but diabolically quenching…. (,”)

Leather and BDSM are always misunderstood by commoners.

When I started to work at The Bank- primarily by the second half of 2007, I left the reading habit; but once a while I flipped through Harry Potter books (whenever the films were due to release; just to flame the excitement!) but Stephen Kings’ remained in the shelves for so long. However when I went through depression in The Bank throughout 2008, I resort to Stephen King’s and the novels were my solace to siphon my rebel against my real-life back then. To convey these to a living soul would be a tormenting idea; they even will jeer and thought me as a Weirdo (well, I am; in a way!) – but the novels were my solace. I enjoyed “Pet Sematary”, “Salem’s Lot”…..

You know, dark desire is like a bullet waiting to be triggered from a pistol? 

But when I started my KPLI course in 2009 to become teacher, I hardly touch Stephen King’s anymore. Perhaps because I was having best days of my life and finally nailed a career that I guess I will soar to be excellent with, I don’t know. But now, after nearly two years of becoming a full-fledged teacher, I am touching Stephen King’s books again. This time, NOT out of depression because Alhamdulillah, I am leading a very blessed life these days; but out of the urge to reconnect with the Black once more. I always have the feeling I couldn’t shun the Black from my persona. There are part of me that are savage, sadomasochist and sly… behind the innocent childlike facade everyone was accustomed of seeing me with. I don’t know. Of course I won’t enlist what crazy things I did HERE. But I guess in a way, my superficial skin has become a mask for everyone to decipher the weird things I did…do… or will be doing.

Get your balls or pussies fuck out of here. If you are peeping toms. (,”)

Anyway back to my re-encounter with Black. I’ve just finished one of my Stephen King’s MOST favourite novel – “The Dark Half”! I’ve read it back in 2007 and even wrote an entry about it  (at https://undomiel84.wordpress.com/2007/04/18/whimsical-writing-the-dark-half-by-stephen-king/ ) but yeah, it was the time where my narration wasn’t as mature as now (I am kinda a bit flustered and embarrassed when I read the way I wrote few years back; but hey, I’ve grown out of it; what’s there to be ashamed? I am cool!Hahaha!). To read it again is like to relive the Wild inside. The graphic violence put aside – that’s like the mojo of Stephen King; nobody can challenge that or imitate that; it was the gist of the story itself that really empowering.

Thad Beaumont was this successful author who had “block’s writing.” So what he did was to write another novel under a pseudonym – which was George Stark. Under the pseudonym, Beaumont experienced financial success and pretty much the contents of novels under the name Stark were more violence; differed from what the REAL Beaumont usually writes. It was as if Beaumont was having a trance; not being himself when he wrote the novels. With this separate entity, Beaumont felt it was best time to “let go and kill George Stark”. He came out make publicity about it and People Magazine came and did some mocked-pictorial-article on George Stark’s ‘funeral’. And that’s when the horror began….

The 1993 film adaptation of King’s 1988 novel.

The non-existent George Stark materialized; came out from the ‘mock-grave’ and hunted down each people that was responsible in partaking in his ‘funeral’ procession. A merciless, brutal sadistic man, he then confronted Thad Beaumont who then learned that George Stark was actually some sort of smithereens of ghost of his unborn brother! How it could? So happened that while Beaumont was a foetus in his Mother’s womb, he had a twin brother. As nature labelled it as the cannibalism-in-womb (it happens, you know!); the stronger twin CONSUME or rather EAT the weaker twin!!!  Then, 11 years passed by without Beaumont family knowing the truth; Thad was having a concussion that probably leading to possibility of having brain tumour – only that it was discovered that the ‘tumour’ was actually fragment of his unborn twin brother!

Timothy Hutton as both Thad Beaumont & George Stark (oooh, Georgie! Hahaha)

What interested me also was the emergence of sparrows as psychopomps. What are psychopomps? They are creatures responsible to escort the deceased to the AfterLife (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomp). In this novel, the pyschopomps are Sparrows; of which also happened to be an audible sensory Beaumont heard when he had concussion of which supposedly related to the ‘tumour’. These psychopomps were responsible to bring back George Stark back to The Endsville – the After Life.

The supposed People Magazine article of which Thad & Liz Beaumont ‘buried’ George Stark.

The black Toronado of which George Stark supposed to drive. With sticker that says THAT!

Anyway, Stephen King was reported to write this novel as to reflect his own term of dealing with writer’s block. He tried to write under a pseudonym too  (as Richard Bachman) and when someone discovered that, he made a public “coming-out-from-closet”; pretty much like Thad Beaumont. What a brilliant idea to correlate his own life-experience with a gruesome fiction? Salute! On whole, I enjoy this as much I enjoyed reading it for the first time in 2007. I was enthralled with Stephen King’s macabre and brutal descriptions of George Stark – at some point I even pity Stark because he only fought for his survival. Maybe I have strong affinity to his sadomasochism; who knows? I won’t tell out loud. It will only be my only personal secret. (,”)