Hero or Dick - S2, Ep. 7 - The King of Horror

Welcome to another episode of Hero or Dick! 

Horror aficionados, this one's for you – we dedicate a significant portion of our discussion to the king of the macabre, Stephen King. Kate & KJ peel back the layers of King's tumultuous past, from the pain of paternal abandonment to the eerie days spent as a gravedigger, and how these shadows cast a long influence over his writing career. Weaving through tales of financial hardship, the rock-solid bond with his wife Tabitha, and a struggle with addiction, we reveal the man behind the typewriter. His remarkable journey from desperation to literary domination is a masterclass in determination and the power of the written word.

Thanks for listening!

~ Kate & KJ

Transcript

Eclipse, Welding, and Stephen King

Speaker 1 0:01

Hello, welcome to Hero or Dick, season 2., episode 7.

Speaker 2 0:06

Yeah, we know.

Speaker 1 0:07

Beautiful day in. Where are we?

Speaker 2 0:11

Alpena, Michigan, Alpena we're still in Alpena and today's topic is so interesting it is Stephen King.

Speaker 1 0:18

Hey, you know what, though? What I like to sidetrack Before we do that did you watch the Eclipse?

Speaker 2 0:24

I did, did you? Yeah, I was kind of underwhelmed that did you watch the eclipse. I did, did you? Yeah, I was kind of underwhelmed.

Speaker 1 0:27

I know, you know what. I was mistaken because I thought it would get dark.

Speaker 2 0:31

We were not in the and if I hear this word one more time, I'm going to scream but we were not in the totality line. Totality totality, totality. They said 800 times on TV yesterday. Yeah, we went out and watched it. We had the special goggles and stuff and I was like I don't know, it's the sun and moon.

Speaker 1 0:53

I expected more yeah, I expected more from them.

Speaker 2 0:57

There's such a big yeah you know, larger than life things, the sun you know what is uh, could you?

Speaker 1 1:03

do something more than that they were pretty underwhelming, you know, it's like maybe if you were in direct line they were oh yeah, like people further down and you can't look at it directly because you will lose your eyesight.

Speaker 2 1:15

And actually I've had a detached retina and some other eye problems, so I wasn't really gonna stare at the sun anyway not even with the glasses no, I, I did. I looked through the goggles. They look like a scoop diving mask.

Speaker 1 1:28

What are they welding? Goggles or something? No, but I was going to use my welding mask.

Speaker 2 1:34

We'll get to that later, so I looked through it and I was like you know, I guess.

Speaker 1 1:40

Good for you. I was trying to be the cheerleader because I was so excited about it. I was trying to be the cheerleader because I was so excited about it and I was amping the family up about it Because for some reason, I thought it would be darker.

Speaker 2 1:51

And it was very. It didn't get dark here and so they humored me.

Speaker 1 1:53

They're like ha ha, yeah, that's really cool.

Speaker 2 1:55

Yeah, dad's crazy.

Speaker 1 1:56

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:57

I think that people who work liked it because you could take a break from work and go outside and look at it without getting in trouble. Really the people I talked to. But yeah, I was kind of underwhelmed so I guess maybe I'll wait for the next one, Maybe I'll be in the totality line. Totality, that's not even a word. I think they made it up for this eclipse Well, but yes, the eclipse was yesterday. It'll be in the Urban Dictionary April 9th.

Speaker 1 2:25

April 9th. I'm going to sneeze, oh my God. Oh, I'll try not to Keep going. What about the? Are you going to talk about that one thing or no?

Speaker 2 2:31

Which thing? Oh yeah, so yes, no, Sunday I started welding classes.

Speaker 1 2:37

Now I got to ask what? Why?

Speaker 2 2:40

welding Are you?

Speaker 1 2:40

welding jewelry or are you welding like?

Speaker 2 2:42

structural steel. No, we're welding big stuff.

Speaker 1 2:44

Do you want a job? I can get you one, we'll see.

Speaker 2 2:50

It's something that I always wanted to try and see if I like it Do you like it, I do like it, it's really fun. The laser welding. Where you're laser, you know you have that welder. It is so satisfying. Oh shit to rip the shit out of that.

Speaker 1 3:07

It's just satisfying.

Speaker 2 3:09

I have to really work on my. You know, like the I'm not even sure the term for it yet but like the soldering, welding, where you're putting a bead on it. I really need to work on that. That didn't come easy. But that laser welding I will laser people in half now and I love the garb that you wear. You wear big heavy boots and have a big welding jacket and you put this helmet on. You look like Darth Vader. It's like a don't fuck with me outfit.

Speaker 1 3:41

Is this something you're doing like a private welding class, or are you taking it?

Speaker 2 3:44

somewhere I'm taking it at. Industrial Arts, something in Onaway.

Speaker 1 3:53

And it's a part of Moran Ironworks.

Speaker 2 3:55

And there were four people. It's ornamental welding, so you know you're going to make something ornamental. I'm not going to get a job as a deep sea underwater welder. So there were four people in the class. Two people dropped out, so it's only myself and my neighbor, hey, suzanne, and they didn't have a teacher for it. So they're like, all right, well, we couldn't find a teacher. We're in between teachers right now instructors. So Tom Moran's going to be the instructor.

Speaker 1 4:24

You get the man, the man Nice.

Speaker 2 4:26

Oh my gosh, such an honor.

Speaker 1 4:28

Yeah.

Speaker 2 4:29

And he is a great instructor.

Speaker 1 4:31

Talented.

Speaker 2 4:32

Yeah, so I'm thrilled I'm only one class in. I have six more to go. Okay, so I'll keep you posted.

Speaker 1 4:38

That's really cool. Yeah, that was very cool, good for you. Yeah so that's what I got. Anything Good for you? Yeah, so that's what I got. Anything you want to share before we dive into Stephen King? I can't share all the stuff. I got.

Speaker 2 4:48

Stephen King can write a book about it instead, yes, yes. So Stephen King. Yeah, modest upbringing is what I read Very modest.

Speaker 1 4:58

He grew up in a home without indoor plumbing.

Speaker 2 5:00

Oh, I didn't read that and this was in the 60s. Yeah.

Speaker 1 5:06

Jeez Stephen. He had some childhood trauma. He did I mean beside the fact that his dad literally went out for cigarettes and never came back. Yes, cigarettes are bad for you. Yeah, and then he also had some trauma. He had a childhood playmate who ran over by a frickin' freight train, a train.

Speaker 2 5:25

So they're outside playing and the friend gets hit and run over by a train. Yeah, he says he's repressed it. I think it comes out every time he writes.

Speaker 1 5:34

Yeah, I think so too.

Speaker 2 5:36

I think how can you repress that? Yeah?

Speaker 1 5:38

I mean, that's you got to wonder if?

Speaker 2 5:41

well, obviously I think that was writing was his way to deal with some things.

Speaker 1 5:44

Yeah, her, um, if well obviously I think that was writing was his way to deal with some things. Yeah, yeah. And then what I had to was that, um, he worked as a grave digger as a teenager um, I think that has affected him as well. Yeah, and he contributed to his uh brother's newsletter called dave's rag uh and was first published when he was a grave digger in the Comics Review. But anyway, go ahead.

Speaker 2 6:05

The only other thing I had about his childhood was after his dad left again when he was two and there was just himself and his brother and his mom. She went to work at a place called Pineland, which is a residential facility for mentally challenged people.

Speaker 1 6:22

So this guy probably went and visited mom, maybe heard the stories from mom.

Speaker 2 6:26

It's all adding up. I'm thinking. I'm thinking he did. Oh so his dad was a writer too, but not a published writer. And so one time and I'm not sure exactly where I read this but he discovered his father's old book in their attic. And it wasn't a book that he wrote, it was a book by HP Lovecraft.

Speaker 1 6:58

Yeah.

Speaker 2 7:00

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Did you ever read that? Nope, I have not either, so I have no idea what it's about. But Stephen King said I knew that I'd found home when I read this book.

Speaker 1 7:14

That's awesome.

Speaker 2 7:15

And I hope that everybody has a book like that or books like that. As soon as you read it, you think yep, this book was written for me.

Speaker 1 7:23

What one's yours?

Speaker 2 7:25

Oh my gosh. Right offhand I'm going to say when I was a kid I can't tell you how many times I read Harriet the Spy. Really, I love that book. I just recently reread it too, and you know what? I still love it.

Speaker 1 7:38

See, it's awesome.

Speaker 2 7:39

I do.

Speaker 1 7:39

Very cool yeah.

Speaker 2 7:40

Very cool, yeah. So that made him want to read and want to write. Went to University of Maine. He wasn't born in Maine, though was he no, but they moved to. Oh, they lived in Connecticut maybe, but then they came back to Maine to take care of a grandfather, maybe her mom's parents. So they lived in Maine for most of his life. Because if you've read anything or if you know anything about Stephen King, a lot of his stories happen in Maine and he knows.

Speaker 2 8:19

Maine and he loves Maine, and you know what Maine loves him. Yeah, and we'll get into that later he knows Maine and he loves Maine and you know what Maine loves him?

Speaker 1 8:26

Yeah, and he's we'll get to that later but he's really helped that whole area with his donation, him and his wife both.

Speaker 2 8:32

Yes, his wife too. He went to University of Maine, was active in student politics and this was during the Vietnam era. Yep Draftboard found him 4F because of high blood pressure, flat feet, punctured eardrums. And did you ever see his glasses? Pretty thick. Limited vision, a little thick, limited vision. So yeah, he graduated in 1970. I love that he met his wife, tabitha, while they were students and they both worked in a library.

Speaker 1 9:08

Yeah, that was pretty cool they met there.

Speaker 2 9:10

That's kismet right there. Yeah, couldn't find work as a teacher, so he got a job as a gravedigger, mm-hmm, mm-hmm and an industrial laundry person, and he also occasionally sold short stories.

Speaker 1 9:23

And he pumped gas. Oh, did he? Yeah, that was a little after they got married well, yeah, and all of it, yeah. I guess during that time you know, jobs weren't just like they are falling out of trees now right yeah um, yeah, that first story that he got published and paid for what I found was called the glass floor uh, it was in college. Yes, yeah, 35 bucks, I think he got paid.

Speaker 2 9:45

He didn't get much, but you know, as a writer it's nice just to be published. I love his short stories too.

Speaker 1 9:55

Oh my God, that's what got me turned on to King reading the short stories.

Speaker 2 9:58

Reading the short stories, I think, and you know it takes. I'm kind of giving away whether he's a hero or a dick, and you know it takes. I'm kind of giving away whether he's a hero or a dick. Well, maybe not, but it takes a really talented person to be able to write a convincing and detailed short story. And also, then you look at some of his books 11, 22, 63. That book is like thousands of pages long. It took me years to read that book.

Speaker 1 10:27

Well, you know he was or.

Speaker 2 10:28

Needful Things. That thing's sick.

Speaker 1 10:30

He said that he was pretty coked up for some of those books. Some of those books like I don't remember writing that A guy like this he struggled with addiction, Not only alcoholism but cocaine and he said that, yeah, he doesn't remember writing Cujo. And he said that, yeah, he doesn't remember writing Cujo and he regrets it because he wanted to know how he actually did some of that stuff.

Speaker 2 10:46

How, did they do that? He said the.

Speaker 1 10:48

Tommyknockers was totally cocaine-fueled and that he wishes it wouldn't have been because it wouldn't have been that long.

Speaker 2 10:55

Oh, it would have cut some out.

Speaker 1 10:57

And then, you know, the first time I think it was he conquered addiction. It was because of a family intervention. Yes, so it's got to be pretty bad if your family's doing that. Speaking of the addiction, it's kind of tied to an accident, right?

Speaker 2 11:19

He got hit by a van. Yes, he was over his addiction by then.

Speaker 1 11:23

I thought yeah but then he got hooked on Oxycontin. Yeah, mm-hmm. Yeah, how did you like that whole thing about the guy that hit him? That was bizarre.

Speaker 2 11:31

There was okay, yeah, so go through the circumstances.

Speaker 1 11:34

Okay. So he was taking a walk on some country road near his house In.

Speaker 2 11:37

Maine.

Speaker 1 11:38

In Maine and the guy hit him from behind and the guy who hit him actually had had a history of DUIs and just being a shitbag.

Speaker 2 11:46

Had his own addictions.

Speaker 1 11:47

Actually, he wasn't, I don't think. I think he was sober when he was driving and he was actually fucking with his dog. His dog was messing around.

Speaker 2 11:55

Was his dog's name, cujo, that would have been awesome, oh God.

Speaker 1 11:59

And so, anyway, he hit Stephen King and the guy gets a light sentence, I think six months, or I don't even know what it was. But the whole point is that King was pretty pissed off, and he was rightfully so really angry.

Speaker 2 12:20

And then this guy that did this actually died of an overdose about a year later on Stephen King's birthday, september 21st, and Stephen King bought the van, I didn't know that. Because he was afraid that a deranged fan would buy it.

Speaker 1 12:32

Okay.

Speaker 2 12:33

And do something deranged with it. So he bought the van, cut it up or had it scrapped.

Speaker 1 12:43

Well, a guy that wrote Christine might be worried about a man.

Speaker 2 12:47

You know, maybe the guy's spirits are possessing it. Well, he took care of it, though, before a deranged fan could.

Speaker 1 12:56

And speaking of deranged fans, sorry, I actually have information this time. I actually did some research.

Speaker 2 13:01

Oh my god, good for you.

Speaker 1 13:03

He wrote under the pseudonym Richard Bachman for a time. And he wrote a story called Rage and that was he worked to get that pulled from publication because the incidents depicted in the book actually became all too real.

Speaker 2 13:18

It was a book about a troubled teen boy who shoots his algebra teacher and attacks students with the wrench. And uh, then there was a a real incident 1997 where a teen shot eight people in kentucky and a copy service or something right oh, I thought it was at school, maybe, maybe A copy of Rage. The book was found in his locker and once Stephen King found that out, he demanded that the book be taken out of print. And it remains out of print to this day.

Speaker 1 13:54

If you hear a little noise in the background, it's not us with gas.

Speaker 2 13:57

It's Stephen King, but nobody's.

Speaker 1 14:01

There's a little busy work going on. Next door we're expanding our studio. Yeah, doesn't do that. There's a little busy work going on.

Speaker 2 14:04

next door we're expanding our studio yeah yeah, yeah, yeah that is interesting and scary, and it weighs heavy on him that he thinks that that blame belongs to him.

Speaker 1 14:17

For giving somebody the idea. Here's the thing. They kind of went through that guy's locker and found a cherry chapstick. Does that mean everybody that has cherry chapstick? You know what I mean? I get it. I see the direct correlation.

Speaker 2 14:29

But I mean, if I was an author, I would feel that way too, I think.

Speaker 1 14:33

I guess, I would Well you, you're a nice person too.

Speaker 2 14:37

Yeah, I care.

Speaker 1 14:43

Um, that reminds me of another story. I told Brooke this the other day, my beautiful wife Brooke, that I have to mention every podcast because we were talking about this topic. King. But actually my favorite story of his was a short story, I think it was called. I read a long time ago Suffer the Children, oh did he write? That? I think so, wasn't it where he, the teacher, is an old lady and she's in front of the class and she keeps seeing the kids' faces change shape and form?

Speaker 2 15:11

It's not by him.

Speaker 1 15:12

Oh, I got the title wrong, I guess. Huh, he wrote a story anyway about this lady who is a teacher and flips out and takes the kids and shoots them in a room one by one.

Speaker 2 15:25

Oh, mm-hmm, teacher's revenge.

Speaker 1 15:28

If I'm wrong on that, somebody let me know. I'm pretty sure that's it.

Speaker 2 15:31

Yeah, you'll have to fact check that one.

Speaker 1 15:33

I think it was in Graveyard Shift.

Speaker 2 15:37

I love his short story so much. My favorite book came out in 1982. I've read it numerous times. It's called different seasons oh yeah and it's four novellas uh, the body stand by me, which is stand by me, rita hayworth and the shawshank redemption, and I didn't write the other two down. One is about a german, it's uh, it's got nazis in it. Damn Nazis, damn Nazis. They make good reading, though.

Speaker 1 16:05

Sorry.

Speaker 2 16:07

But his first success was thrown away by him and picked out of the garbage by Tabitha.

Speaker 1 16:14

Tabitha's, his wife.

Speaker 2 16:15

His lovely wife. She saved it. It is the novel and movie more than one movie called Carrie and it was inspired by a real girl that he knew in high school. That was kind of ostracized I mean, who doesn't like that? And he thought he was so rich when he got his $2,500 advance for that Carrie story that he bought a Ford Pinto which later came into play in Cujo.

Speaker 1 16:47

Those were bad. They exploded right the gas tank in the back.

Speaker 2 16:50

They could, they could. We had one that never exploded. You did, didn't you?

Speaker 1 16:53

Yeah, we did. Then he ended up getting $400,000 for the paperback rights.

Speaker 2 16:57

Can you believe that?

Speaker 1 16:59

And then that was it, that was it.

Speaker 2 17:01

After that smooth sailing.

Speaker 1 17:04

Not smooth.

Speaker 2 17:04

He got hit by vehicles and addiction Addiction.

Speaker 1 17:08

Yeah.

Speaker 2 17:11

At one point, though, they did move to Colorado Mountains, and they visited an old hotel near the end of the season, which became the Shining. It was only his third novel. The other thing I read about that was that he wasn't happy with the movie. And damn, he's the only one that wasn't happy with that movie.

Speaker 1 17:29

Because I love that movie. It's a great movie.

Speaker 2 17:31

It's a great movie.

Speaker 1 17:31

Very scary.

Speaker 2 17:32

It's super scary, those twins.

Speaker 1 17:35

Yeah, and just Jack Torrance.

Speaker 2 17:37

Redrum.

Speaker 1 17:38

Redrum. And then that weird scene when they look in that room and there's some funky stuff going on in there.

Speaker 2 17:45

And then that lady in the bathtub. Oh yeah See, scary, scary. When he was burying his cat's daughter, or his daughter's cat, that led to Pet Sematary, awesome. So the moral to all of that is that write what you know.

Speaker 1 18:02

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 18:02

Everything can be an idea, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So just know that. Think of that every time you've got something going on. Yeah, no kidding, hey I can make a story out of this.

Speaker 1 18:11

I've got a lot of writing to do.

Speaker 2 18:14

Write what you know. The other thing that he said is he has over 17,000 books in his possession. He's got a big library, oh, that's right.

Speaker 1 18:27

I saw a picture, a video and they said, yes, he's read them all.

Speaker 2 18:32

I don't know if I believe that. Right, but I believe he is a reader.

Speaker 1 18:37

I wonder if he read Suck for the Children.

Speaker 2 18:39

I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 18:40

Go ahead.

Speaker 2 18:41

I kind of looked that up. He did say you've got to read if you want to write Yep, and I think that's very true. I agree and I like that. He and John Grisham did a Zoom meeting for the world during COVID, did they? They did. I watched it.

Speaker 1 19:01

Is it good?

Speaker 2 19:02

Yeah, it was kind of interesting. It's a couple of little bubbles talking about books and writing. But they're both so talented. I think that, yeah, it was good.

Speaker 1 19:15

What did you just say that made me think of?

Stephen King

Speaker 2 19:16

something. Let's see. The other thing that I found out that he did was he is very supportive of young or up and coming writers not even young. Just you know, once people, people don't know the writers he's willing to promote and he helps small bookstores. He's very promoting of them. He also has Dollar Babies, which is he offers the rights to some of his short stories for a dollar. Check his website and then people can make movies about them. Yep, and then they have Dollar Baby Festivals.

Speaker 1 19:59

Nice.

Speaker 2 20:01

How many people who have made it are doing that? Jk Rowling, she's not doing that.

Speaker 1 20:08

Right. Who would have wanted to fight JK Rowling or Stephen King?

Speaker 2 20:12

Well, he's pretty frail, but he could get transgender people to help him and she could not.

Speaker 1 20:17

He could probably summon some. He could summon Some spirits.

Speaker 2 20:21

He should watch Carrie.

Speaker 1 20:23

Yeah, you know he's a member of the Rock Bottom Remainders. He's in a band?

Speaker 2 20:28

Oh, is that a band. He's a guitar player. Is he a bass player?

Speaker 1 20:31

Guitar, just guitar, just guitar, rhythm guitar Okay.

Speaker 2 20:35

I don't know, I have no idea. Oh, okay, we don't know.

Speaker 1 20:37

I was going to say Bakes. There's some. Amy Tan is in the band there's some other writers.

Speaker 2 20:41

Oh, so what's their name?

Speaker 1 20:43

Rock Bottom.

Speaker 2 20:44

Remainers Nothing to do with authors.

Speaker 1 20:46

No oh.

Speaker 2 20:51

And then he wrote a musical with John Mellencamp About John.

Speaker 1 20:54

Mellencamp. No, with him, and it's about Sleeping Beauties, I don't know, oh, no, sorry, Sleeping Beauties. He wrote with his son, owen King, the musical with John Mellencamp and it played at a few local places, wherever John Mellencamp is.

Speaker 2 21:06

I thought that was pretty cool. That is cool, you can see those two get together. Though I can see those two yeah.

Speaker 1 21:12

How's John doing these days?

Speaker 2 21:13

I think he's okay, I saw him not too long ago.

Speaker 1 21:16

He had cancer, didn't he? You saw him, was he in town?

Speaker 2 21:19

He was not in town. I mean I saw an interview with him.

Speaker 1 21:22

He won't quit smoking.

Speaker 2 21:24

He won't quit smoking.

Speaker 1 21:26

Might kill him.

Speaker 2 21:27

It probably will. I'm good with that.

Speaker 1 21:30

He's old. Whatever, it's John Mellencamp.

Speaker 2 21:32

It's John Mellencamp.

Speaker 1 21:33

What are you going to do?

Speaker 2 21:35

Well, I'm not going to talk sense into him, no.

Speaker 1 21:39

What else we got here? Oh, what else we got here. Oh, he's a baseball fanatic Loves the Red Sox Loves the baseball Wrote a book with a guy in 2014 about the Red Sox run to the pennant.

Speaker 2 21:49

So that was interesting. Another, going back to write what you know, he always wrote, no matter what. Yep, Even if you write it, write it, write it and don't use it, Kind of like a lot of things. You just gotta. It's the process. Sometimes you get good outcome, sometimes you don't. And good God if you write over how many books.

Speaker 1 22:13

Five billion.

Speaker 2 22:14

Well, I was looking for a closer number. Oh, over 65 published novels and novellas and over 200 short stories. Some are going to suck.

Speaker 1 22:26

Yeah, you have to write the shitty stuff to get to the good stuff.

Speaker 2 22:28

Those are just published ones, so I'm sure he has a lot of shitty ones. Yeah, 2,000 words a day.

Speaker 1 22:34

That's his minimum goal.

Speaker 2 22:35

Wow, that's a lot. Not everyone loves him Some people hate him. Lots of people Book critics say he dumbed down the US. Well at least people are reading, it's true, but ouch, he's pretty vocal on Twitter.

Speaker 1 22:53

I actually ceased following him. Not that I disagree with him on things, but it was just he's man. He ripped the shit out of people.

Speaker 2 23:02

He is very political too.

Speaker 1 23:04

Like him and John Cusack would probably get along. Oh, cusack is super political too oh, is he super political.

Speaker 2 23:10

And I um asked somebody who loves uh stephen king what she liked about him and she said he's a democrat who respects his wife and women in general.

Speaker 1 23:21

Oh, he does yeah.

Speaker 2 23:22

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 23:23

Well, if it wasn't for Tabitha, Carrie would be in the fucking dumpster somewhere.

Speaker 2 23:28

Yeah, where would Stephen King be Coked?

Speaker 1 23:30

out on the side of the road hit by a man.

Speaker 2 23:31

Yeah, she would have divorced him a long time ago. Mm-hmm, what's your favorite Stephen King book? Suffer, I'm sorry I can't say it's not for the children, because we're getting back to that one.

Speaker 1 23:41

No, I really like the short story book Graveyard Shift yes, graveyard.

Speaker 2 23:44

Shift. I asked Cassidy.

Speaker 1 23:46

Dolores Claiborne's pretty good.

Speaker 2 23:48

Oh.

Speaker 1 23:48

With the Eclipse stuff. Yeah, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Speaker 2 23:52

I want to watch it. That is interesting that you said that, because every time I Googled Stephen King, dolores Claiborne came up. Eclipse, cassidy said Salem's Lot and Needful Things.

Speaker 1 24:03

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 24:04

And Jennifer, my sister-in-law, who is a huge Stephen King fan, said Desperation, oh, and Hearts in Atlantis. That's how big of a fan she is. We don't even know these.

Speaker 1 24:17

I know I did order Hearts of Atlantis. I think I have all the books. My mom actually would always buy me Stephen King from when I was little. And I have all the books. My mom actually would always buy me Stephen King from when I was little and I have like a ton of them. What about the Green Mile?

Speaker 2 24:27

That's a good one.

Speaker 1 24:28

Didn't he release that in series?

Speaker 2 24:30

I think it was a series.

Speaker 1 24:32

And he did some other ones too.

Speaker 2 24:33

That were series Under the Dome, which was a great book, but, man, did you ever see the series of it? It was like a prime. Oh my God, it sucked it was so bad. But it sucked me in too, and I was watching it during COVID, I don't know when it came out. I was like this is horrible. But, I gotta keep watching it. And they're stuck under this dome, you know, because that's the whole premise of it.

Speaker 2 24:59

So the premise is really cool, but it's like how are you finding shampoo? You guys should be out of shampoo like a long time ago. You're under the dome, yeah.

Speaker 1 25:07

They're making it down there.

Speaker 2 25:08

I don't know. They kept finding a stash of Prout.

Speaker 1 25:11

What about Storm of the Century, that TV series?

Speaker 2 25:16

Was that the? I didn't watch that Holy shit, that was pretty good. Was it good? It was like a mini-series. It was actually a good one. I had a lot of books that were TV movies or TV series. They weren't all major motion pictures that just got redone recently, I never watched it. Oh you should. I didn't write the book either. There's so many Stephen Kings that you can say that out loud and be proud.

Speaker 1 25:42

You know the thing with Stephen King I like him, I like the fact that he's I. You know, I like the whole writing thing. It actually inspired me. I got to get my shit together and focus on that instead of other stuff. But my opinion is he spends too much time writing when he could say it shorter.

Speaker 2 26:06

You know what I mean. I get it, I know why he does the exposition.

Speaker 1 26:08

I get it, but it's like, oh my God, I zone out. I'm like, oh, okay.

Speaker 2 26:14

But that's just me. Sometimes there are too many details.

Speaker 1 26:18

Like. I don't know if you need to write a book over 250 pages ever.

Speaker 2 26:23

Some people would argue that, but I have read lengthy books, that that I think. Can I just wrap it up? Or do I need this much detail about the mushroom quiche you're eating? I don't know, right, I don't know.

Speaker 1 26:34

Mushroom quiche.

Speaker 2 26:35

That sounds good, doesn't it?

Speaker 1 26:36

No.

Speaker 2 26:37

Why.

Speaker 1 26:38

Mushroom quiche, eggs and mushrooms, yeah, some spinach in there and cheese yeah. Well see, there's the detail. Hey, what'd you have for lunch?

Speaker 2 26:47

I went to Pompeo's oh.

Speaker 1 26:49

I went to Pompeo's yesterday.

Speaker 2 26:51

Oh.

Speaker 1 26:52

Went with my buddy, Brandon, Hi Brandon.

Speaker 2 26:55

Hi Brandon. What did Brandon get?

Speaker 1 26:58

Chicken lunch whatever that was, Chicken Polo.

Speaker 2 27:02

Something I got the chimichanga and it was good, but it wasn't as crisp as I wanted it, but it was still good.

Speaker 1 27:09

I got the nachos pompeos their guac is very good it is their sauce. Is good, that white sauce. My voice just cracked.

Speaker 2 27:17

Sauce. So what do you say about Stephen King Dick?

Speaker 1 27:20

He or Dick, just kidding, he's a hero.

Speaker 2 27:27

I say a hero because of all that we just said. Yes, there are stories and books that he wrote that aren't great and TV shows that aren't great but like I said, if you are over 200 short stories, if you write over that, those are just some published ones, right, some of them are going to be stinkers. He's probably wrote thousands, yeah, so I wish I could write like he does, even when he sucks.

Speaker 1 27:49

You were supposed to. We had a writing room for like two days.

Speaker 2 27:50

I know that kind of fizzled out. Is he over-worshipped though? Yep, yes.

Speaker 1 27:56

Yep, yeah.

Speaker 2 27:57

And could he cut out some details, maybe, but then he wouldn't be Stephen King. So no, all right, I say hero all day long, and Stephen King, you're welcome Because we are going to plug. He has a new book coming out in May and it's called you Like it Darker?

Speaker 1 28:15

Oh, I like that title, you could go many ways yeah.

Speaker 2 28:20

It's a collection of short stories, god damn it. King. So yeah, coming out in May, I'm so jealous, but he's worked.

Speaker 1 28:27

He's done it.

Speaker 2 28:28

He's not dicking around. Imagine that's your dad.

Speaker 1 28:31

Imagine you're 8 years old and you're like mom, where's dad? And she's like he's in the basement.

Speaker 2 28:36

But I think he writes from this time to 2 and then he's done. Then he gets online now. His kids are writers. I've read stuff by Joe Hill that's his son who Joe Hill?

Speaker 1 28:51

Joe Hill.

Speaker 2 28:52

Yeah, j-o-e-h-i-l-l I never even came. What? Yeah, I just I didn't just read it, but I just gave it to my sister-in-law, rachel.

Speaker 1 29:04

Wait, that's the title of the book.

Speaker 2 29:05

No, that's his name, joe Hill, and Full Throttle, and it's short stories.

Speaker 1 29:09

Okay, is it good?

Speaker 2 29:10

Yes, yeah, it was. He's inherited it, so Hero for SK.

Speaker 1 29:16

Hero for SK and I forgot my Fast Five again.

Speaker 2 29:19

I got them right here and we already covered one. What is?

Speaker 1 29:21

it.

Speaker 2 29:21

Solar Eclipse. I say dick.

Speaker 1 29:25

Which this one or just in general?

Speaker 2 29:26

This one In general, no, and maybe if I was in that totality line.

Speaker 1 29:31

I'm going to say it was a hero because it made people maybe stand out there, even if they were underwhelmed and think this life's a little bit bigger than the shit I got going on.

Speaker 2 29:39

Well, hopefully that's the lesson that they took away. I did read a statistic that said, in the line of totality, that people's screen time was 60 percent less like on their phones. Screen time, perfect. But that was the irony of it. What takes you away from your screen will burn your eyes out. How about? Uh okay, the second one totally clips of the heart song bonnie tyler yes hero good job.

Speaker 1 30:08

I say hero because she had a song I need a hero.

Speaker 2 30:12

Yes, she did okay, well then she's a hero she's a superhero and plus, she's still making money on it good job is she alive?

Speaker 1 30:18

yeah, I bet you, I'm gonna see her a mask singer oh my god, I bet, I don't know, she's from Wales.

Speaker 2 30:26

Oh Okay, how about this totally off topic Wizard of Oz Hero. I say hero as well. How about fanny packs?

Speaker 1 30:34

Dick, Dick. But they can be heroic.

Reverse Art Heist Discussion

Speaker 2 30:38

I mean they're handy, but they're stupid looking they made a comeback. I know, but I don't care how you fancy them up, they're still damn fancy. What if you wear it on your shoulder? Then it's a purse. Okay, here's something that let me explain it. It's a reverse art heist and this 51-year-old artist hung his painting. It was an employee working at a Munich museum and he hung his painting up when no one was looking and he got caught painting up when no one was looking and he got caught and he got fired, and they didn't name him, or I'd give him a ballyhoo.

Speaker 2 31:14

But so reverse art, heist. I say, what do you say Hero or dick Hero? I say hero for effort. Yeah, fuck the man, fuck the man and the woman.

Speaker 1 31:25

I mean, he's working there.

Speaker 2 31:26

He's working there. He's an employee.

Speaker 1 31:27

Maybe it was a really shitty painting. What was the painting of?

Speaker 2 31:30

They didn't show the painting nor give the artist's name, which kind of defeated the purpose of what he was doing.

Speaker 1 31:37

Because he wanted to sell that son of a bitch.

Speaker 2 31:38

But I'm hoping that it comes out at some point. It just happened yesterday.

Speaker 1 31:42

He made a statement, an artistic statement he did. I like that.

Speaker 2 31:45

So I like it. I say hero, yeah, okay, all right. That wraps this up.

Speaker 1 31:49

We're wrapped up, all right, okay, everybody. See you oh yeah, wait, they're supposed to, if they want to talk to us in an email.

Speaker 2 31:55

Yeah, yeah. You should email us at heroordick2023 at gmail. Yeah, shit, okay, not two, four.

Speaker 1 32:10

No, the email still stays the same. I know 2023 at Gmail. Yeah, email us. Yeah, email us. Or stop by Horse Feather Studio one day. Yeah, we might be here we might be here.

Speaker 2 32:16

The lights are on. Look for us in the headphones.

Speaker 1 32:18

Alrighty Okay.

Speaker 2 32:19

Thanks, thanks, bye.