Bad Dreams Journal #1: Mile 81

I'm reading the Bazaar of Bad Dreams and liking it very much.  I'm not a huge fan of Mile 81, but enjoying it just the same.  It's corny, okay?  But the nice thing about a short story is that it gives the writer opportunity to play and be goofy without committing himself or the reader to hundreds of pages.  It can just be a "hey, what if. . ."  What if a car ate people?  Not ran them over, like Christine -- what if it actually ate them?

Many of these stories are what we just love about King -- raw, fun horror.  He's not trying to be "deep" in Mile 81; though he can't help but be perceptive concerning human character -- he's just having fun.  And for that reason, we have fun with him.  The reader feels his joy as he tells us a quick story, whispering it in our ear before we get caught.

Mile 81 is a bit ADHD for a short story.  What I mean is that there is a lot of character shifting to keep up with.  Because King means to pile the bodies up, he wants to first introduce us to each victim.  Of course, the advantage of that kind of story telling is that it causes the reader to be screaming at the characters, "Don't touch the car!"  Because w know what they know.

I do like it that in Mile 81, King does something that horror writers usually avoid -- he calls the police.  King himself has said that one thing every writer has to address is: Why not just call the police?  Well, in Mile 81, he brought them right onto stage.

I've heard some whining in the Stephen King community that these are all -- mostly all -- stories previously published.  I like having them all together (with the exception of Blockade Billy, once was enough for me on that one.)  But, what's really nice is that King gives a chatty introduction to the stories, and I like that very much!  I now know that Mile 81 was written twice.

If We Could Choose

I'm really excited that a new anthology film is being made.  If I could choose 4 stories to see hit the screen as part of an anthology movie, I'd choose:

Full Dark, No Stars.  All four stories in one movie.  I think it would make an awesome movie. If kept short (like the book), it could be a powerful movie. 

If not Full Dark, here are 4 stories I think would be cool to see on screen:

• The Sun Dog
• Mile 81
• Blockade Billy
• Morality

So, what 4 stories would you like to see put into an anthology movie?  Go ahead, give us your version of Creepshow!

Reader 19: A Short Review Of MILE 81

Mile 81 hits a home run

King has done it again with his latest short story Mile 81. The story revolves around an almost 11 yr old boy (no new territory here), Pete, who longs to be accepted by his older brother. Set once again in Maine, it takes place almost entirely at the abandoned Mile 81 rest area. I am not sure what King’s latest fascination with rest areas is, but his previous story Henry Woulk is Still Alive also takes place in a rest stop, yet it is not abandoned.

The rest area is vividly described in great detail and you really feel like you are walking around with Pete, knowing, as the reader however, that his little curious jaunt into the deserted Burger King will become much more than he had planned when he went out that day, and yet, a day he will never forget. But when his story of what happened to those 4 adults that day is finally told, who will belieive him but his brother and best friend.

I think it is amazing that King knows a child’s mind and speech so well. Again, like so many of his stories, the protagonist is a boy. If you are an adult in this story, you better watch your step, you might as well consider yourself a security guard dressed in red beaming down with captain Kirk.

King uses a lot of foreshadowing in this story–I think so that as the reader you don’t get attached to the adults. A insurance salesman, a lesbian ranch owner, and a young married couple with kids all fall vicitm to King’s latest monster, a muddy driverless station wagon. Once again, it’s the kids who are the heroes in the story.

A quick read–read all but a couple of pages in one sitting. Liked having it on my kindle.

Oh yeah–and it cam with a e book preview of 11/22/63.

So next time you see a muddy stationwagon–watch out! You never know what may happen.

FANGORIA: Review Of Mile 81

Here is a review of Stephen King's short e-story "Mile 81" from Fangoria contributor Trevor Parker.  He gives the story three out of four deadly skulls.  Not bad.

Parker gives us a helpful list of King's ebook works, including: The Plant, Riding the Bullet, UR and the chapters from The Cannibals.  I really enjoyed what I read of the Cannibals.  A lot. 

So, Mr. Parker, does Mile 81 belong with the Full dark, No Stars, body of work?  Is it dark, terrible, depressing and just generally nasty?  No sir!  This darling belongs in the likes of Skeleton Crew:

"MILE 81 reads like a ricochet from King’s early short-fiction period, a time when he sold his terse supernatural thrillers to whichever magazine editor valued lurid shock over good taste. If not for the inclusion of modern touchstones like iPads and Justin Bieber, MILE 81 could easily tuck inside King’s 1985 collection SKELETON CREW and not disrupt the tenor of that classic book one smidgen."

Okay, go read the review!

More Info On Mile 81

This is exciting -- stephenking.com had posted some new info on Mile 81.  First, we should note that it will include an excerpt for 11/22/63.  Then there is this rather detailed description (notice they mention both Stand By Me and Christine) --

At Mile 81 on the Maine Turnpike is a boarded up rest stop, a place where place where high school kids drink and get into the kind of trouble high school kids have always gotten into. It’s the place where Pete Simmons goes when his older brother, who’s supposed to be looking out for him, heads off to the gravel pit to play “paratroopers over the side.”



Pete, armed only with the magnifying glass he got for his tenth birthday, finds a discarded bottle of vodka in the boarded up burger shack and drinks enough to pass out.


Not much later, a mud-covered station wagon (which is strange because there hadn’t been any rain in New England for over a week) veers into the Mile 81 rest area, ignoring the sign that says “closed, no services.” The driver’s door opens but nobody gets out.


Doug Clayton, an insurance man from Bangor, is driving his Prius to a conference in Portland. On the backseat are his briefcase and suitcase and in the passenger bucket is a King James Bible, what Doug calls “the ultimate insurance manual,” but it isn’t going to save Doug when he decides to be the Good Samaritan and help the guy in the broken down wagon. He pulls up behind it, puts on his four-ways, and then notices that the wagon has no plates.


Ten minutes later, Julianne Vernon, pulling a horse trailer, spots the Prius and the wagon, and pulls over. Julianne finds Doug Clayton’s cracked cell phone near the wagon door – and gets too close herself. By the time Pete Simmons wakes up from his vodka nap, there are a half a dozen cars at the Mile 81 rest stop. Two kids – Rachel and Blake Lussier –and one horse named Deedee are the only living left. Unless you maybe count the wagon.


With the heart of Stand By Me and the genius horror of Christine, Mile 81 is Stephen unleashing his imagination as he drives past one of those road signs... 

I don't know who writes the promos -- but I think the mention of Christine is significant.  For a while it seemed King felt Christine didn't "work" because of the narration shifts.  However, over time the novel seems to have held its own as a genuine slice of horror.  I'm glad to see it getting a bit of attention again!

This link will get you there. . .
http://www.stephenking.com/promo/mile_81/

New Novella: Mile 81

I spotted this first at Lilja's Library.  http://www.liljas-library.com/

King has a new novella coming out as an ebook, titled "Mile 81."  The 80 page ebook will be available on September 1, 2011 and will cost $2.99.

No details are given.  Mile 81 is a rest area that appears in Dreamcatcher (p.525).