They Wanted To Do WHAT With The Ending Of THE STAND?

With Devin Faraci's article titled, "How Will The Movie Version Of THE STAND End?" and a subtitle, "Will the film retain Stephen King's finale?" I feel myself getting a little concerned.

He addressed in particular the ending, writing:

I do know how the draft before Boone ended, one written by David Kajganich. It's not great. 

In this version, from last year, the good guy survivors from Boulder get together in an army and march on Las Vegas to kill Randall Flagg. Flagg's headquarters is, of course, the Luxor Pyramid. The Boulderites invade the city while, off to the east, a squad fights at the Boulder Dam - which Trashcan Man explodes, killing Larry Underwood and sending a deadly flood to Vegas. In the city Flagg squares off against hero Stu Redman... who now has the power of God, and they have an Akira-like battle on the Las Vegas Strip, with Flagg trying to take Stu's magic. Cars are thrown, Excalbur's turrets are tossed, the people of Vegas are used by Flagg as disposable cannon-fodder. Meanwhile Nick Andros sacrifices his life taking out a howitzer. The Boulder forces, while armed, try to only take prisoners and rescue people from being under Flagg's evil spell. It all comes down to Flagg and Stu, and whether or not Stu will absorb Flagg's evil magic.

(badassdigest.com)

 I actually find this interesting.  But. . .

If they want to film an apocalyptic novel with lots of battles -- why not film Swan Song?  Because it's not "Stephen King's Swan Song" or we would already be talking about remake #4.  

Swan Song Journal #4: The Long End

I finished Swan Song tonight.  I didn't plan to, didn't even know I was that close to the end.  In most formats you can track the distance left to the finish line.  In books it is simply pages; or when listening the number of tapes or CD's left.  But on my Ipod, the book was broken into so many parts, I actually lost track  of where I was.  So it was a surprise  to me to realize I was closing in on the final pages of the massive novel. Where had the time gone?  I ended up walking almost six miles tonight, extending the walk ever further to finish the book.

There are spoilers ahead:

Swan Song is rightly compared to The Stand.  Both books stand on their own; McCammon's novel certainly doesn't even edge close to any kind of intellectual plagiarism.  I think perhaps the author is afraid of that accusation, but Swan Song is truly its own story.  Still the similarities are striking.  Here are a few:

1. Both novels feature strong women of faith with familial titles -- Sister/Mother.  The transformation of Sister Creep into Sister is difficult for the reader to accept at first.  How could this crazy lady come into her right mind?

2. Both novels show survivors of a devastated earth seeking to rebuild civilization.  In The Stand, the destruction is much greater, leaving only two major civilizations -- The Free Zone and the Vegas crew.  In Swan Song, the survivors are in cities and towns, spread out.

3. Both novels give a final battle that while exciting, leaves me a little empty.  I went a long way for that?

4. Both novels introduce God as a character.  In Swan Song, God lives on Warwick Mountain, and in The Stand, God lives in heaven.  There is a final battle in each book, and in each book  it is God who is ready to bring about the end of evil.

5.  In The Stand, God is -- God.  He gives dreams to his people and assigns  the righteous tasks so that they might stand against evil.  In Swan Song, God is an aging thin man.  Track with me -- I'm walking and I think, "Man, wouldn't it be interesting if this guy on Warwick mountain who says he's  God, if he turned out to be The President.  His plane went down, but McCammon sure  spent a long time with him at the beginning of the novel.  But he'd never do that.  Even if I was sitting in the room while he wrote the book and I suggested the idea, he'd blow me off."  Then -- as the voice in my headphones clamored on -- it turned out the man who called himself God really had once been the president.

6. In both novels evil is personified.  In Swan Song, he finally takes the name Friend, and in The Stand it's Flagg.  Though I find Friend much more frightening throughout the heart of Swan Song than I did Flagg, in the end he is simply lead to his death without much fanfare.  It is interesting that both Flagg's evil empire in Vegas and The Army of Excellence basically implode.

Questions:

There are things left incomplete in Swan Song.  The glass crown is only used once on Swan's Head, when she radiates power.  It seems the full effect of the glass crown is never revealed.  Why is it so important?  What does it do?  Why does it belong on her head?

After evil is confronted and Sister dies, Josh sets Swan out on her own.  She must go forth and heal the earth.  Now wait!  He guided her from childhood and protected her; but now sends her and Robin alone into the world to heal it?  It seems once the final struggle at Warwick Mountain takes place, the towns immediately go from being hostile, evil places to being sweet farming communities!  What happened?  Does Swan no longer need her giant protector?  Would she not need  him all the more now that she is about to step up and begin to really use her power to heal the broken wasteland?

Finally, why did the AOE keep Josh and Robin alive?  They only needed Swan?

Some quick notes:

I like it that the code to end the prayer to end the world is "amen."

McCammon's narrative style is intrusive at times.  Let me explain; McCammon talks over the story quite a bit, using his narrators voice to press forward, instead  of building  the story scene by scene and causing the reader to learn by observation.

When Stephen King tells a story, he usually tells it the way you see it on TV or the movies.  Each scene moves the story forward in progression.  Only when really necessary does a narrator break in to tell you what's going on. McCammon often dumps the scene by scene work load and instead simply talks over the character.  This allows him to tell big, sweeping, things in just a few pages.  It gives the characters  a "thinner" more cardboard feeling, while giving the book itself a sense if greater scope.  It feels big.

I realize it sounds like I'm being critical of McCammon's narration in Swan Song.  Truth it,  I liked it very much.  He never got bogged down in a scene.  I never felt like, "man, will this scene ever end?I'm not saying that style  would always work anymore than King's present tense narration in Mr. Mercede's  would always work.  But I am saying that at least  in Swan Song, McCammon has his own unique narrative style that is not at all like King's.

By the way, justice comes to the wild, broken world a little too easily.  Get this line:

Settlements struggled out of the mud, built meeting halls and schoolhouses, churches and shacks, first with clapboard and then with bricks. The last of the armies found people ready to fight to the death for their homes, and those armies melted away like snow before the sun.

Oh!  So that's how we get peace on earth; armies melt away like snow before the sun.  It feels a little neat and tidy for a book that was pretty grim.

Final Word:

I liked it a lot.  It left me plenty to think about and talk about.  It was good enough to keep me running/walking through the long hours of the night.  Or, perhaps the best thing I can say about it is that I will miss reading it very much.  It could have  been another 50 pages.

Swan Song Journal #3

As with all journal entries, don't read the journal if you didn't already read the book.

Just some brief notes:

1. There's a lot of war.  The battle  at the mall against the religious cult was great.  I was really surprised when the Army of Excellence didn't run them over hands down.

Up to that point in the book, it seemed like whoever McCammon was following would have the upper-hand in a scene.   But then -- BAM!  He knocked around the AOE and left a few battered bodies strewn about.

After enduring heavy losses, The Army of Excellence regroups and builds an incredible siege machine.  It's a massive rolling tower  reminiscent of a roman trebuchet.  Listening to the novel as I ran, I wondered if McCammon actually built a model of  this war machine.  He described it so  energetically -- but the ideas can't be fully conveyed.  As a reader, I'm left going, "Okay, Robert, I trust you.  It's a big rolling machine with lots of parts."  But he so obviously wants me, the reader, to see what he sees.  Did he build  it out of legos?  I really would ask him that if I could!

The battle at Mary's Rest is extremely long,detailed and quite engaging.

2. I have no idea where this book is going. But I DID know Job's mask had to be a cocoon.  But what comes out of the mask was a surprise to me.

3. It's interesting how McCammon shows characters progress and slowly change.

This is particularly true of Roland.  So far, though, no "bad" characters have repented and turned good.

Also, in the area of character progression is the town of Mary's Rest.  McCammon not only shows individual people changing, but in the case of Mary's Rest, the entire town changes as Swan gives them hope.

When Josh and Swan (and Mule -- which is a horse) first arrived in Mary's Rest, the people were  a bunch of scavengers.  They tore the wagon apart and revealed an amazing cowardice. But as the story progressed, the town changed.

I kept thinking the town would sell out when the AOE demanded they hand over Swan.  (Think Storm of the Century here.)  But instead, the town fights with everything it's got to protect their fields, their homes, their water -- and most of all, the girl with the power to give life. No one even broaches the idea of handing her over to the enemy.

4. There are parts of this book that are really scary.  But then, I am reading them as I run alone through the desert at midnight.  Yes, I do hear Coyotes howling.  Might be adding to the fear factor here.  I really do think the dark man, the man of a thousand faces -- is much more scary than Flagg.  But it's really pointless to compare the two.

5. I really wish they had put the chapter titles with the chapters and not just a list at the beginning of the part.  It makes it impossible when listening to know what chapter you are on; while in print you can just glance back and count.  Which is still awkward.  Why did they do that?  WHY?

6. I read one review that complained there are no animals.  I don't know what book they read.  There's a horse called Mule.  Lots of wolves.  Dogs.  Cats.  And rats.  OH!  Enough rats to keep Stephen King happy.  And, what's even better, they eat the rats.  Rat stew anyone?

7. Everyone who has read this book gives me these vague warnings.  "Oh, that's a really good book.  Things aren't going to come out the way you think."  What's that mean?  Does Swan die?

8. The announcement that God is on Warwick Mountain is ominous.  
I like Roland's excitement at the thought that maybe it isn't God -- but a giant computer with a power source.  I'm anxious for them to get to the mountain and find out what's up!

9. Comparing the book to the Stand, which is almost impossible not to do -- brings about an obvious difference.  The Stand is very character driven; Swan Song has a lot more action. In fact, The Stand promises a giant battle; and the reader presses forward, anxious to see the gigantic battle between  good and evil. But that doesn't quite go down in traditional battle  format.  But in Swan Song, there is war all over the place.  I would love it if someone drew a map, like one of those old Civil War maps, and marked out the various battles.

Swan Song Journal

You read that right.  I'm journaling a non-King novel. Why? Swan Song goes beyond the scope of most books, requiring more than one entry. I've been reading the book for quite a while now on nights that I go running alone.  I have to admit that I've fallen in love with the book.

"I thought this was a Stephen King blog."  It is.  And if you only want discussions about Stephen King -- then don't read Stephen King.  Because King's own work is wound with commentary on other works.  So our discussion of King and the world of Stephen King should be wider than King's own stream of novels.

That was a long way of saying -- I've been reading Swan Song and want to talk about it.

I wrote a short article years ago on the similarities between Swan Song and The Stand.  I read both books in high school.  But I read the Stand many more times after that.  But Swan Song was given a single reading, and I was left with only impressions of where the book had taken me.  What I realized when I began reading Swan Song again is that I had no idea where  the book was going.  That's strange, since I usually know at least who is going to die and major plot twists. Except for a few scenes, my mind was a blank slate.  How could that happen?  I remember reading it.  I knew enough to have made a mental list of ways the book is like The Stand.

It comes down to this: I read Swan Song in study hall.  Do  you remember study hall?  I mostly don't.  I read IT in study hall, too.  And the Langoliers.  Might I -- gasp -- have skimmed major portions of the book?  The novel was popular at my school; as popular as any book could be.  My friends and I were mostly interested in girls, monsters, girls, writing books and did I mention girls?  Yeah, I'm ready to say now what I wasn't willing to admit to myself much earlier -- I had to have skimmed a lot of this book.

Is McCammon King?

How much is Robert McCammon like Stephen King?  He's not.  Not at all.  And, though there are amazing similarities between Swan Song and The Stand, the truth is, Swan Song can stand on its own heap of pages.  McCammon has his own narrative voice; his own plotting and a pace that is unique to  himself.

Like King, McCammon uses name brands, develops strong characters, and gives the reader two major "camps" -- the good guys and the bad guys.  Swan Song is a larger book; not in page count, but in scope.  McCammon pulls away more often than King did to show what's going on with others affected by the destruction.

One strange thing:

The book has a strange format, in my opinion.  Each book opens with a page that lists the chapter titles.  But then, the chapters themselves do not bear those titles.  This is true in both the paperback and audio edition.  So to know the chapter title you are on, you have to go back to the opening section and count down.  I'm really not sure why this is.

I like chapter titles, as it gives a portion of text a sense of perspective and purpose for both writer and reader.

What I Like About Swan Song:

Anticipation: McCammon is able to keep the reader guessing as to who is going to survive.  I remember turning the pages of the Stand in total disbelief when King killed off some major characters.  I was hooked after that, because anything could happen.  I have the same feeling with Swan Song.

At one point a woman sees a skull when she looks at Josh.  Previously seeing the  skull meant that person was going to die.  This feels like it came right out of a Twilight Zone's episode titled, The Purple Testament. However, the woman who sees this precursor to death shining on Josh's face dies; leaving the reader wondering if Josh is indeed marked for death.

Children: There are both good and bad children in Swan Song.  Swan herself (Sue Wanda) is nine, heading quickly into ten; while evil Roland is a young teenager who sees himself as the "King's Knight," ready to defend and obey the Colonel.  There is a scene in which Roland is required to cut off the Colonel's hand.  It's great.  I mean, really fantastically freaky.

And he sucked in his breath and brought the cleaver down with all of his strength on Colonel Macklin’s wrist. 

Bone crunched. Macklin jerked but made no sound. Roland thought the blade had gone all the way through, but he saw with renewed shock that it had only penetrated the man’s thick wrist to the depth of an inch. 

“Finish it!” Warner shouted. 

Roland pulled the cleaver out. 

Macklin’s eyes, ringed with purple, fluttered closed and then jerked open again. “Finish it,” he whispered. 

Roland lifted his arm and struck down again. Still the wrist wouldn’t part. Roland struck down a third time, and a fourth, harder and harder. He heard the one-eyed hunchback shouting at him to hurry, but Macklin remained silent. Roland pulled the cleaver free and struck a fifth time. There was a lot of blood now, but still the tendons hung together. Roland began to grind the cleaver back and forth; Macklin’s face had turned a pasty yellow-white, his lips as gray as graveyard dirt.

The brutality in Swan Song is pretty strong.  Mccammon cuts away at key moments, leaving it to the mind to fill in; usually.  But sometimes he sticks around, telling the story as the reader thinks, "I can't believe this guy is going there!"

 I'll save more for the next journal entry. Suffice to say, I am swept away once again into the world of Robert McCammon.  I'm loving it.