An Evening With Stephen King

Last week, I had the good fortune to head down to The Canon Theatre in Toronto for An Evening With Stephen King.

I'd say I'm a fairly average Stephen King fan. I've read all the "Dark Tower" books, (highly recommended, by the way), plus a handful of others, like, "The Dead Zone", "Hearts in Atlantis", "Desperation", "The Stand" and proabaly one or two I'm forgetting. I've also read a few short stories. I think that qualifies me for a night like this, but there were people in that theatre that could probably quote the man, line for line.

I do admire the hell out of him. For anyone who wants to write books for a living, there is no greater role model. The man's track record is almost superhuman when it comes to, not only spine-tingling and strange, but also sheer volume. He seems to put out a couple 600+ page books every few years. This latest one, "Under The Dome", clocks in at something like, 1200. I don't know the exact page count, but fuck!

Anyway, the whole thing was pretty darn cool. After an Oscar-like video montage of the man's impressive catalogue, local TV and radio personality, George Stroumboulopoulos, (you know that ain't no stage name), came out and briefly introduced one of popular fiction's most legendary storytellers. A man that will go down as the 20th century poster boy for his profession. Stephen King.

The next part, while entertaining, was basically just a regular old reading. Mr. King, (may I call you Stephen?)-- Stephen read a few choice pages from his latest take on the Simpsons Movie, (just kidding. Sidenote: For more on The Simpsons, check out my Simpsons Round-up, coming soon!).
After it was done, 'Steve' threw out a couple jokes to sooth his apparent nerves and George came out again to introduce another horror-legend, and no stranger to strange himself, Toronto's own, Mr. David Cronenberg.

Why David Cronenberg?

Well, aside from being one of the most noted horror/weird filmakers of his generation, and, as I said, a Toronto native, (guess that cut down on travel expenses), Cronenberg adapted Kings's aforementioned, "The Dead Zone", (great book and tv show as well), for the 1983 film, starring Christopher Walken as Jonny Smith and Martin Sheen as a George W-esque Greg Stillson.

The two men sat down to an intimate conversation before 500 or so adoring admirers and waxed on about inspiration, adaptation, (both have experience in graphic novels), narrative choices, as well as the changes to their respective approaches to writing and storytelling in today's tech-savvy, Google-ready world of McResearh. Not that I'm knocking it. Hell, I'm using it right now!

All in all, a good time was had by all, certainly me and my good buddy, Kev, (a much bigger King fan, I should add). Afterwards, we waited around for like, an hour to buy an autographed copy of his newest. A needlessly complicated raffle won us the honor. Yes, I said to buy, not win, said copy. And no, Mr. King, (Stevie), did not personally sit for the signing. That was done sometime beforehand, (hopefully the same day). Again, I'm not knocking it, just throwing in a little sarcasm for enhanced readability.

Ok, guess that about sums it up.
It was definitely an interesting experience, or 'evening' (more like an hour and a half), peering into the mind of a true living legend all up close and personal. I even plan to read "Under The Dome" one of these days, though I do have a few books to sift through first.

Seriously, thanks for the great stories, Steve.
Keep on writing.