The first section of On Writing is an Autobiography mainly about King’s early exposure to writing, and his childhood attempts at writing. King talks about his early attempts to get published, and his first novel Carrie. King also talks about his fame as a writer, and what it took to get there. This includes his relationship with his wife, the death of his mother and his history of drug and alcohol abuse. The second section is practical advice on writing, including tips on grammar and ideas about developing plot and character. King himself describes it as a guide for how "a competent writer can become a good one." This includes his beliefs that a writer should edit out unnecessary details and avoid the use of unnecessary adverbs. He also uses quotes from other books and authors to illustrate his points. The third section is also autobiographical, in which King discusses the 1999 automobile accident in which he was struck by a vehicle while walking down an isolated country road. He describes serious injuries, his painful recovery and his struggle to start writing again. King includes part of a rough draft and an edited draft of his own story entitled "1408". In the United Kingdom paperback version, a short story by Garret Adams entitled "Jumper" was included at the end of the book, which was the winner of the On Writing competition.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Anesthesia examines recent accounts of love in an attempt to suggest that the kind of romanticized understanding we have of love necessitates its own death. It begins with the musing of a graduating college student who is reflecting on the question of whether a young death, if it is a happy one, is a good death. Trajan (no last name is given), who is named after a Roman Emperor based on this emperor''s persecution policy toward Christians, finds himself contemplating the murder of best friend (Brett) at the hands of a woman (Anna) whom both young men were smitten with. Anna, who functions as the tangible argument York is discussing, convinces Trajan that Brett''s death was a good death because Brett had reached the apex of human fulfillment. He had fallen in love yet due to love''s inability to be sustained (because they understand love to be defined as yearning), his life must come to an end as the love itself, inasmuch as it has reached satisfaction, must end. Brett''s eventual pursuit of other loves would only call into question the each love prior to the next. Likewise, Anna requests an end to her own life based on her love for Trajan. She recognizes both the temporal yet eternal nature of love defined as yearning and wishes to be freed from it in order to die within it. Many themes are explored throughout the book. Anna takes on a personality akin to Joan of Arc and it is through this lens that York weaves a strong though tragic female character. Issues of sex, race and patriarchy are spread throughout, as well as critiques of pop culture, though remaining heavily indebted to pop culture. Most of his characters and places in the book are references to someone or something else. He includes a number of references to comic book characters, including Frank Castle (The Punisher) and X-Men character, Kitty Pryde. The book has been likened, in terms of style, to that of both Chuck Palahniuk and J.D. Salinger. Anesthesia was inspired by the song of the same name written by punk rock band Bad Religion. It may be that the character of Brett was named after the guitarist of Bad Religion, Brett Gurewitz, who wrong the song. Mr. Brett, as he often goes by, suggests that the song was a metaphor about the numbing effects of love although there are speculations that the song is really about drug addiction. York''s fictitious first-person memoir plays with this notion of love as numbing, though he reverses it by connecting it to the ancient god of love Eros who was born of, by some accounts, the god of war Ares.

Anesthesia: A Brief Reflection on Contemporary Aesthetics

When Karen Drew is found sitting in her wheelchair staring out to sea with her throat cut one chilly morning, DI Annie Cabbot, on loan to Eastern Area, gets lumbered with the case. Back in Eastvale, that same Sunday morning, 19-year-old Hayley Daniels is found raped and strangled in the Maze, a tangle of narrow alleys behind Eastvale''s market square, after a drunken night on the town with a group of friends, and DCI Alan Banks is called in. Banks finds suspects galore, while Annie seems to hit a brick wall--until she reaches a breakthrough that spins her case in a shocking and surprising new direction, one that also involves Banks. Then another incident occurs in the Maze which seems to link the two cases in a bizarre and mysterious way. As Banks and Annie dig into the past to uncover the deeper connections, they find themselves also dealing with the emotional baggage and personal demons of their own relationship. And it soon becomes clear that there are two killers in their midst, and that at any moment either one might strike again.

Friend of the Devil

The setting is the type of benign Venus imagined before the first space probes penetrated the clouds of that planet. Colonization has become stymied by the native inhabitants (loudies), who are apparently sentient bubbles that float around the landscape, getting in the way of human progress. Attempts to communicate with them produce no response. Confining them is useless (they drift back) and killing them produces a deadly explosion that contaminates a thousand acres (4 km²). The non-Chinese authorities of the early Instrumentality government have no answer. The ruler of Goonhogo (the entity that replaced China under the early Instrumentality) decrees that 82 million Chinesians (men, women, and children) be dropped from space, parachuting down to the surface. Each one has a simple mission — herd the bubbles together. Many die in the process, both in landing and from the bubbles exploding. The rest corralled the loudies together into herds, where they eventually starve, wiping out the species. Meanwhile, more Chinese parachute down with rice seeds and begin planting. Eventually, by sheer weight of numbers, the Chinese conquer Venus. Smith''s point in the story is evidently to demonstrate how Chinese attitudes such as fatalism and obedience to authority, coupled with their large numbers, could outperform the "Yankee ingenuity" and "self-reliant individual" attitudes predominant in mainstream 1950s American science fiction of the time. (However, it is implied that the separate Chinese government and Chinese ethnic identity of the time of the Venus colonization no longer exist in the same form by the time of the story''s "frame" interview.)

When the People Fell

Ben and Rachel Corder are staying in their house with their dreary old uncle when the TV satellite breaks and the TV explodes. Unable to do anything to amuse themselves, Ben and Rachel start digging in the garden and find themselves opening a hatch. They drop themselves into it and find themselves in what looks like an old-fashioned underground house, where they find a what looks like a torpedo and are shocked to see two dead bodies in it. Rachel accidentally presses a button and suddenly the hatch opens and the bodies come to life. Rachel faints and Ben starts talking gibberish in his shock. The two people that had before seemed dead introduced themselves as Freddy and Polly Emerson and asked why they were in their fathers'' vault. When Rachel and Ben explained, they first refused to believe it, but then believed when Rachel and Ben took them into their house. Freddy and Polly revealed they had been put into cryonic suspension - their father had stopped their hearts and was able to make them start again. Freddy and Polly had been put to sleep in 1956 and woke up in 2009. They couldn''t understand why their father had deserted them. In time, Rachel and Ben introduce them to 2009, and Freddy and Polly are frequently shocked. They get sent to school (under the name Robertson, in case there''s anyone old enough on the school staff to remember) and try to research what happened to their father. A cheerful librarian gives them documents. One day, Rachel reads an email sent to her by her uncle which reads: "Get out of the house now!!! You are in danger!" Ben and Freddy, who had been escaping bullies who constantly taunt them partly because of Ben''s stutter and partly because of Freddy and Polly''s posh accents and their peculiar habbits, come back to see Rachel and Polly being drugged and thrown into the boot of the car. Ben knocks a man out with a camera and runs to the librarian, who had been behind it all. She had suspected Freddy and Polly''s real identity and wanted to learn how to work cryonic suspension. Ben is also drugged and thrown into the car. The car drives away and Rachel wakes up to see Polly being taken out of the car to be boarded onto a helicopter. She finds a torch, picks the lock of the boot with a hairgrip and sprays antiseptic into the librarians'' eyes. They then get taken to a place where all the people who were working to find Freddy and Polly''s father have been working on helping them to escape and Freddy and Polly are reunited with their Father, who built another cryonic suspension machine and froze himself inside it so that he would not grow old and die without his children. The story ends with Freddy and Polly trying to teach their father about 2009 life.

Frozen in Time

After the Wrath of the Lamb earthquake, Rayford Steele must find his wife Amanda White, who was supposed to land in New Babylon. Buck Williams must find his wife Chloe Steele, who was last seen in a house that is now a shattered ruin. The only other person accounted for is Tsion Ben-Judah, and nearly a quarter of the world''s population was snuffed out by the earthquake. The GC starts a new program called Cellular Solar, aka: Cell-Sol (pronounced sell-soul), a solar powered cell phone global network. Both Buck and Tsion find a new home for the Tribulation Force, half of a duplex belonging to the late Donny Moore and his wife, after discovering the death of Loretta, a close friend to the Tribulation Force. Buck searches for Chloe, discovering she is pregnant with their baby. He also meets Floyd Charles, a physician and fellow believer, who later joins the Trib. Force. Mac, Rayford''s co-pilot, becomes a Believer. Believers around the world discover that they have received a sign on their foreheads visible only to other believers, leading to the common phrase, “I can see yours. Can you see mine?” This mark becomes a central plot device, since believers are able to locate each other with ease and yet blend in with Antichrist and Global Community Potentate Nicolae Carpathia''s henchmen when necessary. Buck finds Chloe in a GC Hospital and rescues her, taking her back to the house where he and Tsion are staying. Tsion is planning to go back to Israel to teach the 144,000 witnesses. Ken Ritz becomes a believer as well. After TV signals return, they discover that the content is terrible from nudity, sexuality, torture, black arts, and more. The Tribulation Force finds Hattie Durham in an abortion clinic in Denver and discovers that Carpathia is plotting to have both Rayford and Hattie murdered there. Pretending to be Rayford, Buck rescues Hattie and unwittingly punches and kills an armed security guard intent on killing them. Later, Buck deeply regrets the guard''s death even after one of his friends explains it was a "kill or be killed" situation. Rayford, who continues to fly the Condor 216 for Carpathia, tries to finds Amanda’s body. He buys two sets of scuba gear to dive to the bottom of the Tigris River with Mac. Hattie is sick and Trib. Force members try to get her to accept God. Rayford and Mac find his wife''s body as the First of the Seven Trumpet Judgments, flaming hailstones and blood pour down from the sky. Ray recovers her laptop and says that the Hard Drive is intact. Rayford and Mac discuss that they didn''t see the mark of the Believer on Amanda, but decide that this is inconclusive because they don''t know if she died before or after the marks started appearing, or if the mark stays on the believer or goes away after they die. The GCASA (Global Community Aeronautics and Space Administration), find that a new comet is going to crash in to the ocean, killing marine life and sinking ships. This is the second Trumpet Judgment. Ten weeks later, right before the Trib. Force travels to Israel, the GCASA find a new threat in the heavens, a star called Wormwood. The GC tries to destroy it, shattering it into billions of pieces that fall into the lakes streams and fountains, turning the water to a bitter poison. This is the Third Trumpet Judgment..

Soul Harvest

On Guy Fawkes Night, Mary Poppins arrives in the wake of the last fireworks display by the Banks family. The Banks children Michael, Jane, the twins, and Annabel plead with her to stay. She reluctantly agrees to do so "till the door opens". Mrs. Banks has Mary and the children find a piano tuner, who happens to be Mary''s cousin, Mr. Twigley. When Mary and the children visit, Mr. Twigley tries to unburden himself from seven wishes given to him when he was born. Besides pianos, Mr. Twigley also specializes in songbirds such as nightingales, one of which he releases when he''s finished. He also provides music boxes for Mary and the Banks children to dance to. When they return home later, the drawing room piano is playing perfectly, and when the Banks children ask Mary what happened, she sharply rebukes them. Other adventures in the book include Mary telling the story of a king who was outsmarted by a cat, the park statue of Neleus that comes to life for a time during one of their outings, their visit to confectioner Miss Calico and her flying peppermint sticks, an undersea (High-Tide) party where Mary Poppins is the guest of honor, and a party between fairy tale rivals in the Crack between the Old Year and the New. When the children ask why Mary Poppins, a real person, is there, they are told that she is a fairy tale come true. Finally, the citizens of the town as well as many other characters from the previous two books turn out to say good-bye to Mary. The children realize they''re not leaving, but Mary is, and they rush to the nursery window and see her entering a house just like theirs, opening the door, and walking in. Later that evening, Mr. Banks sees a shooting star, and they all wish upon it, the children faintly make out Mary Poppins. They wave and she waves back to them. "Mary Poppins herself had flown away, but the gifts she had brought would remain for always."

Mary Poppins Opens the Door

The novel tells the story of two cousins, Jean Taconnat and Marcel Lornans, travelling from Cette, France to Oran, Algeria, with the purpose of enlisting in the 5th regiment of the Chasseurs D''Afrique. On board the Argelès, the ship to Oran, they meet Clovis Dardentor, a wealthy industrialist, who is the central character of the novel. Jean and Marcel, whose desire to travel to Africa arises from their pursuit of financial independence, find out that Clovis &mdash;an unmarried man, with no family&mdash; has left no heirs to his fortune. Yet Marcel, well-versed in the Law, knows that any person who were to save Clovis'' life either from a fight, from drowning, or from a fire, would forcibly have to be adopted by Clovis. The cousins come to a plan: They will find a way to save Clovis'' life, so that he will indeed be legally required to adopt them. Ironically, it is Clovis who finally saves the cousins'' lives: Marcel is saved from a fire, and Jean is saved from drowning. Eventually, while Jean continues to look for the opportunity to save Clovis'' life, Marcel falls in love with Louise Elissane, the prospective daughter-in-law of one of Clovis'' acquaintainces, the unpleasant Desirandelle family. Louise becomes a key character in the novel, for it is she who saves Clovis Dardentor''s life. Fortunately for the cousins, in the end, Louise is adopted by Clovis, and marries Marcel.

Clovis Dardentor

Optimus Yarnspinner, or Hildegunst von Mythenmetz in the German version, is a Lindworm (dinosaur) who inherits his authorial godfather''s possessions, including a perfect story written by an unknown author. An aspiring author himself, he travels to Bookholm, the city of dreaming books, in search of the unknown writer. Upon arrival, Yarnspinner falls in love with the city because of its literary appreciation. But beneath Bookholm stretch vast labyrinthine catacombs in which many valuable books lie hidden – but also dangers of unimaginable sorts: Various kinds of monstrous insects and other inconceivable horrors, the deadly Toxicotomes – books which can injure and kill anyone who touches them, blood-thirsty book hunters, and worst of all, the Shadow King. Yarnspinner is hoping this city of literature can fulfill his hunger for inspiration and help him solve the riddle of the mystery writer and his amazing story. Unfortunately the first real spark of hope gets a shower of questions when he is inexplicably warned for lurking danger and given the advice to flee while he still can. He comes into contact with a publisher in a cafe who directs him to Pfistomel Smyke. Smyke happens to control the entire book trade in Bookholm as well as much of the trade throughout Zamonia. When Yarnspinner travels to his house on 333 Darkman Street, Smyke reveals his plan to completely eradicate all forms of art in Zamonia. Then he is tricked into picking up a poisoned book and falls unconscious. He awakes in the famous catacombs of Bookholm, one of the most dangerous places in Zamonia.

The City of Dreaming Books

The first book, entitled "A Sort of Introduction", is an introduction of the protagonist, a 32-year old mathematician named Ulrich who is in search of a sense of life and reality but fails to find it. His ambivalence towards morals and indifference to life has brought him to the state of being "a man without qualities," depending on the outer world to form his character. A kind of keenly analytical passivity is his most typical attitude. Musil said that it was not particularly difficult to describe Ulrich in his main features. Ulrich himself only knows he is strangely indifferent to all his qualities. Lack of any profound essence and ambiguity as a general attitude to life are his principal characteristics. Meanwhile, we meet a murderer and rapist Moosbrugger who is condemned for his murder of a prostitute. Other protagonists are Ulrich''s nymphomaniac mistress Bonadea and his friend Walter''s neurotic wife Clarisse, whose refusal to go along with commonplace existence leads to Walter''s insanity. In the second book, "Pseudoreality Prevails", Ulrich joins the so-called "Collateral Campaign" or "Parallel Campaign", frantic preparations for a celebration in honor of 70 years of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph''s reign. That same year, 1918 the German Emperor Wilhelm II would be ruler of his country for 30 years. This collateral coincidence lashes all the Austrian patriots into a fury of action to demonstrate Austria''s political, cultural and philosophical supremacy via a feast which will capture the minds of the Austrian Emperor''s subjects and people of the world for ever. On that account, many bright ideas and visions are discussed (e.g., The Austrian Year 1918, The World Year 1918, The Austrian Peace Year 1918 or The Austrian World Peace Year 1918). A couple of people take part in the organization team or catch the eye of Ulrich. Ermelinda Tuzzi, called Diotima is Ulrich''s cousin as well as the wife of a civil servant; she tries to become a Viennese muse of philosophy, inspiring whoever crosses her path; she miraculously attracts both Ulrich and Arnheim. The nobleman in charge of the Campaign, the old conservative Count Leinsdorf, is incapable of deciding or even of not-deciding. General Stumm von Bordwehr of the Imperial and Royal Army, is unpopular for his attempts in this generally mystical atmosphere to make things systematic and German Count Paul Arnheim (modeled after German politician Walther Rathenau) is an admirer of Diotima''s combination of beauty and spirit, without feeling the need to marry her. While most of the participants (Diotima most feverishly) try to associate the reign of Franz Joseph I with vague ideas of humanity, progress, tradition and happiness, the followers of Realpolitik see a chance to exploit the situation: Stumm von Bordwehr wishes to get the Austrian army income raised and Arnheim plans to buy oil fields in an eastern province of Austria. Musil''s great irony and satire is that what was planned as a celebration of peace and imperial cohesion in fact turns out as a path toward war, imperial collapse, and national chauvinism. The novel provides an analysis of all the political and cultural processes that contributed to the outbreak of World War One. The last volume, entitled "Into the Millennium (The Criminals)", is about Ulrich''s sister Agathe (who enters the novel at the end of the second book). They experience a mystically incestuous stirring upon meeting after their father''s death. They see themselves as soul mates or as the book says "siamese-twins". As published, the novel ends in a large section of drafts, notes, false-starts and forays written by Musil as he tried to work out the proper ending for his book. In the German edition, there is even a CD-ROM available that holds thousands of pages of alternative versions and drafts.

The Man Without Qualities

For 13 years, Jody Gibson owned and operated an exclusive global escort service under the name "Super Madam Sasha", while also leading a double life on radio and television as a recording artist known as "Babydol". The book describes Gibson''s life as a "Super Madam" in Hollywood, as well as the challenges of simultaneously pursuing a career as a madam and a recording artist. Gibson evades law enforcement, but then is tried and convicted in a high profile trial and sent to prison. Gibson claims that celebrities such as Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Tommy Lasorda, CEOs and politicians used her service. She includes actual court data from her "Black Book", which was introduced as evidence at trial by law enforcement and used to convict her, and to date has never been sued over her use of that data. Gibson has appeared on television shows many times, including on The Howard Stern Show, Larry King Live, John Gibson''s "The Big Story", Geraldo Rivera, Access Hollywood, Showbiz Tonight, The Tyra Banks Show, Court TV''s "Hollywood Heat", and Glenn Beck. The book is now in development as a feature film about her life.

Secrets of a Hollywood Super Madam

While using their aquatic morphs to chase the Yeerks'' new Sea Blade, which was after the Pemalite ship, the Animorphs and Ax find themselves beached inside an underwater cavern. The cavern seems to be littered, however, with several different types of air and sea craft, with what appears to be human statues inside. Further inspection by Cassie and Ax reveals that these people were real, and were killed and stuffed for preservation. While attempting to escape and locate Visser Three, whose ship was taken by a strange, humanoid aquatic species, Jake, Cassie, Ax, Rachel, and Marco, all in their natural forms, are captured by these life-forms, who reveal themselves as Nartec. (Tobias was on lookout above, and therefore was not captured.) The Nartec queen explains that they once were humans who lived above water, and when their city sunk, they began to adapt to underwater life. Ax realizes that radioactivity is what aided their ability to evolve so quickly. He also surmises that the Nartec have inbred for years, except for possible breeding with their captives prior to killing them, so their genetic code is breaking down. After the Nartec queen makes it clear that she intends to "preserve" the Animorphs, she permits them to do some sightseeing, but warns them not to try and escape. Of course, the Animorphs have no interest in being killed, stuffed, and added to a collection, so they plan to locate Tobias, figure out where Visser Three is hiding, and capture the Sea Blade to escape. However, their plans are foiled by a Nartec ambush from the water, and the Animorphs are taken to an operating room of sorts to be "preserved." Given a mind-numbing agent, Jake begins to slip away, when he notices a Nartec suddenly attacking the other Nartecs in the room and wiping them out. The rogue Nartec demorphs into a Red-Tailed Hawk, Tobias, and aids the others in escaping. The Animorphs climb on board the Sea Blade, only to be challenged by hordes of Nartec, wielding weapons ranging from spears and clubs, to automatic rifles and machine guns. While the Animorphs, in their standard combat morphs, had no difficulty attacking the Nartec and holding them at bay for a while, they began to be worn down by sheer force of number. Finally they struck a reluctant alliance with Visser Three (who had been hiding on the ship the whole time while his crew were killed and stuffed), who guided them in starting the Sea Blade and escaping. Under Jake''s orders, Marco, whose gorilla morph was gutted by a sword, opened the hatch to the Sea Blade, and the Animorphs swam to the surface. Visser Three survived as well, though separated from the Animorphs.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

By Stephen King

Anesthesia: A Brief Reflection on Contemporary Aesthetics

No Author Listed

Friend of the Devil

By Peter Robinson

When the People Fell

By Frederik Pohl

Frozen in Time

By Ali Sparkes

Soul Harvest

By Tim LaHaye

Mary Poppins Opens the Door

By P. L. Travers

Clovis Dardentor

By Jules Verne

The City of Dreaming Books

By Walter Moers

The Man Without Qualities

By Robert Musil

Secrets of a Hollywood Super Madam

No Author Listed

The Mutation

By K. A. Applegate