I just finished reading The Fifth Harmonic. It's a little different from Paul's other books, but I liked it. I stayed up until almost 3 a.m. reading it, in fact. I have to comment on one line in the book that I found rather jarring, though, and which I think will sound very dated in a few years:

"Captain Carcinoma was Hitler, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden all rolled into one..."

Say what? Those last two don't even come close to being in the same league as the first two. This is even more jarring considering the monsters whose places they took:

Stalin: 60 million murdered

Mao: 35 or 85 million murdered (depending on whether or not you include those who starved to death from Mao's forced collectivization of agriculture)

Even Hitler comes in a distant third to these two (20 million). Pol Pot is several places further down the list when it comes to absolute numbers killed, but one can easily argue that he ranks up there with Stalin, Mao, and Hitler given that he murdered a third of his country's entire population.

Saddam Hussein is far, far, far down on the list of 20th-century mass murderers. The world is and has been full of tyrants at least as bad for a long time.

As for bin Laden... if you compare him to other NGMs (non-governmental murderers), it's true that he's near or at the top of the list. But he's a dilettante when you compare him to the leaders of just about any sizable government; his organization doesn't have the resources to amass the piles of corpses that the modern state produces so easily and frequently.

Sorta like the other thread on here, but I was thinking more of a Non-FPW line.

I always liked Needful Things. One moment that will always stand out to me was when I read this the first time during my senior year. Towards the end of the book when all hell breaks loose, there's a scene where Ace sets off some dynamite under the bridge in town. I was reading this part while in study hall one day and at the exact same moment where the bridge goes up, someone had pulled the fire alarm in the school. I think I came a few feet off my chair when that happened.

My favorite short story is definately The Body Politic by Clive Barker. I've never read a story that made me laugh this hard but at the same time think to myself "What if this is really true? Would I ever know?". If you've never read this, it's located in the book The Inhuman Condition.

Overall, the scariest books I've read would have to be Salem's Lot, The Keep, and The Damnation Game.

Recently, I'm crazy about old TV drama. A few days ago, I mentioned Flash Gordon...that was too old, but I like short tv dramas. Hitchcock presents, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Hammer House of Horror, and recently I saw Tales of the Unexpexted. This is England TV anthology, short stories from Roald Dahl. Specially, most famous story is Man from the South.
I did already read this short story, but drama was thrilling too.And other episodes, Lamb to the Slaughter is weird, Neck is blackish comedy. If you have opportunity, I recommend it. This is funny and scary and weird.

Hi,
I am new to this board and new to F. Paul Wilson. I am going to start the Tomb, the first of the Repairman Jack series. I just would like to know about the rest of the series, is it recommended to read the series in order or could you bounce around between each novel? Very excited to start though and look forward to reading what others have to say on this board!

....Re-enacted by bunnies in 30 seconds.

I especially like "Tubular Bells" sung by bunnies.

According to a number of sources (http://www.comingsoon.net/dvd/nov04.php), Paramount Home Entertainment is releasing "The Keep" on DVD this fall (street date = 11/30) with no extras.

I’m considering remedying that. I’ve spoken to Doug Winter (critic, biographer, novelist, columnist for Video Watchdog) and David Schow (screenwriter and novelist) – both acerbic wits with strong opinions about the film – and asked them if they’d be interested in joining me for a commentary track. They are.

The plan: We’ll sit down in a studio sometime in August when David is on the East Coast. We’ll run the film and shoot our mouths off for 96 minutes. Then we’ll put it onto CDs and sell them to anyone who’d want to play it along with the movie.

A commentary track that trashes the film…I don’t think this has ever been done before. Could get a lot of press.

Then again, it may not.

Either way it’ll be a kick.

Well, SOMEONE liked it...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085780/usercomments

Lookie, there's someone calling themselves "Glaeken" on the message board for The Keep. The truth comes out! Glaeken is, in fact, Italian.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085780/board/nest/4205726

What horrors have I witnessed, here at the IMDB.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085780/board/nest/8645857

"Something is murdering my brain cells."

I just received a copy of the UK hardback of 'Wheels Within Wheels'. I have to say it's one of the worst covers I've seen for any book!
There's even a credit for the 'designer' of the book on the rear flap - bloody cheek
Anyone have anything to compete for crapness?

Steve
PS fpw - do you have any say in the design of jackets on foreign editions?

wooo finally finished LEGACIES. my third and second favorite RJ novel (haunted air being my fav and then the tomb being last) boy is jack a lot more balls to the wall than he seemed in haunted air! he kills everyone! not that they dont deserve it but.....wow. his character is a def. a whole lot darker in this book than he is in haunted air... i dont know how i feel about that... if only GIA knew. LEGACIES was awesome though. ALICIA was a good character to balance jack out and i loved all the stunts jack pulled like the eye trick and the booby trapped house. i wish we saw more of VICKY and GIA but im glad it ended with them together at least. cant wait for conspiracies, then im gonna have to order the next 2. ----j

To any pack-rats who may be lurking, I'm having a really hard time finding a copy of "The Touch" - I can't find it in any of my local used stores (9), or on e-bay. Just wondering if anyone had a copy they might be willing to part with. Paperback of course! I've got the last 3 of the cycle and don't want to skip this book. Thanks