Venganza Media Gazette

Books & Nachos THE STAND Review — Update

Stephen King’s writing of The Stand was fraught with delays.  He suffered writer’s block, lost his way with the story, and ultimately had to release Night Shift as a stop-gap so his publishers had something to release.

It feels appropriate, then, that my Books & Nachos review seems to be going through the same cycle.

As host of the Books & Nachos podcast I’ve reviewed over 50 novels, short stories, comics, and non-fiction works.  I’m aware of the work involved, which includes not only reading the work but researching its history and truly contemplating the meaning of the book.  Yet, even with this experience the review of The Stand is unlike anything I’ve undertaken thus far.  As my review of The Stand is delayed, I’ve received several e-mails asking about the release and I felt it important to update you, the constant listener, on my progress.

When I look back on 2014 the dominant memory I’ll have is King’s epic novel.  I have read this book three times, both the originally published 1978 version, the slightly revised 1980 Signet paperback, and then the 1990 Complete & Uncut Edition.  I took copious notes on each.  I read several accounts of King’s writing of the novel, both major and trivial.  I watched The Stand mini-series (which we reviewed at Now Playing Podcast) and heard King’s commentary, which also added light on his prose work.  I’ve even read the Marvel Comics adaptation so I can review it as well.

But trying to take this information and distill it into one podcast has been daunting.  I did, for quite some time, suffer from writer’s block–my introduction was written, rewritten, and rewritten again but I couldn’t bring myself to tackle the analysis.   I had hoped to have my review of The Stand done by November 1, ready for release around Thanksgiving with our review of the movie.  Needless to say, I missed that date due to the writer’s block.

Now, I’m excited to say, the review is written, but due to the Thanksgiving holiday as well as illness I have been unable to record.   With a holiday schedule growing ever-more-hectic as we approach Christmas, the time I hoped to record has been taken by other more immediate, personal concerns.

That said, progress is being made!  While I cannot provide an exact release date for this review, it will be out before the Christmas holiday (barring more illness).

In the end, my thought is this:  those anxious for this review may be frustrated by the delay, but that will be forgotten.  This review will be online for people to hear for years, and I’d rather put out a product I can be 100% proud of rather than rush to meet a deadline and have a review that doesn’t satisfy me or you.

Additionally, this delay is not going to impact the reviews coming down the pike.  I am well into reading King’s next work The Long Walk and that review will be out in early January, followed quickly by my review of The Dead Zone which will coincide with the Now Playing Podcast review of that movie the week of January 12th.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll join me at Now Playing Podcast for our current series.  On the main feed we have reviews of the horror movie Maniac and, coming tomorrow, the review of the 2012 remake.  And on our donation feed we have reviews of all Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films, as well as reviews of all seven Leprechaun movies!  Plenty of content to keep you entertained while I record and edit The Stand.

Thank you for your patience, and I will update again when the review is ready for you to hear!

December 8, 2014 Posted by Arnie C | Books, Now Playing Podcast, Podcasts, Reviews | Books & Nachos, Delay, Schedule, Stephen King, The Dead Zone, The Long Walk, The Stand | 2 Comments