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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / January 2006Funny cat mentioned in a novel:
Recently listened (on my iPod) to Dean Koontz' Frankenstein, Book 2 (for those of you who've not read it, it seems that Dr. Frankenstein has survived all these 200+/-years, and is still creating his monsters, and has changed his name to Victor Helious. Also his original monster is still alive, going under the name of Dukasian, and is trying to stop him, with the help of some local cops. The setting is pre-Katrina New Orleans, and Helious has replaced about 1/2 the police force, all the local politicians and high-ranking officials with 'replicants' that he's made in an attempt at (what else) global domination). Anyway, in one scene, the two cops, one of whom is female, and has an autistic younger brother that she is the caretaker of, go to her housekeeper's sister's home. She answers the door holding a black cat - said cat is wearing a blue beret with a red tassel on it, and is described as being very unhappy about the beret. Sister puts down the cat and it proceeds to "shake of the embarrassing beret, and runs off, probably to call the ACLU to report the indignities it has just suffered". I was LOL at this part! Although I think that Koontz might have gotten ACLU and ASPCA confused... :)  SignatureThe ONE and ONLY lefthanded-pathetic-paranoid-psychotic-sarcastic-wiseass-ditzy former-blonde in Bloomington! (And proud of it, too)© email me at nalee1964 (at) insightbb (dot) com http://community.webshots.com/user/mgcmdjeep Very good series > Recently listened (on my iPod) to Dean Koontz' Frankenstein, Book 2 (for > those of you who've not read it, it seems that Dr. Frankenstein has [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > at this part! Although I think that Koontz might have gotten ACLU and > ASPCA confused... :) > Recently listened (on my iPod) to Dean Koontz' Frankenstein, Book 2 > (for those of you who've not read it, it seems that Dr. Frankenstein [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > suffered". I was LOL at this part! Although I think that Koontz > might have gotten ACLU and ASPCA confused... :) Koontz went from a rather bad writer to a very good writer to what I now consider a mediocre writer. Frankenstein 2? Mary Shelley would be rolling in her grave :) Jill >> Recently listened (on my iPod) to Dean Koontz' Frankenstein, Book 2 >> (for those of you who've not read it, it seems that Dr. Frankenstein [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > Jill It's called Book 2 because it's a continuation of his own story. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/002-4656081-2548032?url=inde x%3Dstripbooks%3Arelevance-above&field-keywords=Dean+Koontz+Frankenstein&Go.x=7& Go.y=6 Book 1 is subtitled Prodigal Son Book 2 is subtitled City of Night Rather interesting concept, I thought. And they do mention Mary Shelly (as not having written fiction, but an actual historical accountings of what happened all those years ago) > Koontz went from a rather bad writer to a very good writer to > what I now consider a mediocre writer. That's an interesting trajectory! I read a number of his books in the late 90s. I loved the first one I read, because I had no idea what to expect. It truly spooked me, and had a fantastical but nonetheless fun conclusion. That one was called "The Sound of Thunder" (I think that's the title - it's about a woman in the hospital with severe injuries from a car crash she doesn't remember, when suddenly she sees 4 men hanging around, who had murdered her boyfriend many years prior in college). Another one I liked was about a bunch of different people who were terrified of the dark, but couldn't remember why. Oh, I also loved the one about the genetically engineered golden retriever (along with the engineered monster thing that was roaming the countryside killing everything in sight). I think that one was called "Watchers" and was made into a movie, which I've never seen. But after a while, the books started to feel very formulaic to me. He really went overboard with telling the reader what to feel - he'd go on and on describing scenes with as many horror adjectives as he could come up with, as though he was afraid that people wouldn't get it that what he was writing was creepy, unless he pulled out every synonym for "horrifying" in existence. :) He either thought his readers were stupid, or he badly needed an editor. Last, I got really sick of all the self-righteous lecturing in his books, about how society's gone downhill because people don't take "personal responsibility", yadda yadda yadda. I just want a good story, I don't need a moral lecture, especially when they're bogus morals. So he got better, eh? Whenabouts would you say his books started to improve, and how did they improve? And did he dump the boring moralizing? I'd be happy to check him out again if you can recommend a good book, or maybe a good year, to start with. Thanks, Joyce > "The Sound of Thunder" (I think that's the title - it's about a woman > in the hospital with severe injuries from a car crash she doesn't > remember, when suddenly she sees 4 men hanging around, who had murdered > her boyfriend many years prior in college). I just looked it up on Amazon, and it's called The *House* of Thunder. > Another one I liked was > about a bunch of different people who were terrified of the dark, but > couldn't remember why. "Strangers". Joyce Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of animals as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in the Christopher Snow series is due out soon and I await it impatiently! Sure, some of his books hold my interest better than others. Watchers, the one with the golden retriever, was good...the movie they made from it sucked big time. Tick-tock, an early one, is another fav. Everyone is different. For instance, I liked the early works of Stephen King much better than what he writes now, but I know several people who would debate me to the death about that! PatM > Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of animals > as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in the [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > PatM Yep, me too. For me "The Shining" was the epitome of his works and he kind of went downhill after that. SignatureHugs, CatNipped See all my masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped/ > > Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of animals > > as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in the [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Yep, me too. For me "The Shining" was the epitome of his works and he kind > of went downhill after that. Speaking of lousy movies made from good books! ;-) Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" was awful! OTOH, the movie of "The Green Mile", which I loved, was very true to the book, and excellent. IMNSHO, of course. Joy >Speaking of lousy movies made from good books! ;-) Stanley Kubrick's "The >Shining" was awful! OTOH, the movie of "The Green Mile", which I loved, was >very true to the book, and excellent. IMNSHO, of course. And it can work just the other way, too. "Dolores Claiborne" is utterly unreadable, but what a marvelous movie it made. SignatureWayne M. > And it can work just the other way, too. "Dolores Claiborne" is > utterly unreadable, but what a marvelous movie it made. I agree! That's one of my favorite films ever. But that's because while the book is a fair-to-poor Stephen King novel, the movie is a Kathy Bates movie, and she gave one of the best performances of her career in that film. I am so glad they decided to leave Vera's "sh*tstorms" out of the movie. King does have the unfortunate habit of veering from horror to just plain grossness. Joyce > > And it can work just the other way, too. "Dolores Claiborne" is > > utterly unreadable, but what a marvelous movie it made. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Joyce Yes, I've noticed that too. Every one of his books has to have at least one gross-out scene, and usually several. :-( Joy >> Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of animals >> as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in the [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > Yep, me too. For me "The Shining" was the epitome of his works and > he kind of went downhill after that. Ahem, 'The Shining' was Stephen King. Jill >>> Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of animals >>> as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in the [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >>> another fav. Everyone is different. For instance, I liked the >>> early works of Stephen King much better than what he writes now, but ^^^^^^^^^^^ >>> I know several people who >>> would debate me to the death about that! [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Jill Yeah, that's who we were talking about (the conversation had devolved as usual! ;>). SignatureHugs, CatNipped See all my masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped/ >>>Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of animals >>>as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in the [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Jill I don't get the "ahem." They were talking about Stephen King too. This is how our conversations went at Christmas, not everyone kept up with the changes -- it was pretty confusing. Rhonda > Tick-tock, an early one, is another fav. He seems to have a lot of books that either have "Tick-Tock" in the title, or is the name of one of the characters, or it's part of some menacing thing a creepy person or creature likes to say. There seem to be a whole series of Tick-Tock-related books. :) I read one that was about a young, disturbed man who had built a kind of "golem" (a soulless, Frankenstein-like creature that nonetheless has a very real physical presence and can do damage). He also had the ability to stop time for everything except himself, and when time was stopped, he would direct the golem to do horrible things to people and then leave. And then the guy behind the scenes would restart time, and the people who were affected had no idea what happened. Example: he filled one guy's house with giant tarantulas while time was stopped. To the guy, the tarantulas just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Another: he sent the golem to a rave, stopped time, broke a woman's arm off, then restarted time. To her, one minute she was dancing, and the next, her arm was gone. The guy who was directing the whole thing never left his own house, which was a fortress. But nobody suspected him, because he did everything using his psychic powers. Only the main character was able to figure it out. Did you read that one? I forget the name of it. However, the phrase "Tick Tock" figured big in that book, I think it was part of a rhyme or something the psycho guy liked to say. It might even have been part of the book's title. Since I read that book, I've come across several others that are similar in name, if not in storyline. Joyce Example: he filled one guy's house with giant tarantulas while time was stopped. To the guy, the tarantulas just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Another: he sent the golem to a rave, stopped time, broke a woman's arm off, then restarted time. To her, one minute she was dancing, and the next, her arm was gone. The guy who was directing the whole thing never left his own house, which was a fortress. But nobody suspected him, because he did everything using his psychic powers. Only the main character was able to figure it out. Did you read that one? I forget the name of it. However, the phrase "Tick Tock" figured big in that book}} This one doesn't ring a bell. Don't think I have read it. But yes, I've noticed Koontz uses that phrase "tick-tock" more than once. Or even in a name...like Jimmy Tock. Interesting. PatM >> Example: he filled one guy's house with giant tarantulas while time >> was stopped. To the guy, the tarantulas just suddenly appeared out [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > This one doesn't ring a bell. Don't think I have read it. I looked it up on Amazon - it's called Dragon Tears. Joyce > Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of animals > as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in the [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > PatM I tend to agree with you about Stephen King, except I don't like most of his short stories, whenever they were written. I go through spells when I devour anything by Deen Koontz, then there will be times when I don't want to read any of his stuff. I agree that some are better than others. I especially liked the one with the Golden Retriever, but there were others that were about as good. I'm glad I didn't see the movie. As long as we're already off topic, and talking about movies - I saw The Producers earlier today. I had seen the play and enjoyed it. I must say, it is one play that translated well to the big screen. Several people in the audience applauded at the end. They have "curtain calls" during the credits, and a few people applauded some of those, too. Joy >> Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of animals >> as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in the [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > Joy People, you are mixing up Kootz with Stephen King! I read my first S. King novel in 1976... Carrie, I think it was. The movie was horrid; Sissy Spacek and a bucket of blood. King's movies were awful until someone made 'Firestarter' and then 'Christine' and actually used his input and dialogue. The best book he ever wrote, IMO, was 'The Stand'. I'll read that again and again. As for The Green Mile, not only a fantastic book but also a movie that I own and watch again and again. And the soundtrack by Thomas Newman is outstanding. Jill >>> Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of >>> animals [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] > > Jill My favorite SK book is It. The movie was 'made for TV' and not that great (Tim curry as Pennywise the Clown!!!!), but it did stick to the book pretty much, although a couple of my favorite parts are left out due to time constraints (as is, it is over 3 hours). I like to book as when they are describing 'the barrens' (a wooded section near the middle of town), they say that there are access point to the sewer system there, concrete Morlock Holes (read HG Wells' The Time Machine), and in my hometown (not where I was born, but where I grew up) there is a wooded strip that is close to downtown, and runs behind the house where I grew up. There are also these concrete sewer access sites (lidded with manhole covers). Anyway, my favorite part of the book is during one of the flashbacks to their childhood, one of the main characters, Bev, is taking a shortcut through the city dump (back in the 1950's, it wasn't just garbage, but cars, appliances and everything else) in order to get home *quick* as she has to pee. Bad. While near the middle of the dump, she hears voices - recognizes them as belonging to the school bully & his cohorts. She hides in a junked car so as not to be picked on by them. The funny part is that curiosity eventually gets the better of her, and she creeps around to a vantage point where she can see what they are doing. She sees all three of them with their pants around their ankles, and thinks they are 'going number two'. But then, one of them farts - and flames shoot out his bum! They are lighting farts! Thus she gets the giggles - and nearly wets herself. Remember, she had to pee in the first place? Being all scrunched up in a hot, smelly junked car, and trying not to laugh too loudly that they will hear her makes her have to pee all the more, and she gets the giggles even more. SK also digress as to how the boys got all gassy in the first place, about how the head bully's single dad's girlfriend will, every Wednesday, bring over a huge pot of beans for supper, and it lasts them the rest of the week, even with the bully bringing enough to school to share with his cohorts. "Magic Mood Jeep?" <nobody@nowhere.net> wrote: > While near the middle of the dump, she hears voices - recognizes > them as belonging to the school bully & his cohorts. She hides in a junked [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > hear her makes her have to pee all the more, and she gets the giggles even > more. SK also digress as to how the boys got all gassy in the first place, He certainly does have a fixation on elimination functions, doesn't he? I think he confuses this with horror. Joyce He certainly does have a fixation on elimination functions, doesn't he? I think he confuses this with horror. Joyce }} Did you ever read one of his very early short stories about a kid who threw up at a blueberry pie-eating contest at a blueberry festival? It causes everyone to start vomiting blueberries. Ugh. PatM > Did you ever read one of his very early short stories about a kid who > threw up at a blueberry pie-eating contest at a blueberry festival? It > causes everyone to start vomiting blueberries. Ugh. Didn't this then get stuck into the movie Stand By Me? Not my favorite part of that movie. Joyce causes everyone to start vomiting blueberries. Ugh. Didn't this then get stuck into the movie Stand By Me? Not my favorite part of that movie. Joyce }} It's been so many years since I saw that movie I don't recall. I remember everybody coming to see the body by the tracks, and the kids barely outrunning the train because that happened to someone in our family...except that he didn't make it. PatM > It's been so many years since I saw that movie I don't recall. I > remember everybody coming to see the body by the tracks, and the kids > barely outrunning the train because that happened to someone in our > family...except that he didn't make it. There was a scene when the kids are camping in the woods, around the fire, and the main character (the writer, forget his name) told a story to the others, about a blueberry pie contest where one kid ate so much he puked all over everything. Because it was a film, they were able to enact that scene, so you got to see it all in living color. I never read the story that Stand By Me is based on ("The Body"), so I don't know if the eating contest story scene is actually in that story, or if they took it from another King story and stuck it into the movie. I hope that made sense. It's almost 3AM and I'm a little less alert than usual. :) Joyce > > It's been so many years since I saw that movie I don't recall. I > > remember everybody coming to see the body by the tracks, and the [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Joyce I don't remember the blueberry scene as being in the story "The Body". It was basically a tale about pre-teen boys sticking together and going to look at some dead guy. Pretty gross when you think about it. Jill Best made for movie by these 2 authors was Cujo for King and Phantoms or Watchers( they both equally tied in my book) for Koontz I always love how King is always in the movie somewhere some how > Best made for movie by these 2 authors was Cujo for King and > Phantoms or Watchers( they both equally tied in my book) for Koontz > I always love how King is always in the movie somewhere some how King is following in Hitchcock's footsteps in that regard. You can find Alfred in every film if you look closely enough. Jill > >> Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of animals > >> as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in the [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > > Jill Not mixing them up at all. We're discussing both, because their genre is the same. My first sentence above referred to Stephen King, as stated. The rest of my paragraph applied to Koontz, again as stated. Maybe you're the one who is mixed up. ;-) Joy The Stand was awesome. There are parts of IT that got under my skin and I will probably always remember. PatM > Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of animals > as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in the [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > PatM You should try to watch the _Watchers_ that had Marc Singer. The one with Corey Haim (or that other Corey) was soooo bad, but the one with Singer at least tried to follow the trajectory of the story (and Singer was an adult male, like the book, not some teen heart-throb). Now a warning, it wasn't a great film, but it was much more like the story. Smokie Darling (Annie) - Koontz, John Saul, Stephen King, Richard Laymon, I love horror writers. >> Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of animals >> as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in the [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > Smokie Darling (Annie) - Koontz, John Saul, Stephen King, Richard > Laymon, I love horror writers. Watchers is my very best loved Koontz book. His use of the dog in the book was great. Jill > >> Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of animals > >> as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in the [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > Jill Oh yeah, I completely agree. I mean, I liked Whispers and Phantoms and all those others, but Watchers was the first one where you realized his adoration of Golden Retrievers (which nearly matches me). Einstein, I just loooooved Einstein. Wouldn't you want him in your house? SD (Annie) >>>> Dean Koontz is one of my favorite authors. I love his use of >>>> animals as actual characters, with personalities. His 3rd book in [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > > SD (Annie) You bet I'd want him in my house! Hey, fella! My dog Sampson wasn't a golden but was nearly as smart ;) Jill |
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