Lots of ‘Salem’s Lot
Free Day #2
"Jerusalem's Lot" & "One for the Road"
Haven't we been here before?
Sunrise: 6:57 AMSunset: 6:20 PM
It’s Sunday, and we’ve made it through another week, Blog-o-weeners. You should be proud of yourselves! We are very nearly to the halfway point of Stephen King’s vampire yarn. We’ve seen a lot in the past six days, have we not? We misplaced one yow’un and had another one waste away in the hospital. We’ve heard all kinds of terrible things about the previous owner of the Marsten House. We’ve shot rats in the town dump. We’ve looked into the eyes of the undead and heard the high, sweet, evil sounds of laughter in the middle of the night. We’ve earned a break from the horrors, don’t ya think? It would be nice to get away from the Lot for a little while, wouldn’t it? Sure, it would. Unfortunately, that’s not going to be an easy thing to do. We may be taking a breather from the horrors of ‘Salem’s Lot the novel for this free day, but, unfortunately, that just means that we have a little time to look at a couple of Stephen King short stories that are also set in Jerusalem’s Lot.
Makes you feel like Michael Corleone, don’t it?
As I stated at the beginning of this Blog-o-ween, one of the editions of ‘Salem’s Lot that I am using is the illustrated edition put out by Doubleday in 2005. It’s a beautiful book with loads of lovely, creepy photographs by Jerry N. Uelsmann.
Weird, huh?
In addition to the full novel, the illustrated edition comes with an introduction and afterward by the author (Mr. King, natch!), and a section of “deleted scenes.” While many of these scenes are not nearly as exciting as you would hope they would be (there is a reason that they were deleted, after all), I find them to be an interesting look at the writer behind the curtain, so to speak. As a writer, I am always interested in the processes of other (more successful) writers. I like to know how much each draft is different from the one that came before it and why. With these deleted scenes, you gain a little lookie-loo into King’s mind. Like I said, many if not all of these scenes were cut or trimmed for good reason…except for one. That one should have stayed put. We’ll talk about that scene at length when the time comes. Consider this a teaser trailer!
Rounding out the illustrated edition are two short stories that also take place in that quaint little village just off Maine Route 12. One is a prequel of sorts, while the other is a sequel. I feel safe in discussing both of these stories (especially the second one), because I don’t think anything revealed in them takes away from our enjoyment of the novel. If some of you would rather not hear what happened to the little town of ‘salem’s Lot, then why not come back to this Blog-o-ween entry after everything is said and done. No biggie! For the rest of you…keep yer crucifixes handy. You just might need them!
The first story, “Jerusalem’s Lot,” was included in the author’s 1978 short story collection, Night Shift. (Which, for my money, is the scariest paperback book cover ever made. The eyes! The eyes!) It is an epistolary tale, made up of a series of letters and diary entries. King had his H.P. Lovecraft hat on when he wrote this one. It is very much a pastiche of Lovecraft’s tales, most notable “The Rats in the Walls.”
More rats!
“Jerusalem’s Lot” is set in Maine in the year 1850. It concerns a man named Charles Boone who has just taken control of an abandoned ancestral manse called Chapelwaite in the town of Preacher’s Corners. In a series of letters written to his friend “Bones”—
Not that Bones!
Anywho…in a series of letters written to his friend, Charles tells of moving into the house with his manservant, of being looked at askance by the townsfolk, of the sounds of rats in the walls, and of hearing Chapelwaite referred to as a “bad house.”
Hmmm…kinda sounds familiar, no?
Charles finds a map hidden in the library (never a good thing) that shows him how to get to a village called Jerusalem’s Lot. He and Calvin McCann, his manservant, follow the map and find an abandoned Puritan settlement. In the local church, they discover an obscene parody of the Madonna and Child and an inverted cross. They also find an old book called De Vermis Mysteriis, or The Mysteries of the Worm.
Upon returning from Jerusalem’s Lot, Charles is shunned by the Preacher’s Corners townsfolk. Later, while in the cellar searching for the source of the mysterious noises in the walls, Charles and Calvin discover two corpses that Charles immediately recognizes as “nosferatu.”
Uh-oh!
Who are the corpses in the cellar? Why do the townsfolk fear Charles and his family? How and why did the residents of Jerusalem’s Lot disappear? Who or what is “The Worm”?
“One for the Road” is also a part of Night Shift (…the eyes!…), but it was first published in the March/April 1977 issue of Maine.
This story takes place two years after the end of ‘Salem’s Lot. The Lot is a burned out shell. It is abandoned, and no one in the neighboring towns will have anything to do with it. Many wear religious symbols for protection.
Hmmm…I wonder why…
Booth, the narrator, is at a bar owned by his friend Tookey while a blizzard rages outside. Into the bar stumbles a man named Gerard Lumley. Lumley tells the men that his car broke down. He left his wife and daughter in the car while he went out for help. Booth and Tookey slowly realize that Lumley has left his family in Jerusalem’s Lot. The three men jump into action to find Lumley’s Mercedes. It is heated and still running…but empty.
What happened to Gerard Lumley’s wife and child? Do the men reach them in time?
These short stories make a nice pair of bookends to the novel we are currently reading. Although “Jerusalem’s Lot” is not a perfect prequel, it still works as a kind of alternate history to the Lot. Do the events leading up to the murder-suicide of Hubie Marsten and his wife Birdie have anything to do with “The Worm”? Is that who Straker offers Ralphie Glick to?
“One for the Road,” on the other hand, is a great sequel. I love me a good snowy horror setting. Although, if you think about it…
…the fact that there are still vamps running around the Lot…does that mean our Fearless Vampire Hunters ultimately failed? Or are they still out there wandering Brock Street and Schoolyard Hill with an athletic bag filled with wooden stakes? Could they have saved the Lumleys?
That’s it for today, kiddies. Tomorrow, I want you to have read Part 2, Chapter 9: Susan (II), Sections 1-8. Is Ben all right? Who is the visitor who comes to see Matt at night? Read and you will find out! Until tomorrow, Blog-o-weeners.
And remember if you are going to go traipsing through the woods following a map you found hidden away in the family library, then you’ve got to…
Sunrise: 6:57 AM
Sunset: 6:20 PM
It’s Sunday, and we’ve made it through another week, Blog-o-weeners. You should be proud of yourselves! We are very nearly to the halfway point of Stephen King’s vampire yarn. We’ve seen a lot in the past six days, have we not? We misplaced one yow’un and had another one waste away in the hospital. We’ve heard all kinds of terrible things about the previous owner of the Marsten House. We’ve shot rats in the town dump. We’ve looked into the eyes of the undead and heard the high, sweet, evil sounds of laughter in the middle of the night. We’ve earned a break from the horrors, don’t ya think? It would be nice to get away from the Lot for a little while, wouldn’t it? Sure, it would. Unfortunately, that’s not going to be an easy thing to do. We may be taking a breather from the horrors of ‘Salem’s Lot the novel for this free day, but, unfortunately, that just means that we have a little time to look at a couple of Stephen King short stories that are also set in Jerusalem’s Lot.
Makes you feel like Michael Corleone, don’t it?
As I stated at the beginning of this Blog-o-ween, one of the editions of ‘Salem’s Lot that I am using is the illustrated edition put out by Doubleday in 2005. It’s a beautiful book with loads of lovely, creepy photographs by Jerry N. Uelsmann.
Weird, huh?
In addition to the full novel, the illustrated edition comes with an introduction and afterward by the author (Mr. King, natch!), and a section of “deleted scenes.” While many of these scenes are not nearly as exciting as you would hope they would be (there is a reason that they were deleted, after all), I find them to be an interesting look at the writer behind the curtain, so to speak. As a writer, I am always interested in the processes of other (more successful) writers. I like to know how much each draft is different from the one that came before it and why. With these deleted scenes, you gain a little lookie-loo into King’s mind. Like I said, many if not all of these scenes were cut or trimmed for good reason…except for one. That one should have stayed put. We’ll talk about that scene at length when the time comes. Consider this a teaser trailer!
Rounding out the illustrated edition are two short stories that also take place in that quaint little village just off Maine Route 12. One is a prequel of sorts, while the other is a sequel. I feel safe in discussing both of these stories (especially the second one), because I don’t think anything revealed in them takes away from our enjoyment of the novel. If some of you would rather not hear what happened to the little town of ‘salem’s Lot, then why not come back to this Blog-o-ween entry after everything is said and done. No biggie! For the rest of you…keep yer crucifixes handy. You just might need them!
The first story, “Jerusalem’s Lot,” was included in the author’s 1978 short story collection, Night Shift. (Which, for my money, is the scariest paperback book cover ever made. The eyes! The eyes!) It is an epistolary tale, made up of a series of letters and diary entries. King had his H.P. Lovecraft hat on when he wrote this one. It is very much a pastiche of Lovecraft’s tales, most notable “The Rats in the Walls.”
More rats!
“Jerusalem’s Lot” is set in Maine in the year 1850. It concerns a man named Charles Boone who has just taken control of an abandoned ancestral manse called Chapelwaite in the town of Preacher’s Corners. In a series of letters written to his friend “Bones”—
Not that Bones!
Anywho…in a series of letters written to his friend, Charles tells of moving into the house with his manservant, of being looked at askance by the townsfolk, of the sounds of rats in the walls, and of hearing Chapelwaite referred to as a “bad house.”
Hmmm…kinda sounds familiar, no?
Charles finds a map hidden in the library (never a good thing) that shows him how to get to a village called Jerusalem’s Lot. He and Calvin McCann, his manservant, follow the map and find an abandoned Puritan settlement. In the local church, they discover an obscene parody of the Madonna and Child and an inverted cross. They also find an old book called De Vermis Mysteriis, or The Mysteries of the Worm.
Upon returning from Jerusalem’s Lot, Charles is shunned by the Preacher’s Corners townsfolk. Later, while in the cellar searching for the source of the mysterious noises in the walls, Charles and Calvin discover two corpses that Charles immediately recognizes as “nosferatu.”
Uh-oh!
Who are the corpses in the cellar? Why do the townsfolk fear Charles and his family? How and why did the residents of Jerusalem’s Lot disappear? Who or what is “The Worm”?
“One for the Road” is also a part of Night Shift (…the eyes!…), but it was first published in the March/April 1977 issue of Maine.
This story takes place two years after the end of ‘Salem’s Lot. The Lot is a burned out shell. It is abandoned, and no one in the neighboring towns will have anything to do with it. Many wear religious symbols for protection.
Hmmm…I wonder why…
Booth, the narrator, is at a bar owned by his friend Tookey while a blizzard rages outside. Into the bar stumbles a man named Gerard Lumley. Lumley tells the men that his car broke down. He left his wife and daughter in the car while he went out for help. Booth and Tookey slowly realize that Lumley has left his family in Jerusalem’s Lot. The three men jump into action to find Lumley’s Mercedes. It is heated and still running…but empty.
What happened to Gerard Lumley’s wife and child? Do the men reach them in time?
These short stories make a nice pair of bookends to the novel we are currently reading. Although “Jerusalem’s Lot” is not a perfect prequel, it still works as a kind of alternate history to the Lot. Do the events leading up to the murder-suicide of Hubie Marsten and his wife Birdie have anything to do with “The Worm”? Is that who Straker offers Ralphie Glick to?
“One for the Road,” on the other hand, is a great sequel. I love me a good snowy horror setting. Although, if you think about it…
…the fact that there are still vamps running around the Lot…does that mean our Fearless Vampire Hunters ultimately failed? Or are they still out there wandering Brock Street and Schoolyard Hill with an athletic bag filled with wooden stakes? Could they have saved the Lumleys?
That’s it for today, kiddies. Tomorrow, I want you to have read Part 2, Chapter 9: Susan (II), Sections 1-8. Is Ben all right? Who is the visitor who comes to see Matt at night? Read and you will find out! Until tomorrow, Blog-o-weeners.
And remember if you are going to go traipsing through the woods following a map you found hidden away in the family library, then you’ve got to…
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