"The Little Green God of Agony," by Stephen King
(Found in A Book of Horrors, ed. Stephen Jones)
In the introduction to his new
anthology, Stephen Jones expresses dismay at the overpowering onslaught of
horror-lite which has obliterated the good old-fashioned horror story from the
market. The purpose of this anthology is to take back the market with some
bad-@$$ creepy stories. He opens his anthology with "The Little Green God
of Agony," a story by the well-known master of horror, Stephen King.
Newsome, the sixth richest man in
the world, is a man in agony. A plane crash has left him scarred all over his
body, and unable to get out of bed due to neuropathic pain. After exploring all
the traditional medical procedures for freeing himself of this burden, he
cashes in for the non-traditional treatment--a reverend who claims that Newsome
is possessed by a god of agony, and that he (the reverend) has the power to
expel the demon. Is the reverend a charlatan? Or is Newsome really possessed by
a demonic agony?
This is the first Stephen King
story I've read in quite a long time. I've always felt that he has an
incredibly creative mind, and an amazing power to delve the reader into the
darkness of his stories. On the other hand, the almost-book-snob in me cringes
at his metaphors sometimes. (eg. "she...laced her hands together on the
hanging hot-water bottles of muscle beneath his right thigh." I'm sorry.
That just really falls flat for me.) Once I'd managed to rid myself of the
sharpened pencil stabs of distaste for SK's continued use of unsatisfactory
metaphors, however, I enjoyed the story quite a bit. His dark imagination was
the perfect taster for the savory horrors to come in this anthology. ;)
I love Stephen King! I have not read this story - I will have to fix that. :)
ReplyDelete:) You should! Actually, the entire anthology that it came out it in looks quite good. It's being considered for this year's World Fantasy Awards.
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of either Stephen King or anthologies, my mam would love this though. Thanks for recommending it.
ReplyDeleteNo problem! That's the purpose of a book blog. :D
ReplyDeleteOoh, that sounds like a great anthology! I've not read this Stephen King story and will need to amend that ;)
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, today his & Joe Hill's "In the Tall Grass" novella was discounted. It's getting average reviews though, but I'd like to check it out for myself.
So far, it's been a pretty good anthology. I've sort of been reading it "on the side" because I prefer novels to short stories...but I'll finish it eventually and put a review for the entire anthology.
ReplyDelete