charles barrow's writing

The circus. Equal parts exciting and terrifying. I see this big-top appear, overnight, in the local park and I'm powerfully drawn to it, my inner child suddenly as excited as he used to be on Christmas mornings. But, grown-up me is very slightly unsettled by it. I never read a book, or saw a film wherein a circus coming to town didn't bring something sinister and wicked with it. I n the next few days, t here will be much joy, and laughter reverberating inside that big-top, but not all of us will sleep easy in our beds until it leaves town.   Photo is the author's own

Ok, so, my autumn reading is organised. Being October, the month of Halloween and all things spooky and dead (I guess), I've loaded up with Stephen King books. I've written before about how I used to be a fan in the early days (both his and mine) and devoured titles like Carrie, Salem's Lot, and Pet Semetary but then drifted away to other genres and authors, but have recently returned. And I've become an admirer once again. I suspect people sneer at his writerly skills because he's so popular (and popular can't be quality can it?) and prolific. But he is a really good writer...which is why he is so popular. I loved 11.22.63 and Joyland. And his book On Writing (part biog and part 'How To Write') is a great read with untold amounts of advice and tips on writing and how he pursues the craft. I heartily recommend that to any aspiring authors. So, anyway, I picked up a few of King's titles and will be enjoying them as the evening's draw in and the ...

I'm currently reading Joyland by Stephen King and enjoying it very much. I read many of his early novels when I was younger, the horror novels (The Shining, Carrie, Salem's Lot) and they scared the pants off me and I had to give up on him. But I've came back to him lately when I picked up 11.22.63 and raced through it. It involves a time-travel conundrum and the assassination of President John Kennedy (the title refers to the date he was killed). Anyway, that wasn't a horror story, it was a tense thriller and I admired it a lot. I'd forgotten what a good writer King is and it was nice to be reminded. Similarly, Joyland isn't a horror story, though it has some creepy moments, and I'm enjoying it and the writing.  I suppose the world of the carny and the funfair, as we in the UK would call it, has been in my subconscious then, and as I've travelled around this winter I've spotted a couple of merry-go-rounds at Christmas Fairs and taken snaps of th...