'Bad Apps' Paperback Update; Review: Stephen King's 'Cat's Eye'

Credit: Pixelbay (with alterations)

Halloween is only a day away, and we're also getting into the Day of the Dead season. It’s a time of witches and their demonic cats; a time of skeletons and jack-o lanterns. And at this time centuries ago, people such as the Celts of what are now the British Isles and the Aztecs of Mexico believed that the barrier separating the dead from the living opened up for a short time for the two to come together and celebrate. Some of us believe that still today, at least in a certain sense. But some of the citizens of the realm of the dead did not come to celebrate with the living but, instead, to terrorise them. At least that was the belief. 

Well, my newest book of short fiction, "Bad Apps", contains stories of a similar nature and, in some cases, even a supernature. However, the barrier that is removed is not so much one that separates the living and the dead but one that separates the real world from the virtually real world. And the ones who come from the virtually real world come to terrorise the real one. "Bad Apps" can be purchased now in ebook at Amazon, and I’m currently working on the publishing of the paperback version. I have updates on that in today’s blog. I also have for you the Book-To-Movie review for October, a time for cats and the movie I’m reviewing involves a cat. So, keep on readin’!

Update on ‘Bad Apps’ Paperback Version

I was trying to make the cover for the print version of “Bad Apps”, but Kindle Direct’s Cover Creator doesn’t offer the same templates as it does for the ebook.  So, I was not able to fit the cover illustration accurately onto the paperback cover. Because of that, I had to turn to Canva to make the cover which I’ve been currently doing. Once the cover is done, I’ll upload it to KDP. The manuscript for the paperback version of “Bad Apps” has already been uploaded. 

I’ll be submitting the book for publication by next week. Once I review an author copy of it and make sure everything looks good, I’ll release it to the public. That will probably happen in the next couple of weeks. 

Book-To-Movie: 'Cat's Eye'

Credit: Wikipedia/MGM

The rise of Stephen King's career occurred during the early 1980s, a time when supernatural horror in fiction and movies was giving way to the more mundane slashers. Although much of King’s work involves stories that emphasise the more realistic events of psychotic murderers such as in his 1970s novel, “The Shining”, its film adaptation being released in 1980, they also involve at least references to the supernatural and otherworldly terrors. Some of these stories didn’t even have to depend on the graphic gore that so much of ‘80s horror did in fiction and film. Two of King’s short stories adapted into the 1985 horror anthology movie, "Cat's Eye", are good examples of this. “Cat’s Eye” consists of three stories that almost have no graphic violence yet carry the frightening supernatural atmosphere of much of King's fiction. The first two, "Quitter's, Inc." and "The Ledge", come from his 1978 short story collection, "Night Shift", while the third, “General”, had never been published. 

The Short Stories

'Quitter's, Inc.'

The plot to "Quitter's, Inc.' is that chain smoker Morrison goes to a clinic, that's of the same name as the story's title, to get help to break his nicotine habit. Little does he know the big price he has to pay for his therapy, and it's not merely monetary--it's his and his family's lives. With the help of clinic director Dr. Donatti's giant of a henchman, Morrison becomes trapped into committing to the therapy. The therapeutic method Donatti uses on his clients: kidnapping their loved ones and torturing them in an electric shock chamber until the habit is broken. For Morrison, after he commits to the "therapy", there is no foreseeable way out since Donatti has someone randomly spying on him in his daily life. 

The plot seems pretty mundane, but suggestions of the supernatural and fantastic run throughout the story. For example, there’s a surreal scene: when Morrison leaves the clinic after being told about the rough therapeutic methods, he is described as seeing Donatti's face eclipsing the sun which suggests the all-seeing power of Donatti. Also, mad doctor Donatti is likened to a mad magician when he uses a rabbit to demonstrate the effects of the electrical chamber, and it’s referred to as the "rabbit trick". 

'The Ledge'

"The Ledge" is a kind of game-of-death story. The protagonist, Norris, who also serves as the narrator is kidnapped by gangsters for having an affair with their boss's wife, Marcia. The boss, Cressner, threatens Norris into walking the top ledge of the high-rise building that the crime boss’s penthouse sits on. He tells Norris that if he makes it around the entire building alive then he can have both his wife and a monetary prize of $20,000. If Norris refuses the deal--that's just it, it's an offer he can't refuse. If he does, Cressner will report him to the cops for possessing a supply of heroin which his henchmen have put into the trunk of Norris's car. 

The storyline comes across as mundane for a horror story and so seems more like a crime and suspense story. While it is that, there is a dark fantastical sense to it. For instance, the narrator describes his thoughts and impressions of Marcia as if they were telepathy. He even describes the face of Marcia as coming up in his mind warning him not to go along with Cressner's game. A cold wind is also described as if it were a living entity or spirit: "It slapped against me with vicious invisible fingers . . ." There’s even an implication of the presence of the Grim Reaper: "The man with the sickle was close enough to read over my shoulder." Cressner's henchman is also described as monstrous, "looking like a leftover from Halloween." 

Even though many of the fantastical elements of “The Ledge” and “Quitter’s” come across as metaphor or simile, they raise the suspense and a sense of evil in the protagonists' experience. 

The Movie: 'Cat's Eye'

The 1980s saw a return of the TV and movie horror anthology having been popular during the 1950s and on through the earlier half of the 70s. "Cat's Eye" was part of that return. The movie contains a story arc that holds together three stories even if somewhat loosely. The arc begins with a Tabby cat being contacted telepathically by a little girl (played by Drew Barrymore) who claims to be in some sort of trouble, and so he sets out to find her. On his journey, he witnesses three perils, each of which is a tale itself: the first two are the adaptations of King's "Quitter's, Inc." and "The Ledge"; the third is one that had never been published, "General". 

The first two stories in the movie don't have the degree of fantasy that their prose versions do, yet those elements are still presented sufficiently in the “Quitter’s” segment. In this segment, the cat is kidnapped by Donatti's henchman to be used in the electrical shock treatment demonstration instead of the rabbit of the prose version of the story. 

So, the magician implication may have been omitted, but there’s still a surreal scene, only not with the face of Donatti watching Morrison. Instead, this one is set at a party where a portrait painting of Quitter's, Inc.'s deceased founder watches Morisson while literally smoking several cigarettes simultaneously. In this same scene, many other strange things happen such as a platter of hors d’oeuvres that forms a face with blinking eyes. This nightmarish sequence intensifies the protagonist's life-threatening therapy and the temptation to resist it like the surreal scene of the prose story. 

In "The Ledge" segment of the film, the Tabby is rescued from oncoming traffic by Cressner. Although Cressner, unlike Donatti, doesn't treat the cat poorly, the cat observes the mistreatment Cressner gives to Norris when making him walk the ledge. As with the other stories in the movie, it's full of dark humour and scary moments, but unlike the other two and its original prose source, there's no supernatural or other fantastical elements, making the story more crime-suspense than horror. 

The cat finally reaches his destination, which the movie's story arc culminates into the third and final story segment, "General", the title being the name that the little girl, Amanda (Barrymore), gives the cat. She struggles to keep the cat as a pet against her mom's wishes while being terrorized by a troll that keeps coming into her bedroom at night. She depends on General to ward off the troll. Out of the three stories in this movie, this one had the best characterisation including likeable characters. The other two stories did not do as well with the characters, unlike their original prose versions which did much better. 

"Cat's Eye" holds up well due to its style and dark humour. It still has sufficient suspense in it, but it doesn't have the terror or degree of dark fantastic elements that King's short stories, "Quitter's, Inc." and "The Ledge", do in their prose fiction forms. But it's still a fun movie and a break from the more graphically violent movie adaptations of many of King’s other stories. 

Be here next Wednesday for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog hop. Until then, have a happy and safe yet scary Halloween! And if you happen to celebrate virtually and come across crazy old ladies or men offering you cookies, don’t take any. They may be poisonous to your device. Have you read either of the two above short stories by Stephen King or seen the movie, “Cat’s Eye”. What are your plans for Halloween and/or Day of the Dead?