Robert McCammon discussion

Discuss this chilling read.

Starting Nov. 1?

Chris wrote: "Starting Nov. 1?"

Yes or 31st if you want to.

I started it a few days ago so the timing is perfect. Very different in style from The Wolf's Hour which I also recently finished.

They Thirst is available on US Kindle as of a couple of weeks ago.

Chris wrote: "I started it a few days ago so the timing is perfect. Very different in style from The Wolf's Hour which I also recently finished.

They Thirst is available on US Kindle as of a couple of weeks ..."
Great for kindle as its a thick novel.

Chris wrote: "They Thirst is available on US Kindle as of a couple of weeks ..."

Unfortunately, it's not supposed to be and will be disappearing soon. I have no idea what will happen to those copies purchased before then. (It's a rights issue: Open Road does not have the North American ebook rights to They Thirst. Subterranean Press holds those rights and will be releasing an ebook sometime next year in advance of their planned limited edition.)

Hunter

It was on Kobo last year but I didn't buy it. Hopefully it will just not be on sale any more and won't disappear off my Kindle since I paid $10 and I assume that Mr. McCammon gets the royalty from all the sales.

They had better at least give me my money back so that I can re-buy it later (which I will).

Waiting on Sings the Nightbird too. I want to read that whole series but don't want to start it til I have the first one.

Hunter wrote: "Chris wrote: "They Thirst is available on US Kindle as of a couple of weeks ..."

Unfortunately, it's not supposed to be and will be disappearing soon. I have no idea what will happen to those copi..."

I had better hurry then. I would hate it if they snatched it away when I was 50 pages from the end.

The Kobo edition was also unauthorized. I'm sure that if they pull it, you'll get your money back.

Subterranean Press will be releasing Speaks the Nightbird as an ebook in the coming months....

Hunter

Oh, I am sure you are right because it is gone from KOBO and it was Open Road like you said. My only fear is that they will grab it back before I finish it. Like at 10:30pm when I am 2 chapters away from the end.....you might see me on the news if they do that....LOL

I am tempted to turn off the wifi on my Fire til I finish it just in case.

That is fantastic news about Speaks the Nightbird. I will grab that one the day it comes out. I would pre-order if I could. In fact, I am going to check right now to see if I can. I really want to read that series.

Chris, that series is SO good!
I'm kind of bummed about They Thirst though, I was hoping to borrow it from you! : (

I will hurry up and finish it so that you can borrow it! I should be done by the weekend at the latest and then I will send it right over.

LOL, then watch it disappear from my Kindle!

Thanks anyway, but I guess I will wait. With my luck what you are talking about would definitely happen to me. Two chapters away from the end and then POOF! : )

I seriously doubt it will disappear. Amazon and the publishers will just straighten it out and not bother the purchasers. They know what they sold and when.

Ok, you twisted my arm! ; )
I appreciate it, Chris.

Finished this last night. The last 100 pages are non-stop action.

This is a traditional 70's-80's style horror novel done really really well.

Interesting to compare/contrast it with the other major "vampire take-over" novel of this time period----'Salem's lot, which tackles this concept on a smaller and more intimate scale or a small town vs. LA. There are many similarities in plot devices, scenes, and character types.

If it's not in the edition you read, you might be interested in reading "Robert R. McCammon Tells Why He Wrote THEY THIRST".

As much as I love 'Salem's Lot, They Thirst is my favorite vampire novel and has been since I read it in 1981. Glad you enjoyed it, Chris!

Hunter

I wouldn't want to pick which one I liked better and I really need to re-read 'Salem's Lot and compare it. They are both so good and each one has aspects that are different or arguably better. 'Salem's Lot is more intimate and on a much smaller scale, which makes you almost wonder if there could be a 'Salem's Lot out there somewhere....

Chris wrote: "They are both so good and each one has aspects that are different or arguably better."

Indeed. They are both easily the best vampire novels I've ever read. I give the nod to They Thirst only because it actually sparked a nightmare for me, the only book to ever do that. (It was one of those everyone's-a-vampire-but-me dreams.)

I also recommend T. Chris Martindale's Nightblood and Skipp & Spector's The Light at the End.

Hunter

His commentary about LA was very interesting. I always love the behind the scenes stuff like that.

I totally missed McCammon back when he started out and then Law School and kids got in the way of reading for quite a few years. Now I am "discovering" someone who is clearly going to be one of my all time favorites. This year I read Boy's Life, The Wolf's Hour and now They Thirst and have been blown away by all three of them---with Boy's Life going onto my all time favorites list.

Ooh, you have lots of good reading ahead of you!

And Boy's Life occupies my favorite-book-by-any-author spot.

I was a McCammon fan long before I actually got to know him. I read They Thirst when it came out and loved it, but it wasn't until I read Mystery Walk that I realized They Thirst wasn't a fluke.

Hunter

I, too, am a fan of Skipp and Spector's The Light at the End
Boy's Life is in my top 5 favorite books of all time.

Hunter, can you tell us a little more about how you met Mr. McCammon sometime?

I can see why you would rate it that high. It was an amazing read.

I have about 6 or 7 McCammon books waiting to be read and I plan on buying everything he wrote/writes. I am really anxious to read Sings the Nightbird.

I haven't read Nightblood so I need to add that one to my wish list at Amazon. I read Light at the End and enjoyed that. Similar in that the lead vampire had a real maturity problem like here. Makes sense since they stop maturing when they are turned. Anyone with teenagers will agree with the Headmaster's assessment.

They Thirst varies from the Stoker pattern in that in Dracula it takes quite a bit of effort to turn a victim into a vampire rather than a sort of disease theory where once bitten they become undead.

I am trying to be general here since I don't want to throw out any spoilers.

And when you met Alice Cooper too....LOL

Yeah! That too! : )

I started this last night. I have the feeling that I get when I'm starting a story that I just KNOW is going to be good. It's a good feeling. : )

8-) Thanks for the interest.

Briefly, as I mentioned above, I became a McCammon fan with They Thirst, but when I read Mystery Walk, I became a really big fan. Around 1988, there was a lot of McCammon output, with novels, short stories, etc. Inspired by Castle Rock, I thought it would be great if there were a McCammon newsletter to let his fans know where stories were being published, etc. Since there wasn't one, and I had an interest in publishing, I decided to try my hand at it. A bookseller friend knew McCammon, so I pitched my idea through him. When I received a positive reply, I wrote directly to McCammon with my proposal. He liked the idea, so I started putting the first issue together. A chance business trip allowed me to visit Birmingham in January 1989, where I got to meet Rick (Robert's middle name is Rick, and that's the name he goes by) and interview him for the first issue of what we called Lights Out! The Robert R. McCammon Newsletter. I published six issues of Lights Out! from July 1989 until October 1991, and during that time, we became good friends. The demise of Lights Out! happened around the same time that Rick decided to take some time off from writing, so it worked out well.

When the World Wide Web was invented, I created a Lights Out! page that had some McCammon information, though there wasn't much to report after he retired, and he eventually asked me to take the site down, as he saw no point in having a web presence when he wasn't publishing any books. That was 1998.

Fast forward to early 2002, and he called to tell me that Speaks the Nightbird was going to be published. We decided to relaunch the website to promote that release, and the site has just grown from there. I just realized that the site celebrated its 10th birthday back in February.

If you're interested in Lights Out!, you can find the first five issues online here:

Lights Out! @ RobertMcCammon.com

Thanks for reading! 8-)

Hunter

As for Alice Cooper, I've been a huge fan since the mid-'70s. I created the world's first Alice Cooper discussion mailing list, SickThings, way back in January 1992, when the Internet was still very young. Over the next seven years, the list grew in size from just me to over 1200 Alice Cooper fans. Members of the list included Renfield, Alice's personal assistant, as well as other people connected to Alice and the original band members. The list ended in 1999 for various reasons, but was reborn as an announcement-only list, which I still run today.

In 2000, Renfield arranged for me to meet Alice after a show in Louisville, KY. I was lucky enough to get to meet him again in 2006 in Nashville. Sadly, Renfield died in 2009, and Alice and his management reached out to a lot of people Renfield worked with. Happily, that includes me---they call me the Original SickThing, and I've since gotten to meet with Alice an additional six times over the past three years.

When I was a kid listening to Welcome to My Nightmare through my headphones, I never dreamed that one day Alice would know who I was or that I would get the opportunities I've had.

In 2009, I was asked to write a blog entry for Alice's website. You can read it here, if you're interested.

Wonders in Aliceland @ AliceCooper.com

Again, thanks for reading!

Hunter

Thanks for sharing, Hunter. I remember those Lights Out issues. Not from when they originally came out but from the website years later.
What interesting stories you have!
It must be such a great feeling to end up being friends with people that you have admired. It looks like these were positive experiences as well, which is also great.
I'm envious. : )

8-) Thanks! It has been great, and I've been very lucky. I've also been lucky that both Rick and Alice are great people. ;-)

Hunter

Wow.

.......

Damn. Wow.

......

Ok, I am stunned. I think that it is great that you took your respect for an artist, then took it a step further to create something that provided enjoyment for the fans of these artists. You can be sure that Alice and Robert dig it as much as the fans do.

So cool. I salute you.

I remember loving Alice from back when I was in high school and his show that I saw in '80 in San Antonio(I am thinking that it was the "From the Inside" Tour but I may be wrong--he had The Babies and Leggs Diamond opening) was one of the best shows that I have ever seen. And I have seen a few.

Thanks! 8-)

That would have been '79, and yes, it was the "From the Inside" tour. I, too, saw that show (just with The Babys), and it was an amazing thing! A show from that tour was recently released on DVD for The first time as The Strange Case of Alice Cooper.

Hunter

I need to see/get that. I have told my kids about the show and it would be great to let them see it. They need to know about this stuff!!

Amazon has it for $13.85:

The Strange Case of Alice Cooper DVD @ Amazon

And you're right, they do need to know about it! 8-)

Hunter

Is anyone else reading this? I'm about 35% through right now.

Charlene wrote: "Is anyone else reading this? I'm about 35% through right now."

120 pages read awesome!

Nice!

I finished it on Halloween night!

wow Robert McCammon AND Alice Cooper! I'm impressed
and jealous
They Thirst is one of the few of Mr McCammon's books that I haven't read even though I've had it since the 80's and I'm obsessed with vampire books so I absolutely plan to read it now

Joanne wrote: "wow Robert McCammon AND Alice Cooper! I'm impressed
and jealous
They Thirst is one of the few of Mr McCammon's books that I haven't read even though I've had it since the 80's and I'm obsessed wi..."

Great it's a real classic I could almost contemplate that half of the novels published after this, have taken from it in ways ;)

Nice to see you, Joanne! I would love to talk with you about They Thirst once you're done. : )

Advice of the day>> when you go six feet under don't use a casket as they are in demand.

The need for caskets was going to eventually be a very big problem for the Vampire King---as was the rapidly dwindling blood supply.

I thought the reference to Gayle reading "Bethany's Sin" was pretty funny. : )

Yep! 8-)

Speaking of coffins, check out this video showing what Gargoyle Books did to promote the Italian translation of They Thirst that they published in 2005.

YouTube: A coffin in Rome

Hunter

HA! That was awesome. What a great idea. : )

There is a Baal tie in too.

I don't remember the Baal reference. What is it?

There are also two items in common between They Thirst and the short story "Makeup" (one is more obvious than the other).

Hunter

I don't think I've come across the Baal reference yet.

If Hunter didn't see it I am probably barking up a wrong tree since I assumed it was a Baal reference, not having actually read the book. Doesn't the bell and the story behind it tie in to that book?