I love Stephen King. Not so much for his writings (I will address my issues on his books later in this note), but for who he is. He is a man of great personal success and a man who has shown he still has a heart, is grounded, compassionate and gees, kinda reasonable.  Today I apply those descriptions of Mr. King on the issue of gun control.

What King asked for in a recent e-book called “Guns” was some middle ground on the whole gun issue, with rational decision and a calm demeanor. What a whacky guy, huh?  He says he is a gun owner and does support the 2nd amendment.  He seems frustrated that, on the issues our nation should be addressing, we have two large pinion blocks that seem to just go at each other and nothing gets resolved. In a recent opinion piece for the Bangor Daily News King stated “Sometimes I wish they’d all just grow up, shut up and go about the business of helping their fellow men and women.” YA! See, that is what I love about Stephen King. AND he can say that, after all he is STEPHEN KING.  It is my belief that his success has given him the luxury of being able to be honest like that and not needing or having to care what other feel in response. That is not say he does not care, he just does not NEED to care.

Ok, now back to my opinion on his books and why I am not a huge fan. I grew up in Bangor, Maine. Many of the Kings books I have read, and I have read some, are set in Bangor or some fictionalized version of the Bangor area. The first book of his I ever read was Pet Cemetery. Bad, bad, bad choice on my part, bad choice.  I went to John Bapst Memorial High School at the same time some of the kids from the same neighborhood in Orrington where King and his family were living in the late 1970’s.  There is a pet cemetery, Mr. King took bits of reality and created his story. As he has done in many of his other Maine bases stories with locations and certain details that locations from my life in Bangor. For me, it takes a scary story and makes it just a little too real. I am not a big fan of a lot of stories because they hit a little too close to home. I did read 11/22/63, and cool story, but every time I drive through Lisbon Falls….I have to wonder.

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