I JUST FINISHED CELL!!!

This ones a keeper!!!

Stephen King has written a novel that is as close as he's probably likely to get to a straight-up APOCOLYPTIC ZOMBIE FLICK!!!

I love me some apocolypse!!! (Fictitious, of course. Reall apocolypses tend to me so... you know... Horrifying.) Because the essence of any good apocolyptic story is what the survivors do AFTERWARD! We think of apocolypse and we thing "It's all over." But in apocolyptic literature, MOST of the story is about what comes next!

Plus, there's that whole examination of What Is Humanity? And What Is Civilization? And What Is Necessity? And What Is Truly Important To Us?

And CELL doesn't disppoint!!!

It's a good book! Defintely a worthy read!

My next read turns out to be a local author!!! MY LATE DAD'S PASTOR!!! She showed up to check on the family the day my Dad passed, she was really cool and sweet, and kind of took over stuff when she got there, so Mom and Brian and me didn't have to worry about morbid details. She was (and is) just this LIGHT!

And the sermon she gave at Dad's memorial service was respectful and expressed what we were feeling, but she also managed to be incredibly uplifiting and inspirational, too!!! (She helped me see my dad in a fulness I could not have known before.)

And this means A LOT coming from me, because I'm not a fan of death rituals, and I'm not a fan of organized religions. I believe we are meant to find our OWN connection to God, we shouldn't have a go-between. We don't talk to God's agent, we speak to the Man HImself, if you will.

But Tina -- Pastor Tina -- has this spirituality that can FULLY embrace a specific dogma, a specific doctrine without being exclusive about how she communicates the Truth. My best friend Kelly, who is a fiercely devout Christian, approved of her message just as passionately as I, a fiercely devout non-devotee, did.

And after Dad's service I read some of her sermons online, and felt compelled to email her and tell her how brilliant she is!

Anway, a recent email conversation found me going on about the shooting and writing and stuff I've been up to, and Pastor Tina says that when we become famous maybe we can adapt her novel into a movie.

HER NOVEL?!!

First of all, she's got 2 PHDs, is a brilliant orator, and obviously a wise theologian. So I wouldn't be the SLIGHTEST BIT surprised to hear that she had written a text of some sort.

But novels are FICTION. That's my 'hood! She writes FICTION!!!

LET ME AT IT!!!

So I hopped on Amazon and bought it, but it came after I had already begun CELL, and I HAD TO finish THAT ONE! (I'm a Horror-whore, in case you weren't already well aware of that.)

And now I'm stoked to leap into Tina's world

I've read the firt chapter, which is essentially a teaser, gauranteeing that you're in for a rough ride, but also assuring you that things will turn out okay.

Goorvy. I'm hooked!

So I may be going off about her novel the next time you hear from me.

For the time being, however, I'm going to finally sit down to THE CONSTANT GARDENER. I've done my laundry for the week, I've determined that The Muse isn't stopping by tonight, so there's no writing that needs to be done. I'm gonna watch me a movie!!!