Set in fictional Chester's Mill, Maine, the 1,000+ page tome (King's longest since "It") details the demise of a small town that mysteriously becomes stuck under an invisible, impenetrable dome.
The town faces such King clichés as deception, rape, and drug addiction, but it also discovers that it's on the fast track to environmental doom. The book review by Kevin Kelly of Mercury News describes the town's desperate situation.
"You can't see the dome - until it becomes smudged on the outside by the accumulation of smog and things running into it and leaving stains," he said. "With no steady influx of new air, Chester's Mill begins to smell like a locker room and plants start dying, and as the dome becomes more and more smeared with grime from the outside world, the temperature inside climbs."
In an interview for popeater.com, Stephen King admitted that he wanted to target global warming in his new book.
"From the very beginning, I saw it as a chance to write about the serious ecological problems that we face in the world today," he said. "The fact is we all live under the dome. We have this little blue world that we've all seen from outer space, and it appears like that's about all there is."
Stephen King originally started working on the book back in 1976 - a time, when, as he said on Nov. 13 during an interview on "The View," "there was a lot going on then about ecology and acid rain and the whole environmental thing." Strangely, it was also a time when climate change alarmists were worried about global cooling.
The manuscript lay unfinished for over 30 years. One of the reasons that he decided to finish it was that he "wanted to say something about that [these environmental problems]."
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Although I've liked a
November 13, 2009 - 15:19 ET by rockyracoonAlthough I've liked a couple of movies made from Stephen King's novels, I've never read anything from him. I don't find anything he has to say interesting enough to pay any attention to.
This "green week" thing that NBC is promoting, once again, is barf inducing; enough already!!
Facts are like kryptonite to the liberal.
Lemme see...
November 13, 2009 - 15:55 ET by Army BratCrap builds up on the outside of the dome, blocking out the sunlight, and the temperature inside the dome rises...
I ain' no climatologist...but..uh... Maybe the crap on the outside absorbs heat and transfers it? It becomes insulation maybe?
It matters not. King lost his mind long ago.
islam is a lie and Truth is killing it.
Lighten Up
November 13, 2009 - 15:55 ET by CaringwhiteguyIt's FICTION!
Carolyn, this should not seem terribly surprising. Mr. King makes up scary stories, puts them into books, and sells the books for a living. In case you haven't heard, he's been doing this for years. He makes lots of money doing this. Good for him.
Caringwhiteguy...
November 13, 2009 - 15:58 ET by Army BratOne of the reasons that he decided to finish it was that he "wanted to
say something about that [these environmental problems]."
Does that sound like fiction to you?
If so...it's cause you choose to see it that way...not because of what he said.
islam is a lie and Truth is killing it.
Fountainhead
November 13, 2009 - 16:16 ET by CaringwhiteguyThe text is a made-up story. That's fiction-a novel. How Mr. King chooses to promote his fiction is another matter. Ayn Rand wrote fiction too. She and her publisher successfully promoted her fiction. She prospered. Good for her.
It doesn't seem to me that
November 13, 2009 - 17:59 ET by SmartypantsIt doesn't seem to me that anybody is questioning King's right to write a book or sell it. It's just that he is a nincompoop, and it's my right feel that way and to say so.
The most successful war America has ever waged is quickly becoming President Obama's war on capitalism.
All of Us
November 13, 2009 - 18:18 ET by CaringwhiteguyThis is my final comment. All of us, including me, are spending way too much time on an insignificant item that never should have been posted in the first place.
C-ya
November 13, 2009 - 20:04 ET by Army BratI'm glad you don't make the decisions as to what is worth posting and what is not, or I wouldn't have been entertained by Kings idiocy showcased here..
islam is a lie and Truth is killing it.
Mr Original
November 13, 2009 - 15:56 ET by UtherpendEarth to Stephen King, that story has been in circulation since the twilight zone did it back in the 60's. Hell even the simpsons had a movie about it. Another hack piece for the "King" of trashy novels.
"For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security."
Mist or Fog or Whatever
November 13, 2009 - 16:01 ET by TexndocI quit Steven King after that dumb movie about the Mist or Evil fog moving into town and the people trapped at the grocery store. A young man as a military troop was portrayed very un-sympathetically and natch, the mist or fog was a military plot thing. YAWNNNNNNN.
"...details the demise ...
November 13, 2009 - 16:39 ET by Chris Norman"...details the demise ... that mysteriously becomes stuck under an invisible, impenetrable dome."
Yeah, I got the same feeling whenever I tried to read a Stephen King book in the past.
"With no steady influx of new air, Chester's Mill begins to smell like a locker room..."
Yeah, I got that feeling to....
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
Ah yes... the acid rain panic in the 70s
November 13, 2009 - 16:23 ET by SickofLibsWeren't aren't our buildings and bridges (and us) supposed to be dissolved by now?
If you want to read a
November 13, 2009 - 16:34 ET by Doc_NavyIf you want to read a fiction book about "The Environment" that's WORTH reading...
Read STATE of FEAR by Michael Crichton.
Also, not sure of the proposed physics of King's "Dome" but if stuff was building up on the outside of the dome to the point that it began to significantly obscure sunlight... the temperatures inside would drop like a rock and eeryone would freeze to death LONG before they "Ran out of air". (Ever check the temperature differences 6 inches apart with one thermometer in open sunlight and one in shade? There's up to a 10 degree difference in some cases.)
Doc
State of Fear is a great
November 13, 2009 - 18:01 ET by SmartypantsState of Fear is a great book. Too bad we lost Crichton.
The most successful war America has ever waged is quickly becoming President Obama's war on capitalism.
Fiction & Environment---
November 14, 2009 - 01:03 ET by matthewdeanDoc:
I ain't tryin' to top you, but---
The absolute, biggest, FICTION book ever, about the Environment, was by some guy named Algore, who used to be a politician, or sumpin.
MD
"There is no distinctly American criminal class - except Congress."
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
I didn't know
November 13, 2009 - 18:00 ET by Chaitealoverthat anybody still read Stephen King.
Chai
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and hence clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” —H.L. Mencken
I used to read King a lot,
November 13, 2009 - 18:09 ET by SmartypantsI used to read King a lot, I am ashamed to say it now. He lost me when he started mouthing about nonsense related to the Iraq War, basically making things up as he went along. When he was called on it by someone, he retreated to his hideaway, shut down his website and refused to address any of his ridiculous comments. In typical left wing fashion, he lobbed some verbal grenades and didn't wait around to see what transpired.
Besided, this guy promised to retire about a decade ago, and from what I can tell that retirement lasted about three weeks--it seemed like that amount of time before I saw his next "novel" on the shelves. This guy has essentially made a career out of writing the same novel over and slapping a different title on it.
The most successful war America has ever waged is quickly becoming President Obama's war on capitalism.
I loved King's early work.
November 13, 2009 - 19:13 ET by Kingfish17I read all his early books. "Salem's Lot" was great. So was "The Shining", and of course, "The Stand".
I forget when, but it started to seem like his books took on the feel of being written by a word proccessor were all he did was take pre-done plots and themes and jumble them up a bit. I haven't read a King book in so long I can't remember when.
But I like a good read and will take a recomendation of one of his later works if anyone here thinks it's worthwhile.
Same here. I remember
November 13, 2009 - 19:29 ET by Radical1979Same here. I remember starting one book and it began with some woman having her period. It was pretty graphic and being a woman, quite frankly, I don't want to read about it. Also, he said one time if he can't scare the reader he goes for the gross out. Well, for me gross out isn't that much of a talent. I have a 19 year old son who can gross me out without any effort so...
And his politics, which he keeps putting in his books, are lame.
King's attempt to be a
November 13, 2009 - 19:32 ET by Radical1979King's attempt to be a "serious" writer. As far as I'm concerned, no thanks.
Lemee guess...about halfway
November 13, 2009 - 19:44 ET by RR GOPLemee guess...about halfway through the book the ghost of John Muir guides the hero through telepathy as to how to make Windex. When he can't make the ammonia, he finds a long-lost alien pod that contains complete instructions on making every chemical in the universe. But, he can't read the alien language, and enlists the help of a deaf and dumb blind girl who can read it all with her fingers.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.
Yawn
November 13, 2009 - 22:55 ET by docjohn52Like I'm goning to buy that...
He's not even trying anymore.
Population keeps growing...
November 13, 2009 - 23:09 ET by MightyMouthWell "Steven" maybe we should start saving the planet by purging some of the more ugly people. I think you qualify so how would you like to go?
"The bureaucracy is growing to meet the needs of the growing bureaucracy"
MM---
November 14, 2009 - 01:33 ET by matthewdeanMM:
If I get in trouble for this, its's your fault, cuz I wuz reading along here, all happy, 'bout half brain dead, which is actually a step up from my usual three-quarters, trying desperately not to picture King, and his family, whom I saw in a color photo taken maybe 30 years ago.
He, his wife, and a couple of daughters, in a swimming pool, with just their heads showing lined up along the edge of the pool.
I am successfully keeping this image from my mind, you mention him and ugly in the same sentence, I have a flashback, and suddenly I'm screaming "My eyes, my eyes" while simultaneously clawing at my face.
I woke up on the floor.
Nah, just kidding.
About waking up on the floor.
Back in the day, between sales and royalties, King was pulling in 40 million a year. That can ease a whole lotta ugly.
That being said, I would'nt have traded places with him for 80 million a year.
MD
P.S.
Did you catch the posts about twenty hours past, where 007memo got MM and MD confused and wanted to sing Kumba Bai Ya with one of us?
I volunteered you.
MD
Great story MD...
November 14, 2009 - 01:49 ET by MightyMouthIt's not like a Hitchcock film where you have to pay real close attention. When King gets "on camera" it's like the lens cracks.
BTW I missed the 007 gaffe, but I "miss" most of his stuff on purpose! :-)
"The bureaucracy is growing to meet the needs of the growing bureaucracy"
007---
November 14, 2009 - 01:58 ET by matthewdeanA wise practice there, MM.
Cheers.
MD