The Hindu : National : Conjuring up cell phone horror, Stephen King way

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 01, 2006

National

National

Conjuring up cell phone horror, Stephen King way

Anand Parthasarathy

New novel outlines a mystery `Pulse' that makes people kill

HIGHLY IMAGINATIVE: Horror fiction writer Stephen King has based his latest book on intrusion on privacy due to mobile phones.

BANGALORE: The `King' of horror novels (and films) has turned a popular aversion of `cell phone creeps' — people whose loud conversations on their mobiles drive us mad — and made it the stuff of his latest creepy work of fiction.

Stephen King's new book that was out last week is titled: "Cell" — and it conjures up a scary scenario where everyone talking on a cell phone at a given instant, becomes the victim of a mystery `Pulse' — which attacks them all simultaneously and turns them into crazy killers.

Mobile phone users attack any one near them — even close friends and relatives, in an orgy of mass mayhem. The only survivors are those who do not own a mobile phone. The novel's protagonist, named Clayton, is among this minority — and he must find his young son before he too becomes a killing zombie.

By playing on popular suspicions about the dangers of cell phones — and revulsion at the way users intrude on the privacy of non-users in public places — and then taking this to a violent conclusion, King has yet again emerged as one of the most imaginative of living `horror fiction' exponents.

The book published by Scribner and priced $ 26.95 — but being offered by online bookshops such as Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com for around $18 — was launched with full-page advertisements in newspapers such as The New York Times, featuring its gory jacket, which shows a cellphone lying in a pool of blood. It will become available in India next week.

The 59-year-old author of 40 books has seen many of them become horror films: from Carrie and The Shining to Pet Cemetery and The Green Mile. In 2000, he innovated by putting his 66-page novella, Riding the Bullet for free download by readers on the Internet, bypassing the printed books route. He tried to repeat that route a year later for his next book The Plant but asked for a voluntary donation from readers. Lakhs of people downloaded the book but hardly any one paid, so King reverted to the time-tested book publishing route.

PS: King does not own a cell phone — which may explain his phobia. But, ironically, his latest book is being marketed by selling its creepy tag line as a ring tone: "The next call you take, may be your last."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail