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Friday, June 09, 2006

Beware of Letters


I just finished reading Dispatch, by Bentley Little. I had never read anything by him, hadn't even heard of him, until Stephen King recommended a couple of his books on last week's Entertainment Weekly. I've read some other recommendations by King in the past (Case Histories, The Liars' Club), but none had impressed me as much as they seemed to have impressed him. (They're still good reads, don't get me wrong.) But this one just blew me away. The first 150 pages are unrelenting: they grab you and just don't let you go, no matter what other pressing business you need to go take care of. The middle part was not as gripping, I think, but it was still terrific fun. And the last part (I'm making these parts up as I go, but I think those divisions make sense, and if you've read the book, you'll probably know what I'm talking about) is very good too.
Regarding the actual story, it's about this guy, Jason Hanford, who, at a very early age, discovers he has this knack to write letters. Only, that is not all there is about it. The thing is that, no matter what he writes about or whom he writes a letter to, he gets what he wants. Through his letter writing, anything he wants actually happens. And then things just get weird(er) from there. Sounds nerdy, you say? Just think of what you would do with such a skill, and what you'd try to get.

2 comments:

Jon D said...

Yo
I have been looking at your blog for a while and there was no updates now all of a sudden theres a whole load of posts, and they all look pretty cool. too much to take in lol. The characters and style of them is really cool. Ill update ya on the story telling soon.

Jon

Mario Alba said...

Haha. Thanks, Jon d.
I tend to go through periods of not posting anything at all, and then, all of a sudden, I'll deluge you with new stuff. Anyway, I'm going to post the first scene of that 15-page story, so you can actually start from the beginning. Let me know what you think!