Book Review - Salem's Lot by Stephen King

 

Books Read in 2026 - No. 4

Welcome Book Nerds!

I've finally lost my Stephen King cherry at nearly 50 years old!  I've wanted to read his work for years but never got around to it for one reason or another.  Mainly because I saw myself as a fantasy reader not a horror reader.

I've loved the adaptions of his work on television and film including Stand By Me, It, Carrie, The Dome and of course Salem's Lot.

That includes the show with Starsky and Hutch actor David Soul, it terrified me as a child.  I also enjoyed the recent 2024 movie. Both had me wanting to read it even more.  Even though the book is different.

So I decided the first Stephen King book I would read will be Salem's Lot, and I bought the book a couple of years ago.  It helps that I like vampire stories. 

In March it was the perfect opportunity to start it as it was chosen at work as a book club read.  Yes it took me 4 months to read, but I did take May off to write. Plus my version has a big foreword and afterword.  Its also got deleted scenes.

Sadly out of the 8 who took up the Salem's Lot book club read, only about 3 finished it.

It's Stephen King's version of Dracula and has writer Ben Mears return to his childhood home of Jerusalem Lot or Salem's Lot for short.  He's gone back to face ghosts of the past (quite literally) and write his next novel.  He's not the only newcomer to Salem's Lot as two people called Barlow and Straker have arrived at the Marsten House.  The house that Ben fears most and the house that sits dominating Salem's Lot.

Soon after these newcomers have arrived, children and people start to disappear.  Some reappear ill then die.

Ben and a few of the towns people start to investigate and face an evil they have never seen before.

Overall - This has been a great start to my Stephen King journey and I wished I had read him years ago.  He has already become one of my favourite authors and I'll be collecting more of his novels soon.

In the foreword he describes his writing journey and I can't believe he wrote it in his early twenties. Twenty -Three I think.  Plus it's only his second published novel after Carrie.  I was immediately impressed by his writing prose and world building.  His character work is also great and the POV moves to different characters throughout the story.  Some for a limited amount of time and some characters like Ben for most of the novel.

A lot of characters are creepy and despicable and deserve what happens to them.

It is a slow build story, setting everything up which adds to the mystery and horror as it builds to the realisation that vampires are in the town.

The vampire Barlow isn't in the novel much which adds to the mystery of the character.  Although I think there could have been more scenes with him in.

Spoilers - at the end of the novel there are still vampires around the area of Salem's Lot even if the main villain has been dealt with.  It is left open ended so if Stephen King hasn't already written a sequel - I'm not sure if he has - he easily could do.

After the main story has finished King pays homage to Dracula with a few chapters set in the past in letter form. These go into the dark history of Salem's Lot and how it was used by the Occult. Spoilers - it mentions IT.

In the modern edition I have, it also features Deleted scenes.  These were a great edition and showed how the novel progressed.  It did take a while to read the letters in the epilogue and deleted scenes but it was worth it.

As a horror and vampire novel it is perfect, with a slow burn which builds up the horror and tension.  Some parts are too slow but it pays off.  I'm glad I've finally read a Stephen King novel, I will be reading more of his works in the near future!

Score  -  10/10

Goodreads - 5/5

Book Haul - The Iron Code

 

Greetings Book Nerds!

I've recently acquired The Iron Code - Stories in Honour of David Gemmell.

It's not the first anthology I have to honour author David Gemmell, I have three other anthologies that came out during the time the Gemmell Awards were still ongoing.

As you can see I have the Legends story collections.

The difference this time?

I got it through a Kickstarter event, led by author and editor Ian Whates.

This is the first time I have supported anything on Kickstarter and may do so again if the book or graphic novel is right.

The Guardian edition I bought has my name in the back.  Plus it is signed by all the authors.  The authors include Ian himself, Dan Abnett, Stan Nicholas and wife Anne, RJ Barker, John Gywnne, Joanne Harris, plus many more big names in fantasy.

I hope to get to these stories soon! Although I still have the other anthologies to read first.  As soon as I do read them I will post reviews.

If you want a copy of this anthology it is out on Amazon on July 28th - just search the name - The Iron Code - and maybe Ian Whates name after it too.

Happy Reading Folks!

Neil x

July 2026 Update!

 

Hey Nerds!

Already past the half way mark for 2026 and it's spiralling along at a maddening rate!

A quick update for you this month.

June Review - It's been a quite busy month at work so in June didn't get any writing done.  The heatwave also knackered me out. Although in June I was having a break from the May writing challenge.

I also didn't finish Salem's Lot by Stephen King.  This was because I was procrastinating and being sad watching Classic Neighbours on YouTube from the early 1990s. Trying to relive my youth.  Weirdly I remember most of the Neighbours episodes I've watched from 1992!

In early June I went to see one of my favourite bands I grew up with - Madness.  I watched them at Halifax Piece Hall.  A great night if a bit wet.

Even though I actually didn't Write in June I did some writerly things.

This included meeting up with an old friend Karen, who runs Cleckheaton Writing Group.  We went to Shipley Library to see thriller author Lucy Brighton.  Lucy introduced two great workshops in the day and it was great speaking to other writers again.

In June I also went back to my childhood (other than Neighbours) and saw Masters of the Universe.  Whilst not great brought back memories of the cartoon and was a fun watch.

In July - I'm most definitely finishing reading Salem's Lot.  It's a great book so far and took way too long - I started in March! I need to catch up on my other books I want to read in 2026.

I also want to slowly get back into my writing, making notes, then by the last week of July actually writing.

In the same vein I want to get exercising again.  Slowly at first and try lose weight and get slightly fit.

At the end of July I'm back at the Piece Hall with my daughter to see Tom Grennan, so looking forward to that and hopefully healthy enough to Dad dance.

I also want to go to another author event in the second week of July at Leeds Library although it will be a bit of a rush as it's after work at 6pm.  It's becoming a Fantasy Author hosted by K L Kaine.

The Bradford Literature Festival is on from today until the 12th July.  Check it out online.

So what are your plans for July?

Neil x

Masters of the Universe - Film Review

 

Hey 80's Nerds!

Went to see the Masters of the Universe movie the other day.  As a big fan of the original cartoon growing up in the 80s I wanted to see it and hoped it was better than the 80s film with Dolph Lundgren - spoilers - he cameos in this film.

The film starts with Man at Arms (Idris Elba) training a young Prince Adam and his daughter Teela.  When Skeletor (Jared Leto) attacks the city with his army they go to Castle Greyskull where the Sorceress (Morena Baccarin) takes them in and gives Young Adam the Sword of Power to protect and sends him to Earth where his Mother is from.

In the portal to Earth Young Adam loses grip of the Sword and lands in a lake.

Fast forward to present day where Adam (Nicolas Galitzine) is working in an office and looking for the Sword via the internet.

Eventually someone shows him the Sword in a comic shop held by a statue of what the original He-Man toy was meant to look like and he takes the Sword.  Upon touching it it sends a signal to Eternia and Teela arrives to take him home.  His home has been devastated by Skeletor and he has to learn how to use the Sword to become He-Man and defeat Skeletor.

Overall - It's a fun film and a good adaptation of the cartoon.  Although I did have a few niggles about it.  Like why wasn't it mentioned that Adams Mother came from Earth.  

It hardly had the Sorceress in and never mentioned she was Teelas Mother.

Castle Greyskull was next to the city over a bridge whilst in the cartoon it is miles away in the desert.  Although for story telling purposes this made sense.

Orko wasn't in the film until the end when he said the moral message like the cartoon had.

They killed off Skeletor which was the best part of the film and Jared Leto did a fine job.  I didn't even mind that his voice was different to the original cartoon although some times it was hard to understand what he said.  Although I laughed when he called He-Man a boob like he used to call people in the cartoon.  As it's fantasy there could be a chance of bringing him back.  He was goofy like the cartoon too.

Adam was fine and the actor did an ok job having him goofy and useless as Adam too.  Another annoying thing was that Cringer didn't get transformed into Battlecat.  They just put armour on him at the end.

I hope there's a sequel and - Spoilers - it showed us She-Ra at the end of the post credits.

The acting was fine and the special effects were fine although a bit ropey in places.

I went to Birstall and they gave free Masters of the Universe badges out too.

Score  -   7/10

Lucy Brighton Author Events - Shipley Library

 

Lucy Brighton in action.

Greetings Writers and Readers!

On Saturday I joined Karen who runs Cleckheaton Writing Group for a day at Shipley to see thriller writer Lucy Brighton.

Lucy had two workshops for the library. In the morning there was Structuring a Killer Thriller. Then in the afternoon there was the Writing as a Business workshop.

 The first workshop Lucy spoke to us about what makes a thriller, giving us advice on how she writes and describing the three acts of a novel.  

These include:

• Set Up - introducing protagonist.
• Complications - obstacles to overcome.
• Resolution - climax and how the protagonist has acted.

Lucy also spoke about characters and had us writing introductions to our own.  Lucy also went over scene planning.

Sadly we had ran out of time but Lucy had provided handy workbooks for us.

It was then time for lunch where a few of the writers, including Lucy and her husband (also called Neil), myself and Karen went to a nice coffee shop called The Bothy where they specialised in breakfast and brunch.

The food was lovely.

In the afternoon Lucy held the Writing as a Business workshop.

This was more about the self marketing side of writing and putting yourself on social media sites, primarily TikTok and the subgenre of Booktok.

Lucy also mentioned YouTube and Instagram.

Lucy gave advice like linking all your media with Linktree and gave a run through of Canva and the importance of mailing lists.

Sadly this also went too fast. Both workshops could have each gone on for a full day each, but they were both informative and Lucy gave great advice.

Overall a fun informative day, especially as I'm getting back into writing.

Check out Lucy's website.

https://www.lucybrighton.com/

Neil x

Madness in Concert at Piece Hall

 Greetings!

Something a bit different for the blog.  Went to the Piece Hall in Halifax with my mate Andy.  Had a great time despite the weather and it was heaving!

So here's a few photos from last night!

June 2026 Update!

 

Hey Fellow Nerds!

Another month down for 2026 as we move into June.  May seemed to go on for ages for me.  Although I did manage a visit to Bradford Waterstones and have been productive writing wise.

May Review - Yesterday was the last day of the Facebook group Write Magic's annual Bootcamp. I've taken part in the past but usually stopped after a couple of days.

This time with a goal of 10,000 words I actually carried on and hit the target.  I actually enjoyed it and will definitely carry on writing but not as much. 

I managed to finish The Cubbyhole and the prologue to Urban X-Gore.

Reading wise I read some Salem's Lot by Stephen King, but put the reading on the back burner for my writing.

In June - As I mentioned above I'm still going to write but not as much.  I'm aiming for 5,000 to 8,000 words per month.  I also need to make more notes on the story before I write much more.

I'm definitely going to prioritise my reading in June and finish Salem's Lot in the next couple of days.  Then I can read some Gemmell.

I also plan to walk more and start some exercise as I didn't get chance in May with the writing challenge!

What are your plans for June?

Neil x