Customer Reviews

Secret Windows: Essays and Fiction on the Craft of Writing

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Someone once said, I think it was in fact King himself, with his sense of irony polished that he could write a grocery list and it would be a bestseller. The fact of the matter is King's writing is honest as Straub says in an elegant introduction, which is what inspires legions of fans to want to read everything available that he has written be it fiction or non-fiction.

SECRET WINDOWS is set up as a book of the month club companion piece to King's bestselling memoir/how-to guide ON WRITING. Apart from a very heartfelt ode in the introduction by King's fellow master of horror and collaborator Straub it contains various essays and short works of fiction dedicated to the art of writing. The dates of the pieces in the collection range from when Stephen was a wee lad of 12 writing for his brother's paper to the time of publication. There are some well known pieces, such as short stories that have later been published in his Everything's Eventual anthology, and an excerpt from his other well-known non-fiction piece Danse Macabre to some real hidden gems that have never been published before. One of these gems is a short talk/essay on banned books. Another is great opening lines that are favourite of King's.

In Secret Windows, just like in his fiction King's integrity shines through; he claims not to be the best novelist around even if he sells better than some but always promises to deliver the best story he knows how to write. His humour is evident in these pages even when it is self-deprecating and as a reader his same conversational tone that soaks his other works is present here as well. Danse Macabre was not the perfect book, On Writing is not the perfect book and no even Secret Windows is not the perfect book but it is darn close especially when read in conjunction with On Writing.

First I read "On Writing" and loved it, and so decided to read this book too, and I'm really enjoying reading these essays and various non-fiction items from SK. Funny how these were compiled only in a Book-of-the-month book and not published otherwise. Be aware that if you have already read "Danse Macabre", there is a fairly long section in this book (160 pages out of 430 total) which is excerpted from DM. But since I had not read DM, I'm thinking I might have to read that next to see what else SK had to say about horror writing. It's funny too how I haven't read any SK fiction books (and I'm embarrassed to say that) but am thoroughly enjoying what he has to say about horror and writing from a non-fiction perspective. I think it's because I tend to read late at night and scary stuff is just way too scary for me to read when it's dark out. I realize he has also written books which are not horror stories, and I do plan to read some of those now too. Anyhow, I think this book is great.

Secret Windows is a companion book to On Writing released by Book-of-the-Month Club, a 430-page collection of all sorts of Stephen King items, from essays, to interviews, to anthology introductions, and even including a previously unpublished short story. An important fact to know before purchasing is that over half of the material in the book can be found in other works dedicated King fans will already have on their shelves. It has about 200 pages of tough-to-find or unpublished work, and the rest comes from Danse Macabre, Night Shift, and Everything's Eventual. Danse Macabre, in fact, is featured with a 160-page "excerpt" (now that's stretching the term to its limits), but the interesting quality here is in how these pieces are presented. Reading them in a collection ties them together thematically and provides an overall view of King's conscious approach, as well as the subconscious underpinnings, to his writing. I'd be hard-pressed to find a reason why people who enjoyed On Writing wouldn't also be impressed with Secret Windows.

Highlights for me include the stories King wrote for his brother's newspaper, Dave's Rag, in 1959-60, complete with a copy of the original December 29, 1959 edition's cover page; the "Ten Bears" article from Writer's Digest, 1973, explaining some of the basics of horror writing; the brief "How IT Happened," from '86 describing what inspired King to write It; and an excellent lecture on book-banning to the Virginia Beach Public Library in 1986, among others. This is a unique collection that I think a majority of King fans would appreciate if they knew about it. It's too bad it wasn't published for mass market.

I have not read this book yet but it will help me in forging forward in my new career. Reviewing scripts. Book came in excellent condition and it was very affordable.

As always if there is any mention of Stephen King then it is something worthy of reading and digesting. Learning from the master or about the master at any given time is never a waste!

This is a good addition to the Stephen King collection, but probably only for fans. As I would read anything by Stephen King, including grocery lists and completed crossword puzzles, I enjoyed this collections of essays.