Stationary Bike [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Stephen King (Author), Ron McLarty (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2006

New on audio from Stephen King...an unabridged novella"as artful as anything he has ever written." (Booklist)

Climb aboard Stationary Bike -- a streamlined fever dream of a tale, in which an ordinary household object assumes otherworldly powers and a familiar journey takes a terrifying twist.

When commercial artist Richard Sifkitz finally gets around to having that physical he'd been putting off for years, and his cholesterol comes back dangerously high, he does what so many thirty-something, junk food-eating couch potatoes have done before him: he buys a stationary bike, and vows to ride it regularly.

Unlike many a mid-life exercise convert, however, Richard actually starts to ride his new stationary bike. A lot. Soon he's spending so much time on his bike that he decides to put his artistic talents to use and paint a mural on the wall opposite his stationary bike. But it turns out that Richard's mural is no ordinary picture -- and soon his stationary bike is taking him places he doesn't want to go...and can't stay away from.

A riveting riff on artistic frustration, midlife mortality, and hard-won redemption, Stationary Bike is a thrill ride that could come only from the mind of Stephen King.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In classic Stephen King tradition, this audiobook reminds the listener that even something as ordinary as a stationary bike can have a devious nature to it. After a tongue thrashing from his doctor, Richard Sifkitz turns his addiction to fatty foods into an addiction to a fantasy world created around his stationary bike, spending hours a day pedaling away. But as his obsession grows, the lines between fantasy and reality dim and he believes someone or something is trailing him on his path. Ron McLarty, who previously recorded King's Salem's Lot and Faithful, delivers this novella with an excellent pace and easy disposition. His controlled reading creates a much tenser atmosphere with surprises and plot twists made more shocking without the advance warnings of a more dramatic reading. The jazzy segues between chapters lightens the tone just enough to make the listener feel uncertain about where King is taking this story. King's writing style is quite agreeable to the audio format, making for an enjoyable although slightly dark tale. This novella was published in the anthology Borderlands 5(Reviews, Jan. 19, 2004). (June)
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About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are Full Dark No Stars, Blockade Billy, Under the Dome, Just After Sunset, the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Lisey's Story and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was recently re-released in a tenth anniversary edition. King was the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2007 he was inducted as a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America.  He lives in Maine with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Ron McLarty has appeared on Broadway in That Championship Season, Our Country's Good, and Moonchildren. His film credits include Two Bits, The Postman, and The Flamingo Kid. He has starred on television in Spenser for Hire and Cop Rock. Mr. McLarty is also a novelist and an award-winning playwright.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition (June 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743555619
• ISBN-13: 978-0743555616
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #177,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #14 in Books > Books on CD > Authors, A-Z > ( K ) > King, Stephen
  • #31 in Books > Books on CD > Horror

More About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not much here, July 20, 2006

By 

Kimberley Wilson (VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stationary Bike (Audio CD)

The middle aged hero of this story has gotten fat after the death of his wife and his cholestorol has gone sky high so he goes on a crash diet and buys a stationary bike. Being an artist he draws a picture of a lovely country road to a tiny town in upsatate New York on his wall. After a few weeks things get weird and our hero finds that while he's losing that flab he's also traveling on the road for real and somehow he's angered the workmen--- the guys, real guys somehow who maintain the road which is really his own body.

This is dreary cauationary tale for fat guys has too much cursing, too much product placement and there's only one good scary moment: the scene in Carlos's garage. Other than that one scene I did not care about the hero or what was waiting for him at the end of the road.

I don't want to say that the King is dead but maybe he's under a spell, or stunned or sleeping or something because this story just didn't take off. I'm not saying that I want King to write like he did in Carrie or Salem's Lot because that is impossible but I do wish he could get his literary groove back. Stationary Bike was just lackluster and wouldn't even scare a nervous two year old.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre Stuff, August 12, 2006

By 

Phil Ainslie - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stationary Bike (Audio CD)

I read "Stationary Bike" a few years back in a "From the Borderlands" anthology and I'm having a difficult time believing they actually went the audo-book route with this one.

The hallmark of good fiction is that you care, sometimes deeply, about the characters. Near the end, if Sifkitz (the main character) he'd been beaten to death by "the workers" I wouldn't have been all that fussed. While it certainly wasn't as bad as Carol Berg's first "Bridges of D'Arnath" book, where I was actually hoping she'd kill off the main characters, the only thing one can muster for Sifkitz is mild concern and even that in short supply.

Truth be told I don't blame SK for this, all writers write a lot of [...] over the years in their quest to write good stuff. The problem is that SK is gold, everything he writes sells and sells a lot. People have joked that if he published his grocery list it would become a best seller... I'm not sure about that, but it appears this his publishers are about ready to ask him for it anyway.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Okay, But Stephen King Has Done Better, February 2, 2007

By 

Anthony J Novak (Playa del Rey, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stationary Bike (Audio CD)

Stephen King's stories usually work well as audiobooks. I think his books work well in audio because his stories are great entertainment and excellent readers are chosen to narrate his work. With Stationary Bike, King's story falters on both points. The story is okay but is very similar to a previous King story "The Road Virus Heads North." The narrator here, Ron McLarty, isn't bad, but he's not as good as Justin Long, who narrated "Everything's Eventual," Josh Hamilton who did "Riding the Bullet," or the great ensemble that performed "From a Buick 8."

The story centers on an artist who buys a stationary bike to get back into shape. To reduce the boring nature of excersing on the bike, the artist paints a picture of a landscape that he imagines he is traveling to. Pretty soon, the picture begins changing, and the artist keeps cycling to unravel the mystery. The big problem here is that when the mystery is finally revealed, you may be left scratching your head and thinking, "What? You got to be kidding me."

The story isn't that bad and would be better if it was part of a collection, but here, it's a standalone, and it isn't really worth the purchase unless you're a die-hard Stephen King fan.