Walpuski's Typewriter [Hardcover]

Frank Darabont (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

You thought the off-the-wall fantasy of dear old Unknown Worlds and the grand early years of Anthony Boucher's Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction were gone and buried. You were wrong. You reckoned without Darabont, the Academy Award–nominated director of the films adapted from Stephen King's The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption. Darabont reveals another side of his talent in his first book, "a truly silly story," as he refers in his introduction to this fast, funny novella about hack writer Howard Walpuski, a devil-dealing typewriter-repair geezer, and a bloodthirsty demon who epitomizes the dreams of anyone hoping to become another King. All one need do is sit back and feed paper into the hungry machine, which spews forth bestsellers. Unfortunately, the demon-possessed typewriter becomes hungry for more than paper. Just when you are afraid the author is about to succumb to the most tired if hallowed of demon-killers, the sacred implements of the Church, he's smart enough to throw them in your face. You needn't be a Boucher or even a King to know where the story is going, but it doesn't matter. Horror stories this unself-conscious are rare treasures.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 108 pages
• Publisher: Cemetery Dance Pubns; First Edition edition (March 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587670593
• ISBN-13: 978-1587670596
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,541,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book is a nice little surprise!, October 20, 2008

By 

G. Guthrie "fiction book collector" (columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walpuski's Typewriter (Hardcover)

Surprisingly this is a very fun story. I was hesitant to buy this as it is the only story by Frank Darabont, and he's a film director not a writer, but I was glad I did. This was a fun dark comedy story of horror. It's about a writer who makes a deal with a local typewriter salesman to repair his typewriter. What he didn't know was this guy was going to put a demon in his typewriter to help him write. Obviously this doesn't go well. The author gets better, but at a price. This was easy to read, kept the reader entertained with humor throughout and was just a fun little scary story. Plus there are some good illustrations by Bernie Wrightson within the book. I liked this book a lot: recommended!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amusing satirical modernizing of Faust, January 17, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walpuski's Typewriter (Hardcover)

Hollywood writer Howard Walpuski dreams of one day becoming a household name, but so far even he recognizes the litter box junk he writes. When his IBM Selectric II suddenly spit smoke and had one last death rattle, he panics because he needs that machine even to hack out crap because five dollars will not buy much. He finds the typewriter repair shop owned by elderly Cyril Pratt who greets his tragic story like an undertaker at a funeral. Pratt agrees that major repairs are in order for a down payment of five dollars after screaming at Walpuski for typing BS as bad as a monkey.

When he gets his typewriter back, Walpuski quickly learns all he has to do is feed it paper and the machine does all the work. Soon Walpuski becomes the instant King of bestsellers, but the typewriter wants blood, sweat and tears from the author and plans to collect once the third tale is written.

This amusing satirical modernizing of Faust is a terrific tongue in cheek tale that will have the audience wondering how horror can be humorous even without Leslie Neilson and when making a pact with the devil. The zany plot never takes itself seriously yet the audience will accept that WALPUSKI'S TYPEWRITER has a life of its own needing feed me nourishment. Fans of wacky tales will appreciate Frank Darabont's weird but fun thriller while wondering what type of typewriter he used.

Harriet Klausner