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Greetings constant listeners: It's Jen Likes

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it Darker Adams What you're about

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can visit www.patriarch.com/the Barons hope

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to see their over long

1:14

days and pleasant nights. My

1:16

big I think if we've learned

1:18

anything from doing this podcast really

1:20

a decade is that old habits die

1:23

hard. And.

1:25

In this afterward. Kings.

1:27

Self deprecation. Comes. Back.

1:30

In. In in a way that I was actually

1:32

kind of taken back by it. Just annoying. Read

1:34

this next passage. I.

1:37

Recall. Prolific. Which. Costs are

1:39

readers of my work sooner a good thing and

1:41

critics have a sometimes consider a bad one. I never

1:43

meant to be. Never meant not

1:45

to be. I've done was given

1:48

to me to do and mostly been a joy

1:50

to me. The. Only drawback:

1:52

Call up the Fly Me ointment or

1:54

the Fatal Flaw if you want to

1:56

be highfalutin so the execution is never.

1:59

Know. Not one single time

2:01

been a splendid as the original

2:03

concept. The only two

2:06

times even came close to getting it

2:08

all went to prison stories The Green

2:10

Mile. And. Rita Hayworth and

2:12

Shawshank Redemption. All the others

2:15

fell short while I wanted for them. Even.

2:18

With long novel such as If The Stand

2:20

Under the Dome, I finished with the sense

2:22

that a better writer would have done a

2:24

better job. Still, On

2:26

measure. I'm proud of what I've done. And

2:28

A Promise short fiction. Probably.

2:30

Because they've always been hard for me.

2:34

I mean, that's it's it's. pretty sobering

2:36

to see this. You know he. Seventy

2:38

five, Seventy Six. You're

2:41

still wrestling with things that we've talked

2:43

about. In his eighties work and in

2:45

the sounds a lot of like his interviews from

2:48

late eighties especially post it. You

2:50

know where he was at? Referencing the South

2:52

as you know, Mcdonalds? And

2:55

obviously with since then we've talked about

2:57

how the even at that point it's

2:59

ridiculous to say that I mean he

3:01

he had so many eat up not

3:03

to say the literary works but certainly

3:05

works that you could argue or outside

3:07

or live outside the vacuum of the

3:09

genre. Fiction

3:11

Realm. And. I I,

3:13

I just made me. Is it? maybe?

3:16

appreciate? Some. Things in

3:18

this because I just think maybe we never do

3:20

shake our insecurities Now you know. And there's something

3:22

nice about that like there tonight. You know, I

3:24

think growing up it's kind of the parents thing.

3:27

It's like we all think I am. they're going

3:29

to. You know, they're the The Hardens saviors and

3:31

than you realize early on that they're not. And

3:33

it's the same thing with the insecurities. Like we

3:35

all act like they're in a garage and we

3:37

don't. It's it is

3:40

as thinking about i'm one of my

3:42

plane professors in grad school With always

3:44

said that. If. You're lucky as

3:46

a player if you're really lucky. You'll

3:49

have wine, maybe two plays that just of

3:51

out of years and then don't need much

3:53

revision beyond that. And that's if you're very

3:55

lucky. And as on that to be Charlie,

3:57

Get that again. One. For me

3:59

and hear him say that this is

4:01

a very successful guy younger than King

4:03

but. The. In his sixties on

4:06

the seventies and. I.

4:08

Think it's important to hear your mentor saga

4:10

like that also because it is humanized them

4:12

and away metics. That's what makes Ten great

4:15

is the every day the earth man quality

4:17

about him and he obviously he's very. Rich

4:19

and very famous. Everything but I think it's.

4:22

As far as celebrities of that status goes, he's

4:24

done a very, very good job of about. Steaks,

4:27

Next desserts are continuously. He

4:29

of. Holding up people who

4:31

need a lot more than him about.

4:34

Working. With new writers all that good stuff.

4:36

I'm an i'm gonna on a little bit of

4:38

a tangent. basic that. At. An isolated

4:40

admission. it doesn't like humble brag getting his his

4:42

keep himself on as they do believe it when

4:45

he says that to and I'm. Eat.

4:47

Once you know these stories even have an everyday

4:49

quality about them And so for me that just

4:51

ties back to like the work than like nature's

4:53

as everything that he does. Just.

4:55

Of. Your. There's something very. Pleasing.

4:59

About reading this the where the he

5:01

writes it does he does to the

5:03

for ways you could he could run.

5:05

This one is actually I suck as

5:07

opposed to nobody know I'm I'm good.

5:09

But. Even I know I'm not perfect. Mean,

5:12

I think that even less than culture other

5:14

to probably sensory that if anything though the

5:16

most beautiful passes I read of This is

5:18

when he says even with a long novel

5:20

such as It In the Sand. Because.

5:23

Once again, send them the meetings in

5:25

the stands. so form an unknown artist

5:28

has cut those out as a society

5:30

as a better book and maybe a

5:32

better writer list. L

5:35

A X Sanders as Oh God

5:37

A Pistol or a Novel written

5:39

from the perspective the meeting notes.

5:42

Ah yes it would be like you know

5:44

also that assigned it'll be loyal to her

5:46

breasts. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer some

5:48

says yeah it's a separate from every why

5:50

it is sit much rather. He

5:53

I have. A

5:55

mate really makes me just want to

5:57

read the original like versions that he

5:59

has it. his head, you know, because like,

6:01

he's listing some of my favorite books,

6:03

you know, and like to think that

6:05

they're not what he is,

6:07

like he wasn't able to quite capture

6:10

it. But it also reminds me of

6:12

something I heard Adina Menzel talk about

6:14

who originated Elphaba and she's Elsa and

6:16

she's just this incredible Broadway star

6:18

and she's like, so we can be talented.

6:21

I always wave to somebody. I can't believe

6:23

that. I can't remember. A delta zine. A

6:25

delta zine. A delta zine, yeah. A delta

6:27

zine, yeah. But she's like, if I'm singing

6:29

like 100,000 notes a night, you know, I

6:32

might miss five of them and

6:34

that's still really good. So when you think

6:36

about how many words he has put on

6:38

a page to not capture every single one

6:40

perfectly the way he had in mind, like

6:43

he's still batting like a million. I'm not

6:45

sure if that's right, baseball, but

6:47

you know. Well, with Mr. Baseball

6:49

himself. Yeah, that's right, Justin. Take it away.

6:53

Thank you. They call me Blockade Justin. Blockade

6:56

Justin. We'll keep it right there.

6:58

Blockade Justin. Yeah, I

7:01

think that all of us as human beings

7:04

are, we are like lit

7:06

once sang our own worst enemy. Yeah.

7:10

And this is security things. It's really comforting to me

7:12

in a way because we do overthink things and

7:14

we overthink things more than we, at

7:17

least I do. I think I overthink things way more

7:19

than I do just giving

7:22

us a soft and that analyzation of something.

7:25

But that's an insecurity of mind. So

7:27

yeah, like I said, it's something to say that you can

7:29

be relatable in some way, in a

7:32

way that doesn't feel condescending

7:34

or like they're trying to connect. But

7:36

this just seems natural, like even

7:38

though he's arguably the

7:40

most popular author of the

7:42

last what century, there's

7:45

still a connection he can make with his

7:47

readers. Yeah, which is staggering. I mean, especially

7:49

this hour. Jen. I think

7:51

that's what makes him such a good writer, at least

7:53

the writer that I like because we've talked a lot

7:55

about how he is an extremely empathetic writer and

7:58

the fact that he has not lost that humility. I

8:00

think allows him to connect with

8:02

characters that may not have that much in

8:04

common with him and Makes

8:07

him keep trying to do new things keep

8:09

trying to better himself keep going because I

8:11

mean at this point He could put

8:14

out whatever he wants and we would

8:16

still read it But like to put

8:18

out a collection this strong at this

8:20

point in his career I think tells

8:22

us that he's still trying to make

8:24

it perfect. He's still chasing that that

8:26

ideal story Yeah, I thought a

8:28

lot about this especially when it comes to this book

8:30

is that? There is

8:32

a freedom that comes with that but also

8:34

a terror You know, like

8:37

I think about this a lot of the times

8:39

with like musicians that I love, you know like

8:41

Springsteen You know long

8:43

enough timeline you do become a parody of yourself

8:45

And I think there is definitely moments in anyone's

8:47

career that has that long Standing

8:50

relationship with me, you know fans

8:52

and the culture There

8:54

are moments where you go. Yeah, you

8:56

know, you're kind of you spin the

8:59

wheels here or oh, you know You've

9:01

done this before this is well-worn territory

9:03

or even worse Like oh, this is

9:05

a joke version of yourself and

9:07

I I do think he has that on his mind I

9:10

think that he probably thinks to himself like alright Well,

9:13

it could even when the way

9:15

he talked about, you know it and the clown with

9:17

us on the interview, you know He's like, oh, I'll

9:19

I'll die but that fucking clown will still live like

9:21

I'm sure he's still Fears that he's

9:23

the guy that it's like the family kai trope of like,

9:25

oh I'm the one that made killer cars made this and

9:28

So for him to keep thinking of the nuances

9:30

and especially this late on. I mean think of

9:32

it this way I

9:34

don't know any musician even that

9:37

releases something every fucking year

9:40

and to this type of level of detail

9:42

and depth and That's

9:44

pretty unreal and to keep having

9:46

to go back to the well and

9:49

go. All right, what's what's what? You know look

9:51

back at the abyss to

9:53

keep it darker and you keep shouting

9:55

and hoping that something is shouting back at you.

9:57

I think after what

10:00

50 something years of doing it. This

10:02

is the 50th anniversary of Kerry. He's certainly been doing this since the

10:04

60s. I mean, I'm

10:06

only almost 40 years old and I'm already

10:08

getting tired of things that I've done over

10:10

and over again. So I can't imagine that

10:13

fear, and I say

10:15

fear for lack of a better word, but

10:17

anxiety, I think that's maybe a better word.

10:20

But just the, he

10:22

knows that he can write, but the

10:24

question of what is he gonna write, I

10:27

do think these insecurities is what keeps

10:29

him honest. Well,

10:31

relating back to this book is that, yes, Michael, he

10:33

said he could and he has just been writing

10:36

something and publishing something for the last

10:38

50 plus years. Yeah.

10:40

But for me to

10:43

know that he still has

10:45

this in him, right, is

10:47

extremely comforting. And I have

10:49

a feeling that this is going to get some very good

10:51

notices and I hope that he, I

10:56

know you should never read your own reviews, you should never

10:58

read your own reviews, but I hope that he takes some

11:00

of the more positive ones and I have a good feeling

11:02

about this reception. Yeah. Yeah, me too.

11:04

I think so too. And yes, spoiler alert, I say, and

11:06

granted I know it's cheating a little bit because it's a

11:08

collection and like you said, a lot of it was

11:11

released already, but a lot of it wasn't. And

11:13

I mean, for my money, I

11:16

think this is his best work since revival

11:19

maybe, maybe since 1122 for me. I

11:22

would agree with you. I mean, I really do.

11:24

Like, and that's not enough, and he's had a

11:26

lot of really good books since then. I'm not

11:28

saying he hasn't put out anything good in the

11:30

past decade, but I was just

11:32

astounded how much I love this and how he was

11:34

operating at a level of some of these stories I

11:36

hadn't seen him operate at. And to

11:38

your guys' points about, oh, how

11:40

can he challenge himself? How can he not repeat himself?

11:43

I think putting something like Rattlesnakes in here, which

11:45

is a sequel to one of his most famous

11:48

books ever, and not retreading that

11:50

at all. Like, and then actually making it a sequel

11:52

to one of his other more non-famous books as well.

11:55

I almost feel like he rose to the challenge. Okay, I'm

11:57

gonna make this a sequel, but it's not gonna be like

11:59

a legacy. It's not gonna be a

12:01

reboot. It's not gonna be full of Easter eggs

12:05

It's gonna be like Ted Brodigan showing up and the

12:07

Dark Tower 7. Yes No,

12:09

it really is. It's not really not kujo.

12:12

It's not the heart's last two. It's no

12:14

different story It's such this new thing. So

12:16

I feel like by giving myself

12:18

this challenge of not repeating something once again

12:21

This ran rattlesnakes is one of the rid

12:23

the pieces that didn't appear before this I can't count

12:25

This is like being the big

12:27

original swing for it Yeah,

12:30

when I think about that like man, he's still got it He

12:32

challenged himself and he in my opinion, you know, I know we're

12:34

not on the stories yet He exceeded that challenge

12:37

and not only that just did it in a way that I

12:39

could have never predicted because when I first heard That

12:42

it was called rattlesnakes and that it was about

12:44

a grieving widower in Florida and there's a kujo

12:46

sequel I'm like, what is this gonna be? And

12:48

it was I could not have predicted what

12:50

it was going to be I'm very excited talk about that later.

12:52

Yeah, well how much I would love it here