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I nominate Stephen King as our Nostradamus.

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preciousdove Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:19 AM
Original message
I nominate Stephen King as our Nostradamus.
Really. I have been avoiding TV so I have been reading favorite books and watching videos in my extended families collections.

"The Running Man" 1982 (under pen name Richard Bachman) = No middle class only rich and poor. Poor go on reality based game shows often leading to death to pay for medical bills.

"The Stand" Mini Series 1994 A flu strain wipes out the majority of the world. The survivors divide into two camps, one fallowing a satan like leader and the other trying to survive and keep the best of the world hat has been lost.

Probably more but jeepers did he call it!
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:21 AM
Response to Original message
1. Shotgun effect
When you put out a zillion books, one or two of them are bound to generate eerily coincidental "prophecies" like that.

That's how Jeanne Dixon and other frauds work, so I guess it's okay that King receive the same benefit (especially since he makes no claim to psychic abilities!)
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KittyWampus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:06 PM
Response to Reply #1
36. Also, Weak Force Effect. Sometimes forces may exist but at a low
Edited on Thu Mar-16-06 12:08 PM by cryingshame
level or unharnessed state.

the basis for prediction is Observation.

King is obviously a keen observer of society and human nature.
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4 t 4 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:21 AM
Response to Original message
2. I couldn't agree
more I have been saying for years "we live in a S.K. book"
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rock Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:22 AM
Response to Original message
3. One of his latest
(if not the latest) "Cell". You do like cell phones don'tcha?
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MadMaddie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:24 AM
Response to Original message
4. I have been telling my partner that at the rate we are going...
with the game shows.....we will see a show similar to the "Running Man"....

"The Stand" another King classic.....The Bird Flue...

I have always believed that life imitates Fiction......
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okieinpain Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 01:43 PM
Response to Reply #4
53. running man = fear factor
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:25 AM
Response to Original message
5. SK Is a Rethug. As soon as I found out I can't stomach his stuff.
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murielm99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:34 AM
Response to Reply #5
7. He is not a rethug.
Go to his website. He says he is a Democrat.
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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:40 AM
Response to Reply #7
11. Yes, definitely wrong. King also donates to Democratic candidates.
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SpaceCatMeetsMars Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:05 PM
Response to Reply #11
33. Also there was a picture of him protesting the Iraq war
down in Orlando where he has a second home. Here in Maine, everybody absolutely loves him and his wife, they donate to so many charities. I know some of the charities are women's shelters and some are for mentally ill children. I have always thought from his books that he has great sympathy and understanding of women, children, men, people in general, and especially ones that have been victimized in some way. A lot of his books are about overcoming the horrors or tragedies that happen to people.
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Mandate My Ass Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:39 AM
Response to Reply #5
10. No, he's not
Dark rider

Stephen King has made millions from horror stories and been honoured by America's literary establishment. Having beaten drug and alcohol addiction, in 1999 he was almost killed in a road accident near his home in Maine. Now 56, he has concluded the seven-volume fantasy series that was his greatest ambition. His next project is to help the Democrats win Florida.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/crime/story/0,6000,1306991,00.html

There was a pic up around here of his house at Christmas time decorated with outdoor lights in the shape of a peace sign.
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:57 AM
Response to Reply #10
24. Someone on DU told me he was. Ooops sorry.
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Mandate My Ass Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:07 PM
Response to Reply #24
38. Hey, no biggie
I always thought John Wayne Gacy was a republican but it turns out he was a democrat. We all make mistakes. I'm glad we have SK on our side because I know when I buy one of his books my hard-earned cash isn't going into repuke hands. :-)
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Tesha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:23 PM
Response to Reply #24
45. You believe what you read *HERE*???
> Someone on DU told me he was. Ooops sorry.

You believe what you read *HERE*???

That's a half-joke, by the way, but I do know that
when people are pontificating on topics technical
here at DU, about 80% of the time they're dead wrong,
and often a huge rush of people come along and shout
"That's right, man, you tell 'em!".

Trust but verify.

Tesha
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Lone_Star_Dem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:46 AM
Response to Reply #5
16. Well then we need more rethugs like him
In September of 2004, King donated $10,000 each to the state Democratic parties of Iowa, Maine and West Virginia.

He's donated over 100k to the Democratic cause in the past 25 years.
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:58 AM
Response to Reply #16
27. Someone on DU told me he was. Ooops sorry.
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Lone_Star_Dem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:04 PM
Response to Reply #27
32. ;-)
Copy/paste is your friend today.

Hey, no harm done...I was just defending his honor since he's been good to us. :)
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Beelzebud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:52 AM
Response to Reply #5
21. Is that why he supported Kerry for president and on Bush inaguration
day in 2005 he made a post to his website telling people not to buy anything on that day?

Get your facts straight...
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:58 AM
Response to Reply #21
26. Someone on DU told me he was. Ooops sorry.
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Frank Cannon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:02 PM
Response to Reply #26
31. Who told you that?
Make sure they get a big :spank:-ing.
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Vinnie From Indy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:05 PM
Response to Reply #26
34. I bet you say that alot!
I have read your posts. It's not hard to figure you out.
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:13 PM
Response to Reply #34
42. Well if you've read my posts then you'd know I don't. Do a search
and get back to me and let me know if I'm wrong.
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:25 PM
Response to Reply #34
46. I'm wrong. I do say that alot. I just thought about it and I do. So you
are right. I apologise.
X
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Frank Cannon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:01 PM
Response to Reply #5
30. Don't know where you heard that, but it's false
SK is not only a Democrat, he is actually a semi-involved one.
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:14 PM
Response to Reply #30
43. I'm going into the archives for the search. Is that Barnaby Jones
as your avatar! COOL!
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Frank Cannon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:18 PM
Response to Reply #43
44. Hey, that's portly P.I. Frank Cannon
But it's great to run into another fan of Quinn Martin shows on this board! :toast:
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xultar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 01:34 PM
Response to Reply #44
52. I'm showin my age aren't I. I loved the detective shows of the 70's.
Awesome shit.

Just as I hit the post message I saw your username and I was like nope. I bet it's Frank Cannon. DUH!
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Frank Cannon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 02:15 PM
Response to Reply #52
59. The detective shows of the 70s are the absolute best
My wife and I have just renewed our love of the '70s TV show Starsky and Hutch. We have the first two seasons on DVD, and they are just so entertaining.

I don't know why they haven't released those classic Quinn Martin shows on DVD. Barnaby Jones, Cannon, The Streets of San Francisco, The Fugitive, The Invaders--there is an ENORMOUS gold mine there. They were some of the best shows of the '60s and '70s.
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walldude Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 01:53 PM
Response to Reply #5
57. Maybe you are thinking of Dean Koontz, I stopped
reading his shit when he and his wife donated to Bush. King is a liberal Dem all the way...
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blondeatlast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 09:07 PM
Response to Reply #5
62. Most definitely a Democrat. He talks it, he walks it,
he donates oodles of bucks to it.
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OmmmSweetOmmm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:27 AM
Response to Original message
6. Then there is Chris Carter of X-Files fame. His pilot episode of the show
Edited on Thu Mar-16-06 11:31 AM by OmmmSweetOmmm
Lone Gunmen had a hijacked airliner deliberately flying into the WTC. This was aired in March 2001. BTW... our government was behind the plot in the script.

There are clips of the pilot available online.
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4 t 4 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:35 AM
Response to Reply #6
8. I didn;t know sk
was a repuke OMG I'm crushed i feel ill
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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:41 AM
Response to Reply #8
12. Wrong, wrong, he is not. He is a Democrat.
As someone suggested above, go to his Web site.
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Beelzebud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:57 AM
Response to Reply #8
25. He's not... Don't worry.
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OmmmSweetOmmm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:59 AM
Response to Reply #6
29. Video - Lone Gunmen Pilot Episode
http://propagandamatrix.com/multimedia_priorknowledge_lonegumen.html
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blogslut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:39 AM
Response to Original message
9. Don't forget the Dead Zone
If Dubya ain't a real-life version of Greg Stillson, I'll eat my hat.
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4 t 4 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:43 AM
Response to Reply #9
13. Oh thank god
he's not a Repug ,I feel better now
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raccoon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:07 PM
Response to Reply #9
37. You beat me to the punch. nt
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 01:44 PM
Response to Reply #9
54. I find it funny
that Martin Sheen played Greg Stillson in the film version of the Dead Zone, because to me he'll always be President Jed Bartlet. One actor playing two polar-opposite politicians, and utterly convincing as both.
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Beelzebud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:43 AM
Response to Original message
14. Before the Stand was a mini-series it was an 800 page novel.
Read it sometime. It puts the TV version to shame!
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4 t 4 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:45 AM
Response to Reply #14
15. I've read it at least 3 times
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OmmmSweetOmmm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:50 AM
Response to Reply #15
18. lol! I'm not the only one??? I read the original version once and the
expanded version twice! But then I also read War and Peace four times.
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bigscott Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:51 AM
Response to Reply #15
19. i have read it three times too!
great book - i read all his stuff as soon as it comes out - Cell was great -

too bad most of his books translate so poorly into movies or miniseries.
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Beelzebud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:57 AM
Response to Reply #15
23. LOL It's a great book. I've read it 4 or 5 times. :)
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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:25 PM
Response to Reply #14
47. I think that The Stand was one of his best novels.
I've read both editions. Liked the unedited one best.
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MiniMe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-17-06 08:02 AM
Response to Reply #14
65. I always warn people that the Captain Trips part can be really gross....
but once you get past that it is a great book. I only do that because a few people that I gave the book to stopped reading it because they thought the whole book was that way.
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immoderate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:47 AM
Response to Original message
17. How about Asimov and Heinlein?
They both wrote books about society devolving into a theocratic dark age.

--IMM
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mainegreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:29 PM
Response to Reply #17
49. or A. Clarke or Phillip K Dick?
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doodadem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:52 AM
Response to Original message
20. I'm his biggest fan.........
No book about that either, right?

Seriously, been a die hard fan for 30+ years. Steven is most definitely a DEMOCRAT, and major philanthropist. Poor kid who made good.
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Beelzebud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #20
22. I'm a pretty big fan too! :)
I have Dark Tower Volume VI and VII, Limited Edition, signed by Stephen King and the artists that did the paintings for the books. Mine are both number 1337. :)
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DamnYank Donating Member (93 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 11:59 AM
Response to Original message
28. He saw the light early
In his biography _On Writing_ King talks about arriving at the University of Maine in 1966 as a war-supporting Republican. By the time he graduated he was a long-haired anti-war protester.
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Minnesota Libra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:05 PM
Response to Original message
35. I haven't read much Stephen King so please tell me if.......
.....The Running Man and The Stand (heard of that one) are both Stephen King books??? Is it just that King uses the pen name of Richard Bachman?? Sounds like I may need to hit the library.
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Beelzebud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:08 PM
Response to Reply #35
39. The Stand is a King book. Running Man was Bachman.
He wrote both of them, but for whatever reason, in his early years he sometimes wrote as Richard Bachman.

Some of the re-issues of those are now called Bachman Books, and they have Stephen King credited as the author.
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Minnesota Libra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:32 PM
Response to Reply #39
51. Cool got it - thanks nt
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CBGLuthier Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 02:13 PM
Response to Reply #39
58. Well, it was a test actually
It was after he had achieved great fame and most of the Backman books were ones he had written before becoming famous but it was really a test to see if his writing would sell or if it was just his name.

he felt that Bachman was starting to build a following before some clever kid "outed" him as SK.

He got even in the novel The Dark Half. :-)

My favorite of the Bachman books was The Long Walk, where kids in a fascist america (gee another prediction) would all start walking until as they fell behind they were shot. Thought it was a really frightening vision of fascism.
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Roland99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 08:39 PM
Response to Reply #39
60. He wrote some books as Bachman as King wasn't a selling name
and he was getting rejection letters. He trotted out Bachman to try to submit some works.

There was an excellent documentary on King I saw on TV the other day.

And, after all, I, Roland of Gilead, know sai King very well.









:D
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blondeatlast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 09:13 PM
Response to Reply #60
63. Where was the documentary? I am probably the biggest Stephen King fan
there is, I swear.

"The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" is my absolute favorite contemporary novel, bar none.

I'd love to see that doc; I can't believe I missed it.
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Roland99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-17-06 07:01 AM
Response to Reply #63
64. Might have been on A&E or E! or something. I really don't remember.
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blondeatlast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-17-06 09:09 AM
Response to Reply #64
66. Thanks, I'll try to find it. nt
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raccoon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:08 PM
Response to Original message
40. I haven't read "The Running Man" but I'll check it out.
Sounds like "They Shoot Horses, Don't They" projected into the future.

It's a kick-butt movie if you've never seen it. Depressing, however.
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AllegroRondo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:26 PM
Response to Reply #40
48. Its in a collection called "the Bachman Books"
four of King's earlier works collected in one volume. Its actually rather short, but very good.
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Jersey Devil Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:12 PM
Response to Original message
41. If you really want a scare, read "The Plot Against America"
by Philip Roth, about how America goes completely fascist in alliance with Hitler afer Charles Lindberg defeats FDR in the presidential election of 1940. It is more hair raising than any King novel I have ever read.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1400079497.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400079497/qid=1142528929/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-6717968-0069664?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
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tenshi816 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 01:50 PM
Response to Reply #41
56. I read The Plot Against America
when it first came out and found it frightening because it was so believable in a "what if" way. I could see something similar happening in the real world (although obviously without Charles Lindbergh).
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Blue_In_AK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 12:30 PM
Response to Original message
50. The Stand is one of my all-time favorite books... n/t
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Roland99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 01:45 PM
Response to Original message
55. I, Roland of Gilead, Son of Stephen, Line of Arthur Eld am here!!
Edited on Thu Mar-16-06 01:45 PM by Roland99
I have been pursuing the man in black across the desert and am approaching the Dark Tower.


Hile, gunslingers!

To me!
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Rocknrule Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-16-06 09:03 PM
Response to Original message
61. You forgot "The Talisman"
Sunlight Gardener and his teenage minions/cultlike followers remind me very strongly of Bush and his supporters
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