Books: The Talisman Series comes to a Close this October

 

Back in 1984, when writers Stephen King and Peter Straub released The Talisman, I was in the height of my fantasy reading. But I was also reading both authors novels. This book combined a lot of King’s style of pop-cultural reference and teen-age angst with Straub’s sometimes literary style and scholarly attention to detail. Yes, in some way, this should’ve not worked. Both writers, while long time friends, approached their work differently. King was already working on another High Fantasy series, what became the Dark Tower universe and what he often called a mixture The Lord of the Rings with Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone’s Man with No Name trilogy from the 1960s. 

At the time, Straub had never appeared interested in this sub-genre. As a matter of fact, in his life time, he never wrote anything close to High Fantasy beyond this book and its 2001 sequel.

So in the Talisman, we get the staple of most fantasy, where someone needs to make an epic quest to save the great land. Here, 12 year-old Jack Sawyer (another King trope of a kid with some sort on unknown power) must try and save his dying mother in our world and her twinnner, in The Territories. 

The Territories is a parallel world, a sort of pocket universe, which is physically smaller than the world from which Jack comes from. Throughout the course of the novel, Jack uses the size differential as a method to travel quickly across the country. The eastern region, corresponding to the Eastern Seaboard, is the most densely populated and is governed under a feudal system headed by the Queen. The central regions, roughly corresponding to the American plains, are a grain growing area known as "the Outposts." Beyond them, the western region of the Territories is a destroyed area known as "the Blasted Lands" (analogous to the American Southwest – primarily New Mexico, where the atomic bomb was tested). It apparently was wrecked by radioactivity, and has dangerous mutants and occasional fireballs. 

Jack begins his quest at the New Hampshire hotel called the Alhambra (a notable location in King's novel The Tommyknockers) where he meets Speedy Parker (another King trope, the unassuming older black man who seemly has the same type of powers as the protagonist –think of Scatman Crothers Dick Hollorann from The Shinning), who tells him he must go on this quest to save both his mother and Queen Laura 

So Jack sets off to seek the mystical Talisman in this parallel world, with help and encouragement from Speedy Parker. But Parker warns young Jack of Morgan of Orris, the enemy of the free people of the Territories, will be after him, as well his uncle in the real world, Morgan Sloat, the business partner who probably caused the death of Jack's father, wants Jack dead. So both versions of Morgan are hunting for Jack, and both are aware of his nature, as well as their own. 

While the 2001 Black House is very much a standalone tale and the writers do a great job explaining some of backstory of The Talisman, the novel also serves as a small stopover to King’s Dark Tower Universe, which by 2001 had become extensive, with certain books and short stories serving as bits of new information. As an example, 1996’s Insomnia actually introduced the main villain to the Dark Tower, and here in The Black House we are introduced to other aspects of that universe. 

Meanwhile, back in ’84, The Talisman was not really designed to be connected to the DT, though it became clear to King fans much later that The Territories must be connected, and The Black House does expose certain things that now make it clear that 1984 book is connected. 

In The Black House, decades after the events in The Talisman, Jack has grown up to become a lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department, where his professionalism and uncanny talent have helped him establish a nearly legendary reputation. He has repressed the memories of his adventures in "The Territories" and his hunt for the Talisman, but the residue of these events has served to subtly affect his life even after he has forgotten them. When a series of murders in Los Angeles are traced to a farm insurance salesman from French Landing, Wisconsin (Straub’s home state; and French Landing is fictionalized version of Trempealeau, Wisconsin), Jack cooperates with the French Landing police to capture the killer. While in Wisconsin, Jack is irresistibly enraptured by the natural beauty of the Coulee Country, echoing his reaction to The Territories as a child. When he later intrudes upon a homicide investigation in Santa Monica, certain aspects of the crime scene threaten to revive his repressed memories. He subsequently resigns from the LAPD, moving to French Landing to enjoy his early retirement. When the Fisherman begins to terrorize French Landing, the police all but beg "Hollywood" Jack Sawyer for his assistance; they are surprised when Jack flatly refuses. Memories of the Santa Monica event threaten to overwhelm Jack, and he fears that involving himself in the investigation may affect his sanity. When a fourth child is taken by the Fisherman, events no longer allow Jack to remain aloof. It quickly becomes apparent to him that the Fisherman is much more than a serial killer. 

In the last two-and-half decades, both writers said that a third book would come. In 2006, Straub said “Steve and I agreed years back that we would do a third one, and that would be it, because Black House virtually sets up, and all but promises a follow-up. And then we would have a three-volume fantasy novel. That's perfect. That's probably what it wanted to be from the beginning” Then in 2009, in another interview he said “We were going to start right about now, but King got sidetracked by a Broadway musical that he was writing with John Melencamp. So that's been taking shape. And I think they were having out-of-town tryouts this autumn. Then we'll see what happens. But at some point we'll get back to it, because we have to. It's like two-thirds of a long, long story, and the other part really should be done.” 

Then in 2010, he told Youtube “Steve and I agreed [...] three years ago that we would in all likelihood write a third book, the last of the Jack Sawyer novels. In a way, though, it was there from the beginning, at least the ending of Black House, because the ending of Black House opens up into another narrative altogether. The protagonist is given a wonderful but profound problem, and he will have to cope with that problem. And it practically writes another book by itself. It doesn't, I assure you, but it does kind of tell us what one of central issues of that novel will be. I think we'll begin in a year or so. It doesn't have a title” 

From then on, both of their assistance kept saying a book was coming, but schedule coordination was very difficult. Then Straub died on September 4, 2022, aged 79, from complications of a broken hip. Asked once again about a third book, Kind said in 2023 expressed the possibility of finally writing the third installment of The Talisman series despite the passing of Straub, saying: "Before he died, Peter sent me this long letter and said we oughta do the third one, and he gave me a really cool idea and I had some ideas of my own.”

Now four years after Straub’s passing, on October 6, 2026, we’ll be getting the finale of The Talisman trilogy. Called Other Worlds than These, and what is has in store for Jack and (probably The Dark Tower) is yet to be revealed.

But in the meantime, I’m rereading both The Talisman after 42 years and The Black House after twenty-five years. So by the time the book hits my doorstep, I’ll be all caught up.

 

Books: The Lighthouse At The End Of The World by Philip Suggars (2026)

“Oyster McLellen has spent his life causing mischief. Running with a small-time gang and fleecing money from tourists in Hyde Park to support his struggling family in the absence of his father, who abandoned them years ago. When a simple money drop for his boss, Big Mickey, goes wrong, Oyster's future looks bleak. His only chance to redeem himself in the eyes of Mickey is to get the money back, but as he pursues the thieves across South London he suddenly finds himself washed up on a beach, surrounded by broken phones and shattered office furniture. His new world: Greater London. A city built on the detritus of our own, where leviathans crafted from broken skyscrapers roam the seas, where ink beetles nestle beneath the skin of its residents and where Oyster's father, Lucas, may well have escaped to all those years ago. But there are bigger things at stake. Oyster's allegiances are torn between the enigmatic Nonesuch, the eccentric escapist Marya Petrovna, and the terrifying Mr Primrose - and he will have to choose who to align himself with quickly. Because plans are afoot: something ancient is brewing, and a choice needs to be made, the consequences of which will determine the fate of Londons, and life, everywhere.” 

While The Lighthouse at the End of the World has nothing to do with Jules Verne’s 1901 tale of the same name, Philip Suggars does give another in a long line of fantasy novels set in London, or alternative London, one where magic works and peoples alliances are always suspect. It is not a horrible debut (and a beginning of series) but the book did frustrate me from time to time. 

The book started well, with Oyster trying to provide for the remnants of his small family (his sister, his disengaged mother, and himself) since his father left them, which shows the empathy he has despite his exterior roughness he constantly needs to show. Because in the London writer Suggars created is one that is grey, gritty, and grimy, where our Oyster is trying his best (and failing somewhat at it), despite the odds being stacked against him. This seemly Dicken’s inspired supporting casts are well drawn, with the only flaw being we seen this all before. 

While Suggars paints a reasonably odd and weird Greater London, once Oyster arrives, we get whole other set main and side characters, all with their motivations, at times, it was hard to keep them all straight. The ending was somewhat disappointing (because it becomes very clear early on, his Oysters Dad was somehow apart of all this), because it all felt rushed and then it was over and somehow Oyster survived. 

I really liked the weirdness of Suggar’s Greater London and those who dwell there, but the book could’ve cut certain things and enhanced others (like his Mother’s role in all of this). It probably could’ve been about twenty pages or so shorter, but that theme seems to run through a lot of books I read –overlong with too many superfluous sub-plots.

Books: London Match (Bernard Samson #3) by Len Deighton (1985)

“Samson suspects that there is a traitor within his department of MI6, due to the appearance of a memorandum which was leaked to the KGB. It transpires that it is part of a plot conducted by his wife—now working for East German intelligence—to frame his superior, Bret Rensselaer, as a KGB agent. When Samson's old friend Werner Volkmann is arrested by the East German police Samson organizes an unauthorized exchange of defector Erich Stinnes for him, but the operation ends in a shoot-out on the Berlin U-Bahn.” 

A lot of London Match gets bogged down by the domestic lives of its characters – everyone seems to be having affairs with someone else and expecting Bernard to deal with it – and it gets a little tedious after a while. The episodic structure of the novel is something some readers will have a problem with, mostly because of the issues with who is screwing who and wringing of hands about Fiona’s defection and how it effects Bernard and her children. It does have some good action sequences, especially the final shoot-out around the Berlin Wall. It also has plenty of twists and turns required in this genre, but some younger readers will find the internal maneuverings of MI6 and the chess match between the West and East intelligence services of the Cold War a bit tedious. 

Interestingly, Granada Television produced a twelve-hour version of this trilogy in 1988, which starred Ian Holm’s as Bernard Samson while Mel Martin played Fiona. Entitled Game, Set and Match, it was filmed on location in Berlin and Mexico, that included a large international cast with 3,000 extras and a budget of $8 million. While critically acclaimed, the ratings for the series were a disaster. 

I’m intrigued enough that I will continue with the second trilogy Spy Hook, Spy Line, and Spy Sinker down the line –September through the end of 2026 is pretty well set. So I might not start them until January. I’ll probably read Winter first, which is, more or less, a prequel to the first trilogy as well as setting up the second and third –I think…

Passages

 

Mark Rydell was director, producer and actor, who helmed several Academy Award-nominated films including The Fox (1967), The Reivers (1969), Cinderella Liberty (1973), The Rose (1979), and The River (1984). He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for On Golden Pond (1981). He passed away at 97 on 13 August. 

He started as an actor in the mid 1950s, appearing on the soap operas The Edge of Night and As The World Turns. In the early 1960s, he turned to directing (he did act on occasion, including giving a striking performance as a violent Jewish mob kingpin in Robert Altman's 1973 film The Long Goodbye and in the 2002 Woody Allen film Hollywood Ending), mostly episodic TV that included Mr. Novak; Ben Casey; The Reporter; Slattery's People; I Spy; The Wild Wild West; The Long, Hot Summer; and Gunsmoke. His first feature film was 1967’s The Fox, which was hit and led to The Reivers in 1969 with Steve McQueen. He made a string of films in the 1970s, but it was 1979’s crowd pleasing The Rose and the film introduced the world to Bette Midler, who won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, that became his first well known film. In 1981, he was nominated for Best Director for On Golden Pond, the film that scored both Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn’s their final Oscar wins. He followed up that with The River starring Sissy Specek and Mel Gibson. While that film was not a success, he continued to make various films and would work with Midler again, along with James Caan, for 1991’s For the Boys. He directed the 1993 TV movie McBride and Groom, and the feature films Intersection (1994) and Crime of the Century (1996), and the 2006 film Easy Money. 

 American poet, novelist and writer of children's books, Benjamin Alire Sáenz, passed away on July 28^th at 71. While he wrote 5 books of poetry, multiple children’s books, he also published six YA titles, two which he is more or less known for, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and its sequel Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World. Both books won accolades for their portrayal of two Mexican-American teenagers, Aristotle "Ari" Mendoza and Dante Quintana, and their friendship, and their struggles with racial and ethnic identity, sexuality, and family relationships. Since its publication, the novels have received widespread critical acclaim. A film version of the first book was released in 2022.

Books: Mexico Set (Bernard Samson #2) by Len Deighton (1984)

“Bernard Samson is under suspicion because his wife Fiona, a spy like her husband, defected to the Soviets, leaving the London Central people suspicious of his own intentions. It seems that Samson is on the run not only from the KGB but his own people. Now on the shadowy East-West battlefield of Mexico City. British intelligence agent Bernard Samson must entice his opposite number, a disaffected KGB major, to take the final, dramatic step -- and defect. But the price of one Russian's freedom must be paid in blood -- blood that Samson unexpectedly and incriminatingly finds on his own hands. On every side, he becomes dangerously enmeshed in an intricate web of suspicion and hatred. Yet how can he fight when he doesn't know where to find his most determined enemies -- or even who they are?” 

This is the middle book in a trilogy and very much feels like it. Well worth the read, even if a bit talky. There's something irresistible about such a low-key approach to spy fiction, but it feels grounded in more a reality than other works of this genre. Again, it’s not fast paced as Le Carre, but that does not mean Deighton is less talented or lesser writer. The two authors simply work in different styles, as one might expect of two separate talents. Deighton does not need to imitate Le Carre to produce works of equal stature in this genre. The gist of this novel is fallout from Bernard’s wife defection. The reveal of a mole within in MI6 has drawn a dark curtain over Bernard, as some with the British Intelligence (probably rightfully so) Fiona was an enemy agent, if only because they were married for so long. On his latest mission, Bernard can’t help but feel he’s being set up. His bosses send him Mexico City is as much a test of his loyalties as it is a test of his abilities to get Erich Stinnes, a KGB spy to defect. And Bernard will have to keep on his toes to avoid getting the blame if all goes wrong. 

As I noted, this is an enjoyable novel that surprisingly gives plenty of room for the domestic drama/comedy of a secret agent suddenly forced into single-parenthood (imagine James Bond raising two kids all on his own). But he still has his best friend from Berlin, Werner, at his side, and he starts to unravel the plot against him just as the clock nears midnight on his ability to stay at his job. 

Bernard Samson isn't a sleek super-spy; there are not a lot of action set pieces and I still feel the character remains a somewhat unreliable narrator here –and for someone who so clever misses a few things that should’ve been red flags. In the end, it’s spy fiction with some very good grounding in the humdrum real world, and very entertaining.