Matheson's Hell House Read-Along - Discussion Two

Sorry I'm a couple days late. Let's dive into what happened in our second reading section.

This part tricked me (even though I've read it before) into almost believing that Florence was making up Daniel Belasco. Then Barrett is attacked in the steam room. How could he still not believe there is more than just "energy" in that house? Stubborn man. Poor Edith being sexualized by the house. Fischer finally opened up to the forces of the house. But his fear made him close off again, and in his anger and fear, he accuses Florence of manifesting Daniel herself, but I don't think he truly believes it. The entry of Daniel's birth in the Bible in the chapel...does this prove his existence, or is it yet another trick? 

Manipulation is the key. It was the vehicle when Belasco (the father) was alive, and it's the vehicle driving everything that is happening in the house in the present. So, when Florence finally gives in to Daniel, is it really Daniel, or did Belasco (the elder) create him in order to vanquish Florence...or is it Belasco himself? What happens to Florence is horrific! 

For the life of me, I cannot remember if we finally get answers by the end of the book. I remember one detail, but it may be from the film, not the book, but I will wait to see if it plays out the way I remember. 

What did you think of this section? Let me know if I failed to touch on anything, and add your personal thoughts in the comments.

Our final discussion will be on October 30th. If you need to refresh your memory on our reading schedule, check out this post.

I'm still hoping to post more by the end of the month. Time has been getting away from me, and work for my job has increased of late, so I feel like I'm juggling at times. In case you missed it, check out my Banned Books Week post about Stephen King.

This post is part of Something Wicked Fall.

Stephen King is the most banned author in U.S. schools (Banned Books Week)

"King’s books were censored 206 times, according to PEN, with “Carrie” and “The Stand” among the 87 of his works affected.

In Florida, where more than 2,000 books were banned or restricted, a handful of counties were responsible for many of the King removals: Dozens were pulled last year as a part of a review for whether they were in compliance with state laws.

“His books are often removed from shelves when ‘adult’ titles or books with ‘sex content’ are targeted for removal — these prohibitions overwhelmingly ban LGBTQ+ content and books on race, racism, and people of color — but also affect titles like Stephen King’s books,” Meehan says. “Some districts — in being overly cautious or fearful of punishment — will sweep so wide they end up removing Stephen King from access, too.”"  PBS.org

206 total instances of book bans

Number of unique titles affected by book bans

Considered dangerous because it "contains violence and demonic possession and
ridicules the Christian religion."
Challenged by Campbell County, Wyoming, school system, 1983.
Banned by Washington County, Alabama, Board of Education, 1985.
(all from gumbopages)

Stephen King wrote this article which was published as a guest column in the March 20, 1992 issue of The Bangor Daily News.

The book-banners: Adventure in censorship is stranger than fiction by Stephen King

"When I came into my office last Thursday afternoon, my desk was covered with those little pink message slips that are the prime mode of communication around my place. Maine Public Broadcasting had called, also Channel 2, the Associated Press, and even the Boston Globe. It seems the book-banners had been at it again, this time in Florida. They had pulled two of my books, "The Dead Zone" and "The Tommyknockers," from the middle-school library shelves and were considering making them limited-access items in the high school library. What that means is that you can take the book out if you bring a note from your mom or your dad saying it's OK.

My news-media callers all wanted the same thing -- a comment. Since this was not the first time one or more of my books had been banned in a public school (nor the 15th), I simply gathered the pink slips up, tossed them in the wastebasket, and went about my day's work. The only thought that crossed my mind was one strongly tinged with gratitude: There are places in the world where the powers that be ban the author as well as the author's works when the subject matter or mode of expression displeases said powers. Look at Salman Rushdie, now living under a death sentence, or Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who spent eight years in a prison camp for calling Josef Stalin "the boss" and had to run for the west to avoid another stay after he won the Nobel Prize for "The Gulag Archipelago."

When the news stories about my latest adventure in censorship came out, however, I didn't like the way that "the author could not be reached for comment" stuff looked. To me, that line has always called up images of swindlers too cowardly to face up to what they've done. In this case I haven't done anything but my job, and I know it's all too possible to make a career out of defending one's fiction -- for a while in the mid-1980s, Judy Blume almost did make a career out of it -- but I still didn't like the way it felt.

So, just for the record, here is what I'd say if I still took time out from doing my work to defend it.
First, to the kids: There are people in your home town who have taken certain books off the shelves of your school library. Do not argue with them; do not protest; do not organize or attend rallies to have the books put back on their shelves. Don't waste your time or your energy. Instead, hustle down to your public library, where these frightened people's reach must fall short in a democracy, or to your local bookstore, and get a copy of what has been banned. Read it carefully and discover what it is your elders don't want you to know. In many cases you'll finish the banned book in question wondering what all the fuss was about. In others, however, you will find vital information about the human condition. It doesn't hurt to remember that John Steinbeck, J.D. Salinger, and even Mark Twain have been banned in this country's public schools over the last 20 years.

Second, to the parents in these towns: There are people out there who are deciding what your kids can read, and they don't care what you think because they are positive their ideas of what's proper and what's not are better, clearer than your own. Do you believe they are? Think carefully before you decide to accord the book-banners this right of cancellation, and remember that they don't believe in democracy but rather in a kind of intellectual autocracy. If they are left to their own devices, a great deal of good literature may soon disappear from the shelves of school libraries simply because good books -- books that make us think and feel -- always generate controversy.

If you are not careful and diligent about defending the right of your children to read, there won't be much left, especially at the junior-high level where kids really begin to develop a lively life of the mind, but books about heroic boys who come off the bench to hit home runs in the bottom of the ninth and shy girls with good personalities who finally get that big prom date with the boy of their dreams. Is this what you want for your kids, keeping in mind that controversy and surprise -- sometimes even shock -- are often the whetstone on which young minds are sharpened?

Third, to the other interested citizens of these towns: Please remember that book-banning is censorship, and that censorship in a free society is always a serious matter -- even when it happens in a junior high, it is serious. A proposal to ban a book should always be given the gravest consideration. Book-banners, after all, insist that the entire community should see things their way, and only their way. When a book is banned, a whole set of thoughts is locked behind the assertion that there is only one valid set of values, one valid set of beliefs, one valid perception of the world. It's a scary idea, especially in a society which has been built on the ideas of free choice and free thought.

Do I think that all books and all ideas should be allowed in school libraries? I do not. Schools are, after all, a "managed" marketplace. Books like "Fanny Hill" and Brett Easton Ellis' gruesome "American Psycho" have a right to be read by people who want to read them, but they don't belong in the libraries of tax-supported American middle schools. Do I think that I have an obligation to fly down to Florida and argue that my books, which are a long way from either "Fanny Hill" or "American Psycho," be replaced on the shelves from which they have been taken? No. My job is writing stories, and if I spent all my time defending the ones I've written already, I'd have no time to write new ones.

Do I believe a defense should be mounted? Yes. If there's one American belief I hold above all others, it's that those who would set themselves up in judgment on matters of what is "right" and what is "best" should be given no rest; that they should have to defend their behavior most stringently. No book, record, or film should be banned without a full airing of the issues. As a nation, we've been through too many fights to preserve our rights of free thought to let them go just because some prude with a highlighter doesn't approve of them." (from StephenKing.com)

Some older instances of bans/challenges of King's works. I could not find specific details on the 206 instances in 2024 of his works being banned, I imagine the reasons are along the same lines as these occurrences.

Reason: "sexual language, casual sex, and violence"

Banned and Challenged Books In Texas Public Schools

2002-2003 The Brookeland ISD reported that all Stephen King books were banned in all district schools.

The challenge was brought by a parent, and “…also brought to the attention of the Board of

Trustees.” This challenge was listed as one entry in our main report or our summary tables, since
it was not specific as to title and because of the large number of Stephen King titles in existence. (from ACLU Texas)

Considered "trash" that is especially harmful for "younger girls."
Challenged by Clark High School library, Las Vegas, Nevada, 1975.
Placed on special closed shelf in Union High School library, Vergennes,
Vermont, 1978.

Some may argue and say, "What's the big deal? It's not like his books are classics." To this I say...although his works are not considered "classics" in the normal sense of the word, King has a voice. He has written about problems in our society such as school bullying (Carrie), spousal abuse (Rose Madder), political megalomania (The Dead Zone), racial prejudice (Bag of Bones), alcoholism (The Shining) and a myriad of others. He is outspoken against political injustice and no one will convince me that his opinions have not garnered the attention of certain areas (For example: Florida, Texas, etc.) where personal freedoms are likely to be infringed upon. All this and being one of the best horror writers of all time. To not have access to his books would be a tragedy. 

(This post is a repost - with some added elements - from a Castle Macabre post published on September 27, 2013.)

2025 I Read Horror Year-Round Challenge - Third Quarter Check-in

How did your reading go in the third quarter? 

I'm doing the Chilling level which is 12 books in a year (plus, I'm trying for the Cryptid Bingo). I only have three categories left for the main challenge, and five for Cryptid Bingo. 

My planned reads for the three main categories are Slewfoot (Brom) for Witches, The Root Witch (Mexican American author Debra Castaneda) for BIPOC, and The Beast of Brenton Woods (Jackson R. Thomas) for Frightening Cover. For Cryptid Bingo, right now I have The Jersey Devil (Hunter Shea) and The Wendigo (Algernon Blackwood) on my list for fall reading.

Here's how it's going so far...

• Vampires - The Vampire Armand, Anne Rice
• Witches
• Folk Horror - Pine, Francine Toon
• Written by a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) author
• A Ghost Story - The Hacienda, Isabel Canas
• Written by a female author - Pine, Francine Toon
• Cosmic Horror - Annihilation, Jeff Vandermeer
• Frightening Cover
• Adapted as movie/series - The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
• Katsu, Ketchum, King, or Koontz - Holly, Stephen King
• Black, gray, orange, or red cover - Horseman, Christina Henry
• Book featuring a Cryptid (mark off one BINGO square!) - The Dover Demon, Hunter Shea

I keep track of my yearly challenges over on my sister site, True Book Addict. There's a link to my 2025
challenge page in the menu above.

I hope you're enjoying your horrific reading! Share your progress in the comments (update, links to posts/reviews, etc.)...

Something Wicked Fall - My spooky season TBR

I've been meaning to share this since Something Wicked Fall began, but...September was a crazily speedy month! Anyway, in light of our FrightFall 24-Hour Opposite readathon tonight at 8:00 pm, here is my ridiculously ambitious spooky season TBR. Will I read all of them? Probably not, though I have finished a couple, so there is that. 

The Pale Blue Eye, Louis Bayard 
The Sorrows, Jonathan Janz (currently listening)
Hell House, Richard Matheson (currently reading)
The Reckoning, Jeff Long (currently reading)
Merrick, Anne Rice
Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris

The Keep, F. Paul Wilson
The Wendigo, Algernon Blackwood
The Long Walk, Stephen King (reread)
The Running Man, Stephen King (reread)
Slewfoot, Brom
Children of Demeter, EV Knight
The Beast of Brenton Woods, Jackson R. Thomas
The Doll, Daphne Du Maurier
Hummingbird, T.C. Parker
The Toll, Cherie Priest
The Jersey Devil, Hunter Shea
Jack, Howley & Willcocks
The Root Witch, Debra Castaneda
Frankenstein: Prodigal Son, Dean Koontz

I'll be finishing The Reckoning starting off the FrightFall 24-Hour event and will pick up The Keep next.

You can still join us for the FrightFall Readathon which lasts through the end of October and/or join us for tonight's 24-Hour readathon. Sign up for FrightFall here. Full details on the 24-Hour event here.

I was hoping to share more scary in September, but...see my comment about September above. I'm planning a review of the film, Weapons. Also, tomorrow is the start of Banned Books Week 2025. I'll be doing a series of posts on my sister site, True Book Addict. However, since learning that Stephen King is the most banned author in schools (2024/2025 school year), I will probably include a feature here as well. Stay tuned!

What kind of scary have you been getting up to?

This post is a part of...