Horror Forum - Alles rund um Horror und Phantastik!

Hallo,

so, die Schnappoiden sind bei mir eingetroffen. Ich werde mich dann mal daran machen, das Buch zu lesen. Es macht jedenfalls einen sehr guten Eindruck.

To Brian Keene: Hello Mister Keene, thanx for your interest in this reader circle.
I received the book today. The worm at the cover looks like a graboid from "Tremors". I love this little monster film.
Well, I guess, your book will be more horror than comedy. I hope so ...

Regards

Ich werfe auch mal ein Hallo (und keinen Wurm) in die Runde und möchte, bevor ich mich an Mr. Keene wende, erstmal kurz zwei Fragen aufwerfen: Am Anfang zitiert der Autor in der Originalausgabe reichlich aus dem/ohne Zusammenhang aus dem 1. Buch Mose 6,4, wie lautet hier der genaue Wortlaut der deutschen Übersetzung in der Otherworld-Ausgabe, wie hat der Übersetzer dieses Problem des aus dem Zusammenhang reißens gelöst?

Bis zu welchem Kapitel ist Seite 116, damit ich das mit meiner Leasure Book-Ausgabe abgleichen kann?

Danke im voraus für die Antworten, ich werde das Buch Sonntag oder Montag durch haben und warte nun erstmal, bis die Ersten ein paar Seiten hinter sich gebracht haben.


Dear Mr. Keene,

a warm welcome to you here. Although I read horror fiction (besides other genre-stuff like thrillers, SF and Fantasy) since more than two decades and watch every horror-film I can get my hands on, this is my first Keene novel, though it is very likely that others will follow suit very soon, especially the zombie stuff. I hope the Otherworld guys will tolerate me here, because I read the original Leasure Book editions...

Two things first: Do you want us to introduce ourselves in more detail so that you know more with whom you're talking here?

A plea: Is there somewhere a useable bibliography of your books with clear distinctions between novels, short-story collections and essays? The bibliography on your homepage doesn't get very far there and just simply lists titles, editions and the year.

Hi Brian,
first off: a warm welcome to our board. So what can I tell, loved your novels I read til now (the three zombie novels, Ghoul and especially Terminal - wasn't there to follow a sequel at Bantam?-). Nothing so far in the short story section, but I guess sooner or later that will follow too. Now Conquerer Worms I didn't like too much, I don#t know why; the story was fine, the pace (as in all your books, how the hell do you do that?) was fast, the character likable ... but somehow it didn't kick ass as the other books. I guess you know the feeling with authors you read: you loved their books but at one point one novel you cannot connect with, although everybody else around you feels different about it ...

So, again welcome too our board, hope we will see you here frequently!

Dear Mr. Keene,


Welcome to our board. It is a great pleasure to talk to you. First I have to say that my english is not the best, because I'm still a student. Well, I try to make it well.
Now to your book, Conquerer Worms, in german Die Wurmgötter. It was my first book of yours. I have to say that I read it in german and maybe there is a difference. This part of our discussion is about the pages 1 to 116, isn't it?
If it is let me say a few words:
I real enjoyed this part. The charakter is nice and your style too. It's quite interesting to followTeddy's situation and his behavior And the worms are really strange and weird (but they get better in part three of the book.).
But when Teddy meats Carl he is a bit too lucky. He thinks no one has survived, but then (surprise, suprise) it is his best friend who did. it's a bit unrealistic in my opinion it disturbs the story. Just a bit, but it disturbs, you know what I mean?

@ Oliver

Das angesprochene Bibelzitat wurde wie folgt übersetzt:

"Damals und auch noch später lebte auf der Erde das Geschlecht der Riesen ..."

Ich habe hierfür die offizielle Übersetzung der Gute Nachricht Bibel herangezogen, weil die sehr allgemein ist, kurz und bündig und sich meines Erachtens am besten für einen Bezug zu den Ereignissen im ersten Teil des Buches eignet.

Der Abschnitt bis Seite 116 ist Teil I des Buches, also bis einschließlich Kapitel Sechs.

Ich möchte mich gleich im Voraus dafür entschuldigen, dass ich nächste Woche, falls überhaupt, nur sehr sporadisch posten kann, weil ich in Wien sein werde, wo wir an der Buchwoche teilnehmen. Zugriff aufs Internet werde ich selten bis nie haben. Ich werde aber gleich nach meiner Rückkehr nächstes Wochenede wieder voll dabei sein.

Hi Brian,

Michael here. Just to let you know what I wrote above - I was answering to Oliver's question as to how I translated your Bible quote right at the begin. And I excused myself for next week - won't be able to drop in here much as I will rarely, if at all, have access to the Internet. I'll be in Vienna to present ourselves at a book show. I'll fully join in the discussion right after my return next weekend. Talk to you soon, man.

Hi Brian,

welcome to the reading circle of your latest german book, the conqueror worms.

This book really fits to the weather. In west germany it is raining for days and it seems as if it will not stop raining soon. But luckily there are no worms in sight. So i can start with the conqueror worms this afternoon in safety.

So, damit das mal in Gang kommt, steige ich jetzt mal ein. Auch wenn das mehr Mühe kostet, werde ich alle Einträge komplett zweisprachig gestalten, damit ich nicht Anlass für auseinander laufende Diskussionen biete.

Zitat

Original von otherworld
Das angesprochene Bibelzitat wurde wie folgt übersetzt:

"Damals und auch noch später lebte auf der Erde das Geschlecht der Riesen ..."

Ich habe hierfür die offizielle Übersetzung der Gute Nachricht Bibel herangezogen, weil die sehr allgemein ist, kurz und bündig und sich meines Erachtens am besten für einen Bezug zu den Ereignissen im ersten Teil des Buches eignet.

Danke für den Hinweis! Worauf ich hinaus wollte: Ich schmunzelte, weil Brian hier -bewusst oder unbewusst- eine (englische) Bibelübersetzung genommen hat, die man leicht falsch verstehen kann und die besser zu seinem Roman passt. Siehst Du, Du hast auch mit "lebte auf der Erde" übersetzt, während Brian "in der Erde" zitierte. Alle gängigen englischen Bibelübersetzungen (ja, ich habe das mit meinem Bücherregal überprüft) übersetzen hier "on the earth", nicht "in the earth", nur die von Brian verwendete King James Version schreibt hier "in", meint damit aber auch "on", was sich aber so aus dem Zusammenhang gerissen, nicht erschließt. Mich würde halt interessieren, ob das von Brian zufällig gewählt oder wirklich Absicht war, weil "in the earth" besser zu Würmern und Viechern passt, die aus der Erde kommen als "on the earth". Dies kommt jetzt durch die deutsche Übersetzung nicht mehr zum Tragen, es gibt aber auch keine gängige deutsche Übersetzung (auch das habe ich überprüft), die hier "in der Erde" statt "auf der Erde" übersetzt. Ja, das ist nur ein Wort und nur ein kleines Detail, aber der Teufe steckt im..

Wir wollen aber jetzt hier keinen Bibel-Kreis aufmachen (wie die verstorbene Frau des Helden im Roman). Um die Diskussion über den Roman mal zu starten, erstmal ein Lob:
Normalerweise hasse ich es wie die Pest, wenn mir auf den ersten Seiten der Held erstmal seine ganze Lebensgeschichte runtererzählt, hier sogar Jahrzehnte zurück, und deshalb war ich sehr angenehm überrascht, dass mich diese Passagen ziemlich gefesselt haben. Die sind gut erzählt, und der Held und Erzähler kommt einem gleich nahe. Ich finde das ganz wichtig, denn so fand ich schnell Zugang zu dem Roman, das vielleicht wichtigste überhaupt bei einer Lektüre. Hier: Gute Arbeit, Brian.

To get things going after the first greetings, I’ll start the discussion now. Even though the effort ist considerably higher, I will do all my postings completely in both languages, I don’t want to be responsible for diverging discussion-threads.

(Michael quoted for me the German translation of the bible-verse Gen 6,4 at the beginning of the novel)
Thanks! Where I was heading to: I grinned when I read the Genesis 6,4 quotation at the beginning of the (Englisch version of the) novel because Brian – deliberately or by accident? – chose a Bible translation which can be easily misunderstood in this passage when taken out of context, but which fits much better to the contents (“giants in the earth”, not “on the earth”) of the novel featuring worms and other, eh, unpleasent beings coming out of the earth. In the German translation of the “Wurmgötter”, you have now „on the earth“, not „in the earth“ at the beginning of the novel. All of the bigger Englisch Bible translations (yes, I checked that with my book-shelf) translate here “on the earth”, not “in the earth” (exception: ‚The Message’ states “in the land”), only in the King James Version (1611 and 1769 editions) you’ll find „in the earth“ here, which means the same, but this is lost when taken out of context. I would be interested to know whether Brian did this on purpose, so that it fits the novel better, or if that was just a coincidence (maybe the KJV was the only one available to him). This small detail is lost in the German translation, which is okay, because there is no common German Bible translation which states “in” insteand of “on” here (yes, I chechked that, too). Yes, this is just one word and a small detail, but, you know, the devl is in the..

But, we don’t want to start a bible-reading class here (like the late wife of the hero in the book). To get the discussion going, I’ll start with a praise:
Normally, I despise novels which start with the whole back-story of the protagonist on the first pages, even, like here, going back decades(!) and that’s why I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that these early passages were quite gripping. They are well told, so that I instantly identified with and liked the hero and narrator. For me, this is something important, because it granted me access to the story immediately. Well done here, Brian.

Hi Everyone,

I'm honored and happy to be here. Thanks for the welcome and my apologies for the delay. (I had some trouble logging in).

Darkwriter: I love the cover. And they do look a little it like the graboids, don't they? Of course, Tremors was indeed an influence on the book, as was a movie called Squirm. And there are some comedic elements, especially between Teddy and Carl---ut I always try to make it more horrific than anything else.

Oliver: Sure, it would e great if you guys could tell me a little about yourselves!

As for a bibliography, here's an up-to-date list with clear distinctions between novels, short-story collections, and non-fiction:

NOVELS:

The Rising (published in Germany as Das Reich Der Siqqusim)
City of the Dead (published in Germany as Das Reich Der Siqqusim)
The Conqueror Worms (published in Germany as the book you all are reading right now)
Take The Long Way Home (a German edition is forthcoming)
Terminal
Ghoul
Dead Sea
Kill Whitey
Shades (co-written with Geoff Cooper)
Clickers II: The Next Wave (co-written with JF Gonzalez)
Dark Hollow (also published as The Rutting Season)

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS:

Fear of Gravity (published in Germany as Angst vor dem Sturz)
No Rest For the Wicked
The Rising: Selected Scenes From the End of the World

NON-FICTION:

Sympathy For the Devil
Running With the Devil
The New Fear

OwenMeany: Thanks for the welcome! Sorry that it didn't work for you. Thanks for reading it, though. Maybe you'll enjoy the next book more?

Aaeron: Thanks, and I'm glad you enjoyed the book. As for Teddy and Carl---remember, Teddy doesn't know for sure if everyone is dead. All he knows for sure is that they were evacuated. But Carl (and Earl) both avoided the evacuation. In the locale this book is set in (West Virginia) homes are spread far apart, and it would be plausible that someone could be alive for weeks and you wouldn't know it.

Michael: Have fun in Vienna!

Kaigrimm: Does reading the book while it's raining make it more fun?

Oliver: The Bible quote was totally coincidence. My translation (Scofield Reference Bible) lists it as "in the Earth." I had no idea it could be "on the Earth" as well.

I'm glad you enjoyed Teddy's back-story. In truth, I think he came across convincingly because I based him on my real-life grandfather, who lives similarly to Teddy and talks like him as well.

@ Brian:
hey I loved Ghoul and Dead Sea, so no worry ... btw thanks to your cover recommendation I finished reading THe Long Last Call by Skipp a few nights ago! Awesome read!!

Thanks, Owen! Isn't it great to see Skip writing again? His books were a very big influence on me.

@Brian: Reading this book while it does not stop raining is much more fun than reading it in the sunshine. The weather here is so horrible. So you get the right feeling for a world that is drowning in rain only by looking out of the window. I have just read the first 80 sides. Teddy and Carl are very interesting persons. No teenagers but old men this time. I think at the beginning of the novel you were inspired by the classical monster movies. There are traces of the worms but it takes a little time before the first one appears. Am i right?

Classic monster movies were a big inspiration for this book. I wanted it to feel like one of those great old B-movies. Other obvious inspirations were Tremors (of course) and HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, and as I said earlier, my grandfather.

With each book, I always try to go with original characters, rather than the same old stereotypes. I liked having two elderly men as the heroes in this one. Not something you see a lot of in horror fiction.

Hello everybody, hello Brian!

I'm through Part 1 now and I enjoyed it very much. I like stories with older heroes. For example: Insomnia by King or Bubba Hotep by Lansdale. To fight against evil ist definitely much more busy if you have to fight also against a failing body.

regards
Marc

Yes, the beginning really feels like one of the old b-movies. In a real positive way. I think of Tremors, Octalus and many others. It always takes a time until the creature appears. So the suspense is high, you wait for what will come upon the characters of the novel.

Old people as main characters in horror literature. Hm, there are not many. Teddy is really fascinating. He nearly lost everything, so it needs Carl to make him go on and fight for his life. A few month ago i read another monster-novel and the characters were so stereotype and so boring (no, not "Crota", i really enjoyed this book), so it is a real pleasure to read about this old men, Teddy and Carl.

And then we have this crazy guy Earl. I think he will appear again, right?

But now I will go on reading....

Zitat

Original von Brian Keene
Classic monster movies were a big inspiration for this book. I wanted it to feel like one of those great old B-movies. Other obvious inspirations were Tremors (of course) and HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, and as I said earlier, my grandfather.

With each book, I always try to go with original characters, rather than the same old stereotypes. I liked having two elderly men as the heroes in this one. Not something you see a lot of in horror fiction.

That's true and was noted and appreciated while reading it. I'm always thankful when I'm not getting the usual young, sexy couple or the ex-marine anymore. Talking about older people in horror-fiction, when I read the book, I always had to think of Ralph in King's "Insomnia", also a very rewarding character.

Some of your affection for your grandfather probably made it to the pages, Brian. That's why he's so likeable.

Two questions, please, Brian:

1. What is this about those two titles in the original editions? Why are some called "Earthworm Gods" and some "The Conqueror Worms"? As the text related several times to these Gods, I guess the former title was the intended one and it fits more to Lovecraft, even though I have to admit, I like "The Conqueror Worms", too. It's a nice hommage to the famous poem by Poe - and it does fit to the last two lines of this poem.

2. Because the setting is so vast in scope, did you ever think about making this a really big apocalyptic epic, Brian? Something like King's "The Stand" or McCammons "Swan Song"? You reduced the scope pretty quickly (everything under water, nowhere to go) and the book has only 326 pages (in my edition), but did you ever think about writing a huge brickstone? The setting definitely would also work with a much longer novel, I guess.

In closing, talking about Lovecraft, my favorite lines in the novel were, by the way (yes, technically speaking they belong in the second part and not here), the ones where Kevin said that he tried to read some Lovecraft after watching "Re-Animator" and found out to his disappointment that his stories weren't nearly 'as cool as the movie'. I really had to grin when I read that.
There's not much Lovecraft in Stuart Gordon's "Re-Animator", but it is, at least for me, one of THE filmic masterpieces of the genre, an incredible ride. I really love this movie.

EDIT: Oh, forgot that, thanks very much for the new bibliography, Brian!!

Yesterday i finished part one. With Earl coming back (i really know he would reappear...) came the action into the novel. And with the really scary worms, the mad Earl and the survivors of Baltimore it is a great action showdown of this first part.
The scene when Teddy and Carl find the dead pilot is very explicit. The reader can truly understand why both of them do not feel so good at this view...
Having read "Fear of Gravity" i think i might know Sarah and Kevin. So i can imagine what story Kevin has to tell.