Picked up the Clingerman at my local used-book haunt last week, thanks to your recommendation, John. I enjoy both St. Clair and Henderson, and I had seen the book at the shop for a while, but wasn't sure to bother with it. What a charming little volume. Some of it reminds me of John Collier. This may not be edgy or "serious work," as we consider it today, but I find that I have more and more time for charm, kindness, and sentiment of this nature as the days pass. It can prevent one from becoming a bore, I think. I found the Halloween story especially nice—what a fun cartoon strip by Walt Kelly it would make.

Funny you'd say that, John. I scored a copy of 'Stinger' and read it prior to 'Under the Dome' which I finished a couple of days ago. I'd read the McCammon a number of years ago and think his last two historical thrillers are the best he's done. 'Stinger' stood up fairly well and, yep, there's a forcefield surrounding the two Texan towns with various aliens milling about wreaking havoc.

As for Mr. King's book: I can't say I'm as delighted with it as a number of critics and readers are. [If you haven't read it, you may want to stop reading this post].

The central idea is just fine, very Lord of the Flies-ish in theme, the pacing is fast and very suspenseful. On the downside, the characters aren't rendered as believably as you might like, the bad guy is strictly a cardboard, Bible-thumping bush-league despot and the crazed serial-killer conveniently running amuck at the outset would've made Dickens cringe. There's a scene about two-thirds the way in that I thought was foreshadowing what - at least I thought - would've been a satisfying denoument. Mr. King chooses another route replete with mayhem, gore and huge body count. I wanted to really like this one. No comparison to SK's best work.

It's got a beautiful cover.

John, the audiobook is also out. I don't know who the narrator is, but it's a two-volume set in audio. It's two bricks.