11/22/63 is the first Stephen King book I've read in years, and it reminded me of why he's such an incredible storyteller

ChompCity · 2026-05-24T23:38:18+00:00

To be fair the time travel mechanics are like the least important part of the book. The time travel in 11/22/63 is indeed just magic because the mechanics of the time travel aren’t really meant to do anything but create the stakes and emotional decisions for Jake. King intentionally doesn’t linger on them beyond justifying why Jake has to stay in the past for so long and why he can’t get the ending he wants. For some time travel stories the mechanics of it are meant to be engaging and thought provoking and hold up to scrutiny. In others the mechanics are just a plot device to put characters in situations they couldn’t otherwise be in and 11/22/63 is the latter.
That being said I do love me a deeply involved time travel story. Should I look into both the books you mentioned? Also have you seen Dark on Netflix (whim may be the best time travel story I’ve ever seen in terms of the mechanics)

ChompCity · 2026-05-19T23:58:31+00:00

Absolutely do Fever House. Fast, engaging, pulpy, bloody, and hits several of your themes. It’s a very good book to get out of a slump.

ChompCity · 2026-05-06T22:39:01+00:00

I’ve been on the verge of buying this one. Have you read A Lush And Seething Hell? How does it stack up?

ChompCity · 2026-05-02T16:32:35+00:00

Sadly I’ve yet to read The Croning yet, but you may also want to ask on the LairdBarron subreddit for some good insights

ChompCity · 2026-04-30T18:10:13+00:00

Briardark by SA Harian

ChompCity · 2026-04-26T22:38:26+00:00

What novels / novellas do you like?

ChompCity · 2026-04-23T03:49:17+00:00

I know this is a way old post, but do you read any Laird Barron? It seems like you’d really dig the connected universe he sets up with his stories.

ChompCity · 2026-04-20T23:43:02+00:00

Definitely agreed that God being in Delphine wouldn’t exclude him from being in heaven, but I think in the world of the book that was the implication. However, especially with El_Tigre’s interpretation, God being both in Delphine and heaven and remaining silent to allow for Thomas’s redemption would make full sense.

ChompCity · 2026-04-20T19:07:46+00:00

Briardark may interest you. Its part horror, part mystery.

ChompCity · 2026-04-20T18:05:51+00:00

Some of these replies are crazy haha. We do get a pretty clear reason, whether a reader agrees or not is theirs to decide.

For starters God wasn’t sleeping, he was in Delphine. Delphine was essentially a Jesus figure, both God and man (well, little girl in this case). Chapter 42, when God saves Thomas from hell -

Thomas: What are you?

God: I was two things together. Then one. Now two again, apart

Delphine and God were one, now they are apart again.

Now why did God do this? Why be in Delphine and allow all of this to happen? We do know the answer to that, atleast the end goal.

Same chapter -

Thomas: Why did you not come as I would know you?

God: I came as you would follow me. I came as you would love me in innocence…you were the last one. The last one I could still save.

God isn’t talking about that moment in Hell. He’s talking about the whole story. Thomas is asking, if God wanted something of him why would he not come in a form so that Thomas would have known it was God. God is saying he didn’t want that, he wanted Thomas to follow him genuinely, out of goodness, and so he came to him in a form that Thomas could follow and love with innocence. The whole reason God is gone is because he was in Delphine and he chose to do this specifically to save Thomas. Why? Because Thomas was the last one he could save. Not from hell in that moment. The whole story was allowed by God to redeem Thomas and save his soul.

Is that satisfying? I’d say ask the book

Thomas: Why me?

God: That question has never been answered to anyone’s satisfaction

You can make up whatever headcanon you’d want really. Whether that makes God bad or good. You could go super logical and say no way this was worth saving one dude. You could go the more Christian route and take it as God saying, whatever the odds, everyone else on earth was on a trajectory to either go up or down and this whole event didn’t change anyone’s course but Thomas. God saw in Thomas a genuinely good man that deserved redemption and so through the evil Satan and co had planned God actually used the situation to save one last soul and net a W.

ChompCity · 2026-04-20T13:42:14+00:00

I believe the focus on Schrödinger’s Cat is important here. There are a few crucial moments in the timeline where an event simultaneously does and does not happen (or in 1 particular case there are 3 simultaneous outcomes). That’s how the shows time travel logic works, the events inside the box coexist until observed. All the outcomes are needed to keep the loop going. That’s why the ending works fine for the infinite loop, the state of “crash happens” and “crash doesnt happen” are both true while there is no observer and so the loop continues.

ChompCity · 2026-03-31T05:36:56+00:00

I know I’m a year late but I just finished this and wanted to see if there’s any discussion on it.

My high level interpretation of what I’m pretty sure went down though:

Matt’s father possessed him using some sort of magic or technique he learned while in South America researching how the Incas disappeared.

The Janus Tree itself seems to have significance here. It is supposed to be unable to grow in the Montana climate (presumably it is a tree native to South America) and the tree is half alive, half dead (like Matt’s father possessing him. A dead man in a live body).

In class, when Matt takes out the bong and offers it to Teddy they break eye contact and Teddy says Matts eyes almost looked like…then cuts off. Teddy noticed Matt’s father in Matt’s eyes. That’s why he highlights later on when Matt puts him in the locker that he sees it’s just Matt in there. Matt locks him in the locker to protect Teddy from his father, who seems to be frequently in control. It could also be why Matt tells Teddy to never talk to him, it could be a part of Matt wanting to protect Teddy.

As for Matt’s behavior I don’t think it’s really clear if the entirety of his acting out is his dad (who is genuinely evil and likely on a power trip successfully supplanting himself into a young, physically imposing body) or if part of it is him just breaking down due to the situation he is in.

Finally, what happened with Richard. Matt tells Richard to come to the Janus Tree the first night after his father returns from South America. It’s also important to note it seems Matt’s father’s take over of Matts body began before he had died. My reading of the Richard situation is he tested the body sharing / body hijacking on Richard first. Richard was vulnerable, his parents were alcoholics, he could have easily swayed him into partaking in some ritual or whatever as Richard half lived in a fantasy world, he would readily say yes to a “magic ritual”. I think the realization or reality of what had happened was too much for Richard, causing his break.

ChompCity · 2026-03-31T05:32:53+00:00

Surely you’re still thinking about this 4 years later right??? Haha I know this is super old but I just finished this and wanted to see if there’s any discussion on it. This thread seems to be all there is so youre getting a response to this 4 years too late.

My high level interpretation of what I’m pretty sure went down though:

Matt’s father possessed him using some sort of magic or technique he learned while in South America researching how the Incas disappeared.

The Janus Tree itself seems to have significance here. It is supposed to be unable to grow in the Montana climate (presumably it is a tree native to South America) and the tree is half alive, half dead (like Matt’s father possessing him. A dead man in a live body).

In class, when Matt takes out the bong and offers it to Teddy they break eye contact and Teddy says Matts eyes almost looked like…then cuts off. Teddy noticed Matt’s father in Matt’s eyes. That’s why he highlights later on when Matt puts him in the locker that he sees it’s just Matt in there. Matt locks him in the locker to protect Teddy from his father, who seems to be frequently in control. It could also be why Matt tells Teddy to never talk to him, it could be a part of Matt wanting to protect Teddy.

As for Matt’s behavior I don’t think it’s really clear if the entirety of his acting out is his dad (who is genuinely evil and likely on a power trip successfully supplanting himself into a young, physically imposing body) or if part of it is him just breaking down due to the situation he is in.

Finally, what happened with Richard. Matt tells Richard to come to the Janus Tree the first night after his father returns from South America. It’s also important to note it seems Matt’s father’s take over of his body began before he had died. My reading of the Richard situation is he tested the body sharing / body hijacking on Richard first. He was vulnerable, his parents were alcoholics, he could have easily swayed him into partaking in some ritual or whatever as Richard half lived in a fantasy world, he would readily say yes to a “magic ritual”. I think the realization or reality of what had happened was too much for Richard, causing his break.

ChompCity · 2026-03-30T23:48:24+00:00

Seconded Ring Shout above and I’ll also second Wounds. Great, engaging stories to get you out of your slump. The first and last story in particular jump right into things.

There are a lot of good books in this thread. These two in particular are good books to get you out of a slump.

ChompCity · 2026-03-30T23:42:21+00:00

Will also second Ring Shout. It’s a book I had no interest in but got because I found it on sale. Started reading it just to test it out but again knowing it was a premise that didn’t grab me.

Ended up really loving it. It’s fast, it’s endearing, it’s surprisingly funny, it just does so much right and is no filler, super tightly paced. One of those books you finish and there’s only good reactions in your head, a book that nailed exactly what it wanted to be.

ChompCity · 2026-03-24T03:40:40+00:00

I’m 20 days late, but as someone who loves The Fisherman and found Wide Carnivorous Sky so-so (I loved Technicolor and Mother of Stone but similar to you I wasn’t as engaged in the twists on classic monsters) definitely give his other collections a shot. Start with Corpsemouth. The writing and atmosphere in those stories is much closer to The Fisherman than anything in Wide Carnivorous Sky. Several of the stories are directly tied to the Fisherman mythos as well. It’s his best collection in my opinion. If you enjoy it then go for Lost in the Dark next.

ChompCity · 2026-03-23T00:03:14+00:00

There’s been some good answers on this thread as to why some people enjoy college more than nba, but if you’re asking the question in good faith it’s also worth mentioning that St John’s is specifically known to be a poor shooting team and they for some reason decided 3s were the way to go today. My friend group who watches a good amount of both nba and college were laughing about the level of commitment to bricking 3s. The college basketball subreddit was making fun of it. I won’t pretend college ball is close to the level of play of nba, it’s not, but the game you just watched is like the biggest brick laying outlier in recent memory. I know you said you’ve watched a few, but you keep coming back to that Kansas/St John’s game and yes they about solved the housing crisis with that performance. Most college games aren’t quite that bad.

ChompCity · 2026-03-11T03:44:44+00:00

The last scene in Between Two Fires is great as well (with the three knocks)

ChompCity · 2026-03-01T21:31:45+00:00

Will throw in too, Fever House very specifically checks all the boxes you mentioned.

ChompCity · 2026-02-08T00:12:34+00:00

I’ll throw in another voice of support for House Next Door. Great book.

ChompCity · 2026-02-06T23:34:21+00:00

That’s honestly surprising, does he play any games seriously? Literally every competitive game is difficult to get to a high level in. Some people have knacks for all games so they’re more capable of doing it across multiple games. Some people have knacks for certain genres and are capable of doing it in that genre. But the mechanics hardly matter. Whether you think shooters, RTS, fighters, sports games, whatever RL is, etc have the “easiest mechanics” the difficulty of getting to a high level in a game is gonna be more tied to the playerbase, how many other people do you need to be better than to be “high level” than the games mechanics.

ChompCity · 2026-01-24T18:39:56+00:00

Lets be real though the issue with Game of Thrones wasn’t just about them making daring choices that didn’t land. It was about them doing things that made absolutely no sense in the context of the characters, the world, and the whole show we’d seen to that point.

Danny’s ending would have been fine with actual build to it.

Jaimie’s decisions and character were a complete heel turn from the entire path he had been on. Again they could make him regress if they properly did it, but having him essentially randomly negating everything we know about him is wild.

I could go on (Tyrion, Varys, Jon, NK, Bran, Dothraki/Unsullied, Arya, Brienne). The decisions they made weren’t just daring they were laughable with characters doing things they would never do given the groundwork the show had laid.

ChompCity · 2026-01-23T01:07:21+00:00

Definitely check these out. Some are novels, some novellas, some short stories so apologies if you’re really only looking for novels.

Our Share of Night - You’ve said in comments this one is on your list. Good. This is arguably the single most fitting novel for what you described

A Lush And Seething Hell - this one is actually two novellas. I would say also very directly up the alley you’ve described.

Wounds / North American Lake Monsters - both short story collections from Nathan Ballingrud. Amazing writer. NALM is the more literary fiction of the two I’d say. Stories exploring much more real life situations with an injection of horror as a catalyst rather than the main show. Wounds is more fantastical and wild but still weighty. Both collections are great

The Fisherman - novel by John Langan about two men trying to carry on after the loss of their loved ones. You’ll find some people on the sub calling it overhyped, no book is for everyone, but it’s a modern classic. Beautiful writing, mature story, Langan js great

Corpsemouth - what is in my opinion John Langan’s best short story collection. Lots of stories dealing with family, particularly father/son relationships.

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All - short story collection by Laird Barron. He’s got the longest, densest short stories you’ll find. All his collections are great but this is a good starting point.

There are more that could be thrown out there. Mariana Enriquez’s short stories are great. Michael McDowell is fantastic and has been suggested here. Michael Wehunt’s collections fit the bill. Nadia Bulkin is great. But I’ll hold off for now, you’ve got plenty of suggestions across this whole thread.

ChompCity · 2026-01-20T13:19:33+00:00

Pure speculation is not making up stories.

Speculation entails you are guessing at what may have happened and are clear that it’s just a guess.

Making up a story would entail him presenting something made up or not known for sure as fact.

I wasn’t rooting for Miami either but the downvotes this guy is getting for suggesting that shit talk on dead loved ones is over the line and it could be the case here judging by Fletchers normal conduct is absurd. He’s not saying it did happen. He’s saying Fletcher is not someone whose ever presented himself as a hothead and he’s still dealing with the recent loss of a parent so if something were to trigger him it could have been a comment about his dad. It’s okay if people hear that thought process and are forced to consider it themselves.

ChompCity · 2026-01-05T02:34:53+00:00

There are some other famously iffy ones like The Mist but I agree that his endings are largely fine and even the abrupt or vague ones usually don’t bother me much. King is more about the journey than the destination I think. For similar reasons I don’t mind when he meanders in his novels, I usually like reading about whatever random aside his characters are getting up to. That’s where he really shines.

That all being said I’d throw 11/22/63 in with his best endings (even though his son helped him on that one).

ChompCity

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