1985_09 The Daily Collegian September 1985

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22
OPINION
Ttte Daily Collegian
'Skeleton Crew' is horrific reading
SKELETON CREW
Stephen King
Putnam and Sons
118.95
Mutated garden pests annoy innocent
shoppers at the local supermarket! A
milkman delivers a quart of skim, a pound
of butter and death! A shipwrecked
surgeon, moonlighting as a heroin ped¬
dler, starts to think his extremities look
good enough to eat!
Maybe Stephen King's premises sound
silly, (the foremost reason for their failure
on screen) but the initial reaction fades by
the second paragraph of each story in Ske¬
leton Crew. If the tale scares you then you
can forget how far fetched the plot may
both innovation and redundancy. The set
begins with a lengthly novella, "The
Mist." 19 short stories and even two quick
tales of verse. While aU the tales use
horror as their underlining element, some
also dabble in science fiction and the com¬
puter age. One of the better stories, "The
Jaunt," demonstrates how tragic our
scientific advances can be in the far future,
although mankinds.other major problems
have been eliminated. "Work Processor of
the Gods" is a nifty tale of a nice guy
Tim i
:t of K
s novels, he
gently leads you to a chambe
then pushes you in and locks
this level. Skeleton Cr
REVIEW
age
In most of the stories. King lands you in
a hurry and leans back, chortling as you
squirm on his hook. Now and then, he
relinquishes the throne of macabre master
and dons the crown of the king of black
comedy. While reading "Survivor Type,"
concerning a surgeon and his
need for self-cannibalism, you
ight   be  surprised   to  find  yourself
laughing out loud while your stomach is
churning. .-■
While stories of the like are enoujh
reason to read the book, there is "a big
problem with many of the remaining tales.
Stories like "The Raft.""Gramma," "The
Reaper's Image" and "The Monkey" can
generally be summed up in one sentence:
A monster too horrible to imagine
appears, terrorizes a group of people, and
the lone survivor, unable to win, becomes a
candidate for the laughing academy. The
reason for such repetition might stem
from the fact that many of the stories were
written early in King's career, before he
reached his full potential.
Still, in the case of all the stories. King is
very successful in helping the reader create
his own horrific images and J
mind-plays no movie screen could
duplicate.
THINNER
Stephen King as Richard Bachman
Putnam and Sons
Signet (paperback)
$4.50
Si<<*\
take credit for writing the book. At least,
not at first.
A few months earlier. King fans were
greeted atibookstores by displays that he
was writing under the pen name of Richard
Bachnum. A look at the book itself showed
no evidence that it was King work. A
different man's photograph was on the
inside back flap, who had his own
believeable, yet vague, life story under¬
neath. Readers were assured by clerks that
it was only an elaborate pen guise and that
the author was King.
If any doubt remained it vanished last
week when the paperback version of Thin¬
ner proudly proclaimed that King was
writing as Bachman.
Thinner' is a fun, fast and furious
example of King's earliest work. The plot is
simple, the social commentary more
subtle. Through a fantastic situation like a
gypsy curse, a driven man becomes even
more obsessive about his appearance. He
soon discovers_that being obese isnt all
that bad when you begin loting volumes
of weight in a matter of days. King's
commentary concerning the emphatis
society places on trivial matters is evident.
Aside from a lackluster and predictable
ending. 77ri'nnerisakicktoread. Like the
inside cover reads, "you may never diet
OCTOBER 21 -25,1985
iWE NEED STUDENTS TO HELP PLAN
AND BECOME INVOLVED IN THE
MANY PLANNED EVENTS!
Interested Students should
contact the Associated Students
office at 294-2657.
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The Daily Collegian welcomes expressions of all views from readers. Letters should be
trept as oriel es possible and are subject to condensation. They mutt be typed and
include the writer's name, signeture. address and telephone number. Pseudonyms and
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The Daily Collegian
NEWS
—^
School gels
computers cheap
The price has been right for Dr. Mohamed Yousef in bit
quest to increase the use of computers in the CSUF School of
Engineering.
The school's latest and greatest acquisition to date has been
that of a new minicomputer, purchased at half its usual price.
The VAX 11/ 785 has been installed in Room 224 of the East
Engineering building and will be able to handle the school's
software programs' within a couple of weeks, according to
Yousef, a civil engineering professor in charge of the computer
acquisition.
Digital Equipment Corp., manufacturer of the $325,000
computer, sold it to the School of Engineering for 1162,000,
under writing the other half of the cost.
The new computer will enhance the school's curriculum
immensely, said Yousef. Up to now the school had been strug¬
gling to try to teach computer-aided design and drafting on the
few microcomputers accumulated over the last seven years.
Engineering students will still be taught drafting and other
engineering applications on a drafting board, "but we feel our
graduates should really have dual experience," Yousef said.
Since Yousef came to CSU F in 1978. he has been working to
get the School of Engineering to buy topnotch computer
equipment, but the money allocated from the state each year
sn computers, p»o« •
'Problem' is
finding need
for $75,000
The funding of $75,000 for 50 graduate
fellowships for women, minorities and the
disabled at CSUF is "a step in the right
direction,"said Dr. David Ross, assistant
dean of the Division of Graduate Studies
and Research at CSUF.
According to Ross, the fellowships will
be awarded on the basis of scholarship,
financial need and group representation.
The California State University Chan¬
cellor's Office allocated the funds for the
fellowships based on a collaborated prop¬
osal of various department offices on
campus. Accordingto Ross, nineteen cam¬
puses applied but only five were funded
"It was a good proposal," he said. "we can
pat ourselves on the back.
"The problem now is finding those who
fulfill the need," he said. Eligible partici¬
pants must prove a financial need of at
least SI.000, be a member of a specific
minority group or be a woman in a mas¬
ter's program in which men predominate.
Participants must also satisfy specific
academic qualifications.
This is the first time the program has
been available at CSUF. "I hope we're
doing a good job." Ross said.
All eligible individuals are encouraged
to apply early as recipients of fellowships
will be notified in early September.
For more information, those interested
may contact the CSUF Division of Grad¬
uate Studies and Research in Room 132 of
the Thomas Administration Building, tel¬
ephone 294-2448.
The Doily Collefian
CLASSIFIED
Beet
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Governor, Republican,
California 1986. Truth,
justice, honesty and anti-
abortiork.
Wfcy Pay Bent?
Approx. |500 moves you in.
Clean 2 bd., 1.5 ba. 3/4 mile
from CSUF. CaDMeadco
222-3000
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