"… It raced down the gossamer curtain of Its webbing,
a nightmare Spider from beyond time and space,
a Spider from beyond the fevered imaginings of
whatever inmates may live in the deepest depths of hell.
No, Bill thought coldly, not a Spider either, not really,
but this shape isn’t one It picked out of our minds;
it’s just the closest our minds can come to
(the deadlights)
whatever It really is."
— Stephen King, It (Sept. 15, 1986)
Related horror by Fritz Leiber—
"The Mind Spider" and "Damnation Morning."
Related fiction by Mark Helprin—
As a perceptive reviewer has noted, Helprin's title is
almost a verse from the song "Danny Boy."
See, too, the Danny Boy of The Shining ,
who returns tomorrow in a sequel, Doctor Sleep .