Jason Burke (born 1970) is a British journalist and the author of several non-fiction books. A correspondent covering South Asia for The Observer and The Guardian, he is based in New Delhi as of 2010. In his years of journalism, Burke has addressed a wide range of topics including politics, social affairs and culture in Europe and the Middle East. He has written extensively on Islamic extremism and, among numerous other conflicts, covered the wars of 2001 in Afghanistan and 2003 in Iraq. According to a 2009 article in Asharq Al-Awsat, Burke has been the "first journalist to conduct an interview with President Pervez Musharraf after he seized power in Pakistan in October 1999" and "the first western journalist to enter the Afghan city of Khost during the US war in Afghanistan".
In 2003, Burke authored Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror, which was later updated and republished as Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam. Noam Chomsky described it as the "best book there is" on the Al-Qaeda. In 2006, he authored On the Road to Kandahar: Travels through Conflict in the Islamic World.
When Your Number's Up
Plot
Young novelist returning home to Salem's Lot after many years is disturbed by the strange behaviour of its people. He begins to believe that the source of the trouble may be the eerie old Marsten House that overlooks the town.
Keywords: 1970s, adultery, anemia, antique-shop, author, based-on-novel, based-on-the-works-of-stephen-king, burned-flesh, cellar, cemetery
The ultimate in terror!
Straker: You'll enjoy Mr. Barlow. And he'll enjoy you.
Straker: Ciao, Constable.::Constable Parkins Gillespie: Chow?::Straker: Ciao. It's a familiar Italian expression meaning goodbye.::Constable Parkins Gillespie: I didn't know you were Italian.::Straker: I'm not. The word is.
Danny Glick: [vampirized Danny is at Mark's window] Open the window. Open the window, Mark. Open the window, Mark. Please! Let me in! It's OK, Mark, I'm your friend. *He* commands it! [sees Mark start to open window, but then resist] No, Mark! [Mark turns and picks up a cross from his table model of a churchyard. He holds it up to Danny at the window] Aghhh!::Mark Petrie: Go away. [Danny tries to resist] Go away! [Danny retreats and disappears into mist]
Jason Berk: [at a restaurant, asking Ben about his new novel] Marsten House still the centre of the story?::Ben Mears: Yep.::Jason Berk: How about the Glick boys? You connect them with the house?::Ben Mears: Everything in Salem's Lot is connected to that house. You can see it from every part of the town. It's like a beacon throwing off an energy force. [Mike Ryerson stumbles against the table]::Jason Berk: Mike!::Mike Ryerson: [weakly] Hello, Mister Burke.::Jason Berk: Mike... are you on something?::Mike Ryerson: No.::Jason Berk: Drugs?::Mike Ryerson: Sick. I feel sick.::Jason Berk: Since when?::Mike Ryerson: First... I found my dog dead. Then there was the funeral yesterday. I fell asleep on Harmony Hill. Didn't wake up until morning.::Ben Mears: This was after Danny Glick's funeral?::Mike Ryerson: Ayuh.::Mike Ryerson: I went back to finish... Royal wasn't there. Started to feel... sick. [looks around for a waitress revealing bite marks on his neck as he turns his head] Can I have a drink?::Ben Mears: [to waitress] Miss? Whiskey?::Jason Berk: What *do* you remember, Mike?::Mike Ryerson: Singing.::Jason Berk: Singing?::Mike Ryerson: Sweetest singing I ever heard. And a feeling like drowning. And eyes... eyes.::Jason Berk: Whose eyes?::Mike Ryerson: Bright... scary.::Ben Mears: Whose?::Mike Ryerson: Don't remember.
Mike Ryerson: [Mike is describing his nightmarish dreams after falling asleep at Harmony Hill Cemetery] I dreamed...::Ben Mears: You slept there all night?::Mike Ryerson: Yeah... All night.::Jason Berk: What about last night?::Mike Ryerson: I remember... a dream. [gestures with his hand] Somebody... out there. And I... let him in.::Ben Mears: [engrossed] Who?::Mike Ryerson: [weakly] I don't know.::Jason Berk: Listen to me, Mike. Mike? [Mike focuses and listens] Mike, I want you to stay at my house tonight. Will you do that for me? We'll arrange to see Doctor Norton tomorrow.::Mike Ryerson: [weakly] All right. I don't care.
Jason Berk: [brings some pajamas in for Mike] I hope these will be all right. [notices Mike's neck] Mike, turn your head... this way [Mike complies] Where did you get these marks?::Mike Ryerson: Hmmm. I don't know.::Jason Berk: [goes and shuts window, locking it] Now, call me in the night if you want anything. *Anything*. Even if you have a bad dream. Will you be sure to do that?::Mike Ryerson: [whispers] Yes.::Jason Berk: Now anything... I mean it! [concerned] I'll be right down the hall.::Mike Ryerson: [absently] I will.
Eva Miller: [knocking on Ben's door in the middle of the night] Mister Mears? Telephone!::Ben Mears: [sleepily] Oh, uh, ah, all right... Just a minute. [opens door] What is it? Long distance?::Eva Miller: No. It's Jason Burke.::Ben Mears: Oh... what time is it?::Eva Miller: It's a little after four, and Mister Burke sounds very upset.::Ben Mears: [still groggy] Oh, uh, hold on. [comes out in his robe and Eve leads him to the phone. He picks up the receiver] Yeah, Jason? What's the matter? [listens] Well, give me about ten minutes. [listens] Well, hell, no, I'm a... I was a Baptist... Jason? [hangs up phone and turns to Eva] Do you have a... a rosary? Or a crucifix?::Eva Miller: In my bedroom. Mister Burke ask for it?::Ben Mears: Yes, please.::Eva Miller: Well, he's not Catholic. I don't even think he goes to church.::Ben Mears: [tries to hurry her although he doesn't understand the request himself] Please?
Eva Miller: [reading from Ben Mear's typewritten page] The house was a monument to evil sitting there all these years holding the essence of evil in its smoldering bones.
Mark Petrie: [reading from his speech] 1951. A fire started in the old mill. It spread rapidly on both sides of Griffin Road and burned towards the Marsten House on Pabiscuitti Hill.
Constable Parkins Gillespie: Not bothered by yowens?::Straker: Yowens?::Constable Parkins Gillespie: Kids. Local word. You know how kids like to devil new folks.