Stephen King

[George K]

I re-read "The Shining" a few weeks ago. Putting aside all the spooky stuff, I was amazed at what a well-crafted, albeit simple, story it is. The man's use of language, imagery are just wonderful.

I started "Doctor Sleep" yesterday (check out the movie!), and it's the same. Perhaps better, actually, in terms of writing - after all, King's perhaps 25 years older and more into his craft when he wrote that.

So, it looks like I'm becoming more of a King fanboi. I never cared for the idea of the weird stuff ("It," "Christine"), though I loved "Salem's Lot" - a good old-fashioned vampire story.

I've read "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption," "Apt Pupil," which are not horror-stories.

What else would you guys recommend that shows off his talent, but doesn't get too weird.

I tried "The Stand" about 30 years ago and gave up halfway through, by the way.

[Horace]

My favorite King character is the one he created on Twitter. It’s a chilling depiction of an ideologically constipated leftist who abandons all reason and integrity in order to battle on the front lines of the culture war. A cautionary tale as only King could tell it.

[George K]

@Horace said in Stephen King:

My favorite King character is the one he created on Twitter.

I said no weirdo stuff. Try to stay on topic.

[Doctor Phibes]

I absolutely loved King's writing back in the day. I devoured pretty much everything he wrote in the 80's and 90's. I haven't read much of his stuff recently, I think maybe I overdosed, but I might give him another shot.

[George K]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Stephen King:

I absolutely loved King's writing back in the day

I was really down on him after my attempt at "The Stand." However, "Salem's Lot" changed my mind. It is a masterpiece of suspense, and very classic horror.

I did the audio version of it. When I listened to King's introduction, I got hooked. Paraphrasing here...

"When I was a kid, I loved the Dracula vampire stories. The thought of a vampire, floating into a woman's boudoir, and almost seducing her with a bite on the neck had an erotic sense to it.

But then, when I got older, I read comic about a different type of vampire. This one wasn't sexy. This one had fanged teeth that were IN THE FRONT. And when this one bit you, you didn't swoon in an almost ecstatic state. You screamed. And in the comic books the scream was filled with 'R' 'G' 'A' and 'H.'

ARRRGGGHHHHAAGGH!

That's the vampire I wanted to write about."

I love that book.

[Doctor Phibes]

@George-K said in Stephen King:

I was really down on him after my attempt at "The Stand." However, "Salem's Lot" changed my mind. It is a masterpiece of suspense, and very classic horror.

The Stand was my first King book, and I was blown away by it. I'd read books by the British writer James Herbert in the 70's (The Rats, The Fog), which were less sophisticated than King's stuff, but which lead me to him. And yes, Salem's Lot was wonderful.

I also remember reading IT well into the small hours when it came out, and being absolutely bloody terrified, as well as mesmerized by the way in which it captured childhood as well as horror.

[taiwan_girl]

I mentioned this in the "What are you Reading Thread"

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
The desert was the apotheosis of all deserts, huge, standing to the sky for what looked like eternity in all directions. It was white and blinding and waterless and without feature save for the faint, cloudy haze of the mountains which sketched themselves on the horizon and the devil-grass which brought sweet dreams, nightmares, death. An occasional tombstone sign pointed the way, for once the drifted track that cut its way through the thick crust of alkali had been a highway. Coaches and buckas had followed it. The world had moved on since then. The world had emptied.

Well............................ I finally did it. 8 books, 4300 pages, I finally finished "The Dark Tower" series by Steven King.

The Dark Tower series tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, who is traveling southeast across Mid-World’s post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the powerful but elusive magical edifice known as The Dark Tower. Located in the fey region of End-World, amid a sea of singing red roses, the Dark Tower is the nexus point of the time-space continuum. It is the heart of all worlds, but it is also under threat. Someone, or something, is using the evil technology of the Great Old Ones to destroy it.
Inspired in equal parts by Robert Browning’s poem, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Western classics, The Dark Tower series is an epic of Arthurian proportions.

Quite interesting, and from what I have heard, not a typical Steven King story. Overall, I quite enjoyed it.

Somewhat uneven, but I think that is expected in such a big series that was written over a 30 year period (~1975 - 2005)

The Gunslinger
The Drawing of the Three
The Waste Lands
Wizard and Glass
The Wind Through the Keyhole
Wolves of the Calla
Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower

[LuFins Dad]

@George-K Read The Green Mile.

I also loved the whole Dark Tower saga.

[Horace]

I only read great literature which edifies one's very soul.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Horace said in Stephen King:

I only read great literature which edifies one's very soul.

Do the pages always fall open in the same highly edifying place?

[bachophile]

Try 11/22/63

Yes it has king sci fi elements (time travel) but it’s a fascinating launch into the events around the assassination of JFK.

fun blast from the past as he recreates that time period incredibly well.

[Mik]

He does. Great book, but like so many of his, it falls prey to his weakness at great endings for great stories.

[George K]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Stephen King:

Do the pages always fall open in the same highly edifying place?

The ones that are not stuck together, I assume.

[taiwan_girl]

@bachophile said in Stephen King:

Try 11/22/63

Yes it has king sci fi elements (time travel) but it’s a fascinating launch into the events around the assassination of JFK.

fun blast from the past as he recreates that time period incredibly well.

Agree. I thought this was a really good book too.

[jon-nyc]

Me too. Someone made a series out of it, I saw a few episodes on a plane once.

[George K]

I watched the mini-series, and it didn't move me.

Perhaps I'll give the book a try after I finish "Doctor Sleep," which I'm really enjoying.

[LuFins Dad]

Green Mile. I think it will hit the right chord with you.

[Aqua Letifer]

You all know he writes mysteries, too, right?

The Colorado Kid's pretty fun. Not at all weird, just a whodunnit.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Mik said in Stephen King:

He does. Great book, but like so many of his, it falls prey to his weakness at great endings for great stories.

He gets that kind of criticism a lot, but I don't think it's true.

Or maybe more precisely, saying he's bad at endings may be interpreted to imply he plans them out, which isn't true.

If you write organically, and let your subconscious in the driver's seat for your plotting, you open yourself up to write the stuff of legacy. But you also open yourself up to write a stinker.

On the other hand, if you plot, it's a lot safer, but it'll never really be as good, either.

King's not a plotter, and he doesn't even believe in the practice. So, that's kind of the risk you take with his stories. When you're halfway through and you wonder how it'll wrap up, you can content yourself with the fact that at that point in writing the story, King had no idea, either.

I like the risk, personally, but absolutely, some endings have just sucked. Under the Dome really ticked me off.

[Mik]

I don’t mind it so much because the journey is so much fun. But like in 11.22.63 and The Dome he introduces unnamed aliens to explain things . He doesn’t say it’s aliens but…it’s aliens.