Stephen King

[Sentinel]

This is my favourite fiction author. His books are generally not political but rather deal with the innermost feelings of human beings. Instead of only the ad nauseam repeated feeling of love, however, King brings in his books up all the other, often neglected human emotions, and investigates deep and important feelings such as friendship, loyalty, anxiety, the terror of growing up, terror in all of it's shapes etc in a way many authors haven't even thought of.

Yes, many of his books can be cathegorised as belonging in the horror genre. But none of them is like the other, each is a unique masterpiece and as he himself explains in his half-biographic On Writing, many reflected in interesting ways his state of mind when writing them. For example the books Misery and Tommyknockers, which describe his own struggle against alcoholism. One of his best selling books he says he doesn't even remember writing, due to being so drunk at the time. But he is long since sober and keeps delivering book after book without losing the quality.

My first experience of King was sometime in the middle nineties when I read The Body, which has been filmatised under the name of Stand By Me. It touched me deeply, but I didn't yet think about seeking up more books by the author. That happened in 2000 or 2001, when I bought and read Hearts in Atlantis. Now I was addicted. I read Carrie, then I think The Stand. Ever since I've read around 25-30 King books in all, the most exiting perhaps being the Dark Tower books about Roland, the last Gunslinger.

They bind (almost) all the stories of King together, for not only are characters and events from many of his other books referred to in the Dark Tower Series, but also vice versa; even seemingly independent books like Desperation or Insomnia etc contain DT references.

In my honest opinion Stephen King is the greatest fiction author of our time. My sympathies for him has obviously increased further when his later books have started to show a more and more obvious, at least by US standards, left of centre bias. For example in the quite recent book Under the Dome there is a mayor and his evil deputy, who resemble President Bush and Vice Precident Cheney.

Further proof of his leftwing sympathies is that his son is actually called Joe Hill King. So do not disregard this author as too commercial but check him out, I assure you he is pure gold.

[The Vegan Marxist]

Fuck God! Who needs when we have Stephen King! :D Stephen King is God! :)

[kitsune]

I love Stephen King. His voice is so easy and natural, like a brilliant oral storyteller who almost hypnotizes his audience with the perfect tone and pacing, pulling you right into the tale. But his style isn't over substance. He really knows how to tell a story. He understands people and their motivations, the way they think and act. His characterizations are brilliant, and the plot flows from them. It's almost magical how he can flesh out a character or a setting with just a few words.

[Ele'ill]

"The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed..'

The best opening in any book- period. Beautiful blending of real life coincidences, chance meetings that mean something more, sci-fi and western and felt as if it were real. One of the best book series ever written.

[NGNM85]

King is one of the undisputed masters of horror fiction, equaled only by Poe and HP Lovecraft.

[Pirate Utopian]

The only book by him that I read was Cell. It started out alright but when it got to the "phoners" levatating and having this hivemind it became pretty boring.

Also this.
GURIb2ml8OM
WHU-HAH! WHU-HAH! WHU-HAH! WHU-HAH!

[Os Cangaceiros]

I think that he's kind of a hack, despite having read many of his books.

That said, I read The Stand faster than probably any other book.

[Metacomet]

I love King, I've read a good many of his books (including his baseball ones :D) I am currently half way through The Dark Tower 7, and will be dissapointed when it has to end :(

[black magick hustla]

to compare lovecraft and poe to stephen king is to shit on their whole work imo. stephen king is a hack

[black magick hustla]

well i guess he is entertaining read but aaaaaaaa he is not comparable to poe or lovecraft at all

[Sentinel]

The only book by him that I read was Cell. It started out alright but when it got to the "phoners" levatating and having this hivemind it became pretty boring.Arghh, you sound like my dad used to; 'it was a good book in the beginning but then there was too much supernatural stuff..' I can understand that way of thinking, sure, but damn, it's fiction after all!

You have to allow for some twisting of reality imo.. But we're all different.

Cell btw was so awesome, that I plan on re-reading it soon, but it is a bit too soon so I have to wait a little. Plus that I have a shitload of political books I should have read for ages ago on my 'waiting list'..


he is not comparable to poe or lovecraft at all

Why? I haven't read them myself so I'm curious to what the difference is, how were they so much better..?

[Ele'ill]

Why do several of you think he's a hack?

[Pirate Utopian]

Arghh, you sound like my dad used to; 'it was a good book in the beginning but then there was too much supernatural stuff..' I can understand that way of thinking, sure, but damn, it's fiction after all!

You have to allow for some twisting of reality imo.. But we're all different.

Cell btw was so awesome, that I plan on re-reading it soon, but it is a bit

It wasnt really supernatural. Not sure what it was.

[L.A.P.]

Why do several of you think he's a hack?

Because hacks are cool.

[black magick hustla]

"There was the sound of smashing glass. A huge gout of flame stroked its way up into the night. Johnny's head collided with the cab's windshield and knocked it out. Reality began to go down a hole. Pain, faint and far away, in his shoulders and arms as the rest of him followed his head through the jagged windshield. He was flying. Flying into the October night.
Dim flashing thought: Am I dying? Is this going to kill me?
Interior voice answering: Yes, this is probably it.
Flying. October stars flung across the night. Racketing boom of exploding gasoline. An orange glow. Then darkness.
His trip through the void ended with a hard thump and a splash. Cold wetness as he went into Carson's Bog, twenty-five feet from where the Charger and the cab, welded together, pushed a pyre of flame into the night.
Darkness.
Fading.
Until all that was left seemd to be a giant red-and-black wheel revolving in such emptiness as there may between the stars, try your luck, first time fluky, second time lucky, hey-hey-hey. The wheel revolved up and down, red and black, the marker ticking past the pins, and he strained to see if it was going to come up double zero, house number, house spin, everybody loses but the house. He strained to see but the wheel was gone. There was only blackness and that universal emptiness, negatory, good buddy, el zilcho. Cold limbo.
Johnny Smith stayed there a long, long time."


how is this good the prose is as boring as watching white paint dry

[black magick hustla]

fuck that part was supposed to be dramatic i mean why cant he like come up with more interesting thing than 10 different synonims for darkness and emptiness i mean come on. the dude says he types like 5k words a day i mean what the fuck

[Os Cangaceiros]

Why do several of you think he's a hack?

Cuz he is. His style is similar to Koontz and a million other "airport authors".

That's not to say that I haven't enjoyed a number of his works, though, especially Misery and The Stand. The first two Dark Tower books were good, too, before they took the deep plunge into total silliness. I like to pretend that the series stopped after The Drawing Of The Three.

[black magick hustla]

in all honestly im not a hater ofstephen king fans i am just expressing my absolute disgust. ill give him the benefit though that he comes up with good stories (although after the 100th book he cant come up with new character archetypes). fuck man if i was fucking writing about cosmic cowboys wrestling lobster monsters i would try to make the prose as interesting as possible not just stale boring shit that makes him more of a screenwriter than a novelist

[Sentinel]

Maldoror: If that was Lovecraft, it fits into Kings critique of him in On Writing, where he quoted him in length, as a bad example on how to write for aspiring writers. It sounded a bit like that, and he described Lovecraft (in loose terms) as a good fiction teller but a terrible writer -- too many short tendencies or something. But I'm not an expert to the degree I'd comment myself..

King also called Lovecraft a racist I think, not sure about the details right now, but I'm a little bit drunk and shit so. I can look that up later if you want me to (a long bit later as that book is at my work and unaccessable for me at the moment).

[black magick hustla]

thats why ive been waiting for the dark tower movie forerver because that prose doesnt make anything to me and sounds like i am reading an instructors manual but i want to see a cosmic cowboy wrestling lobster monsters and being accompanied by a crowd of fuckups including a heroin addict maybe i am just a fuckin stuckup twat though

[black magick hustla]

Maldoror: If that was Lovecraft, it fits into Kings critique of him in On Writing, where he quoted him in length it sounded a bit like that, and he described Lovecraft (in loose terms) as a good fiction teller but a terrible writer -- too many short tendencies or something. But I'm not an expert to the degree I'd comment myself..

King also called Lovecraft a racist I think, not sure about the details right now, but I'm a little bit drunk and shit so. I can look that up later if you want me to (a long bit later as that book is at my work and unaccessable for me at the moment.

lovecraft had terrible prose but tbh his whole idea of "cosmic horror" beyond the the minds of men and how the universe didnt give a fuck about human beings and therefore we catalogize this forces as evil but in reality they dont care was p. revolutionary i mean it was like COSMIC HORROR EXISTENTIALISM.

so maybe if lovecraft had written in the 21th century he would be a hack. and yes he was a geek gone KKK but i like his concepts and a writer being a racist doesnt mrean he cant write

[Sentinel]

lovecraft had terrible prose but tbh his whole idea of "cosmic horror" beyond the the minds of men and how the universe didnt give a fuck about human beings and therefore we catalogize this forces as evil but in reality they dont care was p. revolutionary i mean it was like COSMIC HORROR EXISTENTIALISM.

I so want to read that stuff.


i want to see a cosmic cowboy wrestling lobster monsters and being accompanied by a crowd of fuckups including a heroin addict maybe i am just a fuckin stuckup twat thoughHaha, man, that story just captured me when I was reading it. So brilliant -- the lobster monstrosities..! A demon called Heroin..!

I really hope they make a movie of it soon. Maybe they haven't so far as it would be too expensive?


so maybe if lovecraft had written in the 21th century he would be a hack. and yes he was a geek gone KKK but i like his concepts and a writer being a racist doesnt mrean he cant writeTrue.

[Os Cangaceiros]

TDOTT was really a good piece of pulpy fiction. Shoot-outs, drug addicts, lobster monsters, etc. I think that you are being a stuck-up twat, maldoror.

[black magick hustla]

but why does he have to write like he is writing an instructors manual????? does he like think people are dumb and they will like not like interesting images. fucking garcia marquez is loved by all the stuckup twats in the world and yet he is a best seller and has really nice prose. its not even a question of talent i mean just a bit of more effort to think about rather than writing either with 15 year old kid synonims of emptiness or with the staleness of a technical writer

[Sentinel]

but why does he have to write like he is writing an instructors manual????? does he like think people are dumb and they will like not like interesting imageNah, I think he just wants to make sure he delivers the exact right image. But I agree he has a tendency of trying to rub it in sometimes, to be too exact. Is that what you mean?

But yeah you really should read the book I'm talking about, On Writing by King. He begins it with the story of his own life, which can be a little interesting as he is the world best selling fiction author. The second part of the book is more about prose, and rules and guidelines for writers. I warmly recommend it for you and anyone else who is interested in this stuff.

[Sentinel]

It wasnt really supernatural. Not sure what it was.Yeah well, there actually was a fully scientific explanation (a team of terrorists who had come up with a signal that erased people's minds, or that was that they suspected at least) for it, but for my dad it would definitely hav fallen into the 'supernatural' cathegory, as did pretty much all technology that wasn't actual reality. My old man was smart, but he was a true sceptic.

[NGNM85]

Maldoror: If that was Lovecraft, it fits into Kings critique of him in On Writing, where he quoted him in length, as a bad example on how to write for aspiring writers. It sounded a bit like that, and he described Lovecraft (in loose terms) as a good fiction teller but a terrible writer -- too many short tendencies or something. But I'm not an expert to the degree I'd comment myself..

Lovecraft did have some notable deficiencies as a writer. His stories tended to be formulaic. The typical Lovecraft story is a first person remiscence of a scientist, or a doctor, or some other learned man who’s almost too terrified to tell us his story, but never quite that terrified, then he pours out his tale climaxing with coming face to face with incomprehensible horror, and then; ‘Oh god! I can hear it crawling up the stairs!”, and that’s it. One of the interesting things about Lovecraft are his unusual adjectives, but he tends to re-use them too much, like ‘eldritch’, or ‘gibbous.’ There are other problems, as well. However, Lovecraft presented a thoroughly interesting and totally unique direction for horror fiction that is almost as intruiging for it’s philosophical implicationms and subtext, than for the stories, themselves. If you haven’t read his work, do yourself a favor. I would also be happy to make some suggestions as to his essential works.


King also called Lovecraft a racist I think, not sure about the details right now, but I'm a little bit drunk and shit so. I can look that up later if you want me to (a long bit later as that book is at my work and unaccessable for me at the moment).

Probably because Lovecraft was a racist. Although, to be fair, his racism wasn’t that unusual for his time period, although, many of his contemporaries and friends did not share this view, so he generally downplayed it in his letters. Lovecraft’s xenophobia also waned towards the end of his life and he became a bit more open-minded. He doesn’t throw it in your face, but if you read his fiction you’ll encounter a line or two that give evidence of his racism, I think there was a line in Call of Cthulhu about; ‘degenerates of horribly mixed race’, etc.

[NGNM85]

to compare lovecraft and poe to stephen king is to shit on their whole work imo. stephen king is a hack

I stand by my assertion. Poe, Lovecraft, and Stephen King are the three unrivalled masters of horror fiction. Although, Clive Barker deserves an honorable mention.

[NGNM85]

The only book by him that I read was Cell. It started out alright but when it got to the "phoners" levatating and having this hivemind it became pretty boring.

Also this.
GURIb2ml8OM
WHU-HAH! WHU-HAH! WHU-HAH! WHU-HAH!

That's the problem right there. Cell was crap. I love Stephen King, but he's been in a downward spiral for the last few years. Many artists go into a slump, especially after a long and illustrious career. Nobody bats 1000. You should have read his earlier work. There are some fantastic short story collections like Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, and Nightmares & Dreamscapes. For full-length novels, I highly recommend Cujo, Carrie, 'Salem's Lot, Pet Sematary, The Shining, Desperation, Misery, Cycle of the Werewolf, and, my personal favorite, It.

[Ele'ill]

I really hope they make a movie of it soon. Maybe they haven't so far as it would be too expensive?


http://www.slashfilm.com/ron-howards-the-dark-tower-tv-series-hour-miniseries-bardem-mortensen-actors-considered/

[DylanCD]

Alright, I am a little late coming in, but I have been into Stephen King for all my life (my mom use to read King and Rice to me as bedtime stories...kinda explains alot).

I have to agree with the general sentiment that Kings works haven't been as good as of late. I just finished "Full Dark, No Stars", and found it bland and kind of pointless. Some of the stories were alright, very psychological, but others were just pointless.

I was raised on the Gunslinger, and (not to spoil it for anyone) but found the books to be on a slow decline about the fourth one in. The ending of the Seventh book.... i don't know if there is a word for it..but disappointing is part of the emotion I felt.

A friend of mine just lent me Cell, and seeing some of the comments here kind of makes me wary. I mean, I am not expecting anything on par with the Stand or anything, but this makes me even less excited.

That being said, Yes, King is very commercial, but Yes, he is also a master of his craft. He is on par with a modern day Lovecraft, as a psychological horror writer.

[Sentinel]

Interesting points about the later books not being as good, I agree that not all of them are but some of them are just brilliant, so on the whole I have to disagree. When it comes to the Dark tower series, for example imo number 5, Wolves of the Calla, was best. If asked for the best King book ever that might be either Hearts in Atlantis or Dreamcatcher, which both are relatively new.

Correction: In my earlier post about Lovecraft I said that King said that he has too short 'tendencies'. I meant sentences.

[Metacomet]

Interesting points about the later books not being as good, I agree that not all of them are but some of them are just brilliant, so on the whole I have to disagree. When it comes to the Dark tower series, for example imo number 5, Wolves of the Calla, was best. If asked for the best King book ever that might be either Hearts in Atlantis or Dreamcatcher, which both are relatively new.

Correction: In my earlier post about about Lovecraft I said that King said that he has too short 'tendencies'. I meant sentences.


I think books 3-4 were the highpoints. Granted the first half of #4 took me a WHILE to get through

7 Is good so far, 6 was meh. 1 is my personal favorite.

[William Howe]

In my opinion, Misery is my favourite book and film of his.

[x359594]

lovecraft had terrible prose...maybe if lovecraft had written in the 21th century he would be a hack. and yes he was a geek gone KKK but i like his concepts and a writer being a racist doesnt mrean he cant write

As mentioned in an earlier thread, Lovecraft was a racist and a reactionary until the early 1930s when he did a complete about face as can be followed in his letters. One of his correspondents was James F. Morton a Socialist Party stalwart who argued him out of his pseudo-scientific defense of racism and conservative politics, so that by the end of his life he called himself a socialist and renounced his former racist views.

Lovecraft apparently didn't think his fiction would long survive his own early death, one reason why he never bothered to revise the racist elements out of his earlier fiction.

Concerning his prose style, its principal weakness is a tendency to pile on adjectives, but his later works leave that behind. While Lovecraft's prose style is certainly sui generis, it's not without its sublimely surreal beauties.

[x359594]

I prefer King's short fiction to his novels. The novels are vastly overwritten, so that one sometimes fills as if he were being tossed around in a cement mixer of word paste.

I think King accurately assessed his own prose style when he described it as being the equivalent of "a Big Mac and a large fries." All well and good if you like the prose equivalent of junk food (and who doesn't indulge once in awhile?) but not something that I for one would like for a steady diet.

[Pavlov's House Party]

As mentioned in an earlier thread, Lovecraft was a racist and a reactionary until the early 1930s when he did a complete about face as can be followed in his letters. One of his correspondents was James F. Morton a Socialist Party stalwart who argued him out of his pseudo-scientific defense of racism and conservative politics, so that by the end of his life he called himself a socialist and renounced his former racist views.

As for the Republicans — how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream-cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world, and revel in (consciously or unconsciously) mendacious assumptions (such as the notion that real liberty is synonymous with the single detail of unrestricted economic license or that a rational planning of resource-distribution would contravene some vague and mystical 'American heritage'…) utterly contrary to fact and without the slightest foundation in human experience? Intellectually, the Republican idea deserves the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead. -H.P. Lovecraft, 1936.

[NGNM85]

As for the Republicans — how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream-cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world, and revel in (consciously or unconsciously) mendacious assumptions (such as the notion that real liberty is synonymous with the single detail of unrestricted economic license or that a rational planning of resource-distribution would contravene some vague and mystical 'American heritage'…) utterly contrary to fact and without the slightest foundation in human experience? Intellectually, the Republican idea deserves the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead. -H.P. Lovecraft, 1936.

The more things change...

[Sixiang]

I used to be a big fan of King. I have read The Green Mile, Everything's Eventual, The Night Shift, Lisey's Story, Cell, The Dark Tower series 1-4, and The Mist. The last book I read by him was the 4th Dark Tower book. I haven't read anything by him in about a year and a half. I think he can be a fantastic horror writer. In my opinion, he is much better as short stories than he is at full length novels. I say this because he is great at coming up with ideas. It's just that he can mess it up with a 600 page novel that takes it to a boring level. The Green Mile was a fantastic serial novel. The 1st and 3rd Dark Tower books were great. 2 was boring and 4 sucked (hence why I stopped there). His short stories are were he really shines, though.

He gets flack for pumping out a lot of novels, and I am sure that many of them are just for sales and aren't that good. I know I thought Lisey's Story and Cell, two more recent books by him, were kind of weak. However, I think that amid that, there are some genuinely good reads in there. Although, I would say that Poe is much better at horror than King is and I would much rather read Poe than King. I could get more into the whole thing about writing a book a year, but that's another discussion for another day.

[h0m0revolutionary]

I've only recently got into Stephen King, am just into the Fourth Book, i've been on an emotional rollercoaster already absolutly love the man, pure genious. I've been told extinsivly of the links with other books, it seems astonishing that man can map out such an extensive pattern on inter-correlated stories in his head!

AND HE NAMED HIS KIS AFTER JOE HILL!! (IWW) ;D

[gorillafuck]

I love Stephen King's writing. I've read a lot of his books and am currently reading Salems Lot. His storytelling is fucking awesome, and it's definitely not boring.

But haters gonna hate, I suppose.

[NGNM85]

I love Stephen King's writing. I've read a lot of his books and am currently reading Salems Lot. His storytelling is fucking awesome, and it's definitely not boring.

Agreed. If you haven't read It, yet, I highly recommend it.


But haters gonna hate, I suppose.

...An unfortunate fact of life.

[Ele'ill]

http://www.geekychef.com/2009/01/tooter-fish-popkin.html

[The Vegan Marxist]

Agreed. If you haven't read It, yet, I highly recommend it.

IT was, by far, the best book I ever read of Stephen King. :)

[NGNM85]

IT was, by far, the best book I ever read of Stephen King. :)

It's my favorite, too. :D

[The Vegan Marxist]

It's my favorite, too. :D

Have you read The Dark Tower series?

[NGNM85]

Have you read The Dark Tower series?

No, I have, apparently, been criminally negligent in this case. It's been on my list of books to read for some time. I also have to read The Stand. So far, I've read The Regulators, Cujo, Thinner, The Shining, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Night Shift, Christine, It, Pet Sematary, Everythings' Eventual, Skeleton Crew, Cycle of the Werewolf, Four Past Midnight, and It.

[The Vegan Marxist]

No, I have, apparently, been criminally negligent in this case. It's been on my list of books to read for some time. I also have to read The Stand. So far, I've read The Regulators, Cujo, Thinner, The Shining, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Night Shift, Christine, It, Pet Sematary, Everythings' Eventual, Skeleton Crew, Cycle of the Werewolf, Four Past Midnight, and It.

Read them all except for Cycle of the Werewolf. The Dark Tower series is excellent! I'd recommend it first before the rest. :D