(xpost)
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:57 (twenty years ago) link
― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:58 (twenty years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 23 February 2004 14:59 (twenty years ago) link
No, we have Dean Koontz for that.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 23 February 2004 15:52 (twenty years ago) link
― Sarah (starry), Monday, 23 February 2004 15:58 (twenty years ago) link
― Stuart (Stuart), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:16 (twenty years ago) link
― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 23 February 2004 16:31 (twenty years ago) link
i mean the thing with stephen king is he's really good at writing really readable stuff, and he has some neat ideas, but man oh man does he repeat himself. which is kind of interesting in a way, i guess. it's like he applies whatever good idea he has to the basic mold of "writer in maine" and lets it rip.
(obviously that applies more to the novels)
― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 17:02 (twenty years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 17:09 (twenty years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 February 2004 17:10 (twenty years ago) link
― kephm, Monday, 23 February 2004 17:20 (twenty years ago) link
Me?
I like him. I haven't read the new Dark Tower book yet, though. I've neglected literary pursuits quite badly of late. The revised version of the first volume is a big improvement, BTW.
(There goes my resolution not to post. Ego can be terrible.)
― ChrissieH (chrissie1068), Monday, 23 February 2004 21:31 (twenty years ago) link
Except Rose Madder and Gerald's Game.
― luna (luna.c), Monday, 23 February 2004 21:33 (twenty years ago) link
― Kingfish Cowboy (Kingfish), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 20:33 (twenty years ago) link
― pete s, Tuesday, 16 March 2004 20:37 (twenty years ago) link
― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 20:39 (twenty years ago) link
― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 20:39 (twenty years ago) link
― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 20:42 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 21:02 (twenty years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 23:54 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:05 (twenty years ago) link
While on a v. short enforced vacation a couple of years ago, I tore through a couple of his early novels. Firestarter was much better than I was expecting, Carrie was OK and then Dreamcatcher was awful.
― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:09 (twenty years ago) link
his short stories are, of course, the bomb. his novels usually have the equivalent of two or three short stories crammed in there by way of exposition or introduction. those parts are great too.
gotta agree on the endings, though. tacky! and he does have a bit of a tendency to repeat himself, both in and between works.
― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:13 (twenty years ago) link
(I just started A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius last night and the first 50 pages are making me ill, so I need something new.)
― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:16 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:19 (twenty years ago) link
― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:21 (twenty years ago) link
― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:22 (twenty years ago) link
― vahid (vahid), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:23 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 01:40 (twenty years ago) link
― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 02:24 (twenty years ago) link
― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 18:16 (twenty years ago) link
"I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson is a good post apocalyptic story and possibly an influence on The Stand.
The Stephen King novel that I think holds up well is "The Dead Zone", I have read that one a couple of times. "Misery" is also pretty good, but the writer's novel part may get a bit long.
― earlnash, Wednesday, 17 March 2004 19:08 (twenty years ago) link
addictive stuff.
― Kingfish Cowboy (Kingfish), Wednesday, 17 March 2004 20:33 (twenty years ago) link
Man needs a fucking editor. But he can make you care a whole hell of a lot (why did that phrase just sound like a King phrase?) about his characters and their interactions (with each other and the "landscape/place").
Many classics: Carrie, The Shining, The Stand, Pet Sematary, It, The Dark Half, Misery, Eyes of the Dragon, Dark Tower series.
Indifferent: Needful Things, Christine, Salem's Lot, Thinner (great twist, tho), the Green Mile, Dolores Claiborne.
Duds: Rose Madder, Insomnia, Dreamcatcher, Tommyknockers, The Regulators, etc.
I think ultimately he'll be remembered/revered/lauded more for his novella collections -- The Bachman Books, Different Seasons, and Four Past Midnight -- than for anything else.
― David A. (Davant), Thursday, 18 March 2004 00:20 (twenty years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 18 March 2004 00:41 (twenty years ago) link
― Menelaus Darcy (Menelaus Darcy), Thursday, 18 March 2004 00:57 (twenty years ago) link
― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Thursday, 18 March 2004 01:39 (twenty years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 18 March 2004 03:26 (twenty years ago) link
― Bunged Out (Jake Proudlock), Thursday, 18 March 2004 03:51 (twenty years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 18 March 2004 03:52 (twenty years ago) link
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/_images/db/9/17/king1.91743.full.jpg
"Hello kiddies!"
― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Thursday, 18 March 2004 03:55 (twenty years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 18 March 2004 03:57 (twenty years ago) link
don't really know what else to say except that i'm totally with David A in that he's a strong enough writer to make phrases like "he makes you care a whole hell of a lot" sound good, and if you can't see the charm in that we've probably got irreconcilable subjective differences.
― vahid (vahid), Thursday, 18 March 2004 04:00 (twenty years ago) link
http://www.lamerkindustries.com/
― Kingfish Balzac (Kingfish), Monday, 5 April 2004 03:08 (twenty years ago) link
One of his short stories, a sci-fi piece about how teleportation travel has finally been invented and popularized. For it to work, you have to be sedated, because you aren't supposed to have your eyes open during teleportation, though the specifics for why aren't explained. A family is going on a trip. They all come out on the other end, but uh oh, where's the son? All of a sudden he pops out. He somehow faked the sedation and went through with his eyes open. He has been turned into a grotesque pile of flesh, a la the inside-out dog from The Fly. This disturbed me greatly for some reason and I still think about it from time to time.
Stephen King on Celebrity Jeopardy. All the other celebrities are playing for cancer research or orphanages or something, King is playing for his local library. This strikes me as incredibly cool. He trounces the other celebrities handily.
― NA (Nick A.), Friday, 4 June 2004 19:20 (twenty years ago) link
actually, he went insane.
this is in the _Skeleton Crew_ collection.
― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Friday, 4 June 2004 19:37 (twenty years ago) link
― NA (Nick A.), Friday, 4 June 2004 19:42 (twenty years ago) link
― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Friday, 4 June 2004 21:02 (twenty years ago) link
― vahid (vahid), Friday, 4 June 2004 21:33 (twenty years ago) link
― vahid (vahid), Friday, 4 June 2004 21:34 (twenty years ago) link
wins otm
theres really not much recommending any of the first three dark tower books based on whether you liked the other two tbh
if you want something to read, fancy a shaggy gunslinger story and are ready for three genres and era of stephen king then forge on imo youll find something in there for you i think
― close encounters of the third knid (darraghmac), Saturday, 18 May 2024 14:31 (one month ago) link
That Perlstein essay linked above is really good.
― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Saturday, 18 May 2024 14:44 (one month ago) link
There is some good action scenes in both Drawing of the Three and the whole Lud part of the Wastelands.
― The Artist formerly known as Earlnash, Saturday, 18 May 2024 16:54 (one month ago) link
Just finished Holly, can't say I'd recommend it too highly. And apparently there's more of her on the way!
― Duane Barry, Sunday, 16 June 2024 22:14 (five days ago) link
Kirkus Reviews assessed the novel as catering mostly to loyal fans of King, but also criticized the novel's pacing, King's language and his "creaky" cultural references.
C'mon now, asking King to give up boomer cultural references is like asking him to give up air.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Sunday, 16 June 2024 22:36 (five days ago) link
yeah that seems kinda rude
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 16 June 2024 22:43 (five days ago) link
The cultural references didn't bother me, and some of the Holly character stuff is handled pretty well, if not to justify King's ongoing fascination with her. But the never-ending Covid/lockdown/MAGA stuff was so tedious, and comes across quite clearly as King venting his spleen over the covidiots and anti-vaxxers he comes across on social media (and maybe IRL too). I mean, did people really bring up the specific vaccine they got as a conversation starter like that?
The villains were probably the most interesting thing in the story but I felt their potential was squandered. And I have NO idea what he was going for with those poetry/book deal subplots...
― Duane Barry, Monday, 17 June 2024 11:19 (four days ago) link
People really did bring up the particular vaccines they got like that.
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 17 June 2024 11:21 (four days ago) link
Fair enough, it just wasn't my experience! Holly's reactions did sometimes feel realistic, given her hypochondria, it just wasn't fun when it was happening every single paragraph
― Duane Barry, Monday, 17 June 2024 11:26 (four days ago) link