Stephen King
- Thread starter Dozy
- Start date
(not sure I'd like them now though, it was a long time ago)
And he's British!
I was looking for another British Horror/Fantasy writer, cheers.DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
yeah he's very similar and also quite good in that american horror style.
One of his books I can't recall the name of inspired a crappy but funTV movie starring Jeff 'crap films' Goldblum and Alicia 'crap films' Silverston as his daughter.
Proper ninties trash.
DaRealSpoon
Do not try and bend the spoon...
Can't say I'm a massive S.King fan to be honest, 'Eaters of the dead' was quite good mind 
I've never read any of his stuff.
Grandma Death
Reconfiguring & Reconstructing
I'm a huge fan of King and have been since I was a teenager-I also collect rare copies of his works.
King's strength is ability to spin a good yarn-his writing encapsulates small town America and all of its inhabitants. He can put his hand to anything and I wouldn't describe him as a 'horror author'-he's covered pretty most genres.
My favourite King books are The Stand, IT and Hearts in Atlantis.
King's strength is ability to spin a good yarn-his writing encapsulates small town America and all of its inhabitants. He can put his hand to anything and I wouldn't describe him as a 'horror author'-he's covered pretty most genres.
My favourite King books are The Stand, IT and Hearts in Atlantis.
miniGMgoit
OverWeightUnderAchiever
Liked him when I was 15
I'm on a voyage of discovery with literature. I didn't read much at school and am making up for lost time.
Was channel hopping last night and found the Paranormal Channel, which had various celebs including Toyah talking about Stephen King and Clive Barker, which was quite a coincidence.
I do love M.R. James and Edgar Allan Poe, but Toyah basically preferred the modern horror writers and found the classic horrors a bit flat and boring.
But as for Stephen King, I am really enjoying his work. It's almost like an episode of Desperate Housewives (C4) if you remove the horror aspect of it. I find his characters are quite credible and I like the way in which he swaps from scene to scene (cliffhanging). Terry Pratchett does that too, and it makes you read on.
I bet there's a literary name for this method.
Was channel hopping last night and found the Paranormal Channel, which had various celebs including Toyah talking about Stephen King and Clive Barker, which was quite a coincidence.
I do love M.R. James and Edgar Allan Poe, but Toyah basically preferred the modern horror writers and found the classic horrors a bit flat and boring.
But as for Stephen King, I am really enjoying his work. It's almost like an episode of Desperate Housewives (C4) if you remove the horror aspect of it. I find his characters are quite credible and I like the way in which he swaps from scene to scene (cliffhanging). Terry Pratchett does that too, and it makes you read on.
I bet there's a literary name for this method.
QueenOfGoths
Fuck you Dave!
Can't say I'm a massive S.King fan to be honest, 'Eaters of the dead' was quite good mind
Yes it was - but why are you confusing Stephen King and Michael Crichton? Have I missed something 
Me76
Not very good lurker
I have loved him since I was 12 and own every book and re-read at least 8 a year. I find his ability to create a 'real' character as opposed to a stereotypical 'hero' amazing and also the way he can write realistic women and children. I couldn't tell you a favourite as it changes depending on what mood I am in but 'The Long Walk' mentioned before is fabulous, as are all of the Bachman books. I prefer him when he isn't being typically 'horror'.
I read a lot of Dean Koontz and James Herbert too, although I find neither of them as good. Dean Koontz does write a good page turner though, his books tend to move very fast and get straight into the action without a lot of back story. James Herbert I find very dated (although maybe that is because all my copies are original 70's/80's with brown pages and the really small typeface) but still good.
I read a lot of Dean Koontz and James Herbert too, although I find neither of them as good. Dean Koontz does write a good page turner though, his books tend to move very fast and get straight into the action without a lot of back story. James Herbert I find very dated (although maybe that is because all my copies are original 70's/80's with brown pages and the really small typeface) but still good.
Shippou-Sensei
4:1:2.5
perhaps i have been un lucky but i really didn't get on the steven king stuff i have read
i have read Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Desperation and the first 5 books in the dark tower series
of all of them i like the dark tower stuff the best as it could see what it was trying to do... i just didn't really enjoy it it felt somewhat force and not all of it jelled that well
mind you i enjoyed a lot of the movies based on king novels
i have read Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Desperation and the first 5 books in the dark tower series
of all of them i like the dark tower stuff the best as it could see what it was trying to do... i just didn't really enjoy it it felt somewhat force and not all of it jelled that well
mind you i enjoyed a lot of the movies based on king novels
Me76
Not very good lurker
Desperation is the worst book he has ever written. It is the only one I have only read twice.
The Dark Towers have problems, mostly caused by the fact he wrote them over 20 odd years.
Nightmares and Dreamscapes is probably one of my least fave short story collections too.
You really did manage to find his worst!!
PacificOcean
Unhinged User
I read Rose Madder which is one of Stephen Kings and thoroughly enjoyed it, one of my favourite books.
I notice from reading Dan Brown's Angels & Demons (awful book, but I was on holiday) that he has nicked Stephen Kings writing style of short chapters, each ending on a cliff hanger that won't be resolved until the chapter after next.
I notice from reading Dan Brown's Angels & Demons (awful book, but I was on holiday) that he has nicked Stephen Kings writing style of short chapters, each ending on a cliff hanger that won't be resolved until the chapter after next.
Terry Pratchett does the same. Is there a literary name for it?
eta: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliffhanger
kyser_soze
Hawking's Angry Eyebrow
His early horror - The Stand, It, Christine etc is some of the only written fiction to actually scare me (but then I was reading it at 12-16 so these things must be given allowances). Read a couple of his later efforts and they didn't have the same zing.
Structaural
in Chatsubo
Love his early stuff, especially when I was younger, and his Richard Bachman stuff (esp The Long Walk - dark shit). Didn't realise he was such a drugged up writer until recently (well there's allusions to it in the Bachman books). Particularly like 'Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Stand, IT, Misery, The Talisman (with P.Straub - read it when I was 17 or so). Wasn't much of a fan of the Dark Tower lot or much of his newer stuff.
fogbat
The Talibum
Pratchett rarely uses chapters at all.
Shippou-Sensei
4:1:2.5
i was going to say that but i they were refering to the way he switches stoylines
I really liked that story.
King can be a bit wordy at times - like seven pages to describe an analogy of someone's thoughts - but I don't think there's a book of his that I've read that I haven't enjoyed.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
Have you tried Danse Macarbe?
It's a very good non-fiction musing on how to write. Not a perfect manual but very good nonetheless.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
You think I want to be an author?
nah, but it's a good book man. I read history books but have no desire to be a historian in a proffesional capacity.
It's all good info for the grey matter
pk
drink flounce rinse repeat
Liked him when I was 15
Yeah, I must say I was into him more at 15 and 16 than now, with the exception of the Dark Tower series.
At 16 I even went to Portland, Maine, and did a tour of the towns mentioned in some of his earlier books.
I was a bit enthusiastic. But I was in Montreal at the time, so it wasn't too far out of the way...
