Are you a fan of Stephen King? If so, what do you like about his work? If not, what don't you like about his work?

I really enjoyed his earlier books, Christine, Cujo. But then I thought he started to get too weird, started adding too much gratuitous sex and violence. I just didn’t enjoy them anymore. I haven’t read any of his for a while. I now prefer Dean Koontz, although he too has his good and bad ones.

What is your favorite King, what should I read to reintroduce myself to his writing?

I like some of his horror novels but I like The Dark Tower series the most. His book Cell was really good too.

@rooeytoo —Well, “Desperation” IS weird…but it’s very good. If you’re not a fan of sex and violence, this is a recent book you would enjoy…as long as you don’t mind it being a little weird. Same for Lizzy’s Story.
The latter does have some graphic violence, but it’s not the primary aspect. It’s a very good book. If you haven’t read “It”, pretty much done in the middle of his career, so far, I’d suggest this.
Last but not least, try out Blaze. It’s barely a horror story…it’s like, a modern time Of Mice and Men. It’s a great book.—

I think he’s a great story teller. I am quite entertained by his books, especially The Shining.

The Stand is one of my favorite books. The complexity of the characters and how they function in a post-apocalyptic world is astounding. It’s not like some of his other works which have a more significant horror aspect, but it’s a great read.

@jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities Agreed. Probably one of his best masterpieces. I mean that book has everything, and it all seems to work.

IT is my favorite book.
We have all of his books, and besides Harry Potter they are the only ones I can stand to read.
Imagine the bedtime stories his kids got to hear.

Love his work. He is my favourite author. I can’t put my finger on why I like his books so much, I just do. I think I’m attracted to his ‘dark’ mind.

No, I am not a fan of Stephen King or of the horror or fantasy genres.

My tastes tend to run more towards Neal Stephenson or Isaac Asimov.

@jerv What, not even any Neil Gaiman love? XD

@Symbeline Mostly no, though there were a couple of Sandman stories I liked, and I loved Good Omens, the one that he did with Terry Pratchett.

I did really enjoy his work but the movie “The Mist” totally turned me off.

I liked everything but Cell Phone.

@ItalianPrincess1217 I know. The ending certainly was something, but pretty retarded at the same time. I bloody hate how that movie became known just cuz of the ending. The religious fanatical chick, now she was awesome.

I consider myself a fan. Well, a pseudo-fan, maybe. That is, I like Stephan King, but I’ve only read a few of his books. I rather like his novellas, and I like how they all take place in Maine.
My mom is a much bigger fan of his work than I, and she likes to try and figure out how all of his books tie together. She considers his magnum opus to be the Dark Tower series, and says that it’s the hub to which all of his other books are connected in some way. Basically, she says that each story is connected to the other via some kind of inter-dimensional bridge, and sometimes that bridge is crossed, which is not always obvious. For instance, it’s pretty damn obvious in The Mist, but it’s not quite as obvious in Hearts in Atlantis.
Maybe my mom is just crazy. Probably.

If Stephen King wrote it, I’ve read it (or in the case of his new one, am very excited to read it). It is a little hard to break down exactly why I enjoy his writing, but I’m going to try…

1) The devil is in the details. He is not afraid to hash out the details and does it well.
2) Stylistically, he has a way of putting things that seems to flow very nicely
3) He’s in touch with how people think, particularly when he writes from the point of view of a child or teenager…he seems to be able to tap into what it’s really like
4) When his writing is at its best, it is positively visceral, you don’t just read it, you feel it
5) He draws characters very well, you really get a sense of the person and their motivation
6) He writes dialog extremely well, it never seems “forced”, it always feels legitimate
7) His descriptive powers are incredible…he can paint a mental picture like no one else
8) There is no subject matter or situation he shies away from, he is willing to break the rules
9) He has this amazing ability to draw an extremely big picture, I really love for example how so many of his books are inter-related, particularly the way the Dark Tower series pretty much connected all the dots not only in his work, but in the whole of literature.
10) He can really sell a premise that most authors would not be able to pull off, the way he builds the story and draws the picture makes it so that when it gets supernatural or weird, it’s still entirely plausible.

Overall, the Stand illustrates what I like about his writing better than anything. I’ve read the expanded version about 6 times, and even though it ends up well over 1,000 pages, it doesn’t feel to me like there’s a wasted word, it never drags and it never lets up. Basically, the story starts off with a bang…I mean, how many stories start with the end of the world as we know it? And it reveals a massive ambition right away. There are multiple sets of main characters, and we see the journey of how they end up encountering each other and breaking into separate camps, all the while picking up more and more main characters, as well as side characters. We could really get into the thought processes of each of these characters and got to see their primary and secondary motivations, and then this otherworldly thing that was pushing each of them to pick sides.

But part of the magic comes in with the details, nothing is spared. I mean, it’s not as if the world just ends and that’s it, we see the details of how the world goes from one thing to quite another…we are not spared the dying, nor are any of the details left out. I think about for example how the characters managed to obtain gas to power their vehicle, or how the TV and radio broadcasts disintegrated. The point is, the characters had to deal with all those things that people really would have to deal with, the things that a lot of authors wouldn’t even think of, or would choose to leave out…like how they had to dispose of all the bodies. Aside from that, it had everything else I like. The dialogue was very real and compelling, the story flowed easily from point to point, and there was this inter-connectedness about everything, both internally to the book by pulling together all these elements into a purpose that was there all along, and externally, referencing characters from other books.

Oh, and @Talimze, just saw your comment and your mom knows exactly what she’s talking about. In reading King’s books you would often see connections to other books, you’d see characters popping up again and they were all kind of related in some way, particularly through his use of Castle Rock as a setting. But then when the last 3 Dark Tower books came out, it really pretty much tied EVERYTHING he’d ever done together in some fashion or another.

@Talimze Your mom is right, and that kinda saddens me. I liked it when all his non DT books were all mysterious and left to your own reasoning. I felt a little disappointed after I learned that absolutely everything was related to some fucked up cowboy world. :/

Wow, maybe I better start reading him again!

@Symbeline – I didn’t really take it to mean that absolutely everything was related to some fucked up cowboy world. Rather my interpretation was that there were all these multiple planes of existence, much like the multiverse theory, where everything fits in some way or relates to something else. To me it seemed like everything that we know from reading in our world is actually the result of an author channeling some alternate plane of existence. The tower is everything and nothing simultaneously, it is essentially fate/destiny, it is the beginning and the end, the gunslinger is just one character in one plane who ends up traveling through many of these planes and thus illustrating the bigger picture.

@dalepetrie Right, that makes sense-but is like, all the SK reality-the non DT books, connected to all that you just said? If so…he is one freaky guy, and I appreciate it all the more, but I just don’t like the idea of having the fortuna explained to me, especially when most of his subjects deal with human elements nobody can ever explain much. :/

@dalepetrie Has a very good post. He sums up well what the good things are about King, and why he is so popular. I agree, King really makes you feel what you’re reading. After reading a particular part in Dreamcatcher, I was afraid to sit on the john for a week.

I kinda agree with @rooeytoo, the sex and violence is a bit much at times, but not enough to make me stop reading him.

I absolutely adore The Dark Tower series, that is truly his magnum opus. Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy are so memorable, deep, and real, you can’t help but to care for them. I often was troubled as I read these book at what happened to the characters, they were so well written and life-like. EDIT: The ending is a killer too. ;)

As much crap as King catches, and some of the strange (sick to some) things he writes about, he knows how to spin a damn fine yarn.

@Symbeline – I think he leaves more out than he explains though. You mentioned Neil Gaiman, and if you’re familiar with the Sandman, it’s the flip side of the same coin. I think the tower serves the same function as the Endless, yet even though we know that everything is already written in Destiny’s book, it doesn’t take the magic out of the story, any more than knowing that the tower is a focal point where all possible planes of existence intersect takes the magic out of that story. Just my opinion.

@Symbeline I want to sit down and talk DT with you now. :)

@Talimze The bad guys in DT, the guys with the oozing wound (the low men), are the same bad guys as in Hearts in Atlantis. It’s mind-boggling how much stuff links. I’m not even really sure all of what links to what.

I read the Regulators not too long ago. And it was okay, not great. How do you all rate that one?

@rooeytoo I personally haven’t read it. If you need a good one, I say pick up the first Dark Tower book if you haven’t, The Gunslinger. It is pretty much epic.

I think where he doesn’t garner enough respect in the literary sense is that he writes contemporary fiction, using modern themes, yet the key is he makes his work accessible. He doesn’t employ a great deal of dense prose cloaked in symbolism…sure, he uses symbols effectively, but he very much puts the story right out in front of you and doesn’t make you dig for it, the way “great literature” does. Which is not to say that his work is not “great literature”, it’s just too contemporary in style, tone and dialogue to be appreciated as such. It belies a somewhat “elitist” attitude among those who would relegate him to the same status as any other popular fiction author. Though his themes are non traditional, and his stories can be enjoyed and understood on a more surface level than most literature, they still pack the same punch that truly great literature holds.

@rooeytoo – you have to read Desperation then, it’s a companion piece. And yes, those books too have commonality with his others. Here is my top 5 King books:

1) The Stand
2) The Dark Tower Series
3) Needful Things
4) Cell
5) Thinner

@dalepetrie I’m thinking you,re right…thing is, resenting DT as much as I do, I avoid reading them, at least, until I’ve read most of the non DT books…but if it might be similar to Endless, I might reconsider? Good idea at all?

@ShiningToast You’re welcome at any time. :)

@Symbeline I actually meant @dalepetrie , that was my mistake. But I’d be happy to talk to you as well. :)

@ShiningToast – oh yes, definitely, any time you have a ? or want my opinion on some aspect, drop me a line. I’ve been a big King fan since the early 80s when I first hit my teen years…I even got to snap pics of his house one time, that was quite a thrill.

@Symbeline – yes, I do think there’s a lot of material you can get through first before you go completely into the DT. I have to say I liked the first book, LOVED the 2nd and 3rd books, then got worried long about the 4th book about where this was going and if it had a point. Then he picked up again and just banged out the last 3 books and I couldn’t put them down. And the great thing for me about it was that I already had all this background, I had these pieces from other books, some of which had connections to other books and some of which didn’t, and there were some connections established to the DT in the first 3 or 4 books, but then the whole scope of the thing just expanded and while he went further with it then I ever imagined he could, I didn’t feel he took the mystery out of the story, in fact the ending is one of the few I’ve ever read that simultaneously explains nothing AND everything. It’s the kind of ending that has a way of pissing people off to be honest, but I LOVE that kind of ending. And I loved the series for many of the same reasons I loved Sandman. There’s a godliness about all of it, this sort of power over time and reality that exists within both stories, yet fundamentally all are subject to the same rules, dream dies but lives, the tower leads to a similarly mortal and yet otherworldly conclusion. I think you should read as much other stuff as you can, and then try to slog through the DT series, I think you will come to regard it as among his best work.

@dalepetrie Yeah, I’m mostly basing all that on the non DT books I’ve read, (And how I was told that It is the offspring of two even greater..uh, demons, ctuhlus, whatever, residing in another universe.) and his latest ones seem to hint more and more at some other weird universe-or multi universes perhaps. (Cell, Lizzy’s Story, Desperation.) Given that I’ve pretty much read all the non DT ones though, with some few exceptions that I plan on reading, maybe I’ll start DT soon…I have the first four, but if they’re like you’re saying they are, it sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than I might currently be giving it credit.
I always appreciated the human element of the books, so all this weird fantasy stuff kinda turned me off…but if Neil Gaiman is awesome in that respect, I actually don’t see why Stephen King wouldn’t be.
I keep wondering though haha, when exactly did Stephen start planning out DT, or if it was always an idea he’s had forever. :/

From reading the preface I think as far back as his first book (and when did that come out, some time in the late 70s or early 80s), he said he envisioned the Dark Tower as his epic, his LOTR, basically something between 2,500 and 5,000 pages….he at one time said he wasn’t sure if he’d ever finish it, and he did do the first couple, then a gap, then the third one, then it was a really long time before we had another one. But once he got hit by that van, it re-focused him and he just decided to finish it I guess. I suspect it was at least 30 years in the making and I think that’s part of why elements leaked from one book to the other because he has all these concurrent smaller ideas that form out of this one grand epic that he had bubbling up. I do think you will enjoy it, I can’t promise, but if you like his other work, I really doubt you’d be disappointed. I’d suggest if it doesn’t grab you right away or if there are parts that seem to drag to stick with it, the payoff is worth it.

Thanks for the tip. There’s one book by King I didn’t like; The Dragon’s Eye. Or The Eye of the Dragon. Wtf was it called? Anyway, no it didn’t suck, but if I had to pick one I liked the least, I’d take that. Think Imma start the first DT book tonight, and yeah I’ll be patient if it drags on a bit.

Cool. I kinda liked Eyes of the Dragon, but yeah, far from my favorite. Again though the wizard with the initials RF features heavily, I think that was the first book I read where I realized he was having some characters cross over into other books.

Like the rest of the world, I read Stephen King, but I continue to marvel at his popularity. In my opinion, he’s only a fair writer whose plots are too often recycled (i.e., “Salem’s Lot” = “Dracula”). Still, I can’t argue with how prolific and successful he is.

Sadly, I’ve never read a Stephen King novel.
I know. I know. You can smack me around later.
Because of his success and popularity though, it’s obvious that he has a pretty incredible imagination that is intriguing and insightful to millions.
I just wish people would stop making his novels into films or learn how to do them right.
Those directors are making him look bad.

@Vunessuh I agree, for the most part, but you might be surprised on how a few of the movies are loyal to the books, Pet Semetary and Misery are two of my favourite, where not only do they follow the events of the book, but also include the secondary aspect, such as the fear of death and explaining it to those who don’t understand, like your children-or rather, whether you even should or not. But yeah, Thinner, horrible. As for Maximum Overdrive, that was directed by King himself, and it must be the dumbest movie ever lol; but it’s also tongue in cheek humour, and he admits this.

Oh absolutely. Misery was the shit.
But The Mist and the others you mentioned just fucking suck. There’s another one, I can’t think of the name of it. I’m pretty positive it was a King inspired film. Something about aliens err hmmm. Can’t remember, but anyway, I was bored to tears.

@Vunessuh – seriously, read The Stand some day. Do NOT watch the miniseries (it was good if you already read the book but lacking if you did not), and make sure you get the 1991 version with all the originally cut out parts restored.

If you say it’s good, I’ll go ahead and read it. My boss, Tom Proctor was in The Stand. Sad that I have yet to see it.

@Vunessuh Oh yeah The Mist, I still find it sad that this film only got noticed because of the ending. And the one with the aliens is Dreamcatcher. The book is awesome, if not damn confusing-but the movie oh god. Now THAT was horrible.

YES! Dreamcatcher! That’s it. Fuck, if I had a gun while watching that movie I wouldn’t be alive today.

@Vunessuh The book was amazing though…and if you remember the ending from the film, well once again, the ending in the book was totally different. I was like WHAT?? I was dating this guy back then who was an uber King fan and I think he totally never got over the film’s ending haha.

I’ve enjoyed some of his books: Christine, Misery, Pet Semetary, Needful Things. He does good characterizations, plots flow well and he throws in twists well. King is a good author but the entire genre is only of marginal interest to me. I’d rather read sci-fi or pure history. +GQ

Misery and Pet Semetary are great.
But yeah, obviously horror isn’t for everyone, but if King is the only horror you’ll check out, you’re in good hands. :)

He’s by far the best at what he does. My life has enough horror without needing to read much fiction about it. :^) +GA

Tanith Lee is a very awesome author too. It’s not really “horror” though…it’s kinda like a mix between horror and fantasy, it’s rather macabre, but really interesting. Those would be worth checking out, too. :)

Anyone read his new one yet (Under the Dome)? I’m about ⅓ the way through it and so far I think it’s pretty amazing.

Nope…haven,t even heard of it till now. What is it about?

A small town in Maine (of course) is suddenly and inexplicably cut off from the outside world by something they can not see. It starts out very dramatically with a small plane crashing into this invisible “force field” on one of the town’s borders, and a small woodland creature being sliced neatly in half at another border. It’s about those unlucky enough to be caught inside this thing and how they get on with their lives (at least so far), and particularly some of the power struggles which ensue. Of course, some of the townspeople have very interesting back stories which come into play. The military begins to refer to it as a dome because it basically domes in the town, but the outer rim shape is not exactly symmetrical like a dome, it runs EXACTLY along the town’s borders. It has a lot of the things I liked about The Stand and Needful Things (plus it’s over 1,000 pages, and I find his longer ones are usually the most enjoyable reads).

@dalepetrie I HAVE to read this. Damnit he never runs outta ideas does he? :) And thanks.

@Symbeline – yeah, I think you’ll like it based on what I’ve read so far. I’ll let you know when I finish it what my thoughts are overall.

@dalepetrie That sounds fantastic! I may be on my way to the bookstore today.

FYI – if you have a membership to one of those warehouse clubs (Sam’s, Costco, BJs, etc), they are by far the cheapest place to get it. My wife got it for me a Costco for $18something and cheapest I’d seen it was at Target for like $24 (cover price is $35).

Anyone pick up Under the Dome yet? I finished reading it about 2 weeks ago, and I think it was his best in years.

Nope. :( I tried ordering it from the bookstore a few weeks back but I wanted the English version, but they said I have to wait a bit for them to get those in stock. Since it’s French over here French translations are always priority. This is when I wish I had an Ebay account meh. Have been reading the Dark Half again though.

@dalepetrie Yeah, I just got it a few days ago, and I’m a couple hundred pages into it. It’s pretty good so far, I can’t wait to see how it ends!

@jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities – I won’t spoil it for you, I’ll just say it was both gripping and unique.

I just finished it. Wow! That really was one of the best books he has written in quite some time. I love the way S.K. can sell a unique concept like that. In some ways, it reminded me of The Stand, (although they were just isolated from the rest of the world, not the only remaining survivors of an apocalyptic event) especially the character development. I would strongly reccomend it to any fan of his work!

@jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities – you and I are on the same page about that one…I thought the same thing about similarities to the Stand. The opening of that last chapter was just incredible. Definitely well worth reading…I probably have to go back to Needful Things for one of his books I liked quite as much.

I just downloaded it from audible. It is a whopping 34 hours worth of listening. I’ll let you know when I finish.

He makes me cringe… at one point while reading Misery, I had to put it down and stop reading it because the writing was too graphic. I do like his stuff though.

He’s a good writer and movie composer….. but i personally don’t like his movies…. there way to far fetched.

I like his stuff. I like the fact I was able to take a university class and get credit for reading his books. What I don’t like about him is the fact he nearly ran me over driving into the Wendy’s on Union street back in the mid 90s.

I stumbled over Stephen King’s books by accident about 2 years ago and have been hooked ever since. The other author whose books I enjoy as much is Charles Dickens. (that would be a good essay question: Compare and contrast Charles Dickens and Stephen King!). Both have a gift for creating an imaginary universe, for adding detail upon detail. Re-reading Stephen King is rather like dipping into a bran tub: I find something different every time. Bag of bones is like that. Then I began the Dark Tower series, not in order, but as the different parts came to hand. It has not spoiled my pleasure. BTW, how can these writers be so horrifying and yet comic at the same time? Think of the lobstrosities in the Dark Tower II, the townspeople turned vampires in ‘Salem’s Lot. And talking about details, I particularly like the story of Jerusalem, a bad tempered sow that went feral (Salem’s Lot).

Perhaps not so incidentally – it is a different medium, after all – the film version seldom seems to capture King’s comic talent. Maybe it has to do with how much sensation can be packed into a couple of hours – the length of a film. It can be horrible and scary, or horrible and funny, but not all three. At least, not in visual media – unless the creator of the media and his viewers are all psychopaths.

i was amazed with Dolores Claiborne, told completely in the first person. the story is full of characters—her husband and daughter, her long-time boss, and a couple of cops—but none of them ever speak! i have never come across such an expert use of the first person.

@Cat4thCB – now that is why I never could review books. I enjoyed Dolores Claiborne, it is up there with some of the best American fiction, and I never noticed that Dolores’ voice is that only one that speaks! Does that make King a magician? Reading the novel was like going to the cinema: you don’t do anything, just absorb the experience.

My dad and I are huge fans of Stephen King. So now, STORY TIME!

Back at the beginning of summer ‘09 I decided to pick up On Writing. I was never a fan of his stuff, figuring he was just too weird, from all that I have heard about his stuff at the time.I did hear that this book was simply the best book on explaining the ins and outs of how to be a creative writer. I read it extremely quick, like a day and a half. It was incredible. The first part is snapshots from his life, instances that have developed him as a writer. The second part is the instructive writing section. The third part talks about his horrific accident, that incidentally, he writes into the plot for the DT books. OMG, I fell in love.

Coincidentally, my dad was vacationing in Maine with his newer wife (not my mom), visiting her mom. I got excited talking to him, because I was explaining to him that Bangor, Maine, where King has a house, was like 110 miles from where he was. He was there for like two and a half weeks. So every day for like the first ten days I would call and talk to him, trying to talk him into slipping out and going to Bangor. I even went so far as to look up pics of his house and send them and his address to my dad’s phone so he would be encouraged to go.

One day during said vacation he calls me up and says “Hey, guess where I am?” and I ask “Where?” and he said “Standing in front of that iron gate you had the picture of, right in front of King’s house” and I said “You lucky bastard” and he laughed, sent me a pic of him standing in front of the house while we were talking. He spent the whole day there in Bangor, and went to the awesome bookstore there in town that specializes in King memorabilia and books. He called me and asked which ones he should buy to start out with, and since I was curious and hadn’t read any fiction yet, I told him to buy as many of the DT books as he could get. He also brought me back a “Stephen King’s Maine” t-shirt and a “I’d rather be reading Stephen King” license plate frame to say thank you for recommending Bangor as a sight seeing trip.

So we spent that summer taking turns reading the books, and I tell ya, it was probably my favorite summer ever. I felt so sad when I was done reading the seventh one, because this Ka-tet that I had the privilege of following in their journey, they were now done with said journey. My dad had the exact same reaction.

We have gone on to reading several others, especially him since most of the last couple of years of my time have been consumed with raising kids, working full time, and going to school full time for an English degree.

We are collecting all of the King hardcover books that we can together too. I have over thirty of them and he has all but like 3 or 4 I believe. He even finished building a book shelf this week that he built just for King books. He has been buying them in bulk and has a bunch of extras too, so when he puts them on the shelf and sees what is left, I will be able to grab what I need to grow my collection.

Some of the most rare ones (at least where we are) are The Eyes of the Dragon, The Colorado Kid, Secret Windows, and either version of The Gunslinger.

As to our favorite books? That would have to go to The Gunslinger (I’ve read it four times) and Under the Dome a distant second. Speaking of The Gunslinger, look here.

My wife doesn’t like that I collect his stuff, seeing as how we both grew up with a super religious background and we both go to church (she follows it strictly, I do not), but she doesn’t say anything anymore because she realizes that reading has to be a big part of my life now, especially reading fiction, since I’m trying to get into an MFA program, all because of the summer of ‘09 (well, very heavily influenced anyway). I almost chose a different career path too. One of these days, if I ever meet King, I will have to thank him.

I was never able to get into his books. I agree he’s a terrific writer but most of his movies suck. They don’t do him justice. Except maybe The Shining.

The only book I’ve ever read in full was The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, only because that was a regular sized book. Also, I’ve read part of Cell. Some of his books are ridiculously huge.

That’s what I hate most about this author. Is that he allows his works to be destroyed and mangled by Hollywood but I guess if he gets paid enough, then I guess it’s ok.

In the movie, IT, they left out ALOT of detail. They never even mention some things. I realize it’s a big book, but they could’ve at least tried to keep some details the same.

Yeah, the movie is nothing compared to the book…still love IT in movie form, but you’re definitely right about it missing a lot.