stephen king c/d?

On the subject of sadism, there does seem a fair bit of it in The Stand -- all those loving descriptions of (often quite sympathetic) characters' heads being shot/torn to pieces. etc. I mean, when people die in the novel, they really die. (Although I assume that also be a horror novel convention -- this is the first horror novel I've read, if you exclude a forgotten James Herbert book I skimmed when I was 12.)

I ended up reading the unabridged version, which I'm quite happy about, although I did skim occasionally (cf. the Trashcan Man and Abigail chapters). But there's so much plot, and so many great set pieces, it more-or-less justifies the length.

So many creepy genuinely terrifying images in "It". Like when they're looking through an old photo book and the pictures come to life, grainy and choppy like an old movie... they see the clown in one and he suddenly runs across the street, and thrusts his face right into the camera, his nose pressed up against the cellophane covering the photo.

Ha, I think having read my first Stephen King novel, I think it's ruined fiction for me forever. I keep starting books and thinking, "Well, this is good, but it's no The Stand."

Anyway, I picked up Night Shift, Cell, Christine and Cujo for five bucks from my local store to compensate. Are Christine and Cujo really that bad? The first chapters are pretty engrossing. I'm also shopping for Pet Sematary. I'm gonna keep away from It and Misery based on the fact that I know their stories from the movie/mini-series already.

The ponderous John A Macdonald intro to Night Shift is hilarious:

"In another story he demonstrates his good ear, the ring of exactness and truth he can give dialogue... Nice. It looks so simple. Just like brain surgery.the knife has an edge. You hold it so. And cut."

night shift has good stories in it. never read cell, can't imagine it's that good. cujo was alright. IT is very good, at least the first 3/4. The Shining is excellent; Misery is good; all those early Bachman books are good.

A friend of mine is reading and reviewing all of King's novels in order:
http://stephenking-reviewed.blogspot.com/

Yeah, Chuck, you'll miss out on a LOT if you don't read IT and Misery, storywise. IT, in particular, has subplots and relationships that a two-part TV movie could not possibly have touched on or achieved.

the relationships and backstories were the best part of IT actually. it lost me when it got to the turtle and shit, I was like, what? but king worked best with characters, etc, those have always been the strongest parts of his books. I guess maybe he's written a lot of things like that in recent years but life is too short for me to take the chance on them.

Oh I really liked "the talisman". I think that's a good companion to the Stand.

This is the conventional wisdom, and it's probably been said more than once upthread, but there was a time when SK was both insanely prolific and reliably good. But that was a long time ago, and the quality of his work has been declining ever since. His eak years were the mid to late 70s: Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Stand, Dead Zone, The Long Walk and the stories collected in Night Shift. All good to great.

Over the 80s (the peak of his popularity and productivity), he became much more inconsistent and defined by his most well-known stylistic tics. There's excellent stuff here: Cujo, The Gunslinger, The Running Man, Pet Sematary, It, Misery, Needful Things, The Dark Half, many of the stories in Different Seasons, Skeleton Crew and Four Past Midnight. But there's also a lot of filler: Firestarter, Christine, Eyes of the Dragon, The Tommyknockers, the contunuation of the Dark Tower series, collaborations and cash-ins of every imaginable sort.

Since then, little of any real interest. He's always been readable and engaging, even at his worst, but his writing seems to have lost its focus and its animating spark. Haven't made it more than halfway through a King book in ages, and that's a shame. On the other hand, maybe it says more about me than it does about his writing. I dunno.

"eak years" hee

I heard Dolores Claiborne was also good.

Needful Things is so unrelentingly grim and awesome!

I might have said this upthread, but I re-read Misery a couple of years ago and I was literally on the edge of my seat. And I pretty much knew what was going to happen. So don't miss that one.

i do think king's prolificness (prolificity? prolificoshiousness?) has damaged his reputation in the long run; imagine if he'd stopped after Misery or IT.

therelationships and backstorieschaos and destruction at the end were the best part of IT actually

: )

Actually, my favorite parts are the historical digressions, which sure-as-shit aren't portrayed in the movie. Very much worth reading.

Prolificity FTW.

Over the 80s (the peak of his popularity and productivity drinking and coke use), he became much more inconsistent and defined by his most well-known stylistic tics

Christine is great, though, so I don't think I'd have it on your "bad" list. And I don't think you can include The Running Man or The Gunslinger into his good 80's output, at least in terms of crediting it against his stylistic behavior. The former was first published in 1982 but I believe he had had it in the can for some years; and the earliest parts of the The Gunslinger were written in 1978-1979.

I've still read all his output, but to me the last really good one, aside from a couple of the latter Dark Tower entries, was Insomnia, although the Deperation/The Regulators pair had its merits, as did From A Buick 8. Oh, and The Colorado Kid, that little novella he did for that pulp crime imprint.

I've meant to back and finish up Desperation/Regulators, which I read a good chunk of some years back, before I got distracted by something shiny over there. Seemed promising.

And yeah, I know and agree, re: The first Dark Tower book (The Gunslinger) and The Running Man. Was just going by publication date. The Gunslinger was, I think, written earlier than any of the other books I mentioned -- while he was still in college, though likely significantly revised later -- and the style is unique. Much sparer and simpler than the prose he became known for, even a bit arty. I remember liking it quite a lot, though it's been years.

http://twitter.com/VegasWalkinDude

There's a pre-teen gangbang at the end of It?!?!?!

haha yes there is

well not literally the end, the end has one of the main characters riding down a hill with his driven-insane wife on the handlebars

This is still going for all you King fans out there:
http://stephenking-reviewed.blogspot.com/

"We then follow Halleck as he begins to lose weight at a steady rate, journeying from 251 pounds to a skeletal 127 pounds. "

127 pounds, skeletal? Come on now.

There's a pre-teen gangbang at the end of It?!?!?!

It's right before they go to battle IT. I guess it's supposed to be like a weird giving-up-your-innocence-in-order-to-battle-ultimate-evil ritual.

it's pretty O_o, obviously

Hard to imagine someone getting away with writing that these days.

oh man I forgot all about Cycle of the Werewolf

That one sounds fun. The author of that blog is a friend of mine, I've never had much time for King before but a few of his posts are making me consider giving him a go. Oh, and he gave me a copy of It recently!

It is a ton of fun and a really quick read.

I think he's a little too harsh on Thinner but it's been more than 2 decades since I read that book.

Will definitely be giving it a read soon, thanks.

I've always wanted to read the Stand, but the size is a bit intimidating (one 1400 page novel equals 3.5 400 page novels, how to choose). OTOH, I'm tired of Serious Stuff right now.

whats the one where the chick is tied to a bed with handcuffs for most of it? that was the scariest one, i think

Gerald's Game

misery

It's right before they go to battle IT. I guess it's supposed to be like a weird giving-up-your-innocence-in-order-to-battle-ultimate-evil ritual.

Dude, I'm pretty sure it's after they think they've killed It. They get lost in one of the tunnels after and Bev instinctually decides to let them run a train so they could regain their bearings. Didn't bother me when I first read the book in middle school but now, YOW.

Has King ever been forced to discuss/defend this in an interview?

It's been a while since I've read the book, obviously. So maybe it's a way of bonding them all together? Or just King during one of his coked-up pervy moments?

little from column a...little from column b

a lot from column "c" too if you catch my drift

yah latebloomer gerald's game. (lol slocki). book was terrifying h8 the idea of being so helpless

ha I thought GG was boring and actually was the one that made me stop reading him cold turkey

eyes of the dragon being put into a filler list is SB temptation

My fave SK ever -- Eyes has all the good storytelling and none of the ethically quagmireish squick, as I recall, and a LOT of actually very memorable scenes, even if some slightly funny. Like the one with the tiny dollhouse loom and the room full of napkins....

it's pretty straight fantasy for king, and it's not my favourite, but i like it a lot. i like the tie-in to the dark tower, but i like those in any of his books that they appear in.

though it's maybe the opposite of the robert jordan situation- i sure wish he hadn't written the last three books of the dark tower, as they seemed hurried, rushed and frankly a big mess.

A lot of King leaves me feeling like my brain needs a shower. I don't mind being scared but I don't want to feel soiled and made less "myself" by a book. Eyes is a good, gripping straight fantasy read with the characteristic SK pacing and characters and not so much jadedness. A++!

xpost I disliked most of Gerald's Game, but there's a scene toward the end, where the main character is escaping in the car but keeps believing there is someone is in the car with her in the backseat, about to attack, that I always think of when I'm driving alone at night. Even some of Stephen King's worst books have their effective moments.

You know, now that I think about it I think that Gerald's Game is the first book I ever put down without finishing.

Whenever IT comes up in conversation, I always mention the WTF of the turtle and my wife always mentions the o_O of the preteen gangbang.

I keep meaning to do a little tour of the 70s novels but maybe a read of the novella/story collections would be the better option.

Read 'Salem's Lot immediately, that book is fantastic.

The Stand and The Shining are also awesome.

The earlier short story collections are amazing, too - Night Shift and Skeleton Crew.

^^^ yes