stephen king c/d?

(xpost)

No, we have Dean Koontz for that.

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)

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.)

Except Rose Madder and Gerald's Game.

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.

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.

(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.)

"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.

addictive stuff.

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.

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/_images/db/9/17/king1.91743.full.jpg

"Hello kiddies!"

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.

http://www.lamerkindustries.com/

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.

actually, he went insane.

this is in the _Skeleton Crew_ collection.

The last several books I read (Sleeping Beauties, Institute, Outsider) were satisfying in their way but very much felt like extruded King product

Revival is my favourite King book since 11/22/63

I consider it one of his best endings, not alone in that but opinion is somewhat polarised

It’s not too long so it’s worth finding out for yourself!

i have it, so will def give it a go on that recommendation:D

The first in the trio of Hodges Det Ret books (Mr. Mercedes) is very good. The next book is pretty solid! The last book I cannot recommend,

I mean... I will cuz you you told me to, but I have no idea who that is so I'm just picturing a fish on a roller-coaster.

— Shawn Nutting (@ZackGavin2) September 8, 2022

the best fans

i picked up the new one, “Fairy Tale”, from the library this weekend … it’s got me hooked early, loving it so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zuiVwFNEqc

update: I read Revival and didn’t love it.
The dedication to Mary Shelley let me know what the upshot would be from the start, and i got annoyed waiting and waiting for the other shoe to drop like honestly waiting til the last three chapters drove me NUTS

i liked the childhood stuff early on though, and the pastor’s “fuck u god” sermon was a+

I'm not quite sure what to make of Fairy Tale. I thought the pacing and plot progression were all over the place. But it had some great sequences - the first walk through the abandoned city was fantastic, and the waiting room build-up to the "Fair One" was the most intense, horrifying thing he's written in a long time.

perlstein on stephen king as the writer of the great death of democracy novel: https://prospect.org/culture/2024-02-14-cultural-artifact-meets-the-moment/