Salem's Lot!
― surm, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 14:57 (seven years ago) link
Start with Night Shift/short stories.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 15:00 (seven years ago) link
Night Shift is a great place to start. Varies wildly in style, but some of those stories are absolute classics and everything in there is at least super-readable. I'd do Salem's Lot first though since there are two stories related to it in that collection.
― how's life, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 15:05 (seven years ago) link
MISERY
one of his best, not very supernatural, the one that got me back into him
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 15:19 (seven years ago) link
this is very exciting. SUMMER OF STEPHEN
― surm, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 15:25 (seven years ago) link
Easy there cowboy - save your excitement for the first time you read one of his descriptions of breasts.
― how's life, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 15:35 (seven years ago) link
Night Shift is my automatic go-to recommendation for a King newbie. If you aren't feeling it with that one, you can safely stop there and say you tried.
― How many gigabyte is in trilobites (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 15:35 (seven years ago) link
Salems Lot is a good pick. Gets you into his pulpy style
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:33 (seven years ago) link
verging-on-self-parody material like Christine
Certainly not his best book, but I totally loved Christine.
― I don't really like any of these albums (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:37 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, I just read it for the first time last year. I dig the movie but the novel had a whole lot more going on.
― Jigsaw Pizzle (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:40 (seven years ago) link
! if you had to pick ONE tho
It, hands down
― Evan R, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:43 (seven years ago) link
Nonono, stay the hell away from IT!
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:45 (seven years ago) link
That was my first King and it really soured me on King.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:46 (seven years ago) link
imo IT is his masterpiece, might as well start there if you have some time on your hands... not that it really takes that long to read, took me a month of leisurely reading
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:50 (seven years ago) link
It taken me eternity
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:51 (seven years ago) link
You never It.
― Jigsaw Pizzle (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:53 (seven years ago) link
I agree with 'Salem's Lot and Night Shift as the obvious "first King" contenders. My first was Firestarter, which was fine but in retrospect not his best work.
― Rachel Luther Queen (DJP), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:53 (seven years ago) link
that trailer.
peter jackson directing or something?
― s'rong, unstable (darraghmac), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:58 (seven years ago) link
roland deschain is not a fucking power ranger.
That's debatable.
― Jigsaw Pizzle (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 19:59 (seven years ago) link
i like Elba there but McConaughey looks spot on
― nomar, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:01 (seven years ago) link
how have people not realised Idris Elba (one career-making performance aside) is a terrible actor at this point
― Number None, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:06 (seven years ago) link
I second 'Salem's Lot and Night Shift as the ideal entry points, with the original version of The Stand another solid contender.
― Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Violent J (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:07 (seven years ago) link
he was good in Zootopia xp
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:07 (seven years ago) link
ah hes great i mean i dunno if he acts i dont be looking but hes so fucking cool
but even without the matrix shite there i dunno if hes roland. hes not near wasted enough for starters
― s'rong, unstable (darraghmac), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:08 (seven years ago) link
king entry point.... eye of the dragon, nightmares and dreamscapes
― s'rong, unstable (darraghmac), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:09 (seven years ago) link
i feel like you can kind of start anywhere and if you dig his style, it doesn't matter if the book is a lesser work... like the first thing I read was Dreamcatcher (fwiw I was 10), and i've been a fan ever since.
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:11 (seven years ago) link
i will say CUJO is one you absolutely have to check out, not to be overlooked... just finished it last night, it's batshit insane (infamously the novel he doesn't remember writing at all bc of his drug addiction), really fucking dark, the prose is just vicious.
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:13 (seven years ago) link
It is his best book and although it's on the longer side it goes down really easy and is in a lot of ways his most representative book, so might as well start there.
Salem's Lot was the first one I read and although it was genuinely scary at times, the characters weren't very fun and the writing wasn't all that lively and memorable. Go with It.
― Evan R, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:15 (seven years ago) link
I really enjoyed The Dark Zone, too, which was also one of the first ones I read, but it doesn't have the epic sweep of some of his better books
― Evan R, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:16 (seven years ago) link
Dead Zone? Or Dark Tower?
― I don't really like any of these albums (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:18 (seven years ago) link
or the Dark Half?
― nomar, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:19 (seven years ago) link
lol
― I don't really like any of these albums (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:19 (seven years ago) link
lol he's written too many books. Dead Zone was the one.
The Dark Half sucked. Like, really sucked.
― Evan R, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:21 (seven years ago) link
― s'rong, unstable (darraghmac), Wednesday, May 3, 2017 3:58 PM (twenty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
sweet jesus it just occurred to me, is roland's last name a reference to renowned Maine weatherproofer Dave Deschain, of the wacky self-produced commercials???
― gimmesomehawnz (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:25 (seven years ago) link
"Keep out the rain, call Dave Deschain"
"Raindrop I thought I got ridda yoo!"
― gimmesomehawnz (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:26 (seven years ago) link
how do you get "Power Ranger" from that trailer
― Rachel Luther Queen (DJP), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 20:30 (seven years ago) link
Read Salem's Lot first, I'd say, or The Dead Zone. Something from the initial star-making run but before he started churning out the verging-on-self-parody material like Christine and Firestarter. Of course, I can't vouch for the last two decades' worth of stuff. I think Dolores Claiborne is the most recent I've read.
― insidious assymetrical weapons (Eric H.)
christine and firestarter are prime cocaine era stephen king. is "christine" the one he doesn't even remember writing?
― increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 21:37 (seven years ago) link
No, that's Cujo.
― I don't really like any of these albums (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 21:39 (seven years ago) link
It's Cujo! Someone asks that every 50 posts or so despite it being mentioned every 50 posts or so, it's weird xpost
― albvivertine, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 21:45 (seven years ago) link
Cujo is so awesome. The dog is barely in it - it's mostly a really fucked up love triangle thing, the follies of parenting, and a really brutal ending. It's also not that supernatural - I think it has a lot in common with IT w/r/t adulthood corruption, childhood innocence, energies passing thru generations & families. like i said upthread, the prose is so much more livelier and pungent than Firestarter for example, which I found really rather boring and bland.
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 21:55 (seven years ago) link
dark tower trailer... from what I read they're eschewing the whole first book & looks a lot like it's kinda book 3 centric ie Wastelands
idk who that helps. like who else but Dark Tower nerds are going to see this?
i'll reserve judgement for now. i like the casting tho
― Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 21:59 (seven years ago) link
― albvivertine, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 22:45
Posts nobody remembers because drugs.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 3 May 2017 22:02 (seven years ago) link
I say we rename the thread Stephen King Doesn't Remember Writing Cujo and see how many times people ask it still
― duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 23:18 (seven years ago) link
Should I read Night Shift or a Joe Hill book to get my horror fix?
― El Tuomasbot (milo z), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 23:32 (seven years ago) link
Uh doy Night Shift, man.
― Jigsaw Pizzle (Old Lunch), Thursday, 4 May 2017 01:38 (seven years ago) link
Dead Zone was my first (I think in 6th grade). It was good. Needful Things was the only one of his I've read (of somewhere between 1.5-2 dozen or so) where I finished and said, 'that was some bullshit.'
― Jigsaw Pizzle (Old Lunch), Thursday, 4 May 2017 01:40 (seven years ago) link
Amen. Such bullshit.
― how's life, Thursday, 4 May 2017 12:10 (seven years ago) link
Different Seasons seemed like everyone's favorite back when I was a kid. Maybe it had to do with the movie adaptations being popular.
― duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Thursday, 4 May 2017 12:47 (seven years ago) link
Oh man, I haven't revisted Different Seasons since I was a teenager. I'll have to tackle that one after I finish the Stand.
― how's life, Thursday, 4 May 2017 12:49 (seven years ago) link