MillwallShoes
Don't kill the Lion
literary genius? master story teller? crap, pulp rubbish?
The novels of Stephen King - good?
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MillwallShoes
Don't kill the Lion
superb at plot and tension, but weak on character and description in my opinion. massive penchant for the audio books though when bored and have a ton of house work to do.
Reno
The In Kraut
Hardly a literary genius, but a good story teller and a great pulp writer and there is no shame in that.
I enjoyed reading them in my teens and early 20s. I loved Carrie, The Shining, Salems Lot, The Dead Zone, Christine, Cujo and Misery and quite liked Firestarter, Nightshift and The Stand. Wasn't that keen on Pet Sematary and threw in the towel when I couldn't make it through "It". His novels eventually became bloated, self-indugent and repetitive and I gave up on him. In my mid-20s I also discovered lesser known contemporary horror writers I liked better, especially Stephen Gallagher, Dan Simmons and Thomas M. Disch.
clicker
nanook rubs it....
This really - enjoyed The Stand, It and Needful Things , then he went and ruined it with Geralds game and Dolores Thingy and what the hell was that langoliers mularkey?? , imo self indulgent rambling. Maybe I just read the best first....would still put The Stand somewhere up there in top books to take on holiday.
TheHoodedClaw
acknowledging ur soup leg
He can't end a long novel to save himself, but having said that, IT and The Stand are well worth reading. The former is strong on character, too, which is unusual in the genre. One of his shorter novels that scared the shit out of me when I read it as a teen is Pet Sematary - there are a couple of scenes in that that gave me nightmares. Carrie and The Shining are also worth a read I think.
I think he's very good at short stories - a good collection is Skeleton Crew - it has four I rate highly: The Jaunt, Survivor Type, The Mist, and The Reach.
Another King thing worth a read is his On Writing. It's kind of an autobiography, but also a guide on how to write. It's an odd book, but a fascinating one. Edit: It's maybe worth noting that On Writing goes up to the point that he got hit by a truck. His increasingly gigantic cocaine abuse up to that point maybe explains how his books went. I don't think I've read anything after that.
I think he's very good at short stories - a good collection is Skeleton Crew - it has four I rate highly: The Jaunt, Survivor Type, The Mist, and The Reach.
Another King thing worth a read is his On Writing. It's kind of an autobiography, but also a guide on how to write. It's an odd book, but a fascinating one. Edit: It's maybe worth noting that On Writing goes up to the point that he got hit by a truck. His increasingly gigantic cocaine abuse up to that point maybe explains how his books went. I don't think I've read anything after that.
I liked the ones he wrote as Richard Bachman, especially Rage which predicted high school shootings and that one about George barton Dawes where his house was getting knocked down to make way for a road and he calls Sal Magliore a dork.
He always goes on about Zenith TV's though.
He always goes on about Zenith TV's though.
el-ahrairah
forward communism, forward gerbils!
Bad. But what he does do well is write stuff that can be turned into good films/
TheHoodedClaw
acknowledging ur soup leg
His short stories, or shorter ones anyway.
TheHoodedClaw
acknowledging ur soup leg
I kind of dispute that he's a bad writer, at least in his early days. His contemporaries were the likes of James Herbert when I were a lad, and King is much more talented than that.
Reno
The In Kraut
The majority of films based on his books are pretty terrible.
And why do you think he is so bad ? Like most writers he has his weaknesses and strengths, but at his best (The Shining, Salem's Lot) he was a fantastic storyteller.
Shaun Hutson as well. And Guy N Smith. Yeah, King was miles better than them. Check out how many times Hutson uses the word "fusty" in his novel Erebus, more than a few anyway - He's as bad as Will Self with "epicine".
el-ahrairah
forward communism, forward gerbils!
because he's so dull. he goes on and on and on and i think to myself there's a good story in here but i can't be bothered anymore and then i put the book down and nothing of value was lost. reading stephen king makes me wish i could punch him in the face. i really don't get how anyone can enjoy that turgid prose, the boring characters, etc etc. even at his best he needs a good editor.
el-ahrairah
forward communism, forward gerbils!
Damned with faint praise. James Herbert is shit, but at least he's fairly concise! The Fog, for example, is an afternoon's reading. Three chapters introducing characters who die in grotesque ways; one slightly perverse sex scene; eight chapters of peril; resolution; epilogue IT'S NOT OVER; fin. As it should be, none of this fart-arsing about for hours.
Reno
The In Kraut
As I said before, I think his early books are great, his later books not so much and I gave up on him in the early 90s. He is not someone I go to for great prose, but he writes in a conversational American vernacular which works perfectly well for what he does. It's not bad prose in the way of Dan Brown writes. His characters aren't the most exciting, but they also work well for the purposes of the plot. In the 70s and 80s he wrote some of the greatest horror novels of all time.
What horror writers of that period did you think wrote great prose ?
MillwallShoes
Don't kill the Lion
his ability to tell a story is, i would say, the stuff of genius. often, when i have read him, i've thought how does he keep telling this story without it being ridiculous or predictable.
i am listening on audiobook to pet cemetery at the moment. a book about zombie cats and a supernatural cemetery. total nonsense. but still i am listening closely, totally absorbed. if that's not incredible story telling, considering the ludicrous content, i don't know what is...
i am listening on audiobook to pet cemetery at the moment. a book about zombie cats and a supernatural cemetery. total nonsense. but still i am listening closely, totally absorbed. if that's not incredible story telling, considering the ludicrous content, i don't know what is...
MillwallShoes
Don't kill the Lion
i like his depictions of small town americana as well.
i would say it is mindless, easy escapism at it's most sophisticated.
christ that sounds pretentious, but i didn't mean it to be.
i would say it is mindless, easy escapism at it's most sophisticated.
christ that sounds pretentious, but i didn't mean it to be.
el-ahrairah
forward communism, forward gerbils!
Tbh, none of them that I can think of right now. Most of them one read for the ideas, not for the prose!
Reno
The In Kraut
Do you read everything for the prose ? Isn't it a bit snobby to say you read something "for the ideas" and then dismiss a book because the prose isn't more artful. Different books work in different ways and many acclaimed writers who are great at prose don't know how stitch a story together in the way King does, when he's at his best. And King's prose isn't bad, it's functional and in service of the story.
MillwallShoes
Don't kill the Lion
this.
el-ahrairah
forward communism, forward gerbils!
maybe it is a bit snobby, one can't help one's tastes! i just hate Stephen King's prose. sorry!
MillwallShoes
Don't kill the Lion
fair nuff!
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
\When he's good, he's good. The Stand and Needful Things are among his best.
He's no masterful prose-poet but his plotting and characterization are what saves him every time
He's no masterful prose-poet but his plotting and characterization are what saves him every time
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
yes, you can. do you think people are born with certain tastes? or that they get developed over time?
next
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
Old Koontz is similar, but to my mind never quite had the same level of ideas. His best was one I can't remember the name of but it got adapted into a tv film with Alicia Silverstone as the daughter of b movie stalwart Jeff Goldblum. Was V. creepy and the final battle between good and bad was in a deserted theme park
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
you're not narrowing it down
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