The novels of Stephen King - good?

[Pickman's model]

an effortless victory over the forces of people who state their opinions as fact on threads asking people's opinion. i like you pickman's, but i can see why so many people want you dead.

But tell me more about these people who want to see me dead, that's the most interesting thing you've said all day.

 

[el-ahrairah]

It's one thing to state your opinion, it's another to say you won't entertain anyone else's whose view is contrary to yours. But that's what you do above. I never said this was a victory, you did, it's not a fucking game.

that's because i'm right and you're wrong.

 

[DotCommunist]

if I were to pontificate. Which I am about to do. I would suggest that perhaps that particular trope has its roots in the less-than-old WASP culture that therefore must hearken to peoples who have deeper historical roots in order to add the authenticity of 'ancient wisdom from the older worlds'. See also, the cliche of 'they built on an ancient indian burial ground'


Gross generalisation of course but I'm just thinking out loud here.


In a dark and awesome flip reversal of the magical negro trope we have Candyman. Who from a horrific death comes back to haunt and kill amongst graffiti ridden crumbling post-reagan project. There really isn't enough hook-handed killers in fiction imho

 

[Kaka Tim]

Funilly enough I've been trying to get hold of a copy of the Shining and Carrie for my 13yr old daughter as I think shed like them.

At his best hes a very good gripping, story teller with good insights into his characters - particularly if they are kids or teenagers. He gets hugely slagged off by literary snobs - mainly because he is popular - but he can be very good at what he does. A much better writer than the likes of James Herbert or the truly terrible Dan Brown.

Hes been churning out tired old bollocks for years though.

 

[Idaho]

Points and laughs at pitiful, must-have-last-word ego battle at the top of the page.

 

[DotCommunist]

Funilly enough I've been trying to get hold of a copy of the Shining and Carrie for my 13yr old daughter as I think shed like them.

At his best hes a very good gripping, story teller with good insights into his characters - particularly if they are kids or teenagers. He gets hugely slagged off by literary snobs - mainly because he is popular - but he can be very good at what he does. A much better writer than the likes of James Herbert or the truly terrible Dan Brown.

You may scoff at Herbert but the book '48 which details an american GI in a london devestated by a nazi blood-plauge where only AB neg carriers survived is proper fun. NAZI ZOMBIE

And then there is Fluke, which is such a good story. Every time I read Fluke, and I do revisit it now and then, I hug my dog just in case he is actually a reincarnated human

 

[el-ahrairah]

But tell me more about these people who want to see me dead, that's the most interesting thing you've said all day.

no-one wants you dead (to the best of my knowledge). i was being obnoxious.

 

[el-ahrairah]

Points and laughs at pitiful, must-have-last-word ego battle at the top of the page.

give us a break, it's monday.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

You may scoff at Herbert but the book '48 which details an american GI in a london devestated by a nazi blood-plauge where only AB neg carriers survived is proper fun. NAZI ZOMBIE

Aye, that one's alright. I remember liking The Fog too, and certainly the fate of the gym teacher has stuck in my mind. Ouch.

 

[Reno]

if I were to pontificate. Which I am about to do. I would suggest that perhaps that particular trope has its roots in the less-than-old WASP culture that therefore must hearken to peoples who have deeper historical roots in order to add the authenticity of 'ancient wisdom from the older worlds'. See also, the cliche of 'they built on an ancient indian burial ground'


Gross generalisation of course but I'm just thinking out loud here.


In a dark and awesome flip reversal of the magical negro trope we have Candyman. Who from a horrific death comes back to haunt and kill amongst graffiti ridden crumbling post-reagan project. There really isn't enough hook-handed killers in fiction imho

Not sure Candyman is a flip reversal. He's just a different supernatural stock character, a vengeful ghost. He wasn't black in the original Clive Barker story which was set in Liverpool, where its climax at Bonfire Night made more sense than in Chicago. I quite like the film though.

See John Carpenter's The Fog for more vengeful-ghosts-who-kill with-hooks-for-hands action.

 

[Pickman's model]

that's because i'm right and you're wrong.

if you were right then stephen king would not be one of the most famous authors in the world, his books would not sell millions of copies and he wouldn't have received a shedload of awards. although it's true that not like every one of his books is a top read (despite three attempts i've yet to make it through 'gerald's game') it's obvious to anyone with half a mind that you're very much not right.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Misery is a great book. I can still remember whole chunks of it and I must've read it at least twelve years ago, there are very few books that I can say that about.

 

[clicker]

if you were right then stephen king would not be one of the most famous authors in the world, his books would not sell millions of copies and he wouldn't have received a shedload of awards. although it's true that not like every one of his books is a top read (despite three attempts i've yet to make it through 'gerald's game') it's obvious to anyone with half a mind that you're very much not right.

ha i made it through geralds game but it was touch and go.........in the end i wondered if king had meant us to feel as frustrated as gerald did tied to that sodding bed....it was excruciating waiting for something to happen.....i was willing that jar of nivea cream to fall off the shelf...

 

[Reno]

Misery is a great book. I can still remember whole chunks of it and I must've read it at least twelve years ago, there are very few books that I can say that about.

That was the last novel of his that really scared me. And while the film is decent enough, it's one of those examples where what is scary on the page, doesn't quite work as well on the screen. In the novel she is far more terrifying, she really becomes a monster because we only see her though her victims eyes, while in the film she is clearly a mentally ill women. When in the end he rather brutally kills her, it doesn't feel cathartic like in the novel but somehow wrong and vaguely offensive.

 

[Reno]

ha i made it through geralds game but it was touch and go.........in the end i wondered if king had meant us to feel as frustrated as gerald did tied to that sodding bed....it was excruciating waiting for something to happen.....i was willing that jar of nivea cream to fall off the shelf...

Are you sure you made it to the end. It wasn't Gerald who was tied to the bed.

 

[clicker]

Are you sure you made it to the end. It wasn't Gerald who was tied to the bed.

definitely and all i do remember is a ghosty thing appearing i think.....it was over ten years ago now.....totally didnt have a clue what was going on.....the nivea cream is the only lasting impression of that book.......

 

[SpookyFrank]

That was the last novel of his that really scared me. And while the film is decent enough, it's one of those examples where what works on the page, doesn't quite work as well on the screen. In the novel she is far more terrifying, she really becomes a monster because we only see her though her victims eyes, while in the film she is clearly a mentally ill women. When in the end he rather brutally kills her, it doesn't feel cathartic like in the novel but somehow wrong and vaguely offensive.

Agreed. As so much of the novel basically deals with what's going on inside the bloke's head, with all the different ways in which he's made to suffer, the film was bound to miss the point really.

 

[Reno]

definitely and all i do remember is a ghosty thing appearing i think.....it was over ten years ago now.....totally didnt have a clue what was going on.....the nivea cream is the only lasting impression of that book.......

Gerald tied his wife to the bed and then died. She is the main character.

 

[Reno]

Agreed. As so much of the novel basically deals with what's going on inside the bloke's head, with all the different ways in which he's made to suffer, the film was bound to miss the point really.

It's the case with all of the films based on his horror novels, they are never as scary as the books, even some of the great ones, like The Shining which I think is probably his best novel.

 

[clicker]

Gerald tied his wife to the bed and then died. She is the main character.[/quoteo
knew it was one of them....could have been great aunty prue for all the difference it made....mind numbing doesnt even begin to describe it but i persevered and instantly forgot it all.....one character that didnt come alive in my head.

 

[Orang Utan]

Used to love his books from too young to young adulthood. i think the first novel that disappointed me was the tommyknockers - it was bloated and dull. i liked the dark half, but barely read him after that til I tried to read Cell, which I really hated and didn't finish. But I hear he is about to publish a sequel of sorts to The Shining, with a grown up Danny battling evil spirits with his powers. i may check that one out.

he is a great storyteller and knows how to thrill, but i agree he is weak on character. this isn't always a problem with genre fiction but his books are too long to skimp on character development, especially if the concept is weak in the first place.

I used to love Herbert and Hutson too and agree about the formulaic writing. Herbert liked sex scenes with women 'moaning' as their 'mounds' were stimulated.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

literary genius? master story teller? crap, pulp rubbish?

Any I've read, which is about a dozen, were all good stories, well written. Some stand out over others, though.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

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

Koontz writes by formula, imo. He doesn't have King's imagination.

 

[Orang Utan]

What King is also good at is creating places - that whole small town Maine thing - it's very distinctive. i can see how he might be a good fantasy writer as he is a talented world builder

 

[Reno]

All of King's books are interconnected, so in The Dead Zone the events in Carrie will be mentioned, Dick Halloran from The Shinging later makes a cameo appreance in It, etc.

 

[Orang Utan]

yes i love all that meta interconnectivity

 

[goldenecitrone]

I read all his stuff when I was a teenage horror fan. Loved Salem's Lot, Pet Semetary and the Stand the most. I liked his writing style and I guess I was interested in his depictions of small town America. I stopped reading his stuff after It.

 

[clicker]

'IT' made me scared of walking near drains for ages.

 

[el-ahrairah]

if you were right then stephen king would not be one of the most famous authors in the world, his books would not sell millions of copies and he wouldn't have received a shedload of awards. although it's true that not like every one of his books is a top read (despite three attempts i've yet to make it through 'gerald's game') it's obvious to anyone with half a mind that you're very much not right.

you're better than that pickman's ffs. U2 have sold a lot of records and won a lot of awards.

 

[Reno]

This tiff isn't witty or bitchy enough to be entertaining for the rest of us, so either step it up or give it a rest.