Stephen King

[buckskin scout]

Yeah some of his last few have been kind of dry to say the least.The shining,black house,and bag of bones rotate as my top 3!The talisman and It also in my top 5.Some of the past 10 years i dont know seems like he just hit a bit of a lull.I highly doubt this sequel will match,i own the book and the movie nicholson nailed the part!His best ever in my opinion.

I frequently read The Shining. The book keeps grabbing back to the halls of the Overlook. I am not terribly fond of the movie because it doesn't flesh out the Torrances. We learn so little about them in the movie and the movie relies on alot more comic touches than the book. Right from the opening credits, Jack Torrance already looks like he spent a winter in the Overlook. lol.

[CrimsonKing]

I frequently read The Shining. The book keeps grabbing back to the halls of the Overlook. I am not terribly fond of the movie because it doesn't flesh out the Torrances. We learn so little about them in the movie and the movie relies on alot more comic touches than the book. Right from the opening credits, Jack Torrance already looks like he spent a winter in the Overlook. lol.

HAHA i agree but that and one flew over the cuckoos nest really set jacks career up as the psycho character.Another one of my top 100 films lol.The book though you are 100% correct one of kings best,the way he used to blend real life horror with fiction horror was his best quality.Seems to have been slacking a bit in the last few i have read.Before i bought this one the last i read was "Just After Sunset" it was OK.

[buckskin scout]

HAHA i agree but that and one flew over the cuckoos nest really set jacks career up as the psycho character.Another one of my top 100 films lol.The book though you are 100% correct one of kings best,the way he used to blend real life horror with fiction horror was his best quality.Seems to have been slacking a bit in the last few i have read.Before i bought this one the last i read was "Just After Sunset" it was OK.

One detail that I believe made Stephen King meteoric storm is his eye for details, storytelling, and character development. Though he does criminally recycle and reuses characters types, and the stereotypes always rears its ugly head. I wont touch much of anything horror writers publish these days because it always lacks these three qualities... an eye for detail, storytelling, and character development. No, it is a green-blood monster or a walking slimebeast slaughters abunch of cliches. End of story. Thank you for the $8.00 btw.

But back to King, the quality of his books would definitely rise if they were much better edited. Too much superfluous filler. He is too big to answer to a proper editor though now and it shows. He doesn't know how to properly end a story either. That's just accepted fact.

Edited March 15, 2013 by B Jenkins

[markprice]

But back to King, the quality of his books would definitely rise if they were much better edited. Too much superfluous filler. He is too big to answer to a proper editor though now and it shows. He doesn't know how to properly end a story either. That's just accepted fact.

"The editor is always right."- Stephen King

With an attitude like that I think one of your "facts" are wrong.

[buckskin scout]

"The editor is always right."- Stephen King

With an attitude like that I think one of your "facts" are wrong.

I find his more recent works rather poorly edited. And the reason I am assuming is that Stephen King has for all practical purposes become a commercial brand now and his britches are much larger than his early years a la he possesses alot more sway.

Edited March 28, 2013 by B Jenkins

[buckskin scout]

Doctor Sleep

Announcement Date: May 8th, 2012

Projected Release Date: September 24th, 2013

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

Meh, this is more like a fantastic story than the distillation of horror that The Shining was.

The True Knot?

Immortals?

Epic war between good and evil?

This is not the story I want to read as a sequel to The Shining. Its too fantastic. Whereas The Shining dealt with madness, murder, and an evil house.

[Regi]

I frequently read The Shining. The book keeps grabbing back to the halls of the Overlook. I am not terribly fond of the movie because it doesn't flesh out the Torrances. We learn so little about them in the movie and the movie relies on alot more comic touches than the book. Right from the opening credits, Jack Torrance already looks like he spent a winter in the Overlook. lol.

I saw Stephen King on a program called A Night At The Movies where he gave his impressions and opinions of horror movies in general and it was very, very interesting, and of course, he spoke of his own stories made into movies and he said he had a big problem with The Shining. He said the movie's director knew he had a big problem with it. He said it was a fundamental problem with the main character and where this evil comes from. He said in his book, the character's are all warm and sympathetic and the director made the main character and the movie very cold and an example of that is that at the end of the movie the hotel freezes, but in his book, the hotel burns.

(Now, I haven't read the book or seen the movie. I've seen probably half of the movie...)

Anyway, he said there's no doubt that the movie had good effects, but to him it was like a pretty car with no engine.

(I'd have to go back and see precisely what he said about it. I recorded the program a couple of months ago, but just recently viewed it!)

He had lots of fascinating things to say about the progression of horror movies!

[Antilles]

I saw Stephen King on a program called A Night At The Movies where he gave his impressions and opinions of horror movies in general and it was very, very interesting, and of course, he spoke of his own stories made into movies and he said he had a big problem with The Shining. He said the movie's director knew he had a big problem with it. He said it was a fundamental problem with the main character and where this evil comes from. He said in his book, the character's are all warm and sympathetic and the director made the main character and the movie very cold and an example of that is that at the end of the movie the hotel freezes, but in his book, the hotel burns.

(Now, I haven't read the book or seen the movie. I've seen probably half of the movie...)

Anyway, he said there's no doubt that the movie had good effects, but to him it was like a pretty car with no engine.

(I'd have to go back and see precisely what he said about it. I recorded the program a couple of months ago, but just recently viewed it!)

He had lots of fascinating things to say about the progression of horror movies!

Then how can you be giving your opinion about something you haven't read or seen?

[Regi]

Then how can you be giving your opinion about something you haven't read or seen?

Where's MY opinion in that post, Antilles?

[progressivegamer44]

I love stephen king, i really do, but you people are simply being overzealous fanboys if you maintain his work today is on par with his 80's stuff.

Pet semetary and IT will always be my favorites. I'm also of the opinnion his last 10\10 book was IT

[progressivegamer44]

One detail that I believe made Stephen King meteoric storm is his eye for details, storytelling, and character development. Though he does criminally recycle and reuses characters types, and the stereotypes always rears its ugly head. I wont touch much of anything horror writers publish these days because it always lacks these three qualities... an eye for detail, storytelling, and character development. No, it is a green-blood monster or a walking slimebeast slaughters abunch of cliches. End of story. Thank you for the $8.00 btw.

But back to King, the quality of his books would definitely rise if they were much better edited. Too much superfluous filler. He is too big to answer to a proper editor though now and it shows. He doesn't know how to properly end a story either. That's just accepted fact.

This man speaks all kinds of truth.

[Queenregena]

I absolutely love Stephen king. his work is just amazing the way he ties his stories together.

[Lava_Lady]

I'm currently reading Dr. Sleep, the sequel to The Shining and it is definitely NOT on par with his earlier work. As a matter of fact, it's a bit on the tedious side.

My favorites are Bag of Bones, Duma Key and Under the Dome.

Those are really well written and engaging. I find his most recent works to be too similar to each other and bit hackneyed. And honestly, I'm starting to get annoyed with his theme of child molesting creepos with special powers. King's son, Joe Hill, has also picked up on this theme and King actually references Hill's antagonist from NOS4R2 in the sequel. I find this irritating since not everyone will have read Hill's book.

[Skep B]

I find i prefer King's short stories, and teh collections of them "Skeleton Crew" fo rexample.

ANd many of his novels are quite good also, but his tendancy to, by the end make everything aliens, and his oscene amounts of filler are a bit of a turn off.

But just a bit

[buckskin scout]

I'm currently reading Dr. Sleep, the sequel to The Shining and it is definitely NOT on par with his earlier work. As a matter of fact, it's a bit on the tedious side.

My favorites are Bag of Bones, Duma Key and Under the Dome.

Those are really well written and engaging. I find his most recent works to be too similar to each other and bit hackneyed. And honestly, I'm starting to get annoyed with his theme of child molesting creepos with special powers. King's son, Joe Hill, has also picked up on this theme and King actually references Hill's antagonist from NOS4R2 in the sequel. I find this irritating since not everyone will have read Hill's book.

I just put myself on the waiting list at the local library for Doctor Sleep because I have to read the semi-sequel to The Shining (my personal King fav). But thanks for warning me, it will probably take me a month to finish I guestimate. But I have to do this, I am forced to.

I only was able to read about 70 pages of NOS4R2, and quite, it was too abstract and surreal with the heavy character POV. Half the time I was like, What...?

[Lava_Lady]

I just put myself on the waiting list at the local library for Doctor Sleep because I have to read the semi-sequel to The Shining (my personal King fav). But thanks for warning me, it will probably take me a month to finish I guestimate. But I have to do this, I am forced to.

I only was able to read about 70 pages of NOS4R2, and quite, it was too abstract and surreal with the heavy character POV. Half the time I was like, What...?

Don't get me wrong, there are some good parts thus far but I am finding it a bit tedious as I move through it because King has this way of going too far into supporting character back story which is often unnecessary. And he also is getting a bit carried away with his detailing which was already too much. Detailing works in some cases but, I don't know about in this one as there are a lot of characters.

This was promoted as the sequel to The Shining but aside from a few familiar characters and a few reminiscences it has nothing to do with it and there are a lot of "wtf???" and eye rollers. I won't spoil it any further though! lol

I feel the same as you did with NOS4R2... it is very abstract and also with too many characters, so many that I was also confused. I couldn't get through it the first time, waited a few months then tried again and managed to get through it but don't ask me about the details. I couldn't tell you. Which is really disappointing because before the story line goes all "Dark Towers" it was going well.

I liked Horns by Joe Hill a lot better. That one has characters you can relate to and is much less ridiculous, as well as minus child murdering psychos... enough of that already.

[+susieice]

I have to agree that King is getting way too long winded. Insomnia was one of the best cures for it I've ever found. It took half the book before he started making his point. I just started Under The Dome because it looks like it's gonna be a long read, but everyone says it's good, so here I go.

[Lava_Lady]

I actually enjoyed Under The Dome. Sometimes it gets long but the characters are likable and there's opportunity to really get involved into the story. I hope you enjoy it!

[buckskin scout]

Don't get me wrong, there are some good parts thus far but I am finding it a bit tedious as I move through it because King has this way of going too far into supporting character back story which is often unnecessary. And he also is getting a bit carried away with his detailing which was already too much. Detailing works in some cases but, I don't know about in this one as there are a lot of characters.

This was promoted as the sequel to The Shining but aside from a few familiar characters and a few reminiscences it has nothing to do with it and there are a lot of "wtf???" and eye rollers. I won't spoil it any further though! lol

lol ... I know what you mean by "wtf" and eye rollers for sure.

I feel the same as you did with NOS4R2... it is very abstract and also with too many characters, so many that I was also confused. I couldn't get through it the first time, waited a few months then tried again and managed to get through it but don't ask me about the details. I couldn't tell you. Which is really disappointing because before the story line goes all "Dark Towers" it was going well.

I liked Horns by Joe Hill a lot better. That one has characters you can relate to and is much less ridiculous, as well as minus child murdering psychos... enough of that already.

For those reasons I doubt I will give NOS4R2 another shot to be honest. But I will look into Horns, thank you!

[Shiloh17]

I started reading Christine one night and didn't finish till 3 A.M had to get up at 5 A.M.

Hard to put one of his books down.

[Guest Nathan DiYorio]

The Dome was a pretty good movie. I love the part where Bart and Homer reconcile their differences and become a family again, just in time to save the town from a devestating explosion.

[buckskin scout]

Stephen King never truly translated well to screen, but here is The Sleepwalkers theme (Enya - Boudicea) covered by a yt user that I have had bookmarked for years now. Haunting and beautiful.

Enjoy!

[Bavarian Raven]

I started reading Christine one night and didn't finish till 3 A.M had to get up at 5 A.M.

Couldnt get into that one. :/ Sadly.

[Lava_Lady]

Stephen King never truly translated well to screen, but here is The Sleepwalkers theme (Enya - Boudicea) covered by a yt user that I have had bookmarked for years now. Haunting and beautiful.

Enjoy!

Can't open from US. ..something about copyright laws. Bummer. .. but I do like the music from the movie too.

[Sufjan]

I have only read The Gunslinger. Bought the second book of the Series and The Shining. Haven't read them yet, but I changed my mind about Stephen King. Now I like him. Planning on buying "On Writing".

Edited November 14, 2013 by Ernest Hemingway