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I've been on a recent Stephen King kick, I read 99% of his books written until about 1995 when I was younger, and haven't really thought about him since. However, I wanted something chunky to read a few weeks ago so I picked up The Tommyknockers, and since then I've read like 9 of his books. One thing that strikes me is that, especially in books like 'salem's lot and IT, there are tons of little phrases and observations that feel like second nature to me - I really took them in and made them part of me when I was a child. In a way he's responsible for a decent amount of how my own internal monologue is styled. I'm no fan of horror and usually I like stuff thats tightly plotted and crisp, and King is the opposite of this. But I think he's a master story teller - he ramps stuff up so well, and I love his old racist redneck characters. In his interviews he comes off as super progressive and modern, despite being so old now, but his characters are so honest and true to how they should be. He's a really brave writer. So what are your fav King books? I LOVE: IT The Stand The Dead Zone (this especially is his masterpiece, as far as I'm concerned) the Tommyknockers Salems Lot Actually I LOVE them all, bar Rose Madder, which I just don't get at all. Oh and Bag of Bones was bad too. I have under the dome to read next, which I'm looking forward to a lot.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:22 |
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# ? Mar 19, 2024 03:39 |
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What was the book he doesn't remember writing cause he was on cocaine the whole time
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:27 |
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Hector Beerlioz posted:
Cujo.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:28 |
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Let's cut to a few hot topics: - The Gangbang in IT - The quality of his writing after he got clean/hit by the van - Dark Tower chat
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:28 |
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the Dark Tower fuckin owns * *Wizard and Glass LOL
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:28 |
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opus111 posted:I've been on a recent Stephen King kick, I read 99% of his books written until about 1995 when I was younger, and haven't really thought about him since. Pretty much the same. I was reading the Dark Tower series (had just finished Waste Lands), but then got a preview copy of Dolores Claiborne. I gave up on him then and there (after finishing that 50 shades of turd grey). Fast forward to 200x and I was given a copy of "From a Buick 8" while laid up for several weeks. Talk about a pile of poo poo. I got a newer paperback (forget the title) for free at a garage sale awhile bck (im a poor), and I haven't bothered to opus111 posted:So what are your fav King books? Those two were awesome, and the one about the alien craft under the ground wasn't all that bad. Hell, IT, the Made-for-TV version starring John Ritter was decent.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:28 |
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mind the walrus posted:Let's cut to a few hot topics: The gangbang talk, please take to DnD or the book barn where they care about that. The one about JFK was really good and written in 2011. Take Dark tower to Book barn, please. I started this thread here because I think people in GBS are a little less obsessive about things.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:29 |
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hey op is your name a reference to lvb's last sonata
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:29 |
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Flo Cytometer posted:Pretty much the same. I was reading the Dark Tower series (had just finished Waste Lands), but then got a preview copy of Dolores Claiborne. I gave up on him then and there (after finishing that 50 shades of turd grey). I ike from a Buick 8 because it describes the indescribable really well.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:30 |
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ROFLburger posted:
this is wrong you are wrong I wish we could have more young roland books.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:30 |
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Mr. Hand posted:hey op is your name a reference to lvb's last sonata yes, when I play it to my own satisfaction I will finally die. It's the last word in music imo.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:30 |
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Can anyone help me remember that book by Dean Koontz? I read it in 1991ish. It had a train on the cover. It was pretty good and Queensryche "Silent Lucidity" was awesome background music to it. TIA. opus111 posted:I ike from a Buick 8 because it describes the indescribable really well. In what way? "It was kind of like a car", "it was kind of like an alien", or "it was kind of like a lovely story"?
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:31 |
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*packs up dark tower books, leaves*
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:31 |
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ROFLburger posted:*packs up dark tower books, leaves* all stephen king books are dark tower books
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:32 |
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opus111 posted:yes, when I play it to my own satisfaction I will finally die. It's the last word in music imo.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:32 |
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4outof5 posted:all stephen king books are dark tower books actually a biography about stephen king would be a dark tower book
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:33 |
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The Talisman is his best work. The Running Man was also loving awesome. The Dark Tower ending would have been more effective if he just copy pasted the same middle finger ascii over and over for the last half of the book or so. Sure as poo poo would've saved me a bunch of time.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:33 |
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Flo Cytometer posted:Can anyone help me remember that book by Dean Koontz? I read it in 1991ish. It had a train on the cover. It was pretty good and Queensryche "Silent Lucidity" was awesome background music to it. i don't remember any specifics, i actually read it as soon as it came out, which i forgot about (which shows my op isn't entirely true, but it was what i remembered when i wrote it) but i remember defending online at the time saying that exact phrase. something about an alien atmosphere, or a smell or weird shapes in a shed? he also used the phrase 'explosive heat', which is the best thing he's written imo - although i believe its in salems lot, too. anyway. KING.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:34 |
opus111 posted:Oh and Bag of Bones was bad too. Nope.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:36 |
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give reasons!
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:37 |
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Stephen King predicted 9/11 with the ending to "The Running Man"...
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:38 |
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opus111 posted:i don't remember any specifics, i actually read it as soon as it came out, which i forgot about (which shows my op isn't entirely true, but it was what i remembered when i wrote it) but i remember defending online at the time saying that exact phrase. something about an alien atmosphere, or a smell or weird shapes in a shed? he also used the phrase 'explosive heat', which is the best thing he's written imo - although i believe its in salems lot, too. anyway. KING. Yeah. It was like a choose your own adventure book, only you turned the page every loving time despite giving up a few chapters through. Wasn't there some killer dog or something that got sucked into the car and some other strange poo poo with the protagonist with cancer or something else? I can't remember, but I also don't want to remember. It has poo poo memories attached that were worse than the reason I was laid up for weeks.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:39 |
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He churns out too much material for his own good, and you obviously have to be talented to able to do that but at the same time one wishes that he'd take, say, four or five years between novels rather than churning them out on an annual basis (sometimes more than that.)
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:40 |
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I just started reading King's novels recently. I'd rank the ones that I've read so far as: Pet Sematary The Dead Zone Misery The Shining 'Salem's Lot Cujo (ugh) Starting IT next, and it's going to take me loving forever to finish.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:41 |
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The Shining Salems Lot Long Walk In that order. the rest of you are wrong
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:42 |
opus111 posted:give reasons! The horror/supernatural aspect of it was pretty bad, but the rest of it was good since, as you point out, "his characters are so honest and true to how they should be." The rest of the story is strong enough to stand on its own, despite the crappy horror/supernatural stuff.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:43 |
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We were all Harold at some point or another.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:44 |
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Vastarien posted:I just started reading King's novels recently. I'd rank the ones that I've read so far as: Pet Cemetery is amazing, its really nasty. lol my mum wouldn't let me read that as a kid but she bought me IT with no qualms. Misery is superb as well, good call. It feels like he actually plotted that one out (although I'm sure he didn't).
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:45 |
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M-O-O-N spells lazy writing.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:46 |
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I love Pet Semetary but I always get the "WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?!?!?" blue balls from the ending. The movie that was supposed to be a sequel stated his daughter suffered some kind of psychic flash that made her go crazy and chop up her grandparents that the main guy from the first one hated.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:47 |
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Thinner's ending was pretty good.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:48 |
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the scary shrek mobile from the shining sequel
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:49 |
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Vastarien posted:I just started reading King's novels recently. I'd rank the ones that I've read so far as: Pet Semetary is the only thing I've ever read that actually captures the true horror of animate dead. But the short story collections are the best. It Grows On You and Home Delivery are brilliant.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:49 |
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opus111 posted:
That's my least favorite quality about his books. He makes up for it in other ways though and sometimes even falls into a good plot. Anyway I listened to 11/22/63 on audiobook and it was a good experience.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:51 |
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TommyKnockers was drat good for that freaky "Invasion of the body snatchers" kind of sci fi horror. Plus I loved the relationship the main 'couple' being a couple of adult drunks who hang out and just talk poo poo and think up stuff...and how everyone and everything falls apart a little at a time.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:52 |
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cthulusnewzulubbq posted:Pet Semetary is the only thing I've ever read that actually captures the true horror of animate dead. This is a good post. The Jaunt scared the everliving poo poo out of me as a kid, and that almost never happened. I feel like (in his novels especially) King is great at making long expository sections readable and interesting, but he doesn't start thinking about the ending until he has no other choice. This problem is basically nonexistant in his short stories. Dolan's Cadillac, another good one. Also, Roadwork.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:52 |
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Mooktastical posted:This is a good post. That's true, I'd say that's one of his greatest strengths as a writer; the ability to make exposition entertaining.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:54 |
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He's v good and original even the the point a lot of his work is a bit formulaic, it's just a really good formula and there are always surprises and I feel like he really understands murrdering
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:55 |
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Mooktastical posted:This is a good post. My only gripe is that he's done about four different versions of Word Processor of the Gods under different names.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:56 |
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# ? Mar 19, 2024 03:39 |
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Wicker Man posted:TommyKnockers was drat good for that freaky "Invasion of the body snatchers" kind of sci fi horror. Plus I loved the relationship the main 'couple' being a couple of adult drunks who hang out and just talk poo poo and think up stuff...and how everyone and everything falls apart a little at a time. yeah its a really adult relationship in that they're both aware that they like each other a lot but they'd end up destroying each other so they just creep around each other's edges and they know is just very sad and ultimately completely unsatisfying - but they know disney love with other people is beyond them so they just do it anyway.
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# ? May 28, 2015 01:56 |