|
King is responsible for a lot of decent fiction that you wouldn't necessarily call horror or genre poo poo, and his collections of short stories tend to be at least readable if not actually good in and of themselves (but sometimes they're that too) Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption The Green Mile The Waste Lands Wizard and Glass The Talisman Thinner IT The Shining Plus when I think of King I tend to think of his contemporaries being Clive Barker and Dean Koontz, and King is substantially better than both of them imo
|
# ? May 28, 2015 01:57 |
|
|
# ? Mar 19, 2024 02:30 |
|
King is waaaaaaay beyond those two - there's nothing genuine behind what they write imo.
opus111 fucked around with this message at 02:04 on May 28, 2015 |
# ? May 28, 2015 01:58 |
|
also if we're talking about sheer economy of language King is basically a genius, someone else said he makes exposition very readable and that's true, but you can get crystal clear characterization from him in practically no time, and even his doorstopper books tend to be binge reads of course he's drawn from the well too many times regarding specific character archetypes but he's also trying to get paid, this is America buddy
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:01 |
|
opus111 posted:King is waaaaaaay behind those two - there's nothing genuine behind what they write imo. King is not the best writer, but he is still drat good. Also some of the writer's version of playing footsie with King and Koontz was kinda lol.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:01 |
|
“I can't. I don't know what will happen to your 'soul' if you commit suicide. I do, however, know what will happen to your body. It will rot.”
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:01 |
|
cthulusnewzulubbq posted:My only gripe is that he's done about four different versions of Word Processor of the Gods under different names. Yeah, that's a very fair criticism. He's a talented writer, but he's nothing like perfect. I get the feeling that he was that kid in school that never had to do any work ever, since he always aced tests. He builds stories so well that people kind of just accept that he hasn't put any thought whatsoever to the ending of 90% of his work.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:01 |
|
Mooktastical posted: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. “Longer than you think, Dad!” *claws own eyes out*
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:03 |
|
Wicker Man posted:King is not the best writer, but he is still drat good. aaah I meant' beyond'! autocorrect is my sworn enemy.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:03 |
|
Stephen King and William Gibson are probably the two authors most responsible for influencing how I read and write fiction, but if I had to give an edge to one I'd pick King. My dude likes lovely Billy Joel 80's-era rock and puts in more pointless pop-culture references than anyone else I've ever read and enjoyed, and if someone were to provide a sophisticated takedown of most of King's work I'd probably grudgingly agree in most cases, but there was like a decade-long tear where I read everything he published Stephen King owns unironically
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:08 |
|
he likes green day
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:10 |
|
guts and bolts posted:Stephen King and William Gibson are probably the two authors most responsible for influencing how I read and write fiction, but if I had to give an edge to one I'd pick King. My dude likes lovely Billy Joel 80's-era rock and puts in more pointless pop-culture references than anyone else I've ever read and enjoyed, and if someone were to provide a sophisticated takedown of most of King's work I'd probably grudgingly agree in most cases, but there was like a decade-long tear where I read everything he published You have good opinions, and if you produced a monthly periodical or some such, I would give you money to read it.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:10 |
|
Needful Things was good, but the Rick & Morty Needful Things episode was great.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:16 |
|
PotatoJudge posted:Needful Things was good, but the Rick & Morty Needful Things episode was great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2RPBVVIxOY
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:21 |
|
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is King's best work to date
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:42 |
|
Stephen King is genuinely great. Not all of his books are great or perfect, but as a whole, Stephen King is pretty great. He has more than earned his place in the American literary tradition. I will say with a perfectly straight face that he'a a better loving writer than John goddamn Updike. The Talisman, The Stand, Pet Sematary, and The Drawing of the Three might comprise his all-time best novels. 11/22/63 is a recent knock out of the park. The Tommyknockers is genuinely good - I don't know why so many people have a problem with it. It's genuinely weird and, as others have mentioned, it's genuinely smart about addiction and toxic relationships. I'm currently reading Black House. It's interesting, but overlong. Weirdly beautiful writing, though, in its own way - I love the use of second person, present tense. The rambling does it no favors, though. I'd probably like it more if it had never been positioned as a continuation of The Talisman, which is a tightly structured novel.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:47 |
|
TheWeepingHorse posted:Stephen King is genuinely great. Not all of his books are great or perfect, but as a whole, Stephen King is pretty great. He has more than earned his place in the American literary tradition. I will say with a perfectly straight face that he'a a better loving writer than John goddamn Updike. Agreed on most points. I don't know why I didn't like The Tommyknockers. I just didn't. I think his short stories really showed his range and genius. The adaptability of his stuff to the screen is pretty amazing. The Stand was his best, imho. Sure the ending wasn't amazing or anything but poo poo, what the hell else could have happened? I wish someeone would do The Running Man the right way, with Clarence Bodiker/Red/whatever that guy's name is as the hunter guy and some good but weird no-name as the running man.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:58 |
|
Hector Beerlioz posted:
he was actually on cough syrup dxm lmao
|
# ? May 28, 2015 02:59 |
|
i remember reading something by him where he mentioned his family had an intervention after they found all the robitussin in the trash
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:00 |
|
The Mist was good. Surprisingly, so was the movie. The Stand was great and the part where whatshisface went into the Lincoln? tunnel with all those bodies....
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:05 |
|
Mr. Hand posted: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.) He never met an editor that could tame him properly. Which is a bit of a shame. But still, I mean just think of how many of his books were made into really excellent movies. Different Seasons/Stand By Me Carrie (twice!) The Shining (twice!) Cujo Christine Cat's Eye (GREAT goddamn movie this is.) The Stand (I thought the miniseries was pretty fuckin well done tbh) Creepshow There were ones that were less successful but still iconic It - Tim Curry's clown is iconic, but I don't remember much else, I recall thinking it was just too short for the book to do it any justice.) Trucks/Maximum overdrive - awesome in its own way, 80s trashy though. AC/DC's "DT" as the theme though, awesome. Then there's always the stinker: The Running Man - had nothing whatsoever to do with the book except a vague brush of its premise Other: The Tommyknockers - I never finished the book, didn't see miniseries, can't comment The Mist - great book, never saw the movie And that's just what I can think of off the top of my head without googling. Pretty good work. pr0k fucked around with this message at 03:23 on May 28, 2015 |
# ? May 28, 2015 03:08 |
|
Reign Of Pain posted:The Mist was good. Surprisingly, so was the movie. End sucked, movie especially
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:12 |
|
Mooktastical posted:End sucked, movie especially no gently caress you
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:12 |
|
This best thing Steven King ever wrote was Trashcan Man giving The Kid a handjob at gunpoint. That was some happy-crappy, to use a literary term.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:14 |
|
I recently read Brian Lumley's The Man Who Felt Pain and was shocked by how similar it was to The End of the Whole Mess. I have no idea as to the timelines for each of these shorts.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:16 |
|
Reign Of Pain posted:no gently caress you The Stand is super overrated, too. "So I have this final showdown between the good guys and the bad guys, only the bad guys have the bomb. How should I end this loving thing? I know! I'll have the literal hand of God come down and blow up the bad guys, then send my badass antichrist analogue to Venezuela for no loving reason." gently caress you
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:19 |
|
the stand got bad earlier than that when he decided to kill off all the interesting characters
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:22 |
|
I remember really enjoying Insomnia. Its badshit crazy and I loved it. Also Wizard and Glass is my favourite Dark Tower book.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:25 |
|
Insomnia - wasn't that made into a movie with Robin Williams and ....Pacino? That was badass too.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:28 |
|
Insomnia you motherfuckers.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:29 |
|
TEAYCHES posted:he was actually on cough syrup dxm lmao Lol, I like him more now. I just remembered that a family friend went to high school with King. I've never read anything by him. Where should I start?
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:30 |
|
Hector Beerlioz posted:Lol, I like him more now. any of the oft-mentioned novels in this thread are great. stop reading dark tower at book 4
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:31 |
|
Hector Beerlioz posted:Lol, I like him more now. The Talisman, then the Bachman Books, then read his popular novels and short stories concurrently. You have to ease into the suck
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:32 |
|
his short stories are usually pretty good but in his novels he couldn't write a good ending if his life depended on it.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:33 |
|
Hector Beerlioz posted:I've never read anything by him. Where should I start? Cell.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:36 |
|
Hector Beerlioz posted:Lol, I like him more now. Different Seasons The Green Mile The Shining The Waste Lands Wizard and Glass The Eyes of the Dragon The Talisman IT The Long Walk Carrie
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:38 |
|
TheWeepingHorse posted:Stephen King is genuinely great. Not all of his books are great or perfect, but as a whole, Stephen King is pretty great. He has more than earned his place in the American literary tradition. I will say with a perfectly straight face that he'a a better loving writer than John goddamn Updike. updike is overrated tedium, but lol if you think stephen king is anything but a better than average hack. read some loving classics, get some taste
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:47 |
Hector Beerlioz posted:Lol, I like him more now. I think you should start with the Greeks and get a good understanding of the foundation of Western literature.
|
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:49 |
|
I drove by the K Mart in my Toyota Corolla listening to Tina Turner sing 'What's Love Got to Do with It.' My Bose car speakers really made the difference.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:49 |
|
Steven King is generally a poo poo author. Much like OP is a poo poo poster. Also Steven King has a twin brother called Steven Kong
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:50 |
|
|
# ? Mar 19, 2024 02:30 |
|
also, it's so cute when he tries to sit at the big kids' table and act like a Serious Man of Letters. ever read the 2007 best american short stories, the one he edited? don't.
|
# ? May 28, 2015 03:50 |