Stephen King, I love you. And also hate you

[WoD]

WoD- I think you are talking about 'Hearts in Atlantis' which featured uber-breaker Ted Brautigan on a 'holiday' from the world of the tower. I was also filmed with Anthony Hopkins.

Personally I love the Tower stories, and have not long finished a complete re-read of all seven for the first time. One thing that struck me was the hints at the very START of the first book as to how it might end.

As for King including himself- he does it reasonably well and gets away with it imo.

That's the one...cheers Bolt.

[locustsofdeath!]

Just to throw in: Stephen King was the first author I followed. As a youngster, I found 'Night Shift' on my dad's bookshelf and immediately devoured it, and then everything else I could find. 'The Stand' is tops with me.

Gerald's Game was the last book by him I've read, outside of the Dark Tower series. For what it's worth, I like the entire series, but I absolutely thrill to the first three books, with 'The Drawing of the Three' being perhaps my favorite.

Stephen King is a brilliant short story writer; most of his yarns are tightly-woven and focused, with little fluff.

All of my dad's old Stephen King books have over the years migrated to my bookshelf, waiting for my daughters to crease their spines once more.

[the shutdown man]

The Dark Tower is probably my favourite work of King's and my favourite set of books, full stop. The last few books do have some issues, I'd agree that King putting himself in there is a dodgy move, and [spoiler]both the Crimson King's and Randall Flagg's endings were very anti-climactic. Also, after building the spider-baby up for what, two books, he's killed in a two page confrontation? Bit of a letdown.[/spoiler]

But I still think it's worth it. And it took me a while to wrap my head around the ending, but I actually quite like it.

As for the "King universe" thing, that's part of the reason I love it so much. It fits in with the idea that the tower itself is the centre of the universe. And it was only after reading the series, and then re-reading a couple of his other books that I actually noticed the connections, like in Insomnia or the Stand.

[DavidXBrunt]

spider-baby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AB7IDw3PNI

[SmallBlueThing]

Ditto huge KIng fan. Ditto Dark Tower being too much to bear. I gave up on the cowboy one- the one that's almost entirely a very long western (book 4? I forget). Have got halfway through three times now and each time have chewed my own head off with boredom. Such a shame, as the first couple (3?) are excellent. I still can't go near the shore without half expecting to see "lobstrosities"- which may just be my favourite word in the language.

Of his recent work- Cell was bearable, Lisey's Story wasn't and I still haven't bought Duma Key (despite being one of those obsessive "everything in hardback" collectors). Enjoyed Blaze though, for what it was.

Steev

[Bolt-01]

Blaze was good fun, but I can't believe anyone can be bored by the Cowboy section of Wizard & Glass- The scene where roland & the boys take out Jonas in the bar is pure genius.

[TordelBack]

Of his recent work- Cell was bearable, Lisey's Story wasn't and I still haven't bought Duma Key

I thought Lisey's Story was excellent!  But than I am a sucker for made-up languages.  I also haven't yet attempted Duma Key.

[Richmond Clements]

The scene where roland & the boys take out Jonas in the bar is pure genius.

I just got to that yesterday! One of my favourite scenes in any book or film. Ever.

[Sefton Disney]

I still blow hot and cold about the last couple of Dark Tower books. Somehow, I can't help but feel it could have been more than it wound up being. There was definitely something a bit anti-climactic about Book the Seventh. I didn't particularly mind King writing himself into the novel, though. I thought it was interesting he portrayed himself in such an unsympathetic way, too (c.f. Philip K. Dick's autohagiography!).

I haven't read Lisey's Story or Duma Key. I thought Cell was pretty good, although Simon Clark handled a similar idea far more effectively in Blood Crazy. I thought Just After Sunset was a fantastic collection of short stories, and a major return to form.

[strontium_dog_90]

I'm a major King fan, too - he was the first writer I ever read stuff by, in my formative years. Surprised that no one has mentioned his novella collections yet - as well as "Different Seasons" famous, of course, for having in it the stories that became "The Shawshank Redemption," "Apt Pupil" and "Stand By Me," there is also the fantastic "Four Past Midnight." One of the stories from that, "Secret Window, Secret Garden," is my favourite Stephen King tale of all time.

"Duma Key" is a great read - I don't normally like such 'epic' books, but despite its hefty page count, it never becomes a chore to read. It's really got me excited for the forthcoming "Under The Dome."

As much as I love his short stories, I thought that the recent collection wasn't up to his high standards. He talks a little in the introduction about short stories being a struggle to write now, and I thought it showed a lot with the contents of the book. The stories didn't seem as enthusiastic and as real as his old short stuff. Still, it's good to see that he's still trying - there aren't enough short story collections out there these days!

[Kerrin]

Good heavens, if you like short stories you should have a read of this months offerings in the short story competition.

There's a link in my sig.

I thought the Dark Tower series did tale of somewhat towards the end, still good though. My favourite King is still "It". But again that went slightly awry at the finish. For all that I'm a big fan.

[Sefton Disney]

King's major fault as a novelist - which he's admitted himself - is endings. It's surprising how few of his novels have really satisfying endings, although I find you've usually had a good enough time getting there that it's pretty easy to forgive him.