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Fantasy Aficionados discussion
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Stephen King
He certainly wouldn't be the first fantasy author to decide to add to a completed series, so I won't pass judgment. I loved the Dark Tower series (though, as many others, I didn't care for the ending), and he's still a great author, so I'd read his works. I am also a big fan of horror, and while he can be a bit hit-and-miss (seriously, nothing about laundry pressing machines ever has or ever will scare me), I think he cares about these books enough to put in the effort.
I'm a fan of horror, particularly mythic/fantasy horror, and while I'm more of a Clive Barker kind of gal, I do love King's stories, too. The Long Walk is one of my favorites by him. I also like The Stand, The Shining, The Mist (but I preferred the movie), and The Talisman. Oh! And a movie, Storm of the Century: An Original Screenplay. Andre Linoge was a man after my heart when I was a teenager, let me tell you.
I'm a fan of horror, particularly mythic/fantasy horror, and while I'm more of a Clive Barker kind of gal, I do love King's stories, too. The Long Walk is one of my favorites by him. I also like The Stand, The Shining, The Mist (but I preferred the movie), and The Talisman. Oh! And a movie, Storm of the Century: An Original Screenplay. Andre Linoge was a man after my heart when I was a teenager, let me tell you.
I love Stephen King. :D The DT series one of my favorite series ever, and I've re-read it several times. I'm super thrilled that he's adding to it. I was a little hesitant at first, but after my latest reread I've changed my mind and now I'm so excited I can barely wait! Since so many of his other books tie into the series in some way, and because of the way that the books are described as being written (in the books themselves, I mean), I have no problem with him coming back to the series.
@ Mrs.J Have you read It? It's horror but more like The Stand than his other works. I also like the books he wrote with Peter Straub, those are mostly fantasy.
The Talisman & Black House are way up in my favorites too. I love those books. I can't ever tell what is King and what is Straub though. I always think of it as just King's. I did try to read a book of Straub's short stories and hated it...
I've read the first few books, but I started while he was still writing them so I never finished the series. I was...4? 5? books in before I caught up to his pubbing.I sat on pins and needles waiting for the next few books - the series is based off of one of my favortie poems - but at the time he was making noises that he wasn't going to complete the series so I gave up.
I know that the ending of the series has to be pretty dark...the poem ends on a rather dim note. But I wanted to read it regardless.
Anyone interesting in disecting the poem? It's pretty good... Browning at his finest.
I've always found him to be a better story-teller than he is a writer... I've stopped reading him.
i grew up with the series and read the first three when i was probably way too young for them. by the time book four came out, i was a bit disenchanted, but that was mostly because i found the mostly-backstory structure of the book dull. then it was like 7 years until the last three were written, and of course it is impossible to read them without imagining how they would be different if king had never been hit by that car. or if they would exist at all.overall, though, i still really like the series, even though, for me, the last four books failed to top the waste lands.
I read Stephen King's horror books when I was rather young, myself. My mum was a big fan of his, and they were basically the only books in the house I could read (my dad's books were all mathematics text books), at least until I had an opinion on the matter and could ask for something else. Also, my parents let me watch horror movies when I was about 3 years old, so the horror elements have never bothered me. The Shining was my favorite film until I got to see Jurassic Park.
My mom took me to horror movies when I was a baby. I look at some of the movies now & wonder what she was thinking. lol. But I turned out okay...I think. Well...except for before I started kindergarten I used to run from people using knives, like someone making me a sandwich. Too many slasher flicks I guess. But no issues today. =)
Traci wrote: "My mom took me to horror movies when I was a baby. I look at some of the movies now & wonder what she was thinking. lol. But I turned out okay...I think. Well...except for before I started kinderga..."O_o
LOL Traci! I thought my parents were the only ones. I remember watching Child's Play and Pet Sematary and The Shining when I was little... I turned out just fine! *twitch* ;)
I had a cousin who sat on me and made me watch bits & pieces of Child's Play (she's the same one who held me down during Nightmare on Elm Street).My aunt made her sleep with me the night of each time. I had horrific nightmares and would keep her up all night...she got tired of that pretty quickly.
Ooh Nightmare on Elm Street... those were good ones too. MrsJ, my cousin was the same way as you... she hates anything and everything scary. I never forced her to watch though. That's mean. You either like that stuff or you don't, and if you don't, I'm sure it can be pretty traumatic.
I can't do broken bones, so watching the movie version of Misery traumatized me for YEARS. But the way, way more horrific (to most) scene in the book, didn't bother me at all. I find it kind of funny that what they thought made the scene less graphic was actually the exact opposite for me. *shudder* To this day, I've still never seen the movie all the way through. I just can't bring myself to do it, even though I've seen the worst part already!
I also can't do broken fingernails (*ahem* Stephen King - HINT HINT! LOL), or teeth, etc (American History X *shudder*). But blood, guts and gore don't bother me at all.
Becky wrote: "Ooh Nightmare on Elm Street... those were good ones too. MrsJ, my cousin was the same way as you... she hates anything and everything scary. I never forced her to watch though. That's mean. You e..."
Well, she was mean. Seriously. She is blind and was rather spoiled by my aunt because of that. Not that she's helpless (far from it) but she was horribly spoiled (kinda like Helen Keller without the deafness). She hated me when we were little cause until I was born she was the baby of the family...then I came along. I followed her like a puppy but she couldn't stand me. She once bounced me into a wall - on purpose - and then onto the floor. And would laugh while I cried. Huh. She once bit my mom on the butt, too.
As we got older she liked me more (but this was after the Nightmare on Elm Street thing) and later we became close like sisters. She still gets a kick out of the fact that she bounced me off the wall and onto the floor.
Sounds like she was a joy to be around when she was younger. LOL Well I'm glad that she's much friendlier now! :D
She was a terror...a spoiled terror, lol.Me, too! :-)
My dad watched a ton of sci-fi and horror when I was small. At first mom and dad kept me from watching but after awhile they figured out they really couldn't prevent me from at least sneaking peeks and relented unless it was a movie they really worried about me seeing. Lol and I was always a really big fraidy cat as a kid even without the horror. You notice that most horror authors grew up fraidy cats though?
But doesn't that tie into "write what you know"? If nothing scares you, how are you supposed to know what will scare others? *shrug*
Becky wrote: "But doesn't that tie into "write what you know"? If nothing scares you, how are you supposed to know what will scare others? *shrug*"Yep but I do find it interesting that they (well we since I also write horror) latch onto it more than the other kids who aren't as big of fraidy cats. Anne Rice was actually wondering about that last night on her facebook.
Love horror. My father and I bond over it. Thought Elm Street was pretty damn lame. Big fan of Halloween, The Exorcist, The Shining, and Rosemary's Baby.Actually thought the movie of The Shining was better than the book in many ways. Though obviously there were some interesting elements in the book they couldn't get into the movie.
King is a proficient writer and a great storyteller, but a lot of time he lies down on the job and relies on gore. He also tends to go on a bit. Most of his books could be seriously hacked by a good writer.
Ever read his autobiography/guide to writing? That is actually fascinating and does include some good advice for beginning writers.
Yes I've read nearly everything he's written thus far and I'm one of those folks that doesn't want an editor to chop out huge swathes of his books. I enjoy the time he takes with characterization and such. I feel like I invest more in the story and the characters with his books as apposed to many other authors.
*hides behind couch with MrsJoseph* I can't read or watch horror either (I was working in a theatre when Halloween H2O came out, and told myself I was being silly, it was just a dumb movie. I slipped in to stand at the back of the theatre. I lasted four minutes, and they weren't even gory minutes). I've read a couple of standard Kings - I had to read one when I was in art school because we had to read a King or a Ludlum and create a cover for it, and I for some reason went for Gerald's Game. I liked the writing more than I thought I would, but not enough to go through his whole library - and there was a lot of horror in my reaction to it, never mind the book. I've never been able to listen to "Space Cowboy" without thinking of this book. I did read Rose Madder a while later, and had almost the same experience, and that was it for a while.
But last year I read King's On Writing, and he won me over completely. I loved that book, unreservedly, and learned a huge amount from it, and can't recommend it highly enough to anyone considering writing a book. I have several books of the Dark Tower series; one of these days ... After On Writing I read The Colorado Kid and loved it. I understand a lot of people can't stand it because (view spoiler), but I thought that was one of its strong points. He has a gift for characters, and especially for dialogue - he has a great ear.
And he just seems like a very cool guy.
Amanda wrote: "Yes I've read nearly everything he's written thus far and I'm one of those folks that doesn't want an editor to chop out huge swathes of his books. I enjoy the time he takes with characterization a..."Ditto this. :D
I think I had a bit of a crush on Freddy when I was a kid. That's probably why I am such a big fan of b-movies these days, because let's face it, pretty much every movie in the NoES (lol, noes) series was a b-movie save the first and New Nightmare.
And I am a fan of On Writing, as well. Even if he isn't the best author himself, I think he's probably written the best book on the subject. I've read a lot of great writing books, from other big name authors (Orson Scott Card, E.M. Forster, Annie Dillard, Ray Bradbury - to name a few) and none really compete with King's.
And I am a fan of On Writing, as well. Even if he isn't the best author himself, I think he's probably written the best book on the subject. I've read a lot of great writing books, from other big name authors (Orson Scott Card, E.M. Forster, Annie Dillard, Ray Bradbury - to name a few) and none really compete with King's.
I love horror! It's one of my favorites, as is King. My favorites from Kings are: It
The Stand
Bag of Bones
Duma Key
As for movies, I think the adaptation of his short story, The Night Flier. The movie goes under the same title, and it's very disturbing. I love it.
Alexandra Victoria wrote: "I've read a lot of great writing books, from other big name authors (Orson Scott Card, E.M. Forster, Annie Dillard, Ray Bradbury - to name a few) and none really compete with King's."The only other one I can compare to it is Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, which changed my life a little.
Just read the synopsis of Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life and it seems quite good. It's added to my list ;) Thanks, Tracey
I've read Bird by Bird, too. Great book!
Hi, new member here. I've discovered King late in life. I used to have a block against him because so many of his books involved horrific things happening to children, and I had a small child at the time. So far I've read Duma Key, Lisey's Story, the Buick 8 book, two of his short story anthologies, Cell ( Loved Cell ), Under the Dome, and The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon, which I loved the best I think.When I was a kid my father and I watched Creature Feature and Chiller, which were all the B movies from the 50's and 60's, and the old classics, Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, the Invisible Man. So I love love love a scary horror movie or monster movie - but have a really low tolerance for gore. I think there are only a few modern movies that a really scary and not gory - Silence of the Lambs comes to mind.
@Bonfitto Best horror movie IMO that is all atmosphere & no blood or special effects at all is the original b&w The Haunting. Have you seen it? (remake is awful!)
@ Traci, I just added it to my Netflix queue. Thanks!
Hello, happy to be here! aka Bonfitto (above)
Is the old B & W Haunting on Netflix Canada, does anyone know?
Stephen King: now there's an enigma.Say what you will about King; he's definitely earned his place at the pinnacle of the horror genre and has made quite a mark on fantasy as well.
I have no business telling the man how to do his job. However, as a relatively observant reader, I've occasionally noticed some puzzling errors that have crept into a few of his books (continuity mistakes, mostly), especially the Dark Tower series. King admits that he writes super fast. Sometimes the speed approach tends to work against him.
In my experience, King excels at characterization. He can get a big bogged down in dialogue and description, though. On the whole, he's certainly a master.
I just couldn't make it past Wolves of the Calla. A friend and fellow King fan theorized that so much time had passed between each Dark Tower book that the author's underlying message and style changed drastically over the course of the series. Reading each novel in rapid succession made the narrative seem a bit disjointed. The kernel of greatness is definitely visible, though.
I've decided that Stephen King's short stories/novellas tend to outperform his longer works. "The Mist" and "The Body" are still two of my favorites. I think the guy works better within space limitations. Having an entire novel to play around with provides too much temptation for excessive exposition.
Still, I can't wait for 11/22/63.
Brian, I've read the Dark Tower series multiple times, and back to back, and I've never noticed any continuity errors. I read them for the first time all together, back to back, and they each DO have a different feel - even the ones written on each side of the gap feel different from each other - but I don't feel that's disjointed. I like that they are different books, with different feels and flavors and experiences and adventures. That's what draws me back time and again to them... well, partly. ;)I won't argue that King changed after his accident. But I don't think that negatively affected his writing at all. On the contrary, some of his post-accident books are my favorite ones. They are different from his early days, sure, but no less amazing. Duma Key is a perfect example. It's just as creepy and brilliant as The Shining, but in a different way, with characters that stand out in their own unique ways. I highly recommend it if you haven't read it. The audio is fantastic.
I really enjoy horror, but only if the characters keep me interested. Gore really doesn't bother me, but I get bored if that's all there is to the story. That's why I love King so much. His characters are wonderful. Well developed. I have yet to read the Dark Tower series, but it's on my list.
You make good points. The errors are admittedly trifling things. For example, in Drawing of the Three, King states that Roland and Eddie travel north along the shore, but the Western Sea is described as being on their right instead of their left. To his credit, the author has owned up to these small inconsistencies, saying it's just a story and to get over it. Again, not a major issue, but it's there.As for the accident, it's totally understandable that something like that would filter into one's work. Doesn't bug me at all.
I've also heard a lot of positive buzz about Duma Key.
One super cool thing that King does is his Dollar Babies project. He sells the rights to his work to independent filmmakers for $1.00, provided they're students or people who otherwise aren't just making the movie for profit. I had the pleasure of meeting the crew who made a phenomenal feature-length adaptation of Everything's Eventual under the Dollar Babies banner.
Ah, yes, I saw the west to the right thing... I just went with it, though, since that world is not OUR world. ;)I really like the Dollar Babies program as well. My favorite of them is the short film made of Paranoid: A Chant. Brilliant. :D Here's the link if you haven't seen it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pMwSq...
I can't argue with the idea that King's over description. I've been rereading The Gunslinger and it isn't until Chapter Two that anything happens; we have a solid three pages describing the main character. But I guess the combined forces of being a horror novelist AND a fantasy novelist might do that to a guy.
Brian wrote: "Wow. What a film!"Paranoid? It is. I love that one. It's perfect.
Meh I think it should have been a man as it was in the poem in my mind.
Alexandra Victoria wrote: "I can't argue with the idea that King's over description. I've been rereading The Gunslinger and it isn't until Chapter Two that anything happens; we have a solid three pages describing the main ch..."The funny thing is that those who love his books tend to love him for that overdescription, largely because it leads to you caring about the characters when everything starts to happen. His baddies are also worth the investment :)
I always heard it as a man too, Amanda. But I like that they cast a woman for the film. It makes it a little creepier, because innocently leering men (hehe, what a phrase) would set off her paranoia that much more, and her being a woman implies a certain vulnerability.
All this thread did is make me want to go back and read through the Dark Tower series again!
All I can say is I love SK's work, some more than others, but they're all good to me. The Dark Tower series is tops, I've read them all a bunch of times. I just love Roland, he is my favorite character anywhere. I also love Eyes of the Dragon
and The Talisman
. I'd have to say those are all in my list of top books ever. :)
I remember Eye of the Dragon. Very good book.
MrsJoseph wrote: "I remember Eye of the Dragon. Very good book."I've read a lot of Stephen King's work but I've never heard of this book.
Thanks a lot, MrsJ, for making me add it to my overburdened TBR pile! :)
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Have you heard that he's adding an 8th book to The Dark Tower Series??! It is set between books 4 & 5. Honestly, it rather pisses me off. If the series is complete, let it stand as complete! http://www.stephenking.com/promo/wind...
I still haven't re-read the first parts of the series to finish the last parts of the series.