Stephen King

Harry Callahan

Harry Callahan

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I've been reading Stephen King books since high school. As a pioneer of audiobooks, Stephen King was out front on getting a lot of his titles released on unabridged audio, so I've listened to my fair share of Stevo's books-on-tape. Flipping thru the channels yesterday I came to the realization that the man is actually is living legend. There was like three King inspired shows/movies on. Looked thru the guide just now and there's nothing but rarely does a day go by that there isn't SOMETHING on that he wrote. Geesh. Children of the Corn. Creepshow. It. The Stand. Kingdom Hospital or whatever it is. Rose Red.

I hate his politics. His choice of a baseball team sucks pond water. But his storytelling is a gift from God. There's just no other way to explain it. Elvis with the voice. Patton with the tactical know-how. Orson with the cinematography. Babe Ruth with the bat. These people come along once in a lifetime. The gifts they have are so very obviously from above. Stevo has that.

Some of the "scenes" in Stevo's books are so descriptive that you are REALLY THERE. If you're reading that scene on the Metro in DC, you are no longer sitting in a dirty seat on an overcrowded subway car. Nope. You are looking at a rose in the middle of a vacant lot. Your name is Jake. Or maybe you are at the Overlook Hotel, snowed in and going slowly mad. Or on Neibolt Street, pedalling for your life. But you are, however temporarily, no longer on the Metro tunnelling under the city. You are THERE, right where Stevo put you. In the story. Can't say that about too many authors. Oh we read their books and some of them we like. But the authors didn't transport us off to their world. Not like SK can.

Or maybe I'm just full of it.... :foot:
 
I have enjoyed King....Mostly. Considering the man's huge output, that's a pretty good endorsement.
I have tended to like his more science-fiction-flavored stuff; Tommyknockers, etc.

The Dark Tower was quite good, but uneven; he maybe could have edited a bit.

The Stand was very good but the overwrought "Good vs. Evil" ending a bit overdone as well. (Las Vegas-"Sin City"......)
Some of his shorter fiction is very well done indeed, 4 Seasons; every story a gem.
 
I like "The King" alot and have everything he has ever put out. but I also really like Dean Koontz, he's a lot like King but his books seem to move along much faster.
 
A gift from God. We all have those gifts. I cannot sing a note to save the life of my family. I do not understand Olympic Curling, but I can build a straight and level cinder block wall that will stop a Hummer without plans. We are all unique. Unfortunately, some of us do not find our gifts at all or much later in life, when all the dumbness of youth wears off. Steven King found out what he did best, and does it very well. He is using his talent to his advantage. I grew up with those books in the house, my mom read them, they just were not my thing. I enjoyed Joseph Wambaugh of the "Onion Fields" and "The Black Marble" fame. Those were great books. Oh yeah, one of my talents.....ADHD. Hey look! A puppy!
 
Harry Callahan said:
I've been reading Stephen King books since high school. As a pioneer of audiobooks, Stephen King was out front on getting a lot of his titles released on unabridged audio, so I've listened to my fair share of Stevo's books-on-tape. Flipping thru the channels yesterday I came to the realization that the man is actually is living legend. There was like three King inspired shows/movies on. Looked thru the guide just now and there's nothing but rarely does a day go by that there isn't SOMETHING on that he wrote. Geesh. Children of the Corn. Creepshow. It. The Stand. Kingdom Hospital or whatever it is. Rose Red.

I hate his politics. His choice of a baseball team sucks pond water. But his storytelling is a gift from God. There's just no other way to explain it. Elvis with the voice. Patton with the tactical know-how. Orson with the cinematography. Babe Ruth with the bat. These people come along once in a lifetime. The gifts they have are so very obviously from above. Stevo has that.

Some of the "scenes" in Stevo's books are so descriptive that you are REALLY THERE. If you're reading that scene on the Metro in DC, you are no longer sitting in a dirty seat on an overcrowded subway car. Nope. You are looking at a rose in the middle of a vacant lot. Your name is Jake. Or maybe you are at the Overlook Hotel, snowed in and going slowly mad. Or on Neibolt Street, pedalling for your life. But you are, however temporarily, no longer on the Metro tunnelling under the city. You are THERE, right where Stevo put you. In the story. Can't say that about too many authors. Oh we read their books and some of them we like. But the authors didn't transport us off to their world. Not like SK can.

Or maybe I'm just full of it.... :foot:
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+1:thumbup: I think a lot of people dismiss him due to the genre of his work, but the man can make a different world come alive. My girlfriend's Aunt (I think) is his secretary, so I really hope to meet him some day!
 
I was a huge King fan when I was younger , when I hit about 25 his writing had lost me and I had lost interest in his writing and the genre.

Many of his stories still stick in my mind too , I epscecially loved his short stories. Jersalem's Lot , Sometimes they Come Back , Battleground , The Mangler , The Raft etc..

But! His finest piece ever , a book I still love and commited to permanent memory , a story that took me away from reality in blissful escapism was his collaboration with Peter Straub - The Talisman - If you folks have not read it , give it a try it is such a great , epic story.

Another great story was The Eyes of The Dragon , both novels are more fantasy/midevil oriented but are fantastic tales nonetheless.


Tostig
 
The green Mile is on A&E right now. Just more proof that 24 hrs doesn't go by very often without SOMETHING that SK did airing SOMEWHERE. Something I just thought of concerning SK... He wrote the new forward when the paperback version of the Poet by Michael Connelly came out. Been a long time since I read these few paragraphs so they aren't quotes or anything. His main point was that Connelly's first sentence was a "hook". King said that starting a new novel was a cold experience. You don't know (or care about) any of the characters yet. As it turns out, SK reads as much as he writes. He's always reading a novel. His kudos to Connelly was that the first quote of the Poet "Death is my business, it's what I do" (something like that) was enough of a "hook" that it kept the reader interested until he could be captured by the story. Those first few pages, the hardest of any novel to get thru, were negated by the great first line of the Poet. And SK recognized that. I've never forgot that, and ever since I read that forward, I've always "forced myself" to read the first ten pages of a new novel without interruption.

Anyway, it was a brilliant observation. SK just put it into words.
 
King is a good writer who hates guns and who writes about guns all the time. That makes him a hypocrite -- but he's still a good writer.
 
ive read many of his books, and always get sucked in to the story line and characters quickly.

i think he has quite a talent for build up, but sometimes the endings are anti-climatic. often everything just explodes, and sometimes it feels as if he has taken a story to a point and isnt sure about where to go next.

enjoyable and entertaining nonetheless.
 
Sharp Phil said:
King is a good writer who hates guns and who writes about guns all the time. That makes him a hypocrite -- but he's still a good writer.
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Why does him writing about guns make him a hypocrite? It's fiction, and the literary world is filled with novels written about human deeds and or items used that the author would not personally condone (fiction and nonfiction) . I would actually consider a good novel written using subjects that the author is not personally invested in as also being the mark of a good writer. On the contrary, he should be applauded for not interjecting his political beliefs into a non-political work.
 
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kycolonel said:
Why does him writing about guns make him a hypocrite? It's fiction, and the literary world is filled with novels written about human deeds and or items used that the author would not personally condone (fiction and nonfiction) . I would actually consider a good novel written using subjects that the author is not personally invested in as also being the mark of a good writer.
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Because he hates guns. He hates them so much that he doesn't believe anyone should have them. But that hate doesn't stop him from making money off of guns. He is much like many of the pukes in Hollywood. Like the producer of the Lethal Weapon movies. He is totally anti-gun, but made a mint off them. :rolleyes:

Some of Steven King's work is great. A lot of it is full of fat. He must get paid by the word on a lot of his work. I'm not afraid to read thick books, but I know BS fat when I read it. At his best, he can do brilliant work like those under the Bachman pseudonym. Pretty much anything of his with 1000 pages has about 700 pages of waste.

Koontz is a much cleaner writer, but lacks the imagination and sticks to formula all too often. How many times can the Hero/heroine drive to Vegas?
 
I used to be a huge fan of King and have read most of his books. The Shining is my favorite and I've read it 3 or 4 times but I also hate his politics. The fact that I don't like his new stuff is actually a relief. I think he's run out of ideas because the last few I've tried reading seem to be rehashes of his previous work. When he started getting heavy into female protagonists he lost me. I forced myself to finish Insomnia and I should have just bailed on it. It was ironically titled for something that kept putting me to sleep. I was unable to finish Lisey's Story because it was so dull. Finally, I am sick of nearly all of his lead characters being authors. It's time to shut off the PC, Steve-O.
 
zenheretic said:
Because he hates guns. He hates them so much that he doesn't believe anyone should have them. But that hate doesn't stop him from making money off of guns. He is much like many of the pukes in Hollywood. Like the producer of the Lethal Weapon movies. He is totally anti-gun, but made a mint off them. :rolleyes:
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Yes, but it is art and it is theirs being sold. As I mentioned, as long as they're not using their product to spread their own political beliefs, then okay (and I'm a big time gun rights supporter). I wouldn't want my customers to buy/not buy my product from me based on my personal or political beliefs insead of the product I can provide, so I try to extend same to others. If one were to filter all those whose personal beliefs did not align with the liberal personalities in print, radio and film they literally have to turn all of these off and live like a hermit.
 
He is one sicko dude. I got hooked on him when I read The Stand and Talisman. I gave up on him when he dropped the ball on the Dark Tower series.
 
Harry Callahan said:
I hate his politics........ But his storytelling is a gift from God. There's just no other way to explain it.

Some of the "scenes" in Stevo's books are so descriptive that you are REALLY THERE........... You are THERE, right where Stevo put you. In the story. Can't say that about too many authors. Oh we read their books and some of them we like. But the authors didn't transport us off to their world. Not like SK can.

:
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I couldn't agree more!
 
kycolonel said:
Yes, but it is art and it is theirs being sold. As I mentioned, as long as they're not using their product to spread their own political beliefs, then okay (and I'm a big time gun rights supporter). I wouldn't want my customers to buy/not buy my product from me based on my personal or political beliefs insead of the product I can provide, so I try to extend same to others. If one were to filter all those whose personal beliefs did not align with the liberal personalities in print, radio and film they literally have to turn all of these off and live like a hermit.
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Still is hypocritical.
 
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