Does anybody else find this guy a bit overrated?? His short stories are pretty kick-ass, but the novels fer me at least lose alot of steam and just kinda drag to a a conclusion.
Steve, if yer reading this, go to bed, it's late.
Some of his books I think are overrated,but most of his books are very good.My favorites are the green mile,shawshank redemption,Rose Madder,The dark tower series,the stand.
Nah, the man surely deserves the credit he is given. Most of his work is quite decent, and that only a few of his novels are masterpieces is more a matter of his tendence to overwrite (both in extension and in number of books) than of him laking talent.
Of course, he would be better considered if the movies based on his work were any good.
King is my mentor!
Yea, he is very overrated... and so far I only like 2 of his stories... The Mist (I would love to see as a movie) and a short story about the guy eating himself (I forgot the name of it... but it was very good)
But this guy has written a lot of books... from the early 70's... till now... and he still keeps writing them... I just wish he would stop writing about a "Writer" as a main character as in many of his stories...
I like most of Stephen King's stuff.
NIGHT SHIFT was an excellent collection of short stories. SALEM'S LOT was a very scary vampire story. THE SHINING was excellent (far better than Kubrick's film interpretation). MISERY was extremely suspenseful.
On the other hand, you have stuff like GERALD'S GAME, which wasn't bad, but should have been a short story as opposed to a novel, and CARRIE, which was much better as a movie than a book.
Overall, his good stuff far outweighs his bad stuff. And he blows away every other horror writer out there.
Stephen King is one of the best writers of our time. While there are other writers I prefer (Ramsey Campbell and Richard Matherson, for starters), King has written more books that I like than anyone else. My favorites would include Carrie, Salem's Lot, Shining, Dead Zone, Cujo, and Pet Semetary. In fact, the only novel of his that I truely hate is Gerald's Game , which I will never read again.
These days, I think King's doing better with his short stories than with his novels. Then again, with a few exceptions, I think short stories are better than novels any way.
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I agree....While his novels are great....nothing compares to his short stories.
"Everything's Eventual" kicked ass!
14 dark tales!
While I'm not a big fan of his I did love IT and The Stand. His others were ok but I hated Tommyknockers. I never even finished it, plow reading in my opinion.
King has admitted that Tommyknockers was one of his worse novels.
He wrote most of it while addicted to cocaine in the 80's.
While writing that and Cujo he stated that he'd stay up until 3 am on coke with his heart racing at a hundred some beats per minute.
He said he doesn't remember much writing them.
Post Edited (06-26-03 20:20)
I liked Tommyknocker, but it isn't one of his better ones.
As for short stories, I liked "1408" better than "Everything's Eventual", but, as far as anthologies, that ones his best since Skeleton Crew .
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With King, his books-turned-into-movies are always hit or miss. If he has a movie title saying "Stephen King's......[insert title here]", it tips the scales to the side of "sucks" (exception being The Stand)
i.e.: Stephen Kings Sleepwalkers
Stephen King's IT
Stephen King's The Night Flier
Stephen King's The Langoliers
Well, you get the point.
It's also interesting that in every King novel, there are usually two common themes:
(1) Guilt over a dead brother (this is RAMPANT in most of his works)
(2) Dream sequences
Anyone else notice this?
Drug abuse/drinking too much also appears quite a bit.
1408 was f**king awesome!
It is without a doubt the best "haunted room" short story I've ever read!
And Cullen....1408 IS in 'Everything's Eventual".
His early stuff is better--but I like all of his short stories. Haven't liked any of his novels in quite a while. In some ways he's both the best and worst thing to happen to horror fiction. Best in that he proved horror fiction was viable in the mainstream but worst in that he takes up sooooo much shelf space [along with Koontz] that there's not a lot of room for anyone else, especially those with a different style of writing.
Personally, I think Joe R. Lansdale is way better than King, but Lansdale seems more into mystery writing now.
I too love Stephen King and have noticed that I am not alone in thinking that Gerald's Game was awful ( I also did not like Pet Cemmetary). In fact, the Dead Zone helped to bring my current girlfriend and I together.
Ah Stephen King : Matchmaker.
I like many of his books, although I haven't read any of his more recent books. I think my favorite short story by him was his sequel to Salem's Lot, with the vampires luring people out into the snow.
Robert McCammon reminds me a lot of King. His novel Swan Song is like a different version of The Stand.
I know. See, I was talking "Everything's Eventual" the story, and not Everything's Eventual the book. Which was why I used quotes instead of underlined it. Sorry for the confusion; I should have been clearer.
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Overall King is so-so - I think he's at his best when he either writes the short stories (except nightmares and dreamscapes) or less horror ones, because when I get through his stories he tends to lead to a really irritating climax as if he has to pull one hell of a scary rabbit out of the hat and often it's not necessary. I would have liked "The stand" better if not for the way it ended, I got annoyed with how Rose Madder turned from a book about spousal abuse to a monster story and don't get me started on how ridiculous "dreamcatcher" was.
"NIGHT SHIFT" is my favorite and the pages are so worn the book is barely held together. "the little girl who loved tom gordon" was also a good read. And was I the only one who enjoyed "Insomnia"? :-)
The only thing I don't get are the dark towers releases - i couldn't even get through any of these books, they just didn't hold my interest whatsoever.
Yeah, I don't like the Dark Tower books either.
I liked Insomnia; it's just not one of my faves.
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King also has a good range and incorporates many different things into his stories. Often, his stories have supernatural events that almost seem secondary to the real character problems.
Look at the Shining. The main character is a struggling parent, hoping to keep his family together and a recovering alcohalic. Already you feel sad for the guy and then he starts getting harassed by the dem0nic hotel, making his plight even more tragic.
Also he does not always write horror, bbut compelling dramas and such as seen through The Green Mile and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
One of my favorite short Stephen King stories was one about a disembodied finger who tortures this guy to the brink of insanity. Anyone who can make a finger scary is quite impressive.
I've read: The Stand, Cujo, Cycle of the Werewolf, Midnight Run (I think this is the title it has the novella of "Langoliras"), Pet Cemetary, Long Walk, The Body, The Running Man, and Needful Things. I think all of them were at LEAST cool.
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Oh yeah I forgot about Shining, pretty cool I thought.
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