2013-10-09 15:41:18

I never read Cell, though my mom did. It kinda made her afraid to answer her phone in case it was the Pule LOL. Then again she had a similar reaction to the first Jaws movie. She didn't want to stick her hand in a sink filled with water LOL.

But wait, what's that? A transport! Saved am I! Hark, over here! Hey nonny non, please help!

2013-10-09 23:56:15

King can be good, indeed quite good, but many of his books have a ton of intentional filler. Many times he'll stop the story dead in it's tracks to give a detailed backstory on a minor character that gives an important plot point, then vanishes or gets gruesomely killed.

For me at least it's very easy to get used to his slipstream style particularly when something supernatural or psychological is going on, but at the same time it really loses it's effect after you've read more than a few books. Though his characters and nature of that book's particular baddy can change, the rest of the plots and twists can get really predictable and formulaic if you know what to expect.

Aside from DT already mentioned, his best books are Christine and Salem's Lot in my opinion. Christine does a really good job at capturing a distinctly early American point of view and for the most part is pretty tightly plotted and not to in your face psychological as his others.

Clive Barker, Gaimon, and China Mieville are really good dark fantasy/horror authors that tend to avoid the usual horror and fantasy tropes.

My prefered genre tends to be New weird and Myth Punk these days with Libba Bray and Catherynne M Vallente being some mind-blowing authors that are incredibly beautiful and rich in their writing.

2013-10-10 01:35:20

Lol Bryan, I think your mum has a bit of a missconception about scale if she believed it was possible for Jaws to fit in her sink big_smile.

I agree Dark Abomination, King can wander rather severely over miner characters, particularly harping on their various nafarious doings, that was one thing which surprised me about Doctor Sleep, that it actually cracked along at quite a pace, often too quickly as I said.

Interestingly enough, Salem's lot was the King book my dad (who got me into Steven king back when I was thirteen), recommended when I complained about King wandering, since my Dad stated that Salem's lot was the one King novel that started creepy and carried on. I admit though my over all patience has improved as I've got older, (I couldn't have got through the wheel of time if not).

christine is one of King's I've not read, though i'd be interested on your recommendation.

Gayman I really like, albeit reading Neverwhere as his first novel (after I watched the Tv series), was probably a mistake since having now read all Gayman's novels and short stories I still regardd NEverwhere and American Gods his best. My only issue with some of gayman is that while it's amazingly written, very poetic and has a wonderful sense of fantasy, a lot is too much of a skim. Stardust felt like this, it setup fantastically and then stopped, and while mystery is a wonderful thing sometimes Gayman's level of mystery is a little too much to tell a coherent story. Grave yard book was a wonderful read with some great ideas, ---- but it just felt like a collection of sketches, not a complete work, since the plot that tied everything together just felt far too thin in many places for all that the writing quality was so good that you rarely noticed.

china Mievelle I haven't read yet (though he's on my list of authors to try), however I know Clive Barker very well.

I really! enjoyed weave world, my first barker novel, however everything I've read by him sinse has just felt a come down, getting far too bogged down in rather too much x rated s/xual stuff, not merely in descriptions of incidents when they occur, (and they do frequently), but as over all themes in most of the rest of the book.

Great and Secret show I enjoyed, though had to zone out during much of it, and imagica was an absolute slog in places, though in both of those books there was enough of really nicely done speculative, poetic and just planely well written fantasy and philosophical edges to make up, however the Damnation game was a disappointment, and Sacriment I actually had to give up half way through, something I literally never do with books. After that I just decided I'd read the best of Baarker and didn't want to try anymore, which was a shame since I'd still regard Weave world as one of the finest works of it's type I've ever read.

Of course, I admit my genophobia makes it difficult for me to correctly assess books with such themes. For someone like Steven King, robbin Hobb, or George R R Martin, where descriptions can be extreme but occur infrequently, I can zone out enough while such things are being described for them not to bother me, however in a writer like Barker or Anne Rice where such things pretty much consume most of the book discomfort can just get a bit too much.

I've not heard of Libba Bray or Catharin M vallente before, but if you like stuff with the weerd, mythological edge, I can highly recommend Tim Powers, really weerd stuff with a historical and literary twist, especially the Anubis gates, On stranger tides and Dinner at Devient's palace. Dianna wynne jones is also pretty awsome for really twisted takes on fairy tales and alternative magic. Though her books tend to be young adult or nomainally aimed at children, in terms of concept, characters and writing they are just  fascinating, it also helps she can write, although probably her most famous novel, howl's moving Castle I regard as one of her worst. Still her chrestomancy series, the stand alone semi scifi Alternate reality novel A tale of Time city, and the novel Castle in the air, I can highly recommend. I also very much Enjoyed Tad Williams War of the flowers as an example of what I believe you mean by Myth punk, as well as Brandon Sanderson's mistborn series.

An author I also recently reacquainted myself with was Susan Cooper. most people know her Dark is rising series, but the book i read was Seaward, a more adult novel and almost in it's impressionistic and beautifully described setting of a journey by two characters across a fantasy world towards a highly unknown goal a prototype for series like The Dark Tower, although far shorter and more compact.

I'll actually be writing a review of Seaward for www.fantasybookreview.co.uk in the next couple of days.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2013-10-10 02:01:32

Then you'll be in for a treat. Vallente is the kind of author when reading who's style is hyper poetic to the point where you could take out any random set of ten pages and publish it in a poetry magazine.

As an example, here's A few pages from one of her best novels, In the Night Garden:

ONCE THERE WAS A CHILD WHOSE FACE WAS LIKE THE NEW MOON SHINING on cypress trees and the feathers of waterbirds. She was a strange child, full of secrets. She would sit alone in the great Palace Garden on winter nights, pressing her hands into the snow and watching it melt under her heat. She wore a crown of garlic greens and wisteria; she drank from the silver fountains studded with lapis; she ate cold pears under a canopy of pines on rainy afternoons.
Now this child had a strange and wonderful birthmark, in that her eyelids and the flesh around her eyes were stained a deep indigo-black, like ink pooled in china pots. It gave her the mysterious, taciturn look of an owl on ivory rafters, or a raccoon drinking from the swift-flowing river. It colored her eyes such that when she was grown she would never have to smoke her eyelashes with kohl.
For this mark she was feared, and from her earliest days, the girl was abandoned to wander the Garden around the many-towered Palace. Her parents regarded her with trepidation and terror, wondering if her deformity reflected poorly on their virtue. The other nobles firmly believed she was a demon, sent to destroy the glittering court. Their children, who often roamed the Garden like a flock of wild geese, kept away from her, lest she curse them with her terrible powers. The Sultan could not decide—after all, if she were a demon, it would not do to offend her infernal kin by doing away with her like so much cut grass. In the end, all preferred that she simply remain silent and far away, so that none would have to confront the dilemma.
 
And so it went like this for many years, while thirteen summers like fat orange roses sprang and withered.
 
But one day another child came near to her, though not too near, hesitant as a deer about to bolt into the shadows. His face was like a winter sun, his form like a river reed. He stood before the girl in her tattered silk dress and shabby cloak which had once been white, and touched her eyelids with his sweet-scented forefinger. She found, to her surprise, that she endured his touch, for she was lonely and ever full of sorrow.
“Are you really a spirit? A very wicked spirit? Why are your eyes dark like that, like the lake before the dawn?” The pretty boy-child cocked his head to one side, an ibis in midstream. The girl said nothing.
“I am not afraid of you!” The boy stood his ground but his voice broke hoarsely. The girl continued to stare at him while the willow trees wavered in the east wind. When she spoke her voice was the low hum of cicadas in the far-misted hills.
“Why not?”
“I am very brave. One day I will be a great General and wear a scarlet cloak.” At this there was almost a smile on the girl’s pale lips.
“And you have come to slay the great girl-demon who haunts the Garden?” she whispered.
“Oh, no, I…” The boy spread his hands, feeling suddenly that he had shown very bad form somewhere along the way.
“No one has spoken so many words to me since I saw the winter snows through a warm window draped in furs.” The girl stared again, impossibly still. All at once, a tiny light stole through her dusky eyes and she seemed to make a decision within herself. “Shall I tell you the truth, then? Tell you my secret? You of all the children who wear ruby rings and smell of olive soap?” Her voice had gone so quiet it was almost without breath.
“I asked, didn’t I? I can keep secrets. My sister says I am very good at it, like the King of the Thieves in the nursery story.” There was another long silence, as clouds covered the sun. And the girl began to speak very softly, almost afraid to hear her own voice.
“On an evening, when I was a very small child, an old woman came to the great silver gate, and twisting her hands among the rose roots told me this: I was not born with this mark. A spirit came into my cradle on the seventh day of the seventh month of my life, and while my mother slept in her snow white bed, the spirit touched my face, and left there many tales and spells, like the tattoos of sailors. The verses and songs were so great in number and so closely written that they appeared as one long, unbroken streak of jet on my eyelids. But they are the words of the river and the marsh, the lake and the wind. Together they make a great magic, and when the tales are all read out, and heard end to shining end, to the last syllable, the spirit will return and judge me.
“After the old woman vanished into the blue-faced night, I spent each day hidden in a thicket of jasmine and oleander, trying to read what I could in a cast-off bronze mirror, or in the reflections of the Garden pools. But it is difficult; I must read them backwards, and I can only read one eye at a time.” She stopped, and the last was no louder than a spider weaving its opaline threads.
“And there is no one to listen.”
The boy stared. He looked closely and could see wavering lines in the solid black of her eyelid, hints of alphabets and letters he could not imagine. The closer he looked, the more the shapes seemed to leap at him, clutch at him, until he was quite dizzy.
He licked his lips. They were all whispers now, the two of them, conspirators and thieves. The other children had all gone, and they stood alone under the braided whips of a gnarled willow.
“Tell me? Tell me one of the tales from your eyelids. Please. Just one.” He was terrified that she would rebuke him and run, like the hound which is often beaten. But she only continued to look at him with those strange, dark eyes.
“You are kind to me when no one else will come near. And my tales are all I have to give as thanks. But you must come away from the open Garden, into my hiding place, for I would have no one else know. You would surely be punished, and they would take my mirror and my knife, which are all I own, and lock me away to keep the demon spirit from hollowing their fine house.”
And so they crept away from the yellow-tinged willow, across the endless rows of roses. They ducked under an arch of chestnut blossoms and were suddenly enveloped in a bower of white petals, the perfume touching them like hands. Red branches had thatched themselves into a kind of low roof, and there was ample room on the soft, compact earth thatched with leaves for them both to sit.
“I will tell you the first tale I was able to read, from the crease of my left eyelid.”
The boy sat very still, listening like a silk-eared hare deep in the forest.

2013-10-10 11:06:40

I'll see if I can get any of her stuff, though that sort of thing especially! needs a human reader.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2013-10-10 16:46:20

Thankfully she's recorded a live reading of the novel on her web site for free download if you'd like. There's some occasional background noise and she stops and stutters from time to time, but it's interesting hearing the author's take on her work.

http://catherynnemvalente.com/podcast/

Apologies for all the gushing, I'm just a big fan and she's sadly obscure.

2013-10-10 18:27:38

Awsome, I'll gladly give it a try (only 3 parts? it must be a short book, or is there more to come).

I hope she reccords more of her stuff, or perhaps sells audio versions, indeed I'd much rather listen to the world's worst human reading poetic or rythmic stuff than a synth, synths just don't have the way to present the rythms of the human voice, (I wince whenever reading back my own poetry, though in fairness I'd probably do that anyway however it was read).

Oh, and don't worry about gushing, i've been guilty of that myself big_smile.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2013-10-15 22:00:20

Hi Dark.
Well Christine is definitly a good read. There's a lot of mystery in it.
If you haven't read Joyland yet I would say don't bother. It's a good story but it could have been much, much better.

Guitarman.
What has been created in the laws of nature holds true in the laws of magic as well. Where there is light, there is darkness,  and where there is life, there is also death.
Aerodyne: first of the wizard order

2013-10-16 10:01:56

Well I've just finished misery, which I wanted to gie another chance to being that last time I read it was 16.

As I expected, I was far less bothered by the slow pace, and it helped that the reader did a great anny wilks. I liked some of the atmospheric writing and general nastiness, especially the way Paul's thought of anny changed, but again, the book did seem to drag a bit too much and to peter out  towards the end rather.

Not as bad as I thought, but not one of King's best, particularly since these days I'm a little more  immured to gore so didn't find certain scenes that shocking.

Oh, and I still! found those fake bits from the actual misery books, hammy historical romance though they were far more interesting than much of the story, :d. though I did quite enjoy  some of the  metaphores this time rather more than when I first read the book.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2014-10-05 05:15:17

I have read some of the best Stephen King books and they are definitely worth reading. Don’t judge a book by its movie because there are many subplots and storylines which have to be left out.

2014-10-06 14:28:33

Moderation!

As I've said before Brad,  please don't! post direct links to get copywrited stuff sinse you risk getting the forum into trouble.

This is a warning! for more info read the faq.

Feel free to say "If anyoe is looking for steven king txt contact me" and take it off the forum,but posting actual folder names to use torrents to is rather out I'm afraid.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2014-10-06 21:52:56 (edited by brad 2014-10-06 22:38:08)

/A note/

If anyone is wondering what Dark is talking about, I made a post above pointing to a folder that I shouldn't have.

I deleted it since I felt that there was no point in having that post on this thread.
/End of note/

Hi.
@dark. Okay. I'll do what you said. sorry for doing that again it won't happen again.

if anyone wants to contact me about Steven king text books, please email me at the following email address; [email protected]

Thanks.

I'm gone for real :)

2014-10-06 23:32:27

Thanks for removing the post and the explanation. As it says in the Faq, while we're absolutely %100 against copying audio games, books and such are quite another matter, though we do need to be a little careful as we don't want the forum to get into trouble.

Regarding Steven King, I personally can  only read King in audio. I once tried to read Salem's lot in braille and just got frustrated with having to waide through so much, and I don't particularly enjoy reading with a synth voice anyway.

However at least lots of King's stuff is available in audio form.I haven't read any major King works sinse Misery or Doctor sleep before hand, but I have read several short stories which I got a colelction of.

I was particularly impressed with the story "jaunt"  both because I'd read  Tiger Tiger (or the stars my destination as it was published in the states), by Alfred Bester, which first had the concept of Jaunting as mental teleports King mentions in the story, and because the horror of Jaunt was something uniquely tailered to a thing I'm particularly scared of.

Beware! spoilage ahoy! if you haven't read Jaunt, read on only at peril of the story being spoiled by the  giant spoilers of  spoilery doom! spoilers!

The idea of just hanging in nothingness with no sensation for eternity is one I find particularly scary. I can't say why, but the idea just freaks me out. I've had it turn up in a couple of stories, but in jaunt where that is the focus of the horror and where such a miner thing as not following airport safety leads someone into it was wonderfully creepsome, and I give King much credit on actually managing to create a story which I read at about two in the morning which genuinely stopped me from  sleeping for a while, or at least made me very jumpy.

Then again, if I hadn't been looking for chills, I wouldn't hve read king.

I also read Crouch end, a story I first read several years before, which I loved for it's writing and it's cthulhu atmosphere, but which didn't physically creep me out as Jaunt did.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2014-10-07 17:23:36

I'm a huge King fan. I've been reading him for about ten years, though I never could get into The Dark Tower.

Pet Sematary: This might have been the first book I started out with. I was 14, and the stuff at the end really scared the crap out of me. Especially that stupid cat.

Rose Matter: A shorter novel, also read when I was 14. I have no idea what this book is even about; it's very odd, and there is a bit of grusome domestic violence, but the woman gets revenge.

The Shining: I am terrified of this book. I can't even describe the level of terror. I need to stop reading King in audio. This is one of my favorites, though.

The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon: I haven't seen this one mentioned, but it's a neat little story. I enjoyed it.

Joyland, Doctor Sleep, I didn't really care for these two at all. Joyland was ok, I guess. Frankly, I thought the plot of Doctor Sleep was absolutely stupid and pointless and ruined life itself. I can't harsh on this book enough, as compared to The Shining.

11/22/63: I love this book. Really great time travel story. So great.

The Stand: I really enjoyed traveling through this story too. It's about a disease outbreak rampaging through the country. Great work.

Salem's Lot: Read this story as a teenager and I actually got out of my bed and found stuff in my room to make a cross to carry around with me. I don't play.

Cujo: All I can remember about this book is the freaking scene trapped in the car. Stupid scary dog.

Four Past Midnight: AHHHHHHH The Langoleers. So great. So scary.

It: I could have done without the ending of this book. It got weird fast.

The mist and The Dead Zone were both pretty decent stories.

Under the Dome: I really liked the concept of this book. I was so totally on board and loving it, until I found out what was causing the dome. You lost me there, buddy. I really wasn't prepared to suspend my disbelief like that.

Sugar and spice, and everything ....

2014-10-07 19:47:54

Interesting thoughts Cinnamon, particularly sinse I myself started on king when I was 13 or 14 as well. 

The dark tower I really enjoyed, although the first book is a major drag. I also liked it because I kept getting more of it finally to the point where I needed to order the last three books from America, but that is another story. I will admit the first book is amazingly hard to read, but I enjoy fantasy and stuck with it and am glad I did, particularly sinse it adds a lot of context to several of King's other novels, such as Insomnia, hearts in Atlantis and indeed Salem's lot.

Pet Cemetory I have read a couple of times but actually didn't think much to. The ending was far too open and I just felt things went from slow buildup to crash too quickly and I wanted more crash, although the hole business with Oz the Gwate and tewable was pretty creepy.

The shining surprised me, sinse I read it more recently and was expecting very typical early King such as the Tommyknockers, ie, lots of rambling before you get to the creepy stuff and an over reliance on alcohol, x rated stuff and violence to create character quickly, but was quite surprised and indeed impressed! a completely enjoyable book with a lovely characterization and imho one of king's best.

Doctor sleep I didn't feel the hatred to that you did, though i do take your point, and I was a little sad for Danny to be sidelined in favour of a little girl with morpowers than personality, though i did like the idea behind the Knot.

The stand is pure awsome! I look forward to reading it again, although I like the fact now that I've read the dark tower and eyes of the dragon I have a better idea of who the dark man is and how he behaves, which will probably help with the book. I am also interested to see how the Stand compares to Justin Cronin's passage series, which is about a zombie (or vampire), outbreak and the society 90 years later that develops. People have compared Cronin's trilogy to the stand, though whether this is just because it's a really epic series with an apocalypse and some more mystic elements I don't know sinse in many ways the two seem different.
Salem's lot I started i braille when iw as 13, but ended up giving up because it took to long to run. I read it in audio a couple of years later and enjoyed it much more, again, the Dark Tower is great for finishing Father Calahan's story and giving you a better view of the vampires.

The langoleers I really liked, though partly because I saw a miniseries based on it (I also saw a miniseries based on the Tommyknockers though I didn't appreciate that as much). Ironically I have a very strong memory of reading the langoleers when I was a teenager during the night of the 1996 election, my brother stayed up watching the results and I stayed up reading King big_smile.

I think i had more fun! big_smile. I don't recall any of the other stories from four past midnight sinse I believe the second rnib talking book cassette died on me and I never replaced the thing, which was irritating, and again probably why i need to read the other stories in Four past midnight.

The Deadzone I didn't rate much at all, it seemed to just run on and not really run into much point, though given that the main climax was very tied up with American politics at the time I probably missed a little on culture, although King is usually readable if you don't get the references either way.

It I regard as one of King's finest! I read it when I was 16 and have read it again sinse, and it was equally awsome both times.The monsters are super creepy and the end is both epic and philosophical, I love the idea of the creature being outside the universe, we also get a hint of King's cosmology there which again plays slightly into the dark tower in an out way, although not quite.

Joyland, Tom gordon, 112263, Cujo, Rose Madder, Under the dome and mist I haven't read.
In truth I probably need to read more King, revisit some favourites and stock up on newer ones like Cell or under the dome.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2014-10-07 20:19:36

I m a fan of king also, I enjoyed reading most of his books, but some of them are quite hard to read due to some references that I didn't understand, but I guess that some search on that could have helped me. big_smile the long walk: interesting that I haven't seen this book mentioned in this topic, the concept is very interesting and the ending is awesome. I don't want to spoil the book but I advise you to read it.
the talisman: a great book, it makes me remember the second volume of the dark tower series, I love the concept of people traveling between worlds.
I also loved the cell, carrie, dream catcher and under the dome.
I have to say that Stephen king is certainly one of my favorite writers, I like his fantasy series, but in terms of horror I think that dean koontz and john saul are better.

“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
Stephen King

2014-10-07 22:21:04

Interesting Nin, I don't recognize the title "the long walk" I'll have to check that out.

With the references, to be honest they sometimes confuse me as well sinse I think you need to be A, American, and B, to have grown up in a  particular time in history such as the 1950's to get some references, which goes for everything from brand names to tv.

I have not read talisman yet but very much wish to, particularly with ow it ties in to the dark tower.

Regarding Horror, I've not read John Saul. Dean  Koontz I have read one of his Odd thomas books and one christopher snow book, but I didn't really rate either. Both had normal characters who were pretty uninteresting, indeed  I sort of thought the private joke in Odd thomas was how dull Thomas was big_smile.

I also found them far too conservative and safe in a sort of small time way, about how everyone lives in a small cuddly wuddly town where all the women are beautiful and attracted to the main character or are kind and motherly and want to mother the main character, and all the men are  either the main character's good buddies or some old grizzled father figures like the police chief in odd thomas, and anyone really evil and bad are just irrational psychoes who interupt the general niceness of everyday life for no reason. It's as if the entire cast are made up of the Flanders family from the Simpsons! big_smile.

it's a shame, I enjoyed some of the ideas, like  some of the paranormal sights in Odd Thomas, but I just found the hole thing far too sickly over all.

Oh, and btw, yes I did read the ending to the first Odd Thomas novel which was supposed to be tragic but just didn't feel that way because hay, well there's all your good buddies and friends to cheer you up so stop being such a sour pus!   "Oh sorry, yes, how nasty of me, now lets go to the all American  Bbq and drink beer and talk about sport while Mrs. Goodwife and the rest of the women bring us food and talk about how Handsome I am!"

I don't know if the series gets darker later on or actually includes characters who are more than cardboard sterriotypes, though given some over all cryticisms I've read of Koontz writing I don't believe so, and to be honest I just find that sort of thing far too depressing!

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2014-10-07 22:55:39 (edited by Cinnamon 2014-10-07 23:00:25)

The Long Walk appears in a collection called TheBachman Books. I really liked that short story, along with The Running Man which appears alongside it.
Maybe I hated Dr. Sleep so much because I read it with JAWS, and not in audio. Even with the supernatural elements though, The Shining was so great and believable. I was dragged kicking and screaming into that world. I would literally cower in my bed through some of the horrible scenes. I just didn't feel any connection with Dr. Sleep at all, maybe because the supernatural was too far out for me. Some of the individual parts of the story were cool, but it just didn't come together into a gripping plot.

Desperation is another King novel I forgot. IT has a really cool beginning, but I've never finished it.

Dark,
Four Past Midnight goes
The Langoleers: Time eaty-balls of doom.
Secret Window, Secret Garden: A man is confronted with an angry dude, John Shooter, who claims he stole his novel idea. Fighting and house burning ensues, with a wicked twist at the end.
The Library Policeman: Freaky sexy time stuff in the library and the creepy Lortz lady
The Sundog: There's a demon hound in a boy's camera, and each time he clicks a picture, it comes closer...

Sugar and spice, and everything ....

2014-10-08 09:11:42

Well, as far as Stephen King goes he was once one of my favorite authors, and I have pretty much read everything he has wrote. However, as time has gone on I have found other authors I enjoy more in terms of the horror genre, but I can't remember any instance of anything I absolutely didn't like by King. Of course, as with any author there were books I enjoyed much more than others though.

Probably my favorite Stephen King book was It. It was very interesting because it was a shape-shifting creature from outside the universe that preyed on children. Plus I do think there was a good deal of humor mixed in with the horror and gore which offered some comic relief.

Another book I really enjoyed was Needful Things. Its basically about this demon that pretends to be an old antiques dealer who sells people what they want in exchange for evil favors. Like a lot of King the book starts off slow, but once it gets going it becomes quite interesting.

Salem's Lot is another favorite of mine. It is probably Stephen King's best work to date, and actually gave me nightmares. Very few books give me nightmares, but that one did. So it gets a 10 out of 10 in my opinion.

Under the Dome started off good, but I thought the end of the book sucked. It suffers from what I think is the problem with alot of King's newer writing in that after becoming clean, giving up the booze and alcohol, Stephen King no longer writes stories that are weird, strange, or particularly scary. Under the Dome reads more as a standard work of fiction, and the only supernatural aspect is the mysterious dome that is keeping everyone inside the town. So when King ends up revealing both the source of the dome and how everyone gets free it is a massive let down.

Doctor Sleep was definitely not one of my favorites. While I enjoyed getting some insight what happened to Danny after the Shining I felt seriously let down by the book over all. There were a number of things about the book I didn't like, and felt could have been done much better.

A book I did find interesting nobody else has mentioned is Black House. I liked the idea that it was a dark house where one could travel between dimensions, and found the alternate dimension with the slave children very interesting. If you have not yet read Black House it is an interesting work. More a piece of science fiction than horror.

I know most of the comments here have been about King's more well known works, his full length novels, but I must say I have read and enjoyed all of his short story collections. Nightmares and Dreamscapes was pretty good as well as Different Seasons. Just After Sunset wasn't my favorite collection, but it did have a few short stories that were not too bad. At the moment I don't recall which collection was my favorite since I forget which was which, but I actually find Stephen King is often at his best writing smaller stories than he is at busting out thousand page novellas.

I think the reason I like alot of his short stories better is it doesn't take King pages upon pages to get into the story. It often takes a dozen pages or so to establish the basic story, and it quickly gets spooky or chilling from there. Plus many of his short stories are sequels to his larger novels meaning you often get a bit of extra history that didn't make it into one or more of his major novels, and it fills in some gaps you might have otherwise missed.

Sincerely,
Thomas Ward
USA Games Interactive
http://www.usagamesinteractive.com

2014-10-08 12:26:55

@Cinnamon, I found King hard enough to read in braille let alone  with a synth! One thing about King is his writing has a distinct rythm and flow especially on the scary bits, and you just don't get that with a synthetic voice even a good one, plus of course there is the sheer time King takes to build up to things which can drag if you've not got a human to listen to.

Doctor Sleep was okay, but as I said earlier in this topic, I disliked how Danny sort of became sidelined for Abra, and Abra I just didn't like at all, she felt totally cardboard, indeed the only interesting thing about her was! her powers. The true Knot had the makings of convincing enemies, but I wanted more background on them or at least more hints of what they'd been up to and where they were from.

@Tom, I'd agree on It being one of King's best, and that King often does well with short stories, although I have trouble separating out which story belongs where. I particularly enjoyed his story "in the death room" about the executioner, especially the cheerful man with his electricution machine, and I still think Crouch end is a favourite even if King does make some quite amusing mistakes with English culture, ---- I love how he writes "Tenpence!" as though it was the old "sixpence" from the Imperial currency days, when actually we call them ten pence! (two separate words), or more commonly ten p.

I would've said his cockney slang was a little off, accept that I did really meet a cockney cab driver who used the phrase "lovely jovely!" Though to be honest what I enjoyed in the story was that sort of twisting of reality which King was so good at in many of his books, just taking something ordinary and exaggerating the angles and descriptions until it's extremely creey before the monster even appears. It did this wonderfully, but so have several King novels.

Black House again I really want to read for the Dark Tower links, however I only got a copy of it recently. On the bachman stuff, I enjoyed the running man, though i wanted to read that more because of how much I remember liking the Arnald Shwartzanigger film than anything else, and while the book was naturally very different I still really liked it. I also appreciated The Regulators for how quickly that jumped streight into the story. I remember hearing somewhere that King himself was experimenting under the Bachman name and in some ways it seems his experiments worked better than some of his usual stuff.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2014-10-08 14:20:30 (edited by Jason SW 2014-10-08 14:39:18)

Hi,

I enjoy a lot of King's writing. The Dark Tower, Talisman, Black House, Dreamcatcher and Under the Dome are some of my favorites.
I really enjoyed listening to Frank Muller's readings of The Talisman, Black House and the first four Dark Tower books. It really sucked that he had that motorcycle accident. In my opinion, George Guidal's readings of the last three books were shit in comparison.
(Edit: The original version of The Gunslinger has Muller reading it, but an updated version was released in 2003 (I think), and Guidal reads the updated version, unfortunately.)
If you don't know, Black House is supposed to be the sequel to the Talisman, so definitely worth reading, though...
(SPOILERS SPOILERS)
... it kinda sucks what happens to Jack in the end.

2014-10-09 11:05:59

Hi.
So nice to see this topic brought up again. I wish I had more time to read books, because there are so many books which I wanna read, and the time is just passing by with lots of other stuff going on.
I agree that Kings books can be quite difficult to read regarding to references if you're not american. But it's also quite interesting to read, because it tells a lot about americans in generel.
regarding to horror: The most scary book I ever have read is Phantoms by dean Koontz. I haven't read many books compared to you, but if you can suggest a more horrified and more scarry book than this one, I would love to hear about it. This book is highly recommendable, full of terrifying things, death, survival, action, interesting things, weird things and a lot of stuff which I won't spoil.
I hope to get more time to read more books in the future. Interesting that I've said that earlier in this topic, and then time just passes by. Lol. big_smile

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2014-10-09 13:25:20

@JAson, as I said black house is one I need to check.

@Slj, Did you read my comments about Dean koontz earlier? any thoughts? I would appreciate hearing another view sinse as I said of the two books I read by him, Odd Thomas and the first Christopher snow book, I really didn't think much, but if he either improves later or has better characters in other series I wouldn't mind knowing.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2014-10-12 16:16:05

Hi dark.
Hmm... I have never thought about Dean Koontz books in this way. I have read Phantoms which is both quite realistic and other times not realistic at all, but I think in this book that things are happening for some reason. It's long time since I've read the book, but as far as I remember, you only hear about people who are living in a small town, or people who are on their way to the small town. Regarding the characters, I find their attitudes  quite realistic.
I have also read Shadowsfires, which is a very great story about a man who kills himself in something which should seem like a grusom accident, and then he stands up from the dead in a quite realistic way and hunts his wife. smile A nice book which you should give a try.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2014-10-12 16:42:59

Well Slj, maybe I will try Phantoms later sinse I had no problem with Koontz in terms of horror aspects, I thought the death predicting creatures in Odd Thomas were actually rather cool and creepy.

My issue wasn't that the characters all lived in a small town, lots of books have that, heck half of King's novels including ones I really liked such as Insomnia are set in small American towns, it's that Koontz had the same sort of conservative, very sterriotyped way of writing characters that I've observed in other writers like Scott Sigler and (even though the books are fantasy), Terry Goodkind.

Koontz as I said felt like he populated his books with members of the Flanders family and really sugar coated everything far too much besides his horror, with everyone having picture perfect soap opera mariages and careers and all being handsome manly men who played sport and drank beer and talked about fishing and how they were all good buddies, beautiful women who were rather like the stepford wives and alternated between talking about babies and cooking and how good looking the main character was and how they wanted to see him married off, and bringing their husbands beer and food, and the main character who was of course the most popular man in town engaged to the most beautiful and devoted woman in a storybook romance! (hmmmm, even writing why I dislike this trope so much I don't know why I feel so annoyed!).

In fairness king (and enve more so Clive Baker), sometimes went too far the other way, with all of his characters being clossit stalkers or prostitutes or embezlers or something, though at least he had enough vaguely normal and multisided characters as well to balance things even in his earlier work, and his later books shyed away from this tendency to create slightly less obviously sleezy people.

I don't know why shallow characters and sterriotypes like Koontz get on my nurves so much and make it actually difficult for me to enjoy other good aspects of a book, maybe it's that as I get older I bbegin to value the fact that most people in the world are far more complex and even in fantastical or horrifying situations actually want realistic people not cardboard cutouts, or maybe it's just that I'm a sad jaded individual who can't appreciate a bit of shallow tinsel type niceness for what it is.

Nevertheless, I found by the end of Odd Thomas I pretty much wanted to murder half the cast myself for being so sickly sweet big_smile.

Maybe if I become less synical I'll give Koontz another go and see if I can at least appreciate the good bits.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)