My least faves were "Gerald's Game" and "Langoliers".

One thing to remember about King is that he creates great characters, and has a great ability to make them realistic. At times, his horror is more about putting his characters to the test. "Delores Claiborne", "The Body" (Stand By Me) and "Misery" are less about horror monsters, but more about putting realistic characters in tense situations.

When King started doing this more, I think he lost a lot of "hardcore horror" fans. But honestly, how many books about vampires and werewolves can a person write before being accused of writing the same book over and over?

Strangely enough, some of his best films have been made from these works. It seems that this style lends itself better to the screen than his "monster faire". Even after taking all of the supernatural elements out of "Hearts in Atlantis", at the core is a compelling story. The novel "Delores Claiborne" lost me, but I was able to see what King was getting at when I saw it on the screen.

Films like "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile" have received top critical acclaim. Deservedly, if you ask me. He's created characters that we can care about, so we want to know what happens to them. We care what happens to them. And that is the basis of keeping and reader/viewer interested in a story.

I am by no means King's biggest fan, but let's face it: King is on top of the book market. There is no writer more prolific and widely read, so it's easy to knock him.

it's all his worse.

His books are way too boring errr slow.

I tried to start reading Tommy Knockers once.. and the damn lady was digging for ten pages and her stupid dog was barking... I couldnt take it.
Haven't touched one of his books since then. As much as I'd be open to giving him a second chance.. there is no way.

its easy to knock him if you prefer better writing.
He is a mass producer ... appealing to the lowest common denominator .. thats why he's so widely read.
The same reason why Survivors was so popular ...
Thats why Titanic was so popular.

not everyone appreciates this kind of formulatic writing ... and those are the ones that knock him ...

For me his early books are classics...The Shining and Salem Lot and The Stand, but he just kept writing on and on and there is a real steady decline...to the point where he's writing huge books that could and should be half the size. This is a shame as it detracts from his great early work. Anyone else ever noticed how, in alot of his books, he kills the main character's (usually a writer) wife off early on and then replaces her with some young bimbo. Firestarter was the creepiest of all, where he killed off the wife and then had the guy run off with the daughter...!!!

That is why I like King so much I think. His characters are, in general, much more interesting, complex and realistic then most other popular writer's. No, I don't believe he is a great writer. He does have great ideas though and his characters almost jump off the page. I read Koontz, for instance, but his characters do not have the same depth. They are all romanticized to the point of absurdity. And King has never fallen into that trap.

But, as much as I appreciate King, he is responsible for some complete messes. The worst of the worst, in my opinion:

1. Dreamcatcher (started out good, then it just went downhill fast.)
2. Christine
3. From A Buick 8
4. The Tommyknockers
5. Gerald's Game

i think he falls into a different trap though ... he gives too much detail on his characters in my opinion .. he might as well include their pictures ..

there is a type of writing i find so much skillful - dickens is the best example i can think of - where the writer gives you key clues to a character ... pure characterizations .. that allow you to piece the rest of the character together in your imagination ...
They build an efficient framework in 1/100 of the words king would take to do it, but so deftly that you can still see the characters .. as you visualize them.

Maybe i should be more appreciative of the way king does it ...with pages and pages of information - but for some reason I'm not.

I thought Desperation was aptly named as well ...

I'm not saying King doesn't have his problem areas; he does. Yes, he does tend to go on and on. But I believe that his short stories and novellas are usually as effective character wise as his novels are, without a lot of his sometimes unnecessary and cluttered exposition . Apt Pupil is a good example. That story was disturbing on so many levels, because King seemed to have a frightening understanding of the workings of this kind of twisted, symbiotic relationship that the two central characters shared.

And even when the novels get tedious, I am still impressed by that basic understanding of human nature at its best and worst. But I actually do see why some people don't care for King or even outright dislike his work.

I haven't really got into any of King's later books. The Dark Half is probably my favorite....

style/prose aside ... i got even sicker of this 'tortured writer' as a main character thing.
it's like he has to pull his pants down in front of the world every time he explores one of his inner demons.

sort of like an actor who is just 'playing themselves' you start to be less impressed when you realize it really isnt acting at all.

anyway i grew up reading King from the 1st book on .. read several of them and it eventually all started to run together.
Even Danse Macabre started to sound like an excuse for his lack of origionality.

or ... maybe i spend a lot of time understanding people - so i'm not all that impressed by someone who is also able to understand human nature ... and includes it in his writing..

i think he is very 'hooky' ..he knows how to make you keep reading to see what's next - unfortunately there never seems to be a payoff ..

Clive Barker is like that too ... although his short stories are very good .. his novels always end with a whimper ..

Well, I think that most writers, not all of them, but most of them tend to let their demons take over when they are writing. In a way, every writer writes what they know best. Whether it be something they fear or something they love. Someone they are or someone they want to be. Or someone they are afraid they are. It all comes from somewhere.

But I don't think that people, in general, spend a lot of time observing others and really thinking about what makes them tick. And even if they do, it doesn't mean they come away with an understanding of a person's motivations. I don't think it is an easy thing, to know people that well, since we tend to be such complex creatures. And so basic and simple at the same time. It is that contradiction that makes it hard to create realistic characters on the page.

Don't get me started on Barker.....I will ramble on all day since he is my favorite writer....LOL....:p

sure, get started :)
dont you find that he doesn't know how to end his books .. and like King he felt he had to get more and more raaunchy because he had nowhere left to go ?

I love his books of blood .. very tight stories ... but I'm not a fan of the novels, and I've read quite a few.

(i have his autograph on the script for hellraiser by the way .. (it came in a laserdisc box set)

Well, to be honest, I agree somewhat. I love his earlier novels and Imajica is one of my favorite novels of all time, though it does tend, at times, to feel like it was an ego trip. Meaning, it does feel self-important in places but, despite that, I think it shows amazing depth of character and imagination. Cabal is my other favorite Barker work and I think it has the same depth, on a smaller scale. I also love The Books of Blood. I have re-read them several times and his short stories are nearly perfect, in my opinion.

But Cold Heart Canyon was a complete disaster, in my opinion. Though I like parts of it, by the end it just seemed pointless. It didn't seem to have anything to say. As I said, I liked parts of it, so I don't think it is completely witout merit. But I do wonder where his mind was when he wrote it. Maybe it is like you said, he had nowhere left to go. But no, I never really got that feeling until Cold Heart Canyon.

I have yet to read the second in the Abarat series, however I did read the first one and enjoyed it quite a bit. It is directed at a young audience, but it is still dark and interesting. But without reading the series as a whole, I can't really make a judgement there.

jeeze, he kind of lost me at Damnation Game ! hahaha

i read it so long ago .. i remember liking it until i hit the end .. and it left me cold ..

i read a bunch since and i'm just not crazy about them ... interesting ideas but they get lost in the hepped up extravegance.
its like he cares more about the 'special effects' than the characters once he gets going.

i thought it was a british thing ... the weak endings ..
i remember feeling that way about John Wyndham .. with the Crysalid and the Day of the Triffids. - fantastic books that cant seem to come to a satisfying conclusion.

HG Wells - War of the Worlds ... ended in a whimper ..

maybe its the British way :)

Well, he couldn't have lost me at The Damnation Game or I could hardly call him my favorite writer.:D I actually love that book; start to finish.

Have you read Cabal? I'm sure you have seen the movie Nightbreed (and yes, I like the movie, it has Cronenberg in it, I feel obligated to love that movie though it is far from a masterpiece).

yes to both ...

i thought it was pretty good ... felt unfinished though .. as if it was going to be part of a series ...

it was supposed to be the first part in a trilogy

i guess it'll give him something to fall back on if he fails in this new direction..

he never finished the books of the art trilogy either :mad:

what books are considered to be the 'art trilogy' ?




kind of smar though - dont you think ... it really does leave him with something to fall back on.


you want to see some books sell ? wait till this next harry potter comes out.
I predict that it will break the back of every previous record.

like them or not, she's a very smart - or very lucky lady

the great & secret show
everville

the third part never materialized

oh those ..

shit i thought they were spiralling right out of control anyway.
I loved the beginning of G&SS .. the dead letter office thing ..

i just found the whole thing devolved into a big mess.

His short stories were so tight - controlled and efficient ... but his novels - especially his later works are trying too hard to be 'the ultimate in far out mind bending terror' and just seem like a muddy mess. (this is my personal opinion of course)

I didnt like Everville at all.
I read Weaveworld and Injamica (spelling) as well .. and found the same thing over and over again .. this desire to become so epic .. so fast ... it comes off more as bloated and excessive to me..

I think he's been an influence on Kind too because his last horror novels have a sililar feel ...

I hope that he comes back around to the Nightbreed. Cabal does feel unfinished and obviously with good reason, as has been mentioned. But yeah, it is smart for him to leave those loose ends, so to speak, so later down the road he can come back to it.

I actually like the Harry Potter books myself, I think she does a fine job. I don't think they are perfect by any means, but for what it is and the audience it is directed to, they are not bad at all. And I think she has a bit of both working for her. Luck and smarts, that is. She managed to hit on something at the right time, so really I guess she made her own luck.

I'm going to go ahead and repeat what everyone else has said.

I liked his early stuff when I was in junior high and read everything he put out. Then he put out Insomnia and I hated it. Then I went to college and took "contemporary ____ lit." type classes and discovered a slew of great writers who are still alive and writing.

I don't have a lot of time on my hands and so I have kinda adopted the same idea for books that I have for music, which is "there is so much good music being made, I don't have time for bad, or even mediocre, music." There are so many good books being written these days, and I'm already behind in my reading, that I just don't have time to try and sift through bad and mediocre writing.

thats pretty much exactly how i feel..

The Dark Half
Geralds Game
Hearts in Atlantis
Insomnia was another snoozer

If you want a SK series to read - try the Dark Tower series.

i stopped reading him because to me all hes doing is repeating himself, so i got bored and jumped ship.

I thought The Tommyknockers was great - the bizarre contraptions, the painful transformations of the townsfolk, the uplifting transformation of Gard from bum to hero by the end...