Peter Straub vs. Stephen King

[idoneus1957]

I hereby throw down the gauntlet: Peter Straub is a better writer than Stephen King. My favorite of his books is Shadowland.
I saw an ad for a new movie Shadowlands, and I thought "Interesting project, but it seems like it would be a very difficult novel to film." But it was a totally different story, something about C.S. Lewis. What a disappointment.

[Dead Bad Things]

Straub is not an icon of American Horror Literature. Gotta have that Icon status baby...Stephen King hands down.

[fudgetusk]

Straub is better, mostly. Although I think I've only read two novels by him. KOKO and SHADOWLANDS. King doesn't scare me. He writes unexciting adventure stories. IT being the exception. That was cool.

[idoneus1957]

I wish Straub had stuck to supernatural horror. Koko was a good book, but the killer wasn' supernatural.

[fudgetusk]

Straub's work in HOUSES WITHOUT DOORS was tremendous. They contain vignettes that blew me away. Literally a paragraph of pure talent coming at yer.

[The Villain]

Stephen King.

Never read Straub. What would be a good book to start?

[FranxLove]

Originally Posted by fudgetusk

Straub's work in HOUSES WITHOUT DOORS was tremendous. They contain vignettes that blew me away. Literally a paragraph of pure talent coming at yer.

Yeah, that Blue Rose story is one of the best I have read.

SK is special...he doesnt scare, sometimes doesnt even make me squeemish, still, what he does is out of this world, and he does it all the time.

[ZKnight]

King hands down. Even in his less popular work he still brings his A game. I just finished From a Buick 8, and man, the dog scene toward the end really messed me up.

[Geddy]

If you were to compare the two at the top of their game, I'd have to say Straub. Floating Dragon, Koko, Shadowland, and Ghost Story are some of the best horror books I've read period.

King has a much wider appeal, his characters are more relatable, and when his work connects, it's fucking outstanding. That being said, he's put out a lot more books than Straub. For every great book he's put out, there's two or three duds to have to trudge through.

What about Peter Straub vs. Stephen King vs Robert R. McCammon? McCammon isn't talked about as much as he should be these days, but his best work (Gone South, The Wolf's Hour, Swan Song) certainly stands toe to toe with King's and Straub's.

[NightOfTheLiving_Sam]

Stephen King has always been a favorite of mine and always will be. :)