Comments on Stephen King

[lewscannon]

Hi All.

First time poster here. Haven't checked FPW's site in a while and see that it has undergone a lot of changes. I was introduced to RJ by my wife three or four years ago, who for my birthday will go out and buy a few random paperbacks for her avid reader of a husband. She just goes by the back cover and is more successful than not. I became completely hooked and now have read all the RJ & Adversary books.
Stephen King is pretty much my favorite author. He's another writer I discovered by accident, long before he became famous. I was at the beach one summer afternoon, I don't remember what year, but I do remember that 'My Sharona' was constantly on the radio. I had nothing to read, so I found his first collection of short stories, Night Shift, and couldn't believe what I was reading. I've heard the same 'He's One Of Us' comment that FPW has made, more than once from different people. Once in a while he'll put out a lesser work, but when he's on his game, there's no one better, IMHO. One book that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is 'Pet Semetary', one hell of a creepy story.
Forgive me for this, but I'd like to plug my first novel here as well. Though it's not supernatural, my thinking is SK & FPW fans might enjoy this. It was just released a couple of weeks ago. 'Trial of Tears' is a black comedy thriller set in the music industry and is available on Amazon.

[Tony H]

Welcome to the forums Lew. Sometimes these older threads get dusty and people dont respond to them or read them.

Feel free to plug your book in the off topic forums or in the entertainment section. We have a lot of writers here and several musicians...a great crowd to sell your work to!



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[tpfister]

Can this really be true! Never read a Stephen King book! Never have liked a a novel by him! I have read thousands upon
Thousands of books in my thirty years of reading, and for me personally have never been completely let down by one of his
Books, although he definitely has written some clunkers - Tommyknockers made me want to pull my own teeth out! It's Not hard to
Believe he can't really remember writing that joke. But pound for pound of material I have not found anyone who even comes
Close to quality of material written in a 40 year span. If there is I would surely like to read him or her! Any good suggestions?

[crlovel]

Can this really be true! Never read a Stephen King book! Never have liked a a novel by him! I have read thousands upon
Thousands of books in my thirty years of reading, and for me personally have never been completely let down by one of his
Books, although he definitely has written some clunkers - Tommyknockers made me want to pull my own teeth out! It's Not hard to
Believe he can't really remember writing that joke. But pound for pound of material I have not found anyone who even comes
Close to quality of material written in a 40 year span. If there is I would surely like to read him or her! Any good suggestions?

Richard Matheson.

[Count_Agranoff]

Salem's lot is great, but The Dead Zone to me is his best early classic. IMHO.

[carlsporkpie]

Stephen King has always been hit or miss with me. I was a latecomer to his work for perhaps a naively sexist reason. I became aware of King when I was in middle school, and saw his paperbacks everywhere, usually being devoured by tween girls. Being a fan of Poe and Stoker, I smugly cocked an eyebrow at the books, thinking "how scary can they be if girls are reading them?"

...I know; I'm sorry.

I eventually read Cycle of the Werewolf, which was okay. Same with The Gunslinger. But I have to concur with FPW: 'Salem's Lot was fantastic. I've found myself enjoying much of his latter work, too. Thought Cell was great, and enjoyed Under the Dome quite a bit as well.

I think I'm generally more disposed to his short stories, though. I highly recommend any of his story collections. And I have to say this: "1408" is one of the finest stories I've ever read. Period. I cannot comment on the film version, though, as I refused to watch it based on the previews I saw. I remain convinced that the story cannot properly be filmed.

Oh, and Danse Macabre is brilliant. It's his treatise on horror in print and film, and in my opinion is absolutely screaming for an update.

[SamH]

Stephen King is one of my favorites. And as for his latest works, Under the Dome and 11/22/63 are brilliant. I understand what Dr. Wilson is saying about Mr. King being "one of us." He's also tainted by the Otherness.

[Medusa]

During the SuperBowl I saw a commercial for Under the Dome. They are making a TV Series out of it. But I don't know when it starts.

[The Man of Fhinntmanchca]

'Coz of that impending tv show, I recently reread Under the Dome, which, despite it's size, screams along like a flaming Blaine the Mono.... and, glory of glories, I'm more than halfway through the new version of Nightworld. I say thankya F. Paul W.! S.K. was right to be the president of the Repairman Jack fanclub. Though I had heard of The Keep as a movie I admit to not having heard of F. Paul Wilson as a writer until '95 when I came across Conspiracies. I wanted something new to read and it looked interesting, but what clenched it was Sai Steve's recommendation. His generosity of spirit has turned me on to many great writers over the years: Peter Straub, John Farris, Ramsey Campbell, Michael Chabon and others. To me there are no bad Stephen King books, just some that are more well-developed than others. I'm sure FPW could say the same if asked which of his works he's the most proud of and which one's he might see as steps along the way to greater works. But then I'm a hope springs eternal/ glass-perpetually-half-full kind of person. I draw the excellence out where ever I find it and receive revelation and inspiration from it as it soaks in, mutates in my head, and causes new thoughts to occur. The Talisman, IT and The Tommyknockers remain personal favorites of mine, as well as The Stand and The Gunslinger. I also really dug The Mist, and that one may actually be my all-time personal preference from among King's near-matchless body of work.

[SamH]

The Talisman, It and the Tommyknockers are my favorites too. SK said that he wrote the Tommyknockers while blind drunk and coked to the eyeballs. It was kind of funny because he said that later after he got sober he read the book and thought it was pretty good, although he couldn't remember much about writing it.