The Stephen King Thread

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm reading the Bachman books on a friend's recommendation. First Stephen King books I've ever read, which I guess is appropriate since they were apparently some of the first books he ever actually wrote. I just finished The Long Walk. I thought it was kind of lame at first, but it turns into a really compelling examination of humanity and mortality. The friend who recommended the Bachman books to me said he liked The Long Walk except for the ending, but I liked the ending quite a bit.

Anyway, now that I'm reading King's stuff, I can't believe it took me this long to get to them. I've got Roadwork and The Running Man to finish from the Bachman books collection I've got, and then it's onto the Dark Tower series. I was going to read The Stand too, but I found the TV mini-series on Netflix and figured that's probably good enough for now, given that King himself wrote the screenplay. Damned good mini-series, too. Although it made me a little sad that Parker Lewis ended up betraying everyone. Guess he can lose after all.

 

[Sawyer]

I'm reading the Bachman books on a friend's recommendation. First Stephen King books I've ever read, which I guess is appropriate since they were apparently some of the first books he ever actually wrote. I just finished The Long Walk. I thought it was kind of lame at first, but it turns into a really compelling examination of humanity and mortality. The friend who recommended the Bachman books to me said he liked The Long Walk except for the ending, but I liked the ending quite a bit.

Anyway, now that I'm reading King's stuff, I can't believe it took me this long to get to them. I've got Roadwork and The Running Man to finish from the Bachman books collection I've got, and then it's onto the Dark Tower series. I was going to read The Stand too, but I found the TV mini-series on Netflix and figured that's probably good enough for now, given that King himself wrote the screenplay. Damned good mini-series, too. Although it made me a little sad that Parker Lewis ended up betraying everyone. Guess he can lose after all.

Corp, I beg of you. Find the time to read the novel. The miniseries pales in comparison.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Maybe a while after Dark Tower. It's a really f***ing large book, and I don't want to be reading solely Stephen King for the next year between that and Dark Tower.

 

[LOBO3315a]

The Stand is quite a large read. It's worth every page turn, though.

 

[squeekness]

I'm reading the Bachman books on a friend's recommendation. First Stephen King books I've ever read, which I guess is appropriate since they were apparently some of the first books he ever actually wrote. I just finished The Long Walk. I thought it was kind of lame at first, but it turns into a really compelling examination of humanity and mortality. The friend who recommended the Bachman books to me said he liked The Long Walk except for the ending, but I liked the ending quite a bit.

Anyway, now that I'm reading King's stuff, I can't believe it took me this long to get to them. I've got Roadwork and The Running Man to finish from the Bachman books collection I've got, and then it's onto the Dark Tower series. I was going to read The Stand too, but I found the TV mini-series on Netflix and figured that's probably good enough for now, given that King himself wrote the screenplay. Damned good mini-series, too. Although it made me a little sad that Parker Lewis ended up betraying everyone. Guess he can lose after all.

If you can get your hands on it, Rage was one of Bachman's best. It's out of print now because it was about a school shooting and King had it taken out. Still my sister got a used copy of it in great condition at a used book store. Worth every penny.

 

[redhawk23]

Just in time for Mr. King's birthday

 

[TheCorpulent1]

If you can get your hands on it, Rage was one of Bachman's best. It's out of print now because it was about a school shooting and King had it taken out. Still my sister got a used copy of it in great condition at a used book store. Worth every penny.

That was the first book in this collected edition I have of the Bachman books. It was indeed excellent. The Long Walk was good too. Now I'm on Roadwork, then The Running Man.

 

[squeekness]

I liked Roadwork a lot, too. It was very involved. Don't know if all of what was done in it could be done, but it was still a great read.

 

[redhawk23]

Happy birthday Mr. King!

May your birthday be complete with this Carrie Cake

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Hahaha, that is awesome.

 

[squeekness]

It doesn't look the least bit appetizing either, lol. It looks a little too real.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

Guess he can lose after all.

Yeah, what can happen in these types of stories is that the people who are supposed to help him, hinder him in any way they can come up with, when the hero is struggling already in ways they can't imagine, but they never listen to him or believe him, so everyone loses.
Some people also make the mistake of thinking that because they don't like someone they can abuse their powers and interfere diretcly in the person's life.

**** 'em, right?

 

[:eek:]

King reads from Dr. Sleep

Posted: September 24, 2011, 20:21:12
Section: Book » Dr Sleep
I got this very interesting news from The Mason Award Event that took place last night. It appears King is almost finished writing a sequel to The Shining, Dr. Sleep. It will be about Danny Torrence as an adult and some sort of vampire like people called "The Tribe" that drive around in mobile homes and feed on psychic energy.

King read a chapter from it at the event and the nice part of it is that there is a clip of it on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Dd2lf88w-8g

 

[LOBO3315a]

Wow. Once again I'm reminded why I'm a King fan.

 

[Superman]

King reads from Dr. Sleep

Posted: September 24, 2011, 20:21:12
Section: Book » Dr Sleep
I got this very interesting news from The Mason Award Event that took place last night. It appears King is almost finished writing a sequel to The Shining, Dr. Sleep. It will be about Danny Torrence as an adult and some sort of vampire like people called "The Tribe" that drive around in mobile homes and feed on psychic energy.

King read a chapter from it at the event and the nice part of it is that there is a clip of it on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Dd2lf88w-8g

YES!! I've been wanting a sequel to the Shining for years. IMO the Shining is his best with The Stand a very close 2nd.

I'll be reading this.

 

[Superman]

Ive just started the Dark Tower and finished the first book and just started the second. Ive read that DT is connected or atleast little easter eggs in his other books is this true if so. Are those books worth reading for the connections?


DT is my first King book I feel like a fool for never reading any of his work but I got the revised first book also just throwing it out there. But so far im loving DT its great I also ordered Cell off of amazon zombie book by King cant be bad.

Almost all of his earlier books are connected in some way to DT. It may not be obvious at first reading but if you read all of them along with DT you will see a connection between his other books and DT.

If you want a direct connection to DT you might want to check out Insomnia, Hearts in Atlantis and Black House, And I think Desperation, The Regulators and From a Buick 8 are also connected to DT but it's been awhile since I read them so I could be wrong about them.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The Stand is also connected to Dark Tower in pretty obvious ways.

 

[GoblinWhirlwind]

Yeah definitely read the Stand and Salem's Lot, they connect to the DT.

 

[Rocketman]

"I don't even remember writing The Tommyknockers."

Did Stephen King actually write this article?! Because if so, LMAO.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/i-dont-even-remember-writing-the-tommyknockers,10929/

So, I'm doing this book signing for The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon at the Barnes & Noble on Manhattan's Upper West Side last week, and this woman comes up to me, gushing about how The Tommyknockers is her "absolute, all-time favorite book." The name really didn't ring a bell, but I figured I must have written it, seeing as this woman is bothering to tell me how it's her all-time favorite, so I just kind of play along like I know what the heck she's talking about.

"What Bobbi Anderson and the other people of Haven went through, well, that was just the ultimate in horror fiction," this woman said to me as I nodded along, clueless. "I must have read it at least 50 times, and I swear, not once has it failed to scare the living daylights out of me."

Anyway, when I got home, I looked up The Tommyknockers in this literature reference book I have and, sure enough, I wrote it in 1987. Apparently, it's the story of this woman in this small town in Maine who discovers a metal object that was buried for millennia, and the thing gives all the townspeople super-powers. But then there's this deadly evil that's unleashed by the object, and the town becomes a death trap for all outsiders.

After reading the plot synopsis, I sort of remembered it, but, then again, maybe it just sounded like something else I wrote. After your 50 or 60th one, it's all kind of a blur. But if I had to venture a guess, I'd say I probably did write The Tommyknockers. It sounds like my kind of thing, what with this invisible evil being unleashed on a town full of innocent people and all.

To be honest, that wouldn't be the first time I'd forgotten one of my books. I'm usually pretty good about remembering the early stuff, like Carrie and The Stand and so forth. And I never forget my most recent one. It's those middle-period ones, though, that always seem to slip my mind. Like, what's that one about the writer who uses a pen name, and then the pen name develops into this evil, Mr. Hyde-type alter ego and commits a brutal murder? The Dark Tower? The Dark Zone? I'm pretty sure it's the "Dark" something, but I could be wrong.

Oh, and then there was that one about the werewolf. I honestly don't remember anything about that one, except that there was some kind of killer werewolf attacking a whole bunch of people. Hopefully, no one will ever mention that one at a book signing, because I don't think I could fake it for even a minute. Like I said, it's all a big blur after a while.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Consider reading The Talisman before Black House, although both are great reads.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

"I don't even remember writing The Tommyknockers."

Did Stephen King actually write this article?! Because if so, LMAO.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/i-dont-even-remember-writing-the-tommyknockers,10929/

His drug and alcohol addiction hit it's peak during that time. Tommyknockers isn't the only thing he can't remember from the late 80's.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...-addiction-drink-drugs-nearly-killed-him.html

edit: Oh **** that's an Onion article. Still, I do remember him claiming that he can't recall writing the book due to a huge coke binge.

 

[Sawyer]

He apparently can't remember writing Cujo either.

 

[EML420]

Almost all of his earlier books are connected in some way to DT. It may not be obvious at first reading but if you read all of them along with DT you will see a connection between his other books and DT.

If you want a direct connection to DT you might want to check out Insomnia, Hearts in Atlantis and Black House, And I think Desperation, The Regulators and From a Buick 8 are also connected to DT but it's been awhile since I read them so I could be wrong about them.

Thanks I recently bought Insomnia and The Stand but I take a long time to get started on books I procrastinate lol.

 

[squeekness]

His drug and alcohol addiction hit it's peak during that time. Tommyknockers isn't the only thing he can't remember from the late 80's.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...-addiction-drink-drugs-nearly-killed-him.html

edit: Oh **** that's an Onion article. Still, I do remember him claiming that he can't recall writing the book due to a huge coke binge.

Maybe when he got hit by that van he broke more than just his hip, lol.

 

[Superman]

His drug and alcohol addiction hit it's peak during that time. Tommyknockers isn't the only thing he can't remember from the late 80's.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...-addiction-drink-drugs-nearly-killed-him.html

edit: Oh **** that's an Onion article. Still, I do remember him claiming that he can't recall writing the book due to a huge coke binge.

Yeah, I remember him saying that about Tommyknockers too. He was doing coke at the time he wrote it and couldn't remember writing it after he got clean.

I remember thinking when I read Tommyknockers that there was something wrong with it. It just seem like he was out of it when he wrote it. IMO it's not one of his best.