The Stephen King Thread

[AnorexicBatman]

Has anybody here played ALAN WAKE (survival horror)? The entire game is from the point of view of an author who is a HUGE Stephen King fanboy and from the very start of the game where creepy and scary things start happening to him, he keeps going, "Man Stephen King is so awesome! This is just like one of his stories"

Not to mention the entire game is full of references to his works and the basic plot structure & setting is rather King-ish.

I just finished watching a Let's Play of it and wanted to share.

 

[Sawyer]

I saw a portion of The Stand on TV a few nights ago and ugh it really makes me wish someone better would come along an either make a film (a two-parter preferably) or a new miniseries that actually does the book justice.

 

[bored]

Meh, the tv movie did as much as it could. Something like "The Stand" can never be translated perfectly. It tried to be accurate, but you can never really bring the intensity of the book to another medium perfectly.

 

[Sawyer]

Meh, the tv movie did as much as it could. Something like "The Stand" can never be translated perfectly. It tried to be accurate, but you can never really bring the intensity of the book to another medium perfectly.

Well if people are not satisfied unless they get a word-for-word, scene for scene adaptation, then no I guess it cant be translated perfectly... but then, what can? It's my belief that, as long as you put the right folks in charge, you can get something a helluva lot better than the miniseries. It was fine for a 1990s era television miniseries, but today we can do better, I'm sure of it.

 

[redhawk23]

Well if people are not satisfied unless they get a word-for-word, scene for scene adaptation, then no I guess it cant be translated perfectly... but then, what can? It's my belief that, as long as you put the right folks in charge, you can get something a helluva lot better than the miniseries. It was fine for a 1990s era television miniseries, but today we can do better, I'm sure of it.

Frank Darabont.

 

[ttotheusher]

I kinda forgot about this thread; I just recently finished Under the Dome. I took a long break from it for a while, but once I picked it up again I couldnt stop. Great book. The ending was kinda rushed though, plus the whole [BLACKOUT]alien[/BLACKOUT] angle just didnt work for me. Other than that though, another really solid book.

I'm quite lucky actually, cause my dad works for a shipping company that handles 90% of King's works, so I can basically accquire all of them for free. I'm debating which one to start on next, any suggestions?

 

[:eek:]

I'm debating which one to start on next, any suggestions?

Depends on what you've already read and not. My favourite book is probably It. So that is what I would suggest, but maybe you've already read that one

 

[squeekness]

I really liked Bag of Bones.

 

[Manic]

Has anybody here played ALAN WAKE (survival horror)? The entire game is from the point of view of an author who is a HUGE Stephen King fanboy and from the very start of the game where creepy and scary things start happening to him, he keeps going, "Man Stephen King is so awesome! This is just like one of his stories"

Not to mention the entire game is full of references to his works and the basic plot structure & setting is rather King-ish.

I just finished watching a Let's Play of it and wanted to share.

I haven't played it, but I heard that game was good. I also hear it's a psychic preteen and a mentally handicapped guy from being a Stephen King novel in video game form.

 

[bored]

I kinda forgot about this thread; I just recently finished Under the Dome. I took a long break from it for a while, but once I picked it up again I couldnt stop. Great book. The ending was kinda rushed though, plus the whole [BLACKOUT]alien[/BLACKOUT] angle just didnt work for me. Other than that though, another really solid book.

I'm quite lucky actually, cause my dad works for a shipping company that handles 90% of King's works, so I can basically accquire all of them for free. I'm debating which one to start on next, any suggestions?

Have you read any of the "Dark Tower" series? If not, do so.

 

[bored]

Well if people are not satisfied unless they get a word-for-word, scene for scene adaptation, then no I guess it cant be translated perfectly... but then, what can? It's my belief that, as long as you put the right folks in charge, you can get something a helluva lot better than the miniseries. It was fine for a 1990s era television miniseries, but today we can do better, I'm sure of it.

See, the tv adaptation of "The Stand" made an honest go of directly translating the book (or as much as it could of such a long, densely-packed work), and I thought it did a decent job of it. If you are saying the quality could be better, I agree, but that's not saying much for a tv miniseries.

 

[Sawyer]

Frank Darabont.

 

[Maximus One]

Just now like 100 pages in The Waste Lands. Loving it so far and damn if this is anything like what the rest of the books are like I'm sure I'm into a treat. I take it that as the books progress they get more and more "out there?"

 

[Manic]

Just now like 100 pages in The Waste Lands. Loving it so far and damn if this is anything like what the rest of the books are like I'm sure I'm into a treat. I take it that as the books progress they get more and more "out there?"

Oh, they definitely get more "out there." Just wait until you get to the "Key and Rose" section of The Waste Lands.

 

[Maximus One]

Cant wait! I'm bout to go home right now just so I can read more while I still have time

 

[Victarion]

You want "out there?" A whole lot of Song of Susannah was pretty "out there". I just started Salem's Lot yesterday. Already I am about 150 pages into it. I like how King gives his towns a life and flavor of their own. The Lot is almost a character itself.

 

[SpideyInATree]

My girlfriend is a huge Stephen King fan and she begged me to give his books a try. I was one of those novel readers that just never understood the whole "Stephen King craze".

So, I started with The Stand and, honestly, it's one of the best books that I think I've read. Without a doubt his best novel.

Other ones that I REALLY liked was The Dead Zone. I know it was made into a television series, which I never watched, but the book was so damn good. Probably my favorite right next to The Stand.

I gave The Dark Tower a shot and got halfway through the third book and it was just something that was not doing anything for me. I may, whenever I get bored, try to go back through the books. So many King fans praise this and I really want to see what they are talking about but it's just not doing it. I do have some of the Marvel comics adaptions with the beautiful Jae Lee artwork and I think getting into the Dark Tower really works in comic form with me, heh. Being a super comic nerd and all.

Needful Things was another one of my favorites. Great premise and loved the play on peoples need for material things.

There are still many of them I haven't read. As of right now I'm diving into his series of short stories "The Skeleton Crew". The first story was called The Mist, which my girlfriend said was made into a movie in 2007. Good God...many of his stories are meant to be scary, and some have not really scared me but for some reason The Mist really scared the crap out of me. Really super creepy story and it was just a perfect pace. Some of the other stories I have gotten through have been good but others have just been "Meh". If no one has read Skeleton Crew I would suggest it highly.

 

[:eek:]

My girlfriend is a huge Stephen King fan and she begged me to give his books a try. I was one of those novel readers that just never understood the whole "Stephen King craze".

So, I started with The Stand and, honestly, it's one of the best books that I think I've read. Without a doubt his best novel.

Other ones that I REALLY liked was The Dead Zone. I know it was made into a television series, which I never watched, but the book was so damn good. Probably my favorite right next to The Stand.

I gave The Dark Tower a shot and got halfway through the third book and it was just something that was not doing anything for me. I may, whenever I get bored, try to go back through the books. So many King fans praise this and I really want to see what they are talking about but it's just not doing it. I do have some of the Marvel comics adaptions with the beautiful Jae Lee artwork and I think getting into the Dark Tower really works in comic form with me, heh. Being a super comic nerd and all.

Needful Things was another one of my favorites. Great premise and loved the play on peoples need for material things.

There are still many of them I haven't read. As of right now I'm diving into his series of short stories "The Skeleton Crew". The first story was called The Mist, which my girlfriend said was made into a movie in 2007. Good God...many of his stories are meant to be scary, and some have not really scared me but for some reason The Mist really scared the crap out of me. Really super creepy story and it was just a perfect pace. Some of the other stories I have gotten through have been good but others have just been "Meh". If no one has read Skeleton Crew I would suggest it highly.

In case you don't know: The Dead Zone was also made into a movie by David Cronenberg with Cristopher Walken in it. And that movie is one of the best King-adaptations.

The movie version of The Mist is also pretty good (although with a very different ending than the short story that you may or may not like...), made by Frank Darabont who is perhaps the best director to have tackled King's materials. He also made The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, two of my favourite King-adaptations

 

[NoobSaiBot]

HI!!!!!!!!!!! 23 pages to browse through!

I'm new here. I like Stephen King books. Or atleast I used to. After his accident, he just wasn't the same... atleast his books didn't have the same gusto while I was reading them...

Witness him making himself "God" of sorts of the Dark Tower universe in the last book of the series. He does, however, explain right to Roland's face why his fate has been the way it was.

I read on IMDB that this will soon be a movie series. But I have to say I walked out of the "The Last Air Bender" (not written by him, I know) feeling depresed. Shaymalan managed to toss in lots of moments from the TV series as homages. But instead of feeling eccstatic about it, I felt blah. Aang in live-action struck me as kinda silly.

 

[redhawk23]

HI!!!!!!!!!!! 23 pages to browse through!

I'm new here. I like Stephen King books. Or atleast I used to. After his accident, he just wasn't the same... atleast his books didn't have the same gusto while I was reading them...

Witness him making himself "God" of sorts of the Dark Tower universe in the last book of the series. He does, however, explain right to Roland's face why his fate has been the way it was.

I read on IMDB that this will soon be a movie series. But I have to say I walked out of the "The Last Air Bender" (not written by him, I know) feeling depresed. Shaymalan managed to toss in lots of moments from the TV series as homages. But instead of feeling eccstatic about it, I felt blah. Aang in live-action struck me as kinda silly.

Am I the only one that sees no connection within this post?

 

[Figs]

In case you don't know: The Dead Zone was also made into a movie by David Cronenberg with Cristopher Walken in it. And that movie is one of the best King-adaptations.

Agreed

The movie version of The Mist is also pretty good (although with a very different ending than the short story that you may or may not like...), made by Frank Darabont who is perhaps the best director to have tackled King's materials. He also made The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, two of my favourite King-adaptations

Also have to agree that Darabont is damn good at adapting King's stories.

I haven't checked out King's last four to five novels. My friend was telling me Under the Dome was pretty good and does anyone know what his last collection of short stories was?

 

[Whiskey Tango]

I think the last one was Just After Sunset.

 

[Figs]

Thanks!

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Yeah, no prob. I still need to pick that one up myself.

 

[danoyse]

You want "out there?" A whole lot of Song of Susannah was pretty "out there". I just started Salem's Lot yesterday. Already I am about 150 pages into it. I like how King gives his towns a life and flavor of their own. The Lot is almost a character itself.

Salem's Lot is my favorite Stephen King book. Scares the crap out of me every time I've read it.