stephen king c/d?

now, eh, i'm sure i'd enjoy rereading some of the good ones.

oh yeah and know what's annoying? the american version of lars von trier's "the kingdom" is called motherfucking "STEPHEN KING'S KINGDOM HOSPITAL"!!! what the fuck is that shit?!

"I read the Mist today, and boy was it scary!"

If you can find it, there's a audio dramatization of the Mist available on cassete. The cool thing about it is that it's in three-dimensional sound, which gives the story an extremely spooky effect.

This is so true. His were the first "adult" books I got into reading, as a kid. (I remember learning about most aspects of sex -- except the nuts and bolts, of course, which my mom taught me -- from Stephen King books.) And I think he made for a pretty good segue into the more usual fiction, when I became a preteen... (Because, y'know, he writes about couples and relationships and people musing about their lives and all that shit... just with monsters.)

And I remember "It," which I read in sixth grade, as being one heck of a great book.

I think his stuff in the last decade or so is unbearable nostalgic crap, I still think his first 15 years had a few genuinely great novels (The Dead Zone and Pet Sematary seem to stand up the best) and a boatload of really scary scenes (the Lincoln Tunnel sequence in The Stand, Ben's Hubie Marston nightmare in 'Salem's Lot).

At this point, though, I'd wager that most of his stuff made for better movies, at least when real directors (as opposed to Frank Darabont) were at the helm. Carrie, The Shining, and Christine are all way beyond the source material. And Cujo, The Dead Zone and 'Salem's Lot are all great movies in their own right.

Dude, did you see my post upthread?

I stopped caring before the first chapter of Delores Claiborne ended (tho that movie was good).

Short stories: great. Dark Tower also good in principle (the first one was only good enough to get me vaguely interested in the seond one, which was great), but if it turns out that I'd have to read all his other books to understand the next volume, I'll be pissed off.

You have to reckon he's jumped the shark when he starts making TV miniseries of all his longer stories, including The Shining. Apparently the film was fine, but not what he was looking for.

And Christine to thread!

1. The Shining
2. The Strand was good as I recall though the middle 500 pages dragged a bit
3. He wrote some book about dragons. I forget what it was called but dragons are so awesome.
4. His short stories I think are generally excellent, and much different from his fiction. They're published in the New Yorker and other such magazines quite often. He had an excellent one about highway restroom graffiti.
5. Also he got hit by a truck, which is so crazy. Then he wrote lots of memoirs about being hit by a truck. The one celebrity we have in the whole state of Maine gets mauled by a drunk driver. I thought we should have put his giant creepy head on our state quarter, but apparently that wasn't taken into consideration.

>Anyway, 4mph isn't very fast

True. This is the beauty of the contest. The 100 starters can go on for quite a while before the 1st person is shot, which is obviously a sobering event for the remaining 99. Only after about 48 hours things start to go a bit crazy. People start to freak out, as one would expect. Dunno why that story stuck with me for so long - it's a disturbing concept.

-- s1ocki

Stephen King signing on to the Kingdom remake is the only thing that got it made; it's been in and out of production for years, so I assume they're tagging it with his name because they aren't confident in it except as a King vehicle (whereas a Johnny Depp movie is a Johnny Depp movie, and you really don't need the Inspector 13 tag.

I haven't seen Dreamcatcher and don't know if I will, but coming so soon after the extended discussion of "trunk novels" in Bag of Bones (which, love it or hate it, is considerably different in scope, tone, and approach), and King's subsequent accident and public difficulties with returning to writing, I half-assumed it was a trunk novel itself. It certainly reads like one.

(xpost)

No, we have Dean Koontz for that.

i mean the thing with stephen king is he's really good at writing really readable stuff, and he has some neat ideas, but man oh man does he repeat himself. which is kind of interesting in a way, i guess. it's like he applies whatever good idea he has to the basic mold of "writer in maine" and lets it rip.

(obviously that applies more to the novels)

I'm not quite sure what to make of Fairy Tale. I thought the pacing and plot progression were all over the place. But it had some great sequences - the first walk through the abandoned city was fantastic, and the waiting room build-up to the "Fair One" was the most intense, horrifying thing he's written in a long time.

perlstein on stephen king as the writer of the great death of democracy novel: https://prospect.org/culture/2024-02-14-cultural-artifact-meets-the-moment/

Finally read The Gunslinger and… maybe hated it? I know the subsequent volumes are supposed to be much better, but *how* much better exactly? Roland is a a sticking point – he’s kind of a bore

It remains patchy as hell throughout imo but you might get on better with book 2 if you like 80s king, it’s a lot of fun & king starts to send up Roland a bit, both in the narrative voice & through the expanded cast of characters. Get ready for some peak sk problematic/tone deaf characterisation tho

Sounds like something a honk mahfah would say...

wins OTM

Book 2 feels like it was written with the vivid memory of addiction (or in the depths of it)

lol peace man

wins otm

theres really not much recommending any of the first three dark tower books based on whether you liked the other two tbh

if you want something to read, fancy a shaggy gunslinger story and are ready for three genres and era of stephen king then forge on imo youll find something in there for you i think

That Perlstein essay linked above is really good.

There is some good action scenes in both Drawing of the Three and the whole Lud part of the Wastelands.

Just finished Holly, can't say I'd recommend it too highly. And apparently there's more of her on the way!

Kirkus Reviews assessed the novel as catering mostly to loyal fans of King, but also criticized the novel's pacing, King's language and his "creaky" cultural references.

C'mon now, asking King to give up boomer cultural references is like asking him to give up air.

yeah that seems kinda rude

The cultural references didn't bother me, and some of the Holly character stuff is handled pretty well, if not to justify King's ongoing fascination with her. But the never-ending Covid/lockdown/MAGA stuff was so tedious, and comes across quite clearly as King venting his spleen over the covidiots and anti-vaxxers he comes across on social media (and maybe IRL too). I mean, did people really bring up the specific vaccine they got as a conversation starter like that?

The villains were probably the most interesting thing in the story but I felt their potential was squandered. And I have NO idea what he was going for with those poetry/book deal subplots...

People really did bring up the particular vaccines they got like that.

Fair enough, it just wasn't my experience! Holly's reactions did sometimes feel realistic, given her hypochondria, it just wasn't fun when it was happening every single paragraph

He can keep the boomer references but then maybe have the protagonists actually be boomers or make the stories period pieces instead of having middle-aged characters with the frame of reference of a septuagenarian

There’s a funny review of the outsider that takes him to task for having the iirc mid-40s protagonist remember seeing on the news that John Lennon was shot; in the latest collection there’s a character younger than me who has never heard of apps or comments sections. It’s ridiculous. Stuff like this more than bloat/indulgence is what makes ppl conclude king became uneditable at some point I think. Holly is a great example, it’s obv fine to set fiction in the pandemic & objections to that are weird imo but king does it in the most hamfisted way imaginable. holly gibney is one of his worst characters (the depiction of neurodivergence is better than M-O-O-N but you can’t say much more) & I lost count of the number of times the narrative gives some variation on “holly has changed a lot since book one of this series”, it’s “character” “development” handled as clumsily as the covid stuff

Having said that I had a pretty good time with you like it darker! Some real bangers, a few duds (Finn is a lesser in the death room with a different ethnic caricature)

Haven't gotten the new one, randomly decided to re-read Nightmares and Dreamscapes. I remembered it as a weak collection compared to the first two, but I've actually enjoyed the stories so far. It is the point where King gets a little overly descriptive for his own good though - a lot of his 90s novels are absolutely huge, aren't they?

I remember back in the 90s a friend had an advertisement for the then-new Insomnia on her refrigerator. It said “INSOMNIA—-IT LOOMS.” Strangely hard to find an image online for it.

https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/31646747768.jpg

There’s this. But it’s not quite right.

He can keep the boomer references but then maybe have the protagonists actually be boomers or make the stories period pieces instead of having middle-aged characters with the frame of reference of a septuagenarian

Basically the last 20 years of The Simpsons in a nutshell

The novella length always seemed to be King’s sweet spot. His short stories are usually too silly, while the fuk novels (especially those that came after he left his original editor in 1986), are too self-indulgent and overlong

fuk novels, u say...

Fuk boi lit

dud

https://i.imgur.com/6gLPW70.png

I just listened to this podcast with King and Eli Roth from a few years ago. Fun conversation about horror movies.

I’m Speaking:
A Tale of Terror

"He's a normal ass democrat! how cringe"

classic

https://i.imgur.com/hvXZAGk.jpeg

Couple new trailers

Long Walk movie looks like it could be good idk
(god I love that book)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxSe8OVRsoU

And:

IT prequel HBO series “Welcome To Derry”
looks like it has potential (same director as the recent movies, with Bill Skarsgard returning as drooly Pennywise)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtorEDAgjPM

I happen to be halfway through reading Insomnia atm

re-read? or first time?

1st

I was back home last week mpls/stpl where there are actual used paperback sections and picked up three I’ve never read (insomnia, the dark half, bag o bones).

i liked insomnia!

i love the Dark Half! one of my top-tier faves.

Bag of Bones is decent! one of his better late-90s novels imo

Insomnia is pretty good iirc though it’s been a good 20 yrs since my last read thru.
Fair bit of Dark Tower crossover.

the imagery of the three bald doctors in Insomnia still gives me the willies

I don't remember much of the book but am definitely looking forward to The Long Walk.

^ this is how my sunday afternoons go at 44

Twenty years ago I was buying the dark half at a secondhand bookstore and some asshole came up to me and told me the ending, so I’ve never bothered reading it. (I got Salem’s Lot instead.)

endings don't really matter in Stephen King books though

Yeah or at the very least if you need books to have good or even sensible endings, you won't be a King fan.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GXED-hOXEAA9cOY.jpg

lmao

the imagery of the three bald doctors in Insomnia still gives me the willies

The fucked up one with the rusty scalpel, yeah? Didn’t help that I had the music from Columns playing in my head which made him a little less sinister.

I had about three years between reading this and the last Dark Tower book and when Patrick Danville showed up I YELLED. You could not have paid me to guess which book’s characters showed up there. (I would kind of been hoping for Eyes of the Dragon if you asked me).

i kinda like that the lads from the eyes of the dragon are still out there doing their thing

I ended up in maine last month and we were only like half an hour from bangor so had to get a picture standing in front of this gate, which had a red balloon tied to it obviously:

https://i0.wp.com/bdn-data.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2023/01/King-at-gate.jpg

it’s only right to do so

Looked this up on Google Maps and noticed that the street view pegman for Bangor turns into a person with a backpack and walking stick. Anyone understand this reference? I can't think of a Stephen King thing that it could be.

Possibly some promotional thing for the upcoming The Long Walk movie?