I wanna talk about Stephen King!!!!

I've only read Misery, Dolores Claiborne, PEt Sematary and The Green Mile, but I'll try and keep up.

I'll be a part of this discussion! Love King. Favorites: Hmm -- probably Dark Half, Misery, Fire Starter, Dead Zone, Shining, Bag of Bones ...

Have a special place in my heart for Tommyknockers.

The Stand, usually listed as people's favorite, is not one of mine. It's in the middle of my list. I have a major problem with the ending....but won't spoil anything for anyone who hasn't read it.

I could talk about King (and Ellison, and Brust, and Vachss) until I die of starvation, so here goes...

Blo- Why do you have a special place in your heart for the Tommyknockers? The only cool thing about that book were the cameos by Pennywise and the Shop. Other than that it was weakly plotted with an anti-climax.

And Butane, have you read them ALL? Only thing I haven't read is the standalone version of 'My Pretty Pony', and if that's the same one as is in Nightmares and Dreamscapes then I HAVE read it...also, I haven't read the new online book. As we speak (virtually speak...) I am about to go eat lunch and continue reading Hearts In Atlantis.

Oh, and Butane, you make me smile! You're the most literate punk I have ever met. I love contradictions.

Butane, not even I can handle my woman, I don't know if I would wish that job on anyone else!!!

The Green Mile was probably my fave. I also have "The Stand" "Desparation" and "The Regulators" which I haven't read.

I could try to take on another book, but I am currently reading "Otherland: River of Blue Fire", "The Catcher in the Rye" and "Lord of the Rings" (for the Tolkien Board discussion)

Talk to me, tell me what to do!

The first Stephen King book I ever read was the full version of The Stand, 1100 pages!
That book literally kicked my ass, I couldn't put it down for a second. And that's why I was so pissed when they did a miniseries about the Stand that was 100% shit, it really sucked.

Have any of guys read the Talisman? It was a collaboration between King and Peter Straub. I liked it a lot, but whenever I ask other people about it they say that it was too boring...of course when they say that, I kick them in the crotch.

[This message has been edited by grim_fist (edited 03-29-2000).]

Cool, hopefully it's good.

What did you think of the tv movie "Storm of the Century"?

I thought it was pretty good compared to the "Stand" tv movie and the "Langoliers" tv movie.

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[This message has been edited by Hot Animal Machine (edited 06-24-2000).]

My dad used to read the unedited version of The Stand to me as a kid, before bedtime.

DARK TOWER! DARK TOWER! DARK TOWER!

Still haven't looked at Roland's story in Legends.

Desperation was incredible. Salem's Lot was cool. I have the most fun, though, reading his short stories.

The Stand (uncut version) is my favorite book ever. I also LOVE Bag of Bones, Hearts in Atlantis, Pet Semetary, IT, Desperation, Salem's Lot, Danse Macabre, Different Seasons, Skeleton Crew (Survivor type!) and just about all else.

Rage from The Bachman Books was my first ever screeplay adaption.

The thought of Darabont adapting and directing The Mist. Shivers. Would that be too cool?!

Carrie. The Dead Zone. Stand By Me (The Body). And Children of the Corn VII

And the Creepshows aren't bad either (1 is better than 2).

Cat's Eye had a really nice last segment -- I think it was called The General. A little gnome running around stealing the breath of sleeping children.

My most prized King collectible -- the lettered edition of part II of The Plant.

SHASTAR -- joking about Children of the Corn. AVOID!

I can't help you with the Greek titles of Creepshow or Cat's Eye. They are adaptations of some of King's short stories -- or short stories written for the screen. Anthology films.

Let's see (from memory)...

Creepshow: The Crate, The Lonesome Death of Jordie Verrell (or was it Weeds?), Something about a "birthday cake" celebration -- written for the movie, cockroach infestation & Ted Dansen buried in the sand.

Creepshow II: Walking talking cigar-store indian (awful!); but the good thing about this film is the adaptation of The Raft. And there's a lady with a nice set of ... match-box cars.

Cat's Eye -- The Ledge, the quitting smoking thing and The General.

Maybe Amazon could help you locate them overseas?

My God this message board is prolific, so much to talk about!!!
Stephen King is by far one of the BEST writers in lterary history. The Dark Tower is definitly my favorite body of work by him with the Stand and Eyes of the Dragon coming in at 2 & 3. I think I read Wizard and Glass in about 2 days and was jonsing for more immediately

Yup, I'm here huckleberry, have you read the newest King offering? The online story? I can't even remember what it's called though......

Riding the Bullet
which leads me to: I think some of King's best are his short-stories and novellas. They don't come better than The Mist, The Body, The Raft, Survivor Type, The Monkey, The Ledge, The Last Rung on the Ladder, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption ... etc, etc, etc.

You know which one still gives me the creepy crawlies, The Jaunt, such a damned spooky ending, and of course the Long Walk and Rage, the Ten O'Clock People (smokers are so damned persecuted and we hold the salvation of the WORLD!), et al

PS - speaking of another great horror author, Clive Barker, I just read the snippet about film adaptations for the Books of Blood, that kind of bums me out since his films always get the bum bum treatment from Hollywood (except Hellraiser I 'spose).

[This message has been edited by girlcreeture (edited 03-31-2000).]

The Ten O'Clock People?
Do tell...
Do you mean, Quitter's Inc? Or is this part of Blood and Smoke?

It's in Nightmares and Dreamscapes, it's about how this one guy, a smoker, realizes that the quit smoking campaign is being handled by undercover alien monster baddies, it's a very cool story

Above in this thread two people asked me to expand on my statement of having a problem with the end of The Stand. I'll try to be cryptic enough to not ruin anything for anyone.

I was just disappointed that Trashcan Man (a great character, but a character with whom you spend so little time) has such a key role in the climax.

After spending 1100 pages with the other characters, the heros of the piece, to have them NOT be the ones to ... uh ... hmmm ... how do I say this ... to have the ending happen to everyone, instead of having the lead good-guys be XXXXXXXXXXX through their own actions. I felt it was dramatically a let down.

But, the book is still fabulous! It is truly absorbing. I just wish the main characters had been more involved in the resolution of the tale.

OK, I don't think I got everything you meant there, do you mean you thought ALL the major players should've been involved, because they had so much to do with everything else that led up to the climax?

I think he means that he felt that it was a cop-out to have Stu go home with a broke leg, while the other guys sat around when the bomb went off in Vegas (delivered by Trash Can Man).

Oh, man. DJEvil let everybody know...

I just wish that Flagg's downfall (not that he was defeated, except for temporarily) was brought about by accident, and by a nuclear device delivered to the scene by Trashcan Man. I thought Stu and THEOTHERGUY should have been victorious out of their own efforts. Why were they the "heros" of the story if THEY WERE NOT VICTORIOUS?

It's like giving the MVP award to someone who sat on the side-lines during the most important plays of the game.

.

[This message has been edited by Hot Animal Machine (edited 06-24-2000).]

He nailed Molly Ringwald. That's a victory in my book.

To DJ, of course it can be looked at as a cop out, but I think it was also a way of saying that realistically, the good guys aren't always gonna have it the easy way which the entire book illustrates, a kind of nifty complex way to say shit happens. So I don't see why the ending came as a surprise or a let down for some of us. I think it remained hopeful actually.
I agree with the idea that the main characters were not heroes, I don't think I ever considered them that, and the fact that Trash was the end all be all for the ending in a such a way just strengthens the shit happens factor rather nicely, especially since we don't really get to spend much time with his character, it's always the ones nobody pays any attention to, even Flagg made that mistake.

Hey, I was just conveying what I thought Blofeld was saying.

I thought it wasn't as...profound or exciting an ending. Maybe appropriate, but still...Shawnee Smith got killed at the end. THAT'S a downer.

Shawnee Smith? Is that the annoying drugstore girl from the movie?

AUGH! DIE! DIE! DIE! Yeah, that was her.

I will not die, sorry, but she was annoying.

While the Dark Tower is an epic in the grand tradition, I think that King will in later years be recognized, as it slowly dawns on people, not for the Dark Tower (which will have readers until forever comes and goes) but instead for doing something that in literature had not previously been done EFFECTIVELY...

Desperation and Bag of Bones.

In one he reverently and realistically bridges the gap between man and God even so far as to make God the unseen protagonist ("What do you think will happen if it is not stopped?"
-David's mouth opened wide. "It will spread," he whispered.
"No," said the man in the sunglasses. "It will overextend itself and die. That is what evil does."
-"Then why can't we just leave?" David asked, "Why do we have to fight it?"
--The sunglasses turned on him. "Because it is an abomination, and your God commands it."), and in the other he recreates the best of what Mary Shelly and Bram Stoker and all of the Victorians were trying to accomplish: He wrote a totally immersive ghost story that was, according to EVERYBODY'S CRITERIA AND BENCHMARK, Literature!!!

---------------------------------------
Do I love the Dark Tower? Hell yes!
Do I love the Stand? You betcha!

(Oh, and Blofeld--The TCMan's actions at the end of the stand were to reiterate something about the nature of evil, whether it be Tak or Flagg or the King or George Stark, and that is that evil will always have BLIND SPOTS, spots where its arrogance or its power cannot see that the seeds of its destruction are sown...and the TCMan was the bringer of that which is another theme in King's works, which is the idiot savant having a touch of the divine in them, or at least a part where the divine can pull and prod.)

Of the old books, Salem's Lot is my favorite.

Read "The Little Sisters of Eluria" a few months ago and liked it a good deal. Read "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" last week and it wasn't bad at all, no sir. Reading "Hearts In Atlantis" now. You know EXACTLY who Anthony Hopkins will play in the movie, right from the get-go. Very pleased, so far.

King's definitely getting better.

Anyone read Bachman's "The Long Walk". Just finished it yesterday. Wow.