Stephan King discussion would be good...very good :)

16 responses total.

Okay. I'll start unless somebody else slips in while I'm entering
this. I'm a bit handicapped by not having read any of his books,
but I've seen a fair number of movies and TV shows based on his
works, so maybe that puts me in a position to comment. 
  King's done some effective stuff, but to me a lot of it starts
to seem the same after a while. At least in his horror/fantasy
works, there are formula elements that show up again and again.
  One of the more effective adaptations I've seen of a King work
was the TV miniseries "It" of about 5 years ago. Some really scary
moments, although the ending was a disappointment (and considerably
changed from the book, I'm told). On the other hand, some of
the TV adaptations of King have been real losers, like "The
Stand".
  But like I say, I haven't read any of King's books, so maybe I
shouldn't be talking.

King does well by playing off various fears... which doesn't always work for
all people.  "Cujo", fer instance, bored the heck out of me since I'm not at
all afraid of dogs, but "The Shining" was really frightening.

The annoying thing is all the brand names, to make it seem more real.

  No, the annoying thing is all those references to other books. I have
deepsixed Mr King for a year while I read some *good* books like _The Name
of the Rose_ by Umberto Eco, _Motown_ by Loren Estleman, _Whiskey River_ by
the same author, and I might just buy/borrow the new on by Phillip Roth, whom
my dispatcher/book critic says I should read at some point. I also need to
catch up on my Michener, he's getting ahead of me again ;)

I don't usually read Stephen King but can attest to his popularity both in
the number of checkouts at the library and the amount of his books stolen.
I still remember a short story of his I read in a magazine once.  It was about
a traveling salesman who kept folding his map smaller and smaller and driving
the point to  point route until he disappeared.  He is scary.
You have to wonder what is in that  guys mind..except I guess we read
it..hmmmm?

 Well, I thought that I could deepsix King for a while, then he brings out
that damned serial series, The Green Mile. It's not bad, in fact, it's pretty
much like his stuff that he was writing in the eighties.
. I just finished "Rose Madder", and it's bizarre, as usual. 3 stars. Nothing
to write home about, though.

nver read any of his stuff give me a book to start off with, I really am a
mystery over gorry stuff so any suggestions

 The Dead Zone. It's one of his best. A little blood, but nothing to get
sick over. You might also want to read "The Stand" that IS not bloody, but
deals with mass death from the flu. 

nobody has any idea how interesting thi sis for me to read.. just thought I"d
put something in because of the name similartiy. not like anyone's going to
read this.

  I'm reading it. ;)  

  I've yet to get into the new ones Desparation and The Regulators. I'm trying
to be more enthused by them, but it's hard.

Stephen King is great because as someone earlier has put it "he plays with
the fears", which is an indication of how masterful is his understanding of
the human mind. He has the ability to real do things to peoples minds with
his books. All of his books , if not anything else, have always made me think,
that to me is the greatness of the writer.
The ones I have enjoyed the most include the Tower Series, The Backman
Books(TheLongWlak was fantastic ), and Christine.

I used to enjoy King, but it's been a long while since I really liked
his stuff.  I did read _Gerald's_Game_, and then the _Delores_ book
that intertwined with it, but I think that's my recent journey into
the Mind of King.  I never finished _The_Dark_Half.

King can be horrific, but he's willing to settle for gross, which I find
merely disgusting.

        Perhaps it's unfair to judge an author who's paid to produce
mass-marked paperbacks of a certian length by those authors who aren't, but
I really don't see much to distinguish King from other mediocre American
horror writers, except for the fact that King doesn't seem to be stuck on one
theme.  There's very little to disntinguish King from other popular writers
who do have the ability to change themes, like Koontz or McCammon.

King has a great sense of humor.  I see him more of a social
satirist than a horrorist.  (Good word, eh?)

(At least it's not so hard to pronounce as "horrorer" would be)

  Has anyone here read Danse Macabre?

Yes.

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