STEPHEN KING.

[AtlantisHaven26]

My favorite author is Stephen King. You can never go wrong picking up a Stephen King book. My favorite and most memoriable book he wrote is "BLACK HOUSE". .

[Scott]

I think his non-horror work is his best, like The Green Mile and Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.

[SalingerFan]

I mainly like King for the peripheral American culture that permeates his work. The sense of the times I get through such novels as Thinner and Roadwork.

But I feel he is terribly flawed and let down time and time again by ridiculous Deux Ex conclusions, his obsession with connecting all his works through his Dark Tower series, and an inability to refine and prune his output.

For example, his novel Needful Things absolutely captivated me at first. His portrait of a small town life with its characters and their conundrums, and the intervention of a strange tempting presence. But it is like he doesn't know what to do with the setting he has created, and it ends in a most ridiculous way. I've been burnt so many times, that I now refuse to read him. I refused to read his final Dark Tower books, and having learnt how it all ends, am very glad I didn't waste my time.

That said, sometimes, maybe through the intervention of his publisher or someone else, he nails it perfectly. Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, The Body, Misery, Gerald's Game and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon are very satisfying reads for me.

I guess comparing the two film versions of The Shining sums up my perspective. Kubrick took what was a fairly interesting premise, and refined it into the most creepy and atmospheric film I have ever seen. King on the other hand was disappointed - disappointed with Kubrick! So he became involved with the miniseries version which is tragically bad when compared to the Kubrick version.

So, I think King's imagination productive, but he requires an editor or someone with a finer sense of quality, to bring that imagination to its greatest potential.

Just my opinion.

[StephenKingman]

I mainly like King for the peripheral American culture that permeates his work. The sense of the times I get through such novels as Thinner and Roadwork.

But I feel he is terribly flawed and let down time and time again by ridiculous Deux Ex conclusions, his obsession with connecting all his works through his Dark Tower series, and an inability to refine and prune his output.

For example, his novel Needful Things absolutely captivated me at first. His portrait of a small town life with its characters and their conundrums, and the intervention of a strange tempting presence. But it is like he doesn't know what to do with the setting he has created, and it ends in a most ridiculous way. I've been burnt so many times, that I now refuse to read him. I refused to read his final Dark Tower books, and having learnt how it all ends, am very glad I didn't waste my time.

That said, sometimes, maybe through the intervention of his publisher or someone else, he nails it perfectly. Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, The Body, Misery, Gerald's Game and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon are very satisfying reads for me.

I guess comparing the two film versions of The Shining sums up my perspective. Kubrick took what was a fairly interesting premise, and refined it into the most creepy and atmospheric film I have ever seen. King on the other hand was disappointed - disappointed with Kubrick! So he became involved with the miniseries version which is tragically bad when compared to the Kubrick version.

So, I think King's imagination productive, but he requires an editor or someone with a finer sense of quality, to bring that imagination to its greatest potential.

Just my opinion.

You speak a lot of sense, a lot of King's early work, including Carrie and Salems Lot, featured the themes that were very relevant to King at that time of his life- female empowerment, small town politics and higher education- Carrie was written when King was working 2 jobs trying to make ends meet with a young family, he does seem to pepper his early books with the sense of young family in battle with supernatural forces and also he tends to focus on the inner strength of children (IT), but he has an uncanny eye for the insidious nature of human beings and their dark, lurking inner demons (Apt Pupil, Misery and Dolores Claiborne).

In my opinion, the setting of many of his books in his home town merely reflects a sense of pride and accomplishment in his surroundings and achievements, mind you he does sometimes go overboard in the description of the design of the town buildings, but it proves he has a flair for attention to detail and its this descriptive talent that has led, certainly for me anyway, a few moments which froze my soul simply from reading one sentence (anyone who has ever read the scene in "Geralds Game" where the alien first makes his appearance in the bedroom will know what i mean!). With regard his obsession with a Deus Ex finale, i agree up to a point; certainly i dont think King was built to deliver consistent sci-fi novels, with the exception of The Talisman which is a fantastic and vivid novel.

Yes, his Dark Series books are acclaimed and Eyes of the Dragon is a sleeper hot but i always felt King could never quite express himself as well as outright horror, maybe it was an ambition thing to complete a few genres as he has already established himself as an outstanding writer of drama (The Body, Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile), i was never a huge fan of his foray into sci-fi but thats just a personal opinion.

His endings can be hit and miss, ranging from the fantastic (Stand, Shining and IT) to the downright bizzare (Under the Dome, Insomnia and Needful things) but in general if he does his homework then his endings are superb. His style of writing since his accident in 1999 and his works since then reflect a stronger emphasis on character development (Duma Key in particular) with a debatable trade-off in raw terror and scare tactics whcih i do hope he can write a few more books of before he pops his clogs! A Shining for this generation would be excellent.

Speaking of which, The Shining movie of 198o was very good BUT it didnt have a lot of the features which made the novel so memorable which is why King made the mini-series which would have worked were it not for that irritating kid who played Danny!

Anyway, long live the King.

[B-fly]

Pet Sematary
The Dead Zone

[StephenKingman]

Pet Sematary
The Dead Zone

So are those your fave or least fave books, elaborate!

[Heidi76]

I love Stephen King's books. I think the first one I read was Carrie, after seeing the movie. Then Christine, It and The Stand and so on. So far I have collected 24 of them. The Stand is my absolute favourite. The last one I have read is Dreamcatcher. As I get older they scare me more , so I haven't read any in a while, but I must read Under the Dome, it sounds great.

[Traglee]

Is Black House a horror novel?

[keep.walking]

I am far from reading all of his works, but the few i read made me think he is an overrated author.

I wouldn't say he is bad, though i say that he is far less than people usually say about him.

I really liked the Dark Tower Universe he created, but the last two books were a totally disaster. He really showed how to not end a serie.

My favorite books of him are both non Terror: The Green Mile and Shawshank.

So what makes him the King of Terror, as they say around? My bet: he is the one who made this genre so popular, but not the best author on this.

Anyway, I am not here looking for a fight, this is just my opinion on him, and I never said he is a bad Author, just a bit Overrated.

[StephenKingman]

I would disagree with you there in that i do think his mantle of the King of Terror is deserved in that his works such as The Stand, Carrie and The Shining were genuinely terrifying works of fiction and not just over-hyped shock horrors, but that is just my opinion! I agree he hasnt been as scary in recent years but he is still a genius author.