Stephen King Works Discussion

[1upmushroom]

He's been around since the 70's, has inspired many people, has had notable works adapted into some of the most chilling horror movies of all time, and continues to scare people even with a very noticable pattern in his books. Yes it's good old Stephen King, notable for works like Misery, The Shining, IT, The Body (Better known as Stand by Me), and of course, The Dark Tower series. However it can't be denied that King has had a couple of cliches in his books. (Though it should be noted that some of these cliches are mostly seen in the miniseries adaptions of his books.)

For example, most of his stories take place in a fictional town in Maine, second, anyone outside of the main characters is a complete and utter douchebag, third, there are one dimensional bullies who have no since of humanity, fourth, in most of his supernatural stories the supernatural deity is mostly never explained as to what it is or where it came from, fifth, there's also rednecks, acoholics, and insecure poets, sixth, (and this mostly seen in a miniseries) there is huge buildup that leads to a stupid payoff.,

However that being said, King is still a very talented writer and has written thousands of entertaining books. But what do you guys think about him?

[Serum]

I think Stephen King said it best when he said "I am the literary equivalent to a Big Mac and fries." Of course, I did like the book "Pet Sematary," which I find to be a genuinely scary story-- on paper. The movie wasn't good. I also liked the first book in the "Dark Tower" series, but everything in the series after that I found hard to choke through. He writes in such an overly simple yet overly descriptive manner, that if he were narrating what I was doing it would look something like this...

Serum sat at the computer terminal, quietly replying to the posts made by other users on the website. He had just woken up and was feeling rather groggy and had music blasting in the background in an attempt to wake himself up. As each finger hit each key of the keyboard, he forged his words in a manner written in groggy alertness and a desire to keep his community going on and on in a series repeated to and originating to infinity.

Of course I stole the "originating to and repeating from infinity" bit from James Joyce's early 1900s masterpiece "Ulysses," but I think you get the point. He's a good author, but not a great author. I think his neck book is about a spooky lamp monster.

[Prime Evil]

That little snippet needs Brian Blessed narrating it.

His most terrifying book is undoubtedly Misery, if only for the very small scale of it. No ghosts, no external "horror," just a crippled man and the deranged woman taking care of him. It's terrifying because I'm sure we all know or have known someone just like that.

[Serum]

Stephen King best summed up life with his closing of the epic novel "The Stand" in the following words...

Life was such a wheel that no man could stand upon it for very long. And in the end, it always came round to the same place again.

...basically an oversimplification of the Book of Ecclesiastes by King Solomon, but still, it sends a chill down your spine.

[Wesr]

That little snippet needs Brian Blessed narrating it.

His most terrifying book is undoubtedly Misery, if only for the very small scale of it. No ghosts, no external "horror," just a crippled man and the deranged woman taking care of him. It's terrifying because I'm sure we all know or have known someone just like that.

Not to mention you heard about people just like her in the news all the time keeping folks prisoner. We had a trio here in Pittsburgh who are doing jail time who made her look like a girl scout so it serves as a reminder that monsters do exist. I keep trying to get into his books, especially since the Dark Tower series links all his universe together which i think is great, but all i can get finish is The Stand and it's because it's Post Apocalyptic which is my favorite genre.

[Redstar]

Just watched Apt Pupil last night with my girlfriend for maybe the fourth time. It was her first viewing. It is very likely my favorite King tale outside of his "human experience" stories.

I find it to be one of King's most chilling works due in large part because the evil it depicts is very real in our world, unlike the supernatural phenomena his works typically explore. The novella/film follows honor high school student Todd Bowden who is utterly fascinated with the history behind the Holocaust. He takes it upon himself to research outside of the classroom, leading him to recognize an old man on the bus from photos of a fugitive war criminal.

In an effort to learn more about the experiences, Todd blackmails the old man (Ian McKellen as a brilliant Kurt Dussander) into telling him "what they're too scared to teach in school." Through this, their mutual sociopathy grows, intertwining the two beyond what they intended.

It's a very intense thriller with a genuinely emotional scene near the end that will leave you crying. Give it a watch.

[Serum]

The story "Apt Pupil" in the book "Different Seasons" is excellent, the movie, which I'm pretty sure was either made for TV or direct-to-video, I did not care for. It didn't capture the essence of growing up with the Nazi and it didn't even come close to portraying the evils that kid did in the book. The only scene in the movie I actually liked was when he's in class and he's drawing swastikas in his notebook. Everything else, I didn't care for.

[Prime Evil]

I haven't really read much of King's work outside of Misery, The Tommyknockers, Danse Macabre and On Writing (his two very good nonfiction works). Must tuck into Night Shift's short stories one day.

I have one or two overriding memories of the made-for-TV-movies: first is the end of Tommyknockers, where Jimmy Smits has to drill holes through his head to pilot the spaceship (I think that's what he's doing. It's been a long time since I saw it...all I know is, it worked and no-one was there to stop him).

I do own all of Kingdom Hospital and the companion book, The Journals of Eleanor Druse. A touch overdone and hackneyed, but good fun overall.

[Redstar]

The story "Apt Pupil" in the book "Different Seasons" is excellent, the movie, which I'm pretty sure was either made for TV or direct-to-video, I did not care for. It didn't capture the essence of growing up with the Nazi and it didn't even come close to portraying the evils that kid did in the book.

I felt the film was, in some ways, superior to the original story. The ending was certainly far more disconcerting in how it left off than settling everything by having Todd simply go on a shooting spree.

I haven't really read much of King's work outside of Misery, The Tommyknockers, Danse Macabre and On Writing (his two very good nonfiction works). Must tuck into Night Shift's short stories one day.

On Writing is brilliant. King is certainly one of the best writers of our time. I highly recommend it to any budding writer.

[Serum]

I think, personally, King's only truly frightening work is the book that he thought went too far: "Pet Sematary."

[1upmushroom]

So far I've watched the first two episodes of "The Stand" and I have to say this in the miniseries favor, the characters to me are pretty likable, or at the very least compelling. While I was a bit disappointed that it didn't focus on the "plague" aspect much (though then again, I'm only two episodes in so far) instead going for a more supernatural story I am interested in the plot and am anxious to see where it goes.

I know I know, people are gonna tell me, "read the book! Read the book! READ THE MOTHER BLEEPING BOOK!" And I will, I just decided to the miniseries first.

Anyway I'll come back and tell you what I thought of the whole thing later.

[Serum]

I don't think you really need to read the book "The Stand" to understand the mini-series. The book is 1300 pages of exposition. I think out of the ninety something chapters in it, I really only enjoyed one chapter, and it was a part that wasn't in the mini-series, and it didn't even need to be.

[1upmushroom]

Oh...i see. Well what do you think of the miniseries itself?

[Serum]

It was alright, I guess. I liked the guy who played Randall Flagg, but everything else was a little hokey.