Stephen King

[cherrylime]

he's awesome.

 

[Faith&Love]

Big Stephen King fan also.
My fave will always be IT...a really good read & way better than the actual movie
Also enjoyed pet semetery, cell, Christine, Different seasons (The body) Bag of bones etc

 

[Strix]

If you havn't done so already, you should check out stephen kings website, theres a 20 bit movie based on a short story called "patient N" he wrote, which is really creepy (doubly so for me as I have OCD). Well worth a look.

 

[johnbateman]

Best author ever in my opinion, I find it amusing that my fellow christians disparage his books due to violence, sexual situations and language but have no problems allowing their children to read the OT!!! I would never allow my child if I had one to read the OT, very violent, adult christians only!!

 

[IzzyPop]

Mr. King is hit or miss with me. But when it hits, it hits hard.

I agree with what a previous poster stated about characterization. The Stand shines for that alone. I refuse to see the mini-series they put out a few years back because I don't want to see someone else's take on characters that became so real to me. And stylistically, he is such an easy read. The words flow so smooth it's almost not reading. The words just enter the brain.

Unfortunately, when he misses, he misses just as hard. Tommyknockers, Gerald's Game, Cujo, that darned pulp detective story he put out a few years ago? Bleech! And he seems to have problems wrapping up a story. I love The Stand, but that ending was a literal deus ex machina.

 

[Fauxhemian]

I find him a bit hit and miss also; The Stand is definitely one of my favourite books (I think Nick Andros is one of my favourite characters in literature), but I tried to read Cell recently and found it boring. I've been trying The Running Man for a while now but haven't managed it- I had a dream with almost the same storyline and thought I had a great idea for a story until I found out it already existed.

 

[maxlovesgod]

he's a solid and incredibly proliffic author alright but there are others that I prefer

 

[but'n'ben]

Absolutely agree with the thread, although there are some scenes in King's work that I do wonder about, such as the scene in IT (anyone who has read it will know what I mean, I'd rather not say what it was).

But King's work is so much deeper than horror. Look at the Green Mile. John Coffey's life could be considered a parallel with Jesus. Take his initials for a start, the fact that he is covered with scars that he doesn't remember getting, his constant tears for the evil of mankind and how he accepted that he is to die for crimes that were not of his doing.

The Shawshank Redeption...is there a better modern day example of a film in which hope is the underlying theme? Even the film adaptation captured this perfectly...when Andy took his shirt off and stood in the rain...so powerful!

The Body (Stand by Me) was another fantastic story of the loss of innocence and how all four boys were only twelve but each had their own demons to face and how they emerge from their two day hike far more mature than when they started.

As for The Shining, if ever there was an incredible moulding of Poe's Masque of the Red Death, The Shining is it. If you've read the Shining but not Poe's work do so. Reading the Shining after reading The Masque... really illustrates just how much King was influenced by Poe's creation.

I've been a bit disappointed with his more recent work (from Dreamcatcher onwards) and The Mist was pretty awful. Having said that I watched Rose Red and didn't enjoy it at first, but now I love it. It draws me right in

 

[pennsyginny]

He is one of the best writers being published today. Every word counts/. He's a master of telling a story.

 

[Agonaces of Susa]

I liked The Eyes of the Dragon when I was young.

 

[MacFall]

I have liked everything of his that I have read, and I'm not even a big fan of horror. He is just an incredibly good writer. His protagonists are sympathetic, his antagonists are despicable enough that one will keep reading just to see them get their comeuppance. And all of his stories, though written from a "bent" perspective (as C.S. Lewis' Oyarsa would call it), deal with light versus darkness, with the Devil clearly at the heart of the darkness and God clearly present in favor of the light in many instances.

 

[Autumnleaf]

I like most of his work. His recent stuff seems to be oddly different than his older writings. Not the same impact.

The Stand, IT, and a few of his short stories like the Running Man are among my favorites.

 

[kittycat7]

He has some really good books and some truly awful ones. I love his writing style, but his endings do tend to be a bit abrupt. I absolutely loathe Gerald's Game. Yuck. Worst book I ever read. It was pretty much all shock value with no redeeming qualities. The Shining, on the other hand, is a great book. I really liked Carrie, because it's more than just a story about gore and mental powers - it's also a story about the need for love. In Misery, he does a great job of building up suspense until the very end. Another of my favorites is Desperation.