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Idril
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: January 06, 2003 09:58

i have started reading a lot of books but to say the truth i never came to the end.
in the middle of the most books i stopped.
i think im too young for stephen king maybe ill try it in ten years again

but i like horror stories
:love:

greetings,

idril
k
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: January 18, 2003 04:56
uh oh i am going on a major dark tower kick... i can feel the signs:

- searching for dark tower art on the internet (yes tragically the first thing i do when i start getting "addicted" to something is look up pics of it, it helps my feeble imagination )

- searching for dark tower forum boards.. (found one yay)

- persuading all my friends to read the books

- realising my frineds are the slowest readers on earth and trying to work out how to get the books back without offending them

- getting books back and reading them... alot!

well i havent started reading them yet but im about to that will make 8 or 9 times now i think...

anyway the reason for this kick? well i have just finished the short story "the little sisters of Eluria"

i wasnt overly impressed, perhpas its just becuase im use to anything to do with Rolands world being long epic and amazing... this seemed kind of rushed

roland didnt really try and escape the only real bit of gunslingerness he showed was when he caught the soup bowl... the rest of the time he was being lame (yes i know he was strapped up in a tent and drugged it doesnt give him much scope) and everthing depended on a nice woman and ka.... it bothered me slightly.

if it wasnt roland there.. i would have loved the story but well apart from the refences to his past (no new ones im afraid) there was very little of what i have come to expect from the other dark tower books.....

expect many dark tower posts... i get the impression im talking to myself on this thread but well you lot can just not read the threads... if i talk to my real life friends i will drive them insane


*eating a popkin and taking a swig from her waterskin, k settles down to read.... *
ashe
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: January 18, 2003 07:07
lol. Aww K your not talking to yourself.
Rethehare
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: January 22, 2003 08:39
Sorry, k, but Dark Tower is not my favourite. But I do like King. Apart from his novels like It ,Tommyknockers and Needful Things I enjoyed his short stories a lot - nasty twist at the end, one of the few authors that are not predictable. Though I must admit that I dropped Dreamcatcher somewhere in the middle. It stopped making me "scared" it started to make me sick.
Alaere_Dûnhilien
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: January 23, 2003 09:38
Hail K! The Dark Towers do rock, I like them best of all his works... Is it the fantasy influence? I think so.
Hmm, apart from DT, I have read most of his books I think. The Stand was awesome, as was The Shining, It, Salem's Lot, Christine, The Body, Carry, Firestarter, and most of them I do not know by their English title. I've really enjoyed all of them. I think I started reading Stephen King by the age of 11 or 12 (it was rather early maybe, but no traumatic experiences lol!).
My absolute Stehpen King favorite will always be the Dark Tower though. I like that idea of a "Fellowship" on a "Quest". Blaine was really mean, I won't ever trust a monorail, that is for sure. And the riddles were fantastic, as was all that other world.
The thing I like so much about King's novels, is the fact that he can turn completely normal things into a horribel situation. Horrible isn't a good word actually, creepy suits better. Anyway, he has very long been my favorite author, before I started to explore the worlds of fantasy. He had to give up his first place in my "best author" ranking, but he will always be my "first love".

Alaere
WeskerWannabe
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: January 31, 2003 08:06
I have read almost all of SK's books, and I have to say that my absolute favorite is "The Eyes of the Dragon", has anyone else read it? It's not the traditional King novel, it's not exactly horror. I think it would make an awesome movie. Anyway, my other fav King novel is "It". I have read that probably eight times or so. My fav adaptation into a movie is "Shawshank Redemption". Has anyone else seen that? It's one of my fav movies, very well done!!:evil:
k
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: January 31, 2003 08:40
oh i love eyes of the dragon, flagg is such and interesting villain- i also love the fact that it could almost be in Rolands world (yeah there i go with my dark tower obsessions again).

now that i think about it Eyes is completely diffent to most of kings work. its more fairy tail, what with the spinning wheel and the needle, and the napkins. also the children are much differnt than how king usually writes children, usually they are kids from the wrong side of town just growing up how they can- thomas and dennis were a great deal differnt... it wasnt as real as most of kings books... lots of it was rather convenient and unrealistic but it was great fun!

now i hear they are thinking of turning it into an animated film, which sooo could work thinking back to the kind of animated films i remember... i reckon it could work.


i saw shawshank before reading the book, in fact i didnt even realise it was a king story. so i always saw "red" as being akc forget his name (morgan freeman was it?) the adaptation was spot on.. really good though im saddened that king doesnt get more credit for writing the thing...

the best movie adaptations ive seen are:
- the body/ stand by me
- shawshank redemption
- green mile
- it

loved the book it..... adored the turtle that soo made me laugh "i am the turtle i created the universe but dont blame me i had a belly ache"
WeskerWannabe
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: January 31, 2003 08:53
Yeah, k, I think that's why I liked "The Eyes of the Dragon" so much, b/c it is like a fairy tale. Did you notice that the evil guy in The Stand was also named Flagg? Interesting. Where did you hear that it might be turned into an animated film? That might be good. Yeah, Red was Morgan Freeman. I think Tim Robbins was perfect as Andy, don't you? I totally agree with you, those are the best adaptations by far. Actually, I didn't like the turtle so much. I don't know why, just seemed kind of silly to me. What do you think King's worst work is? I don't really like The Regulators (under Bachman) or Desperation.:evil:
k
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: January 31, 2003 09:11
oh i like the turtle id like to find out more about all the gaurdiens of the beam hes an interesting one IMO.

flagg comes up alot hes also a major villain in the dark tower series. there is some debate as to weather Linoge from storm of the century is also Flagg... but well i dont agree.

i heard i think on my dark tower board that im on, or perhaps it was just something i picked up while browsing the net... i will see if i can track down a proper source.

oh worst books...

hmm defintaely Reguators- that was just well i didnt like it at all, i really liked desparation though not my fave of his but still pretty cool. regulators you know i cant even remmeber it that well now.. all i can remember is never wanting to read it again.. which is kinda sad

another i really didnt like was thinner i guess im just not a Bachman fan.

geralds game was mightly strange as well i think i need to read that one again.
WeskerWannabe
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: February 02, 2003 05:50
I actually haven't read the Dark Tower series, but I'm reading Gerald's Game right now, and so far it isn't that great...Also, I wanted to add two books to my worst list, Rose Madder and Dolores Claiborne. I actually liked Thinner. Have you seen The Stand? That was also a good movie adaptation, although it is very long...:evil:
k
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: February 03, 2003 06:32
i think ive seen bits of the stand... may have seen the whole thing when i was younger not relaly sure. (did they sing auld lang sine in it?)

anywya i really should try and watch it as i hear its a pretty good adaptaion and i really want to see someone attempt to act flagg.

i enjoyed rose madder. though it was nothing like i was expecting.... what didnt you like about it?

dolores is possible the only king book i have only seen the movie of. i really enjoyed the film, seen it several times (they always seem to play it on tv) i just never got round to the book (in fact i think that one is one of the only King books i havent read)

has anyone read cylce of the wearwolf... im sure i read it but cant really remember it... is it worth buying (its no longer in the libraries)
WeskerWannabe
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: February 05, 2003 04:22
I don't think that they sang that in it, maybe they did, but I'm pretty sure they didn't. Uh, I don't know why I didn't like Rose Madder because it's been awhile since I read it, all I know is that I thought it was so horrible. I think it was just really strange. Yeah, I also liked the Dolores Claiborne movie, but the book was not that great. It's interesting and kind of funny when the movie adaptation is better than the book. Never read the Cyle of the Werewolf though.:evil:
gaelowyn
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: April 07, 2003 04:43
i read "the stand" by king yearly, just like I plan to make LOTR a yearly read. King is very good at fleshing out the characters, giving them plenty of backstory. that's a hard thing to translate to film. I bet PJ could do a great 3 movie series for "the stand" that would totally blow the TV miniseries out of the water. another movie about good vs evil. but it won't have the epic battles like LOTR. It's a much more psychological warfare novel.
k
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: April 07, 2003 09:44
ah yes "sooner or later the question comes up in every medical students career, how much shock/trauma can the patient stand? the answer is always another question: how badly does the patient want to survive?"

i believe it was called surivivour *checks books* ah almost... survivor type....

its from skeleton crew. the most disturbing story for me in that book was the reapers image. something about people just dissapearing.. where did they go? what happened to them? how did the mirror even get made? *shudders*
landscribe
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: April 10, 2003 02:00
I was going to give this thread the skip - I mean, I went through my Stephen King phase but wouldn't consider myself a fan..

... and then I remembered the Dark Tower series!!

Which has already had its praises sung in here I see. But man, it really is super! One of the reasons I really like it is because it's a very original story (expecially in the fantasy genre). I hope it gets finished!

*leaves before she starts on a Robert Jordan/WOT rant....*
k
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: April 10, 2003 02:33
hes definately finisheing the DT series in fact i think he already has... hes definately done books 5 and 6.

im very excited to see the outcome of that series. at the moment its on a level with LotR for me.. simply because its not like any book i have ever read before.
Lórellin
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: April 14, 2003 03:50
I watched Rose Red a week ago (sounds so pretty , simple but pretty) ,..and I loved it. There is something about King .. his books, film and TV based on his work...it always has that magic about it, just the silly way I think.
My favourite was always Pet Cemetery..and I think that was also the first book I read by King.
I really liked Needful Things...and Shining(wicked film too).

[Edited on 15/4/2003 by Lórellin]
Ninde
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: April 16, 2003 07:21
I haven't read any books of Stephan King, but I saw the movie 'It'!
That movie kept me awake for two days! :blush:
But I saw 'It' a long time ago, I wanted to see it again, but I can't find it in any store!
yeah well...I think I'm gonna read the book then!
(I would love to go to the movie 'dreamcatcher'!')
seeya all!
~NAVAER~
Valandil_Calafalas
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: April 22, 2003 03:38
I've just finished reading 'Desperation'. I thought it was a very good story and had a very interesting ending which I knew would happen. I'm not a HUGE fan of SK but I really do enjoy reading his books. When it comes to Horror books, I prefer to read either SK or Clive Barker (Imajica rocked)
Ninde
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: April 26, 2003 05:41
I'm not a Stephan King fan neither...I'm not really a horror fan, so...
When it comes to reading books I like John Grisham.
(did I just change the subject!? If I did, nevermind me...
seeya!
k
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: October 28, 2003 11:44
well i just _had_ to ressurect this thread to tell everyone that the new dark tower book.. book number 5- wolves of the calla, comes out on november the 4th!!!

have of course preordered mine already, i cant wait for it to arrive

Dazed
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: October 28, 2003 06:57
I love King.

Fave's include 'It', 'Needful Things', and 'Insomnia'.

The way he shapes characters never really worked on the film adaptations of any of his books. So now I refuse to watch films until the book has been devoured.
ViggoBliggo
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: May 09, 2004 05:16
I read Carrie and I say that its one of the best books ever written. It really makes us think about the horrible consequences of the violence at school....but RoseRed is also awsome...Annie Wheaton rulez!!!!!!!
k
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: May 09, 2004 05:32
theres a new mini series by stephen king coming onto british television, called Kingdom Hospital... looks interesting i hope my father remebers to record it for me (i dont have that channell on my TV) has anyone here seen it?
RubySandybanks
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: July 20, 2004 07:54
Like some on you, I've gotten away from Stephen King lately. I have only partially read, Insomnia, Dreamcatcher and Hearts in Atlantis. I found that these were dragging on and on... Maybe one day I'll pick them up again but it not this day.

Generally I find that with Stephen King, it is better to think of any movie created from his novels as a completely different entity. IMHO only The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me are superior to the original stories. It’s interesting that these were based on short stories. I’ve been disappointed time and time again by the movie version of a book. Now I just look at them as similar stories. There’s nothing better than one’s imagination even for LotR.

My top ten books starting with my number 1 choice:

The Stand
Salem’s Lot
Misery
Carrie
Needful Things
It
The Shining
Thinner
Tommyknockers
The Talisman *** Steven Spielberg movie in the works!

And movies…

The Shawshank Redemption
Misery
(these two are in my top 20 list of favourite movies)

The Stand
Carrie
Stand by Me
The Shining (with Jack Nicholson)
The Green Mile
It
Salem’s Lot
Needful Things

I also really like these short story collections:

Different Seasons
Four Past Midnight
Hearts in Atlantis
Night Shift
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
Skeleton Crew
Grey_Pilgrim
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: August 14, 2004 01:11
I really like Stephen King's work but for some reason I've not read much that's been released in the past 10 years or so. I do plan to though. Here's a list of favourites in (sort of) order:

IT - the 1st King book I read & it scared the life out of me. Which is why I re-read it 3 or 4 times! Definitely my favourite. The film version would have been ok as a film in its own right but was quite poor as an adaptaion of a novel.
The Stand - a close second, especially the extended publication. The movie version was pretty impressive too.
Misery
The Shining - one line in that book gave me the fright of my life. One chapter ends with the kid entering a bathroom. The opening line of the next chapter was somthing like: "The woman in the bath had been dead a long time". More "jump-inducing" than any sudden, scary scene in a film.
Carrie
Hearts In Atlantis
The Talisman - just discovered on this thread that a movie version's on the way. Great news.
Needful Things
The Dark Half
The Tommyknockers
The Bachman Books - The Long Walk, especially. What a story. Is the movie "The Running Man" the worst & most pointless one inspired by a book, ever?

I could keep going until I mentioned my entire collection, to be honest.
I heard somwhere that The Black House is a sequel (of sorts) to The Talisman. Is this true?
When thinking of King's work, I usually think of his novels, almost forgetting his collections of short stories; Skeleton Crew, Four Past Midnight, Different Seasons etc. I think I'll have to dig those out for another glance. It's been long enough that it should almost be like reading them for the 1st time. I'll just have to try to get those furry, teeth-filled tv-Langolier images out of my head though!

[Edited on 14/8/2004 by Grey_Pilgrim]
k
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: August 14, 2004 02:19
Yes black house is a talisman sequal but its also the book that tries to tie talisman world in with the dark tower world... which annoys me.

Its worth reading though, especially if you have read dark tower also.
Grey_Pilgrim
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: August 14, 2004 05:54
Thanks, k!

I've not read The Dark Tower yet :blush:, but it's certainly on my 'to-do' list, as is The Black House. It's clear you enjoy both, as I'm sure I will, but you think trying to tie both worlds is not a good idea. Could you explain why, without giving any story details away? (If needs be, tell me shut up & read the books! ) Plus, and I REALLY must start catching up on SK's work, was there a connection between TDT and Hearts In Atlantis? I'm sure I heard/read that somewhere. (Yellow men? Probably a mile off!)

On a related topic, this just reminded me; was there a connection between Needful Things and The Dark Half? This is like a dream but the name Alan Pangborn(?) is in my head here. I think as well as catching up, I need to revise. In my defense, in the last few years my reading's been occupied by a certain Prof. J.R.R.Tolkien. Acceptable excuse, I think you'll agree.

(One of the best non-LOTR threads on the site, by the way. Thank you! )

[Edited on 15/8/2004 by Grey_Pilgrim]
k
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: August 15, 2004 06:21
King links almost all his worlds together... his two main themes are castle rock and dark tower... Alot of his earlier books, including salems lot, mention the town or are based in the town castle rock and many of the characters overlap. I cant remembe which book its in but the eventual fate of the characters in the dark half is mentioned in one of the castle rock books... also alot of Kings earlier short stories are set in and around castle rock.

Hearts is a dark tower book without doubt. Did you notice the villain in hearts was the same one as was in the stand and some of Kings other books?? (im not talking about the low men in yellow coats, rather the terrorist guy who Carol got involved with).

Heres my list of all dark tower related books (some are very very tenuous connections)

Obviously... gunslinger, drawing of the three, waste lands, wizard and glass, wolves of the calla, song of susannah and the dark tower.
Hearts in atlantis *
It *
Insomnia *
The girl who loved Tom Gorden
Green Mile
Salems Lot *
Desperation
Rose Madder
The Stand *
The talisman
Black house *
The eyes of the Dragon

Theres more in the short stories but i cant remember them all so...
plus theres likely even more which either havent yet been connected or whos connections i have missed.
The stars are the ones most obviously connected. Insomnia, hearts and house were especially written for the DT series. IMO

Anyway about talisman and DT... this shouldnt reveal anything i hope.

Talisman is a story about a boy who can swap worlds at will, DT is a story set across several worlds, they have the same theory behind them- basically that this world is parallell with others, that some people are able to swap worlds and in some places there are doorways between worlds.

The DT however does not (as yet) use the twins in other worlds theory that is set up in the Talisman... and which i like alot. Nor is the twin places thing used....

The Talisman could be one part of the wizards rainbow (becomes clearer in DT) but i doubt it.. it doesnt make much sense knowing the powers of the other wizards rainbow.

The Talisman has the feel of a stand alone novel, simelar to the stories told in Dark Tower but far from the same world. It is almost like practise for the main story.

The simelarities were apparently too many for King to leave it alone and so he got together with Straub again and wrote the dark house, this features a great deal more dark tower stuff and changes the world and rules of the world mentioned in the talisman to fit them with the dark tower worlds. Although the book itself is a nice story it annoys me that he felt he had to incorporate the talisman and the dark tower worlds, i liked them seperate. But then King is intent on linking all his books to the dark tower world in some way or another....




Grey_Pilgrim
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: August 20, 2004 07:11
Thanks for that info.

I see what you mean about King linking his worlds having read most of his earlier stuff, Castle Rock being quite prominent. Not sure I like the idea of changing the rules in The Talisman worlds now though. That's another book I've read a few times, I love it and don't think it should be changed/contradicted in any way. I'm praying the movie version will do it justice, it shouldn't be that difficult to transfer it successfully to the screen. Maybe they should ask PJ to direct it, just in case!

Looking at a list of his work, I've read all from Carrie to Gerald's Game and only Nightmares & Dreamscapes, Bag Of Bones, Hearts In Atlantis and On Writing after that so I've a few to catch up on, not least the DT series.
Stridlas
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: March 14, 2005 05:45
Anyone else read the tommyknockers? I laughed at what i've read of the langoliers so far but, I really liked the Tommyknockers so I wwanted to know if anyone else liked it.
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: March 16, 2005 01:24
The only thing by Stephen King I've read is 4 Past Midnight (is that what it's called?) that the movie Secret Window is based on. It was really good though...I may have to read more. The movie of course was great...Johnny Depp didn't hurt, but still it was a very interesting plot.
balrog
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: March 18, 2005 07:36
HI :wave:

I like what I have read about Stephen King. He is my favorite novelist. I have everyone of his books, even the Richard Buchanan books.

k: I would like to thank you about the things you said about the Dark Towers series. I have never read them because I thought they were boring. Now that I have read your views on them I will definitely read them now. Your views have given them a different perspective on them. Thanks.

My very best book I have read of SK is Talisman and The Black House. They were great. SK and Peter Straub did an excellent job on them. It took me three times to get into the book The Talisman. The first 200 pages were the hardest but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. It grabs you.

I have also read the Regulators and Desperation. These books were very weird but very good. Desperation started it out but Regulators was weird. It was hard to grasp but once you get into it, it was mind catching.

The weirdest book I have read on SK was Bag of Bones. This one is not your usual read of SK. But once you've read it, it makes a lot of sense of the human mind.

I guess I'll have to start reading Dreamcatcher. From the reviews everyone gave the book, it will be my next read. Thanks.

But the best of all is to see these books in movies. I would like to see Desperation in movie form. It would be great. The worst book they made into a movie was Hearts in Atlantis. It didn't make any sense whatsoever. With the book it had all the flashbacks that it needed to make the book make more sense.

Well, that's all I have to say for now on SK. I hope everyone has good reads and may they make your nightmares more fun.
Grey_Pilgrim
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: March 18, 2005 08:24
I recently finished reading Black House. It was a bit different than I expected but I really enjoyed it. The first references to The Territories ("air so clear you could smell a radish being pulled from the ground a mile away" (might not be 100% accurate!) etc.) were great. They were cool flashbacks to The Talisman, which I've not read for a few years now. I've been searching for info. on The Talisman movie, but none appears available except for the briefest of plot summaries & the fact it's based on a King/Straub novel. No cast/director/release information at all! I just hope it will be worth the wait, that's one book that deserves a top-notch film adaptation.

*edit* Just found some info:
http://thedarktower.net/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=23&t=18027

Doesn't look to good, I'm afraid.


[Edited on 19/3/2005 by Grey_Pilgrim]

[Edited on 19/3/2005 by Grey_Pilgrim]
Valderra
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Post RE: Stephen King
on: May 21, 2005 05:52
I've been turned off of King as of late. His books seem to just drag out now. He's also getting more gruesome with his violence which is a big turn off for me.


And I thought I was the only one getting slightly bored with his books.
I used to be and still am a huge fan of his earlier books. I have them all up to "Dolores Claiborne". I always waited impatiently for his books, until I got "Dolores Claiborne", which bored me to tears. I just couldn't get into the story - usually I am gripped by his stories from the first page - and had to put the book down before I was even halfway through.
After that, I never bought another SK book but switched to Dean R. Koontz, who writes in the same style as SK, also horror, but his stories are as much fun reading as SKs were at the beginning.

Anyway, one of my top 3 favourite books is "The Stand" by Stephen King. It's a really great story and the good thing about it is that it itsn't predictable. For example, people who you think will make it to the end, die... Sad but I prefer a good surprise.
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