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Farbtoner posted:The nuclear power I got the exact opposite, Gard was so ridiculously over-the-top in the way that he believed literally anything about nuclear power being bad (while at the same time being completely ignorant of the most basic mechanics of it all, like thinking that nuclear waste could reach critical mass) that I never took his rants as being King's own thoughts. They were just a crazy, out-of-control guy channeling his rage and insanity into a pet cause regardless of logic or science supporting it. That was kind of how a lot of people were back then. Nuclear power, ideas of what gay people are like, etc. All of that can really, really date a piece of media. Stephen King himself has also never really been a dude to do research when he doesn't want to.
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Jul 26, 2011 03:16
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Locus posted:That was kind of how a lot of people were back then. Nuclear power, ideas of what gay people are like, etc. All of that can really, really date a piece of media. Between Gard being violently anti-nuke and the crazy anti-abortion people in Insomnia, King seems really good at capturing the sort of mindless frenzy that can consume people when an issue lets them channel their latent psychosis into a socially-acceptable outlet.
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Jul 26, 2011 03:26
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King is great at caricatures in general. His fanatics are usually very well done!
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Jul 26, 2011 03:30
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Oldstench posted:So...I read The Shining and The Stand 10-ish years ago and enjoyed them, but this thread is making me think that nothing SK has written is worth a poo poo. Are there any books of his that are worth reading? Over the last 15 years, SK has single handedly provided me with far more entertainment than any other website, writer, tv series or any other form of popular media. Some of his stuff is maddening and disappointing, but his body of work is so prodigious that it's worth it.
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Jul 26, 2011 20:31
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Locus posted:Stephen King himself has also never really been a dude to do research when he doesn't want to. But when he does do research, he goes balls out. I love the story on the research for Dolan's Cadillac.
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Jul 27, 2011 03:50
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Ensign_Ricky posted:But when he does do research, he goes balls out. I love the story on the research for Dolan's Cadillac. Dolan's Caddilac is an amazing story!
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Jul 27, 2011 03:56
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ConfusedUs posted:Dolan's Caddilac is an amazing story! Oh completely. I mean, all of his short story collections are fantastic, but Nightmares & Dreamscapes is easily top 3.
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Jul 27, 2011 04:20
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Ensign_Ricky posted:But when he does get someone to do his research, he goes balls out. I love the story on his brother's research for Dolan's Cadillac. 
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Jul 27, 2011 12:25
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Ensign_Ricky posted:But when he does do research, he goes balls out. I love the story on the research for Dolan's Cadillac. And then you have things like the stenomask in Bag of Bones, where King learned about something and then twisted the entire ending of the novel around it because he thought it looked cool.
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Jul 27, 2011 13:53
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NihilCredo posted:Fixed. Point taken.  But the point is, he did contact an expert, and then had to tweak things to make sure no one could actually use the story as a blueprint for murder.
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Jul 27, 2011 16:39
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Ornamented Death posted:Wait... There are people that don't like 'Salem's Lot? Who are these broken individuals? I'm not crazy about it. Too much chatty nonsense 70's colloquialisms and other meandering bits of dialog that don't go anywhere and aren't that interesting. I also found the Ben character to be annoyingly dull. It could be that I read Salem's Lot after many of King's other books and I thought his other writer characters were more fleshed out.
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Jul 30, 2011 03:04
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I just finished it, and while I didn't hate it I didn't really like it either. If he'd cut 90% of the meandering writing about people who were just going to be turned into vampires better he'd have had a pretty decent book.
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Jul 30, 2011 11:12
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JustFrakkingDoIt posted:Board games are the new comics? Can't wait to see who they cast as the Monopoly guy. The only possible answer to this question is Richard Dreyfuss. Just finished Cujo and I'm wondering where to go next. May do Pet Semetary, though I seem to remember starting it at one point. I remember something about a jogger being hit by a car and begging to be taken to the cemetary. The rest is fuzzy after that. Also, I really enjoyed "Full Dark, No Stars." Aside from the incredibly sexy title, it felt like old King in a lot of ways. "A Good Marriage" and "1922" actually creeped me out, a bit. "Big Driver" was relatively harmless fun, while "Fair Extension" had kind of a "Tales from the Darkside" (only darker) quality to it.
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Aug 1, 2011 02:45
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Evfedu posted:I just finished it, and while I didn't hate it I didn't really like it either. Yeah if he took that out you'd have the shittiest vampire novel ever written. That setup was a large part of what made the book work. Here's small-town Maine. Here's what happens to small-town Maine when a powerful vampire moves in next door. It's...the whole point of the book, really.
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Aug 1, 2011 02:49
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Stephen King's main strength is characterization and by the same token, when he writes about communities, I always find it a high point because of this. Salem's Lot without that, well it wouldn't be Stephen King, and it would not be an improvement at all.
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Aug 1, 2011 10:18
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I agree. The creepiest thing in Salems Lot weren't the vampires but how quickly a town just died. When Ben and the kid are the only ones left it's eerie as gently caress.
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Aug 1, 2011 11:25
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I think the best thing about King is you can find all of his novels for $1. I went around to all the 2nd hand book stores, junk shops etc and I found 18 King novels (including Full Dark) all ranging from 20 cents to $2. If you count doubles then it would have been 35+
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Aug 1, 2011 12:45
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bowmore posted:I think the best thing about King is you can find all of his novels for $1. I went around to all the 2nd hand book stores, junk shops etc and I found 18 King novels (including Full Dark) all ranging from 20 cents to $2. If you count doubles then it would have been 35+ Inversely the second hand stores wont take my Stephen King because they say they are too saturated with his books and wont give me credit if they don't think they can sell it fast enough.
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Aug 1, 2011 13:20
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Ridonkulous posted:Inversely the second hand stores wont take my Stephen King because they say they are too saturated with his books and wont give me credit if they don't think they can sell it fast enough.
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Aug 1, 2011 13:22
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bowmore posted:You should just put them in random peoples mail boxes. That's what I do with the books I don't think I can sell. A charity shop down the road from me has a dumpbin full of books they sell for $1, sitting outside the door, on the street. I'm thinking of taking a bunch of books I don't want (and couldn't be hosed selling), and just putting them in the dumpbin. Everyone wins: I get more room on my shelves, the charity store makes more money, and random people can buy these books for a measely dollar.
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Aug 1, 2011 15:30
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Hedrigall posted:A charity shop down the road from me has a dumpbin full of books they sell for $1, sitting outside the door, on the street. I'm thinking of taking a bunch of books I don't want (and couldn't be hosed selling), and just putting them in the dumpbin. Everyone wins: I get more room on my shelves, the charity store makes more money, and random people can buy these books for a measely dollar.
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Aug 1, 2011 15:39
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bowmore posted:I think the best thing about King is you can find all of his novels for $1. I went around to all the 2nd hand book stores, junk shops etc and I found 18 King novels (including Full Dark) all ranging from 20 cents to $2. If you count doubles then it would have been 35+ The local Humane Society has book sales several times a year. Everything's a quarter each. I buy a big boxful, read them and donate most of them back.
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Aug 2, 2011 03:42
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I've read a good few of them. But recently I tried reading Liseys Story, I just couldn't get into it. Got over halfway through just nothing really happened. I might try it again, but I'm not in any rush to.
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Aug 2, 2011 09:49
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Mister Kingdom posted:The local Humane Society has book sales several times a year. Everything's a quarter each. I buy a big boxful, read them and donate most of them back.
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Aug 2, 2011 10:01
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Migeman posted:I've read a good few of them. But recently I tried reading Liseys Story, I just couldn't get into it. Got over halfway through just nothing really happened. I might try it again, but I'm not in any rush to. Don't bother. It doesn't get any better. Try something good, like one of his short story compilations (Night Shift, Nightmares and Dreamscapes) or Pet Semetary, IT, The Stand...christ, anything but Lisey's Story.
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Aug 2, 2011 10:11
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Ornamented Death posted:Yeah if he took that out you'd have the shittiest vampire novel ever written. That setup was a large part of what made the book work. Here's small-town Maine. Here's what happens to small-town Maine when a powerful vampire moves in next door. It's...the whole point of the book, really. It's not so much the small town interaction that detracts but it's a few of the weak characterizations and rather banal dialog. What I have noticed after re-reading Salem's Lot is that King seems like he's still experimenting with his style. He doesn't go heavy into the character's twisted subconscious inner monologues like he does in the 80's which also took his work to new heights. Maybe it was his rampant drug/alcohol use that made him fire on all cylinders like that but I view it as one of his most productive and entertaining periods. Salem's Lot is the prototype.
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Aug 2, 2011 15:26
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I liked Lisey's Story. It reminded me of Gerald's Game in that it was for the most part just a strong-ish females thoughts.
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Aug 2, 2011 18:30
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Ridonkulous posted:I liked Lisey's Story. This right here. I appreciate the balance he strikes in trying to write a believable female character. Big Driver and A Good Marriage from Full Dark were good for the same reasons.
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Aug 2, 2011 20:18
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I am a huge Stephen King fan, but I just couldn't get through Lisey's Story. Maybe it gets better at the end? I think I'll just stick to Salem's Lot
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Aug 3, 2011 14:18
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JustFrakkingDoIt posted:This right here. I appreciate the balance he strikes in trying to write a believable female character. Big Driver and A Good Marriage from Full Dark were good for the same reasons. I find it a bit dull overall but Dolores Claiborne of . . well, guess, is a very well rounded character.
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Aug 3, 2011 15:40
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Lisey's Story and The Colorado Kid are the only Stephen King stories i couldn't finish. One of my favorites that isn't mentioned much here is The Long Walk. King is at his best when writing in people's heads, and that's what the majority of that relatively short novel is.
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Aug 3, 2011 16:46
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Darko posted:Lisey's Story and The Colorado Kid are the only Stephen King stories i couldn't finish. Pretty much anywhere you put down the Colorado Kid is as good a spot to be done with it as the actual end of the book. I thought it was an interesting book but the non-ending "no one will ever know what happened or how it did" seemed almost like King trolling people who say his endings suck or are anti-climactic.
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Aug 3, 2011 18:31
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Has anyone seen the filmed version of "Lunch at the Gotham Cafe"?
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Aug 3, 2011 23:48
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Mister Kingdom posted:Has anyone seen the filmed version of "Lunch at the Gotham Cafe"? No, it seems obscure. Hope it surfaces and is awesome. It's not his best story but the maitre'd is weird and amusing as gently caress http://www.bevvincent.com/gotham.html
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Aug 4, 2011 16:32
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If I've learned anything from reading every Stephen King book and story, it's that city life isn't perfect, but the city is the safest of all possible places, and that you should always try to be around as many people as you can.
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Aug 4, 2011 20:38
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ZoDiAC_ posted:No, it seems obscure. Hope it surfaces and is awesome. It's not his best story but the maitre'd is weird and amusing as gently caress I have the audiobook version and it's not bad.
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Aug 5, 2011 04:12
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Just read UR today. I'd heard that it was "oooooh... a haunted Kindle..." story, made exclusively for Kindles. It's not, really, it's top class short story King. The characterization and dialogue is all great, and while there is definitely a thing that is strange about the Kindle in the story, it ties it with his universe really well.
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Aug 5, 2011 20:46
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cheerfullydrab posted:If I've learned anything from reading every Stephen King book and story, it's that city life isn't perfect, but the city is the safest of all possible places, and that you should always try to be around as many people as you can. Yeah, but it won't stop the monster/villain from showing up anyway, e.g. It in the library scene.
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Aug 6, 2011 01:35
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Octy posted:Yeah, but it won't stop the monster/villain from showing up anyway, e.g. It in the library scene. Or if there's a flu bug going around.
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Aug 6, 2011 04:18
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Malaleb posted:Or if there's a flu bug going around. Eh, those guys in Night Surf didn't do too well.
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Aug 6, 2011 04:46
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