Stephen King

[StuKE]

Love some of his short stories, so many of them and a lot of variation.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

Enjoyed listening to Revival. Actually had a fairly satisfactory ending for once. Nice mix of the American dream meets HP Lovecraft. The narration is really good too.

 

[GNC]

Enjoyed listening to Revival. Actually had a fairly satisfactory ending for once. Nice mix of the American dream meets HP Lovecraft. The narration is really good too.

Really glad to see you say that, I was worried it was only me on this forum keeping the faith as a King Constant Reader. Revival was one of his best latter day books, I thought.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

Really glad to see you say that, I was worried it was only me on this forum keeping the faith as a King Constant Reader. Revival was one of his best latter day books, I thought.

Yeah Under the dome which started off so well ended so badly almost did me as a King reader. Revival was a great listen. I'm really enjoying listening to books at the mo.

 

[GNC]

I loved Under the Dome, but I can understand why it was divisive. Then again, it spawned one of the stupidest TV shows ever, so how good could it be?

 

[Tigerhawk]

I used to enjoy his books when I was a slightly oddish teenager, but now view his works as a bit "blurgh" and ignore each and every new book he publishes.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

I used to enjoy his books when I was a slightly oddish teenager, but now view his works as a bit "blurgh" and ignore each and every new book he publishes.

Dunno why some people don't get him. I'm not a huge fan but always find his books readable. He has some nice ideas, he's influenced a lot Clive Barker and Neil Gaimen spring to mind, and his books have a nice pace.

 

[Dinobot]

I enjoy the work of Neil Gaiman, but Clive Barker is the literary equivalent of a beige cardigan!

 

[Anonymous-50446]

and his books have a nice pace.

Actually pacing's an issue with the longer (and later) books for me. They drag things out to such an extent I lose interest, "the Tommyknockers" put me off his works for years. In fact I'm not sure I read another Stephen King after that.

 

[RyoHazuki]

I'm not sure exactly when he started to go awry, but he's definitely lost the magic he had in the early days. I love his older novels, and he crafted some truly incredible short stories, but I wouldn't bother picking up any of his newer stuff. Which is a shame, as his vintage stuff isn't just among the best horror/sf writing, it's damn good literature on any level.

 

[GNC]

I'm not sure exactly when he started to go awry, but he's definitely lost the magic he had in the early days. I love his older novels, and he crafted some truly incredible short stories, but I wouldn't bother picking up any of his newer stuff. Which is a shame, as his vintage stuff isn't just among the best horror/sf writing, it's damn good literature on any level.

Give Revival a go, it's a fast read with a great ending.

 

[sherbetbizarre]

 

[Ulalume]

I like to re-read "the Shining" when we vacation in Colorado. Fun shivers in cool weather.
I'd like to second guess both the author and Kubrick for this story. Kubrick was too abstract with the visual scary stuff. I wanted a bit more exposition about what was shown on the screen. But he was wise in what he excised from the book--the topiary was just dumb and the "suspense" about the boiler/furnace seemed just padding, since the real scary story was about hotel ghosts and the deterioration of a marriage.

The movie gives me a headache, but Kubrick did do a bang-up job making the viewer feel as insane as Jack. The way he portrayed the sisters as Diane Arbus-inspired twins was an improvement, too

The first time I read the book, my cousin had said "well, don't start reading it now. You won't be able to stop and by 4 AM you'll be right at the part about

Spoiler

the lady in room 217

and you'll regret it."

I said, (being about 14 at the time) "Bah! There's nothing in a book that can scare me that much!"

Later, at 4AM

me: Aaarrrgh!!!

Cousin: I told you so.

 

[RyoHazuki]

Bizarrely, two days after writing my last post, I happened upon Revival in my local charity shop (one for the coincidences thread?) and spent the weekend reading it (between other things). A very pleasant surprise indeed, well-paced and to the point but still proper vintage-style King. Thanks for the heads-up, as I would probably have left it on the shelf otherwise!

 

[RyoHazuki]

Looong time since I've visited either film or book, but I remember an interview in which King said the two worst omissions were Jack's gradual descent into madness (Nicholson seemed slightly unhinged from the start) and Wendy's whole personality outside of the screaming and terror.

 

[GNC]

That's great, glad you enjoyed it!

 

[escargot]

Yup, the two main adult characters were rather crap. I thought so at the time, having seen it in the cinema on its first release. It was even back then a bit disappointing to see the lead female do little except look scared and downtrodden from the start and then progress to squealing her head off.

Wendy's jumpiness together with Jack's obvious nuttiness suggested to me that she was afraid of him from the start, which certainly wasn't in the book.

 

[GNC]

That IT trailer looks surprisingly good, a big improvement on the naff miniseries. Loved the way they adapted the living photograph scene.

 

[GNC]

I have a theory about Kubrick's The Shining that he saw in it a twisted sitcom, and played it for extremely dark laughs, hence the way the characters are more like caricatures. The whole thing is a mindfuck designed to either jangle the nerves or outright get on your nerves, as long as he got a reaction out of you he was happy.

 

[George_millett]

The first time I read the book, my cousin had said "well, don't start reading it now. You won't be able to stop and by 4 AM you'll be right at the part about

Spoiler

the lady in room 217

and you'll regret it."

I said, (being about 14 at the time) "Bah! There's nothing in a book that can scare me that much!"

Later, at 4AM

me: Aaarrrgh!!!

Cousin: I told you so.

Did he stay up waiting for you to get to that part of the book? Or did your exclamation of shock wake him up?

 

[sherbetbizarre]

The Mist now a TV series...

 

[Ulalume]

Did he stay up waiting for you to get to that part of the book? Or did your exclamation of shock wake him up?

It was the latter, but IIRC I may have woken her (my cousin is female, BTW) just so I didn't have to be alone after that.

 

[Dr. Porhoët]

I'm about half way through It at the moment. It (the book itself, not the evil force at work therein) is far from perfect, but holy moly it's an enjoyable read. The last time I was this wrapped up in a novel was probably when I read Salem's Lot last year.
Reading King's novels makes me feel exactly how I used to when I was reading the Goosebumps series as a kid. Love him.

 

[GNC]

I read It as a teenager one summer, it was a great experience, I was totally engrossed. Nice to hear it stands up as a pageturner. Someone described the book as Stephen King's greatest hits because he packed so many of his obsessions into it, and there's truth in that, but there are generations of fascination with horror contained within its pages.

 

[ramonmercado]

Viral advertising for IT.

Police "terrified" by red balloons tied to grates

People are tying red balloons to sewer grates and it's getting on the cops' nerves because no-one wants to untie them and they end up having to do it.

Police are asking the “local prankster” not to continue placing the balloons on the grates, similar to the movie “It” which comes out on Friday.

In a post on Facebook, the Lititz Borough Police Department say they know the movie is coming to theaters in a couple days and give the prankster creativity for promoting the movie.

“We want the local prankster to know that we were completely terrified as we removed these balloons and respectfully request they do not do that again,” the post read. ...

https://boingboing.net/2017/09/06/police-terrified-by-red-ba.html

 

[Swifty]

Imaginative .. and no one was harmed .. thumbs up. We all float down there.

 

[GNC]

It's been getting not bad reviews, thank goodness it won't be another Dark Tower debacle (assuming the ads have worked and people are keen to see it. Er, It).

 

[Bigphoot2]

Another King adaptation coming soon to Netflix

 

[GNC]

Stephen King saves the box office!

IT is the biggest opening horror movie of all time:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/20...rd-us-box-office-stephen-king-skarsgard-clown

 

[Swifty]

Stephen King saves the box office!

IT is the biggest opening horror movie of all time:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/20...rd-us-box-office-stephen-king-skarsgard-clown

I'm looking forward to watching the IT remake although the cynic inside me can't help feeling that the last couple of decade's socially manufactured (IMO) trending 'clownaphobia' or whatever the medical official term is has played a part in this success .. I haven't watched this film yet so it might just be good anyway on it's own non trending merits .. I enjoyed reading the book and the TV series film release wasn't bad (or great) so I'll wait and see. Everyone pretending they've always been afraid of clowns because everyone else pretends the same because it's become fashionable gets on my nerves in the same way that people like to claim that "I've got OCD!" just because they like to be organised.