The Stephen King Master Thread

[ceeece]

Originally Posted by atomik kinder

Two new Stephen King books this year. One just announced today.

Later, coming on March 2nd

Billy Summers coming August 3rd. I hate when they announce books so far out.

Stephenking.com

I think Billy Summers was announced Fri. Jan 29. At least that's when I saw it. Yeah, it stinks to wait but it's always exciting to build up anticipation. At least we will have LATER to keep us busy!

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

The Running Man (1982)
What a thrill ride. This story of a man being hunted for the entertainment of the masses is told in almost real-time and never lets up. I found myself caught up by this after the first few pages, and from there it was difficult to stop and take breaks.

If you're familiar with the classic '80s Arnold Schwarzenegger film adaption of the same name, that is quite different from what Stephen King originally wrote here. This is a harder and more serious story with a premise that goes in quite a different direction. Here, there's very much the feeling of a man who has nothing to lose and is determined to make things better for his people and his family after seeing the hate that has filled the world. There's no Gladiators style game show here, just the filthy streets and uncaring people of the world who are trying to stay alive.

This is a warning tale of the haves and have-nots. King really seems to like painting a dim view of the world we live in, at least in his earlier output. Nobody is kind here, nobody cares about anyone else. Police officers refer to citizens as "maggots". The air is being polluted on purpose and only the rich have access to filters to help them breathe. It's quite a depressing read, but always compelling if you can stomach it.

The main character, Ben Richards, is hard to get a handle on. His personality is quite forceful but I also find it difficult to describe him. It probably didn't help that I had the image and voice of Schwarzenegger in my head the whole way through (which lead to some unexpected chuckles), because the character here certainly doesn't resemble him. The characters are probably the weakest aspect of this book, because they all feel so irredeemable and flatly hostile. Ultimately nobody is very memorable.

A page-turner if there ever was one, but incredibly bleak.

[dallywhitty]

Better late than never.

[dallywhitty]

Stephen King’s UK publisher Hodder & Stoughton are delighted to reveal an ambitious reissue plan for Stephen King’s entire backlist. Starting in May 2021, groups of titles will be re-launched in 2-3 batches per year, with a total of over 70 books being revamped between spring 2021 and autumn 2024, culminating with the 50th anniversary of Carrie.

The books will be grouped into different categories including Chilling Classics, Epic Thrillers and Reading Group Suspense, helping readers to navigate their way through the extraordinary range and depth of his body of work, and discover which type of novel will most appeal to them. Each group will be unified by striking new author brand lettering, and distinguished by a distinct colour palette and title lettering.

We will be revealing the first group of six titles – and their covers – later this week. Stay tuned!

[Head bugs]

I forgot Dreamcatcher is a King book. Really need to read that one day.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

The Shining (1977)

Read this one out of order, I was saving it! A wonderfully creepy mystery thriller that moves with purpose and is hard to put down. If you're only familiar with the Stanley Kubrick film version then you may be surprised by the book, which takes things in a different direction thematically and is much more focused on the character relationships. Wendy is far stronger and Danny is more resourceful. And Jack is a good (if flawed) man who becomes corrupted against his will. It's actually a heart-breaking read to see this family destroyed by an evil outside force, a force which exists only to feed on the worst parts of susceptible people. Jack's final words to Danny (as himself) carry far more weight than anything we saw put on screen.

The writing is good, if maybe not spectacular; King was still honing his craft here. He uses flowery adverbs like there's no tomorrow, and I think I'll always struggle to imagine some of his dialogue coming out of people's mouths. But it delivers the story like a freight train and is extremely effective. The imagery is vivid, and it's the ability to get inside the character's heads where its real magic lies. Right until the end I wanted Jack to break free because his true self was still in there.

Horror is entirely subjective, of course, and everybody is scared by different things. This book scared me, or at least unnerved me enough a few times to not feel comfortable going to sleep after reading. Most people seem to refer to the scene in room 217, but for me it was the hedge animals that only move when you're not looking at them that got to me. And the Overlook Hotel itself is a real presence that creates feeling of claustrophobia, almost of panic for being trapped inside with something incredibly dangerous.

[Head bugs]

The ending of Later is odd. Was there a point to that info about the father?

[ceeece]

Originally Posted by Head bugs

The ending of Later is odd. Was there a point to that info about the father?

Poorly executed for sure. There should have been an entire side narrative about how Jamie was always searching for his father for this bizarre pay off at the end.

[Head bugs]

Originally Posted by ceeece

Poorly executed for sure. There should have been an entire side narrative about how Jamie was always searching for his father for this bizarre pay off at the end.

Liz mentioned something earlier about it to Jamie while she was being an ass, like maybe she knew, but even that was pointless. It was an okay story, but that was just gross lol.

[JMS1223]

Originally Posted by Head bugs

The ending of Later is odd. Was there a point to that info about the father?

I didn’t really like the ending either. The book as a whole I thought was just okay. But it was fun to read nevertheless.

Excited about Billy Summers. It’s supposed to be over 500 pages so maybe it will be pretty decent like the Institute was.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Cujo (1981)
Another book done! This is a gripping read, and the fact that it's a shorter length than King's novels traditionally are helps a lot. The story, the first set fully in the fictional town of Castle Rock, juggles a number of characters and for the most part keeps them somewhat separate, and yet they all fit together very well. And at the centre of it all is a heart rending story of a dog who can't resist the disease that's taking him over.

As I began this, I felt that the writing was a bit trashier than usual. This could be due to King being at the height of his various drug and alcohol addictions at the time, but there was a throwaway soap opera element to the story that I wasn't sure about. It's extremely impressive that this ends up being one of the novel's strengths because I became very wrapped up in the characters and their problems. I couldn't believe how invested I was in whether Vic and Roger's breakfast cereal ad campaign would work out or not.

The entire second half of the novel becomes tightly focused on two characters trapped and fighting for their lives. It's a powerful read with a resolution that has a lot of impact. There's a truthfulness and simplicity to Cujo which works incredibly well to its benefit. Cujo himself isn't a bad dog or an evil presence, he's a victim too, and we can sympathise with the majority of points of view given here (well, maybe not Steve and Joe).

There is a darker, slightly supernatural element to the story which comes from an unexpected place and is left to tease us without a proper resolution. What is in Tad's closet? There are numerous explanations that can be given to this, but the mystery is extremely enticing. There are also some welcome call backs to the events of The Dead Zone and it's nice to see King establishing direct links between his books.

[Dr. Seymour Love]

Originally Posted by LeftHandedGuitarist

Cujo (1981)
Another book done! This is a gripping read, and the fact that it's a shorter length than King's novels traditionally are helps a lot. The story, the first set fully in the fictional town of Castle Rock, juggles a number of characters and for the most part keeps them somewhat separate, and yet they all fit together very well. And at the centre of it all is a heart rending story of a dog who can't resist the disease that's taking him over.

As I began this, I felt that the writing was a bit trashier than usual. This could be due to King being at the height of his various drug and alcohol addictions at the time, but there was a throwaway soap opera element to the story that I wasn't sure about. It's extremely impressive that this ends up being one of the novel's strengths because I became very wrapped up in the characters and their problems. I couldn't believe how invested I was in whether Vic and Roger's breakfast cereal ad campaign would work out or not.

The entire second half of the novel becomes tightly focused on two characters trapped and fighting for their lives. It's a powerful read with a resolution that has a lot of impact. There's a truthfulness and simplicity to Cujo which works incredibly well to its benefit. Cujo himself isn't a bad dog or an evil presence, he's a victim too, and we can sympathise with the majority of points of view given here (well, maybe not Steve and Joe).

There is a darker, slightly supernatural element to the story which comes from an unexpected place and is left to tease us without a proper resolution. What is in Tad's closet? There are numerous explanations that can be given to this, but the mystery is extremely enticing. There are also some welcome call backs to the events of The Dead Zone and it's nice to see King establishing direct links between his books.

This was the first King novel I ever read. I was around 11 or 12, in the early 80s, and my brothers girlfriend gave it to me to read, and I started it, and got to a scary part and put it down. About a week later, curiousity got the better of me and I picked it up and started it again. I was off to the races and I've been reading him ever since.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Different Seasons (1982)
A gorgeous collection of novellas that marked a change of direction and style for King. Less horror, more an examination of how humans can face their situations. The association with the four different seasons adds a strong theme to each story which allows these to all be very different but fit together so well.

Shawshank: It's interesting to finally read this after knowing the story for so many years. The film took this and dived a bit deeper, but the original story has all the important elements there. I found it lacked a little bit in characters, though, as these were all like second hand reports of what somebody was like with Red telling the story. An easy and enjoyable read but surprisingly not as memorable as I had expected - the film turned this into something better.

Apt Pupil: Pretty disturbing stuff. It's impressive that King's writing made me hate an American teenage boy more than an actual Nazi war criminal. This is paced a little on the slow side but it's enticing the whole way through and the characters leap off the page. I had to take a little break when I got to the part with the cat, very nasty. It's probably a bit too long and was definitely the story that I had to push myself to finish - not because of not enjoying it, but due to the bad taste it kept leaving in my mouth. A very powerful ending that the film adaptation totally failed.

The Body: My favourite story here. Of course I am very familiar with the Stand By Me film and I was pleased that story is completely intact here. The four kids in this tale are so full of personality, so memorable, and their mini-quest is a real page turner. While I think that the film added just enough extra detail to be the better telling, I was particularly happy to have a longer ending here that dealt with the repercussions of what they all did.

The Breathing Method: I read this in one sitting. I had no idea where this was going but there was a real sense of dread that built up through it. By the time it got to the shock ending I had found myself very wrapped up in the mystery of what the club was all about... so the culmination of the pregnancy was like a punch to the stomach. Ultimately I feel like this is story with the least to say and the one that leans most into typical King horror, but it sure will stick with me.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Christine (1983)
What is on the surface level a book about a killer car, supernaturally possessed by an evil spirit, actually turns out to be about something much more interesting. The titular car, Christine, is the obvious selling point of the book but it seems to me that this story is a tragedy. It's about the corruption of a teenage boy as Christine's influence turns him into a different person, and about how this change causes him to push away his parents and friends as he becomes consumed by hate. And he's helpless to stop it.

Christine is wonderfully written and kept my attention the whole way through, but I do have to criticise its length. It's far too long for what it is. The writing style makes an odd transition from first-person to third-person and then back to first-person for each of the different sections, and it's a little jarring. But the story pulled me in very easily. The characters are generally good with Arnie and his family feeling fully realised and I mostly felt sorry for him. Dennis is more problematic, because even though it's him telling the story he himself feels like an empty character without much definition. Side character like school bully Buddy and the garage owner Darnell had a lot more personality.

And there's also another way to look at this book entirely; maybe this is all about how we change as we transition from childhood to adolescence, and how horrible the change can be for a parent. Arnie Cunningham's mother and father are horrified to see their little boy becoming a man and are constantly overcome by memories of the times they had when he was a child.

I think this book on some level is about growing up, but told from the perspective of the people being hurt and left behind in the process. There just also happens to be a murderous self-aware car going round killing people too.

[Monterey Jack]

Re-reading Lisey's Story...man, is this thing tedious. No wonder I barely remember anything from the first time I read it.

[atomik kinder]

Originally Posted by Monterey Jack

Re-reading Lisey's Story...man, is this thing tedious. No wonder I barely remember anything from the first time I read it.

Not one of my favorite King books, this one is kind of out there.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Cycle of the Werewolf (1983)
This doesn't seem to have a current UK publication, Amazon seem to be selling a US import and there is no mention of the book at all on King's official UK website! Weird.

Beautifully written and with some gorgeous illustrations throughout, this is a fun read. The werewolf is an intimidating creature and its kills are appropriately gruesome. But it's extremely short length is both a benefit and a hindrance.

In many ways, it's nice to find a King story that isn't so wordy. I loved that this is able to effectively be twelve short stories and that each of them is full of atmosphere and wastes no time, but it also lacked for characters and I feel like it's not going to stick in my memory.

The only thing that helped me remember who the main kid was is that I kept misreading his name as "Coleslaw". Plus that his dad's way of speaking just made me picture him as Ned Flanders.

[atomik kinder]

Originally Posted by LeftHandedGuitarist

Cycle of the Werewolf (1983)
This doesn't seem to have a current UK publication, Amazon seem to be selling a US import and there is no mention of the book at all on King's official UK website! Weird.

Beautifully written and with some gorgeous illustrations throughout, this is a fun read. The werewolf is an intimidating creature and its kills are appropriately gruesome. But it's extremely short length is both a benefit and a hindrance.

In many ways, it's nice to find a King story that isn't so wordy. I loved that this is able to effectively be twelve short stories and that each of them is full of atmosphere and wastes no time, but it also lacked for characters and I feel like it's not going to stick in my memory.

The only thing that helped me remember who the main kid was is that I kept misreading his name as "Coleslaw". Plus that his dad's way of speaking just made me picture him as Ned Flanders.

I have the original limited hard cover of this. Very nice book, Unfortunately, I do not have the signed and numbered edition. Bernie Wrightson was an amazing illustrator.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Pet Sematary (1983)
I found this one both difficult to get into and difficult to put down, confusingly. It's an extremely dark examination of grief and King manages to convey an emotional state of mind extremely well. There's an incredible sense of building dread almost from the first page (this is largely due to King's introduction which cheats a little in that it sets up your expectations for something truly unpleasant).

I had seen both of the film adaptations of this previously and knew the basics of what was going to happen, but the book flows quite differently from the movies and dwells on the difficult things for much longer. It feels like the focus is in a different place here. The big moments I was waiting for don't even begin until the final third. In that respect, I found the book a little too long, but I was never bored at any point. It's a slow story that still feels like its always moving.

One thing I really did appreciate is that, for once, the book was full of pleasant characters. King has a tendency to showcase truly nasty people and that's just not here. Hooray! It was so easy to fall in love with Jud as the sort of neighbour we would all want. Louis Creed himself is a decent, likable man susceptible to the human flaws we all possess, and when he's pushed to an extreme he makes decisions that you can truly understand.

The later stages of the novel pushed my anxiety up to high levels and there were times I felt I needed to take a small break. But the long build up to that point really makes me feel that I wasn't as engaged as I could have been, and I think that this one would have worked better as something shorter (and it's not even all that long compared to King's epics). A disturbing tale that goes to some places that are difficult to open yourself up to. Liked it a lot, but didn't love it.

The final moment is bloody fantastic, though!

[atomik kinder]

Just finished Billy Summers. Really enjoyed it.