Any Stephen King fans out there?

[discordiatookie]

Absolutely love King's work. There's only two or three books that I haven't really loved - but still enjoyed (hmm, namely Cell and Under The Dome are the two that come to mind). With very few exceptions (Neil Gaiman and the Game of Throne books most recently) when I'm reading other writers' novels I want to be reading Stephen King. It's like I'm addicted!

Just finished reading a couple of short stories, about half an hour ago I completed Jerusalem's Lot, and am now away to reread Lisey's Story. Amazing book, loved it first time around, I'm looking forward to it.

Some random thoughts:

When I was a late teenager, early twenties, King became a bond between my mum and I. We would get a book each, read it and then swap over, discussing them when we were done. We got through his back catalogue that way, good times.

I remember being quite young, and my Mum had Skeleton Key up on the bookshelf. Hardback, with a skeleton on the cover. I used to think that cover was awesome. I tried reading it once or twice but it was a bit old for me.

My first book was Desperation, on paperback that I got from my Mum. I was around 14, and had never read anything quite like it. I've still got it, and the copy of Skeleton Key in my shelf ('though Desperation is falling apart now).

I went through a bit of a rough time in my early 20s, split up with my first long term girlfriend, I moved back home only for my Mum's partner at the time to leave and we ended up nearly homeless, amongst other things and I remember skiving off college one day because I couldn't be arsed with it all. I had a new book, a beat up copy of The first Dark Tower book so I climbed a hill (the Broad Hill, not that big but pretty cool, one side looks over a graveyard, the other the beach, and it also gives you a wee peek to the local football (soccer) stadium, where before the new stand got put in, gave a big peek and was nicknamed Miser's Hilly) and read the whole thing in a day. It was sunny and windy, and a great way to immerse myself into a book! I snapped up the other three (at the time) Dark Tower books and devoured them, and got the next three on the day they were released.

(Side note: it was around this time I had rediscovered TMNT in comic form and I got a bunch of vol 4 issues from a comic shop and wondered down into a park during another sunny day and read them all, once again skiving college).

So yeah, I'm a massive King fan, and his recent run of books (Lisey's Story, Duma Key, 11/22/63, Joyland, Doctor Sleep, All Dark, No Stars, Wind Through the Keyhole, Just After Sunset) are amongst his best, proving to me that he's still got it, and the best writer there is...

[blindturtle02]

Yeah DT, I remember reading the first 4 Dark Tower books a few years before 5 through 7 were released. I was shopping with my gram in a Mall during July and she was like,"You're birthday's on the 27th, sonny boy. There's something called The Dark Tower. You should let me get the first 4 books for ya." I remember saying something like,"But it sounds like it's about some dumb cowboy. I hate Westerns." She went ahead and let me read the first one as a sort of trial run and I couldn't put the thing down. That one was the original Gunslinger before he revised it throughout. I liked the revised one too btw. But yeah, was so very wrong about my Dark Tower assumptions. Roland is so much more interesting than some cowboy. King says the audiobook narrator nailed the voice he heard in his head. The accent isn't country fried or anything, which surprised and drew me in completely. Roland is like Batman and Castiel from the CW's Supernatural all roled into one. Well Batman doesn't use guns and all that.

I love Lisey's Story. Read that when it first came out in 06 and loved it. 112263 took me a bit longer because of a tun of family emergencies that popped up at once, but loved that one as well. You're right about his more recent titles. They certainly prove he's still the man. Devoured Joyland and Doctor Sleep in no time and am looking forward to his next book, Mr. Mercedes set to be released on June 3rd of this year. That one is going to be a detective story. I've never read a crime novel by him before aside from The Green Mile, so this should be a good one.

[Pterobat]

Right here.

Like a lot of things from several years ago, I haven't kept up with new King stuff. I think the most recent King book I read was "Bag of Bones", which came out in 1998, and I know there's been many more since.

I tend to prefer King's short stories and shorter novels, with the exception being "Needful Things", which is my favourite big heavy King book. "The Dead Zone", "The Shining", "Pet Semetary", and "Carrie" are among my favourite King novels, with the early short story collections like "Night Shift" and "Skeleton Crew" standing out.

King's nonfiction is also great: he's very readable and casual in it, while also incredibly smart. "Danse Macabre" and "On Writing" are both real good.

Sometimes I do get frustrated with his long backstories in his thicker novels, which is why i tend to prefer the short ones. And sometimes he can be a bit cheesy, or maybe VERY cheesy, but Stephen King still knows his stuff, and is one of my favourites.

[blindturtle02]

Awesome, Pterobat. Danse Macabre is a great romp through a tun of horror genre related media. I snapped that one up and read it in no time. They released a newer version on audio a few years ago. Have you read the one with that new foreword where he talks about movies like Sean of The Dead and all that jazz? The rest of the book's the same but I was thrilled that he wrote about how he felt concerning some early 21st century horror movies and such. Also thought On Writing was a real page turner. Loved the autobiographical sections and the writers' toolbox bits. Never thought he'd write about his accident but he put everything out there in this book. Needful Things was the first King novel I read. I was introduced to him via his short stories.

Skeleton Crew has never been available on audio so I bought Selections From Skeleton Crew right after my 12th birthday years ago. I've gotten to read the whole thing since then and own it of course. Nightmares and Dreamscapes is also another great anthology and I enjoyed Nightshift. John Glover narrates Nightshift stories for the mainstream audio market and he's got a great horror story narrator's voice. They never finished narrating that anthology, however. Very glad I can finally read the whole anthology now regardless of the narrator. I like his forewords and end notes in those colections too.

[MastahShredder]

[shuriken]

Originally Posted by blindturtle02

I loved Misery. Got to read that book a few months ago and think I might reread it sooner rather than later. I'm just now getting to read a tun of his oldest novels, so yeah I have to agree about Carrie and The Shining. Only read Carrie once back in 2006, and it's high time I gave that one another. I loved it. That one was very short so I flew through it in no time. I liked his afterword in that one. Yeah even though The Green Mile was a bit depressing, it's still a terrific read. I love the serial novel approach he took with it.

I liked that too. for some reason I read it pretty quick, like faster than I would have if it was a novel...

[blindturtle02]

Green Mile was very addicting. Think I might reread that one after Insomnia. Not sure though. Different Seasons also looks pretty good to me right about now, as do a few short stories. Green Mile usually takes me about a week or less since I read one part a day in the past. It was so very fast paced. I also need to go back and finish The Stand. Started that in Nov but got sidetracked due to a tun of school work.

[discordiatookie]

New novel released in November! Called 'Revival'.

Posted: February 12th, 2014 9:00:27 am EST

We now have permission to officially announce the release of the novel, Revival, which will be published by Scribner and Hodder & Stoughton on November 11, 2014.

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.
Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of 13, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.

Can't wait! ^_^

(From stephenking.com )

[blindturtle02]

Oo! I'll have to put that on my audible preorder list as soon as they get permission to list it. He's putting two books out this year? Pretty cool! So we've got Mr. Mercedes due in early June plus Revival in Nov. Can't wait! Thanks for the info, DT. This news, plus Clone Wars lost season coming to Netflix has definitely put some excitement into my Thursday.

[discordiatookie]

Yep, it's pretty exciting! Two new books this year!

What version of The Stand are/were you reading? I've read both and prefer the Uncut version...

[blindturtle02]

I'm reading the uncut version. I very much prefer that one. The sceens with The Kid were great. He also added more with Flagg which really creeped me out. That bit about him breaking into that sick guys house, running up the stairs while screaming, and practically landing right on top of him when charging into the bedroom. That'd just about kill me if I were that sick and facing something that evil.

I was stuck with the original several years ago before they finally decided to put the uncut edition out on audio but glad to own it now. They even included his foreword. They do every time anyway but it's still neat to see things like the dedications and such tagged on to the audio versions. Other authors just plain don't care about stuff like that. lol Go figure. He pays careful attention to how they're handling his audiobook productions from what I've heard.

He's even narrated a few titles. Some audiobook readers have really given the guy a hard time about his narration, but I think it's an honor to have an author narrate his work when/if he/she chooses to do so. Although I wonder if he knows that Desperation and The Regulators are the only two novels he's written that somehow got abridged. He's said that he can't stand abridged audiobooks, so wondering if that's slipped by him at some point. I was able to read them through my library for the blind and dyslexic site, but so far the unabridgements haven't made it onto the mainstream audiobook market along with Nightshift and Skeleton Crew in their entirety. Just now discovering those gems as well.

[discordiatookie]

Oops, my bad, never realised you'd replied about The Stand. Yeah, The Kid's a right evil b*st*rd!

So Mr Mercedes is out, anyone picked it up? I'm getting it for my birthday (which is on Monday) and can't wait to get cracking with it.

Just finished reading 11/22/63 again. Amazing, amazing read. Remember that bit in Friends when Joey's putting the books in the freezer? Wanted to do that with this book - not for the scares but because the ending is so heartbreaking. The feels man, I'm getting them again just thinking about it!

And now that I've got a few days to wait until my next book, I cracked open Nightshift again for some short stories. Started with Last rung on the ladder. Even when he's not writing horror he's great!

[blindturtle02]

I preordered my copy of Mr. Mercedes on audible and tore through that in about 3 or so days when it hit my online library. I'm not much for crime novels, but I really liked this one. Nothing supernatural about it, but it still captivated me. My future father-in-law loves crime novels, so my better half and I got it for him in hard back for Father's Day. Ya know, I was thinking about reading Nightshift again soon. Summer seems like a great time for short stories. I was actually introduced to his writing via short stories.

[RaphAndDonnie]

I've become a pretty big King fan within the last couple of months. Currently I'm reading through Carrie and Misery and when I'm done with them I'm moving on to IT, The Shining and, when I get an iTunes card, I'm going to buy Mr. Mercedes.

[pennydreadful]

So what's the first Stephen King novel that everybody read? Mine was Carrie.

[blindturtle02]

Hmm, mine was Needful Things: The Last Castle Rock Story. Yeah, ironic. I actually read a few short story collections before getting into the novels.

[discordiatookie]

He is a short story master!

My first King book was Desperation. It was '97, I was 14 and it was amazing!

[blindturtle02]

Hang on a sec. Yeah, mine was also Desperation! I forgot that I picked it up in early Nov of 96. Sigh, must be getting old. I was around 13. I got Needful Things during my annual Thanksgiving visit to Memphis when we were shopping in a Davis-Kidd bookstore on Black Friday of that same year. So NF was actually my second.

[Dawnatello Turtle Chick]

I believe mine was Cujo, closely followed by Firestarter, Pet Sematary.

[blindturtle02]

I can remember flying through Cujo in hs years ago. It wasn't available on audio in the main stream market, so I had to get most of his older stuff from national library service for the blind. Totally wasn't expecting Cujo to end the way it did. Still enjoyed it though. Pet Sem is terrific. I think I saw the movie before reading that one. They didn't change very much at all in the film adaptation. Still need to get around to seeing the film version of Shawshank Redemption. I liked the novella quite a bit.