Here’s a little taste of Stephen King’s new novel Under the Dome, coming in November.
Happy happy happy!
writer. screenwriter. learning person. loves being human.
Here’s a little taste of Stephen King’s new novel Under the Dome, coming in November.
Happy happy happy!
Still obsessed with SK I see. Me too. I believe he’s the true voice of my generation. You may not agree since you’re about 10 years younger than me, and you think he’s the voice of your generation! Since we’re an extended family on this blog, I guess generations don’t matter that much. WE need ’em all.
We do need ’em all, and the thing about great writing is that it speaks to more than one generation, I think. I really do think the man’s a genius. So gifted. He is still the writer I wish most I could meet, and in many ways the writer I wish most I could be.
Kelley,
Thanks so much for posting this! I’ve been a huge fan of his since I was 14. And I agree, he’s a brilliant writer, and has been an inspiration since I first read him (Salem’s Lot). It’s nice to know someone else feels the same way.
Why don’t you just find a common friend and ask for an introduction, or just write an enthusiastic but discrete and polished fan letter? Besides, you’re a writer. Write writer to writer.
Must confess that I’ve never seen the appeal. He’s on my list of Writers In Dire Need of an Editor. Sorry!
No need to apologize — mileage varies! Some of his work is in fact in need of a good edit, for sure. But his best work is, for me, so evocative and true, and IMO no living American writer better captures “American” characters than King, and he is on the A-list in terms of use of the wonderful intimate/omniscient 3rd person voice. It’s something I would really like to be able to do well.
I’ve never read anything by Stephen King. I’ve seen a couple movies that were made from his books, but never had any interest in reading anything by him. I am not much of a fan of horror, and I had him slated in that category pretty much exclusively.
You do have me curious now however. Any specific recommendations for me to try?
In more of a non-horror (although still speculative) vein:
The Dead Zone (about a man who wakes up from a coma with psychic powers)
Different Seasons (a collection of 4 novellas that includes the absolutely magnificent “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” and “The Body”)
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (a little girl gets lost in the big woods)
And in the definitely horror but yowsa, so great vein:
Salem’s Lot (vampires in a small Maine town, and the hero is a writer, grin)
The Shining (a family, including a small boy with psychic powers, in a haunted Colorado hotel)
Oh yikes, I could go on. But see if any of these grab you. Other suggestions for Jennifer?
Cool thanks! Links and everything. I placed an order.
My favorite King was The Dead Zone but not the movie or the tv series, the book, the book was really an interesting read for me. But then I read it when it first came out before things had been done to the concept.
I thought it was clever and original not really horror like some of his other stuff. I don’t care for real horror though I did like Firestarter, the book always the book with his stuff.
For King the books haven’t translated well to movies at least not for me. For instance with Cujo there was no real way to do the thinking parts for the dog. I don’t know or care if dogs really think that’s not the issue for me it was that we got to be the dog quite a lot which to me was showing the story not telling the story.
King’s appeal for me was that he totally nailed motivation in all of his books/stories.
There’s stuff wrong with all writers if one wants to pick them apart but that’s not my thing. If I enjoyed a book or story then that’s all I require of it, I’m not on this earth to analyze the work of authors that I read for pleasure. I liked The DaVinci Code because it was a fun read, I don’t care one whit whether it was accurate or not.
Phooey on all the hype that goes on around a book, any book because it’s not accurate to all the details. Go get a text book to read and you’ll find a lot of inaccuracies there too.
Well I didn’t really mean to go on a rant here so sorry about that. Sly
Another thing that occurred to me after I posted is that King dared to go to places in a real way that might seem a bit taboo. Like in The Shining a dad that totally lost his grip on reality. Or The Langoliers which explored total confusion.
I could go on with examples of how King delved with seeming ease into the depths of life’s conditions. He skirted the edges of horror to do this but I don’t think he went to real horror say like Frankenstein or Dracula or some of Roman Polanski’s stuff.
I think a lot of what is categorized as horror is really what is now called speculative fiction. Just my opinion, I’m no expert I just calls em like I sees em. I’m no real analyzer of writing I just know what works for me from a readers perspective and what doesn’t story wise.