Spinning off from a couple of conversations I've had recently (including the Epics thread), what are your thoughts on Stephen King?

Personally, I think he is - if anything - underrated as a writer. I think he's written some magnificent books and if he weren't working in the horror field, he'd be regarded in much higher esteem.

To me, there are two Stephen Kings.

There's the excellent writer who's brought us classics like "Misery", "Dolores Claiborne", "Apt Pupil", "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", "The Green Mile", "Needful Things" and a respectable few others.

Then there's the pulp author who's thrown up such dross as "Insomnia", "Gerald's Game", "Desperation", "Dreamcatcher", "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" and enough others to make me very wary of picking up a novel with his name above the title.

I guess I'm mroe into his thrillers, than his more out and out fantastical horror, and I've never read any of "The Dark Tower".

I agree there are two Stephen Kings, classic King and contemporary post accident King. The latter is not a patch on the former.

The Stand, Carrie, Salems Lot, It, Christine are all horror classics and the reason I rated King highly. He added to these with Shawshank and Green mile, Misery and Delores Claiborne.


Of The Dark Tower series its a game of two halves, first we have the brilliant trilogy of The Gunslinger, The Drawing of The Three and The Wasteland followed by a good backstory standalone in The Wizard and The Glass but then it all goes pearshaped and we get Wolves of The Calla and Song For Susannah which were self indulgent toss and add to it The Dark Tower itself and an ending that I will never forgive him for and King looses on penalties.

A great writer in his time but I think his time is fading fast.

Insomnia was one of the first books I came across, along with Firestarter and The Stand, but I've never read any of his early classics, a situation I am willing to rectify soon.

For me his main problem is that he tends to be mediocre more often than he is brilliant. He doesn't seem to pick ideas for his novels that carefully, rather seeing what he can stretch over 400+ pages and dousing that idea in his albeit wonderfully twisted imagination. Which is where he falls. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is a fairly short story, but could possibly have worked better as an actual short story rather than a novel. Lisey's Story, one of his very recent novels is very untidy and cluttered with flashbacks.

His collections on the other hand are always a fascinating read, specifically because he isn't stretching the short stories far past their breaking point. The Mist is an excellent example, 100+ pages and it does not get tiresome.

I will also add that I agree with Chris in that King is extremely underrated.

I think King has risen in terms of critical acclaim in recent years and critics are a lot less sniffy over genre books these days. There are often said to be two Kings but there is a lot of debate over which books fit in each category. Like many I rate It, The Stand but I like a lot of his recent stuff such as Lisey's Story and Duma Key. I was less fond of Insomnia, Desperation and apart from the start thought Dreamcatcher was the worst I read to date. Looking forward to Under the Dome next month

By the by, has anyone read his new collection, Just After Sunset? I'm about to delve in since I've finished with Mike Carey for the moment.

I enjoyed it not as many stories as others but a good selection favourite was Gingerbread Girl let us know how you get on

I've not read any of his novels but someone bought me On Writing as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago and I found it really inspiring.

Oh yes definately, I keep it nearby if I need a mental pickmeup. He's got really good practical advice plus, some excellent stories of his own adventures.

Read the review for Under The Dome in this months SFX and I might make this my first book of King's to buy since The Dark Tower.

It sounds a lot like The Mist (which I liked) and explores the human condition in an closed off environment.

Doesn't sound like a traditional horror story but then sometimes your average Joe on the street when put in certain situations can be more horrific than any slim dripping monster.