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Stephen King

Silent Runner

By Silent Runner,
in Arts & Literature

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Danster

Danster

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I got The Bachman Books from a car boot for 25p! :(

I've been really getting into the Dark Tower series, they really are amazing books. The Gunslinger I wasn't too fond of, but it was some of his early work so it was forgivable. The Drawing of the Three was really solid and I really enjoyed it, not that much fantasy in it though. The Waste Lands was phenomenal, one of the best books I have read. Now I am on to Wizard and Glass, it's still really good but changed to Rolands back story. Please tell me that the remaining books maintain the bar that was set with Waste Lands? And that the conclusion to it all is amazing? No spoilers though

The Wizard and the Glass is the hardest, then 5 is good, 6 is better and 7 is the bestest of them all (imo).

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Darren

Darren

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Wizard and Glass was the first of the Dark Tower books I read. In fact it was only the second Stephen King I ever read, after Desperation & The Regulators (counts as one choice). I think I approached King from an unconventional angle. But despite the fact that I had no idea what was going on until the flashback started, and I couldn't recognise any references, I was absolutely hooked. It's a great book and if the beginning and end were chopped off I reckon it could stand alone as a classic King novel in its own right.

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Glasgowchivas

Glasgowchivas

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Finished the new one - Under The Dome

Not sure how I felt about it - it definately doesn't need to be so big. It's got something like 70+ named characters in it but you only really get to know about a dozen or so - comparable cast-wise to Desperation then.

It started really strong but then kind of just went on and on and on while nothing really happened - and when something kind of awful does happen and things get grim very fast it

.....just...........ends. And depending on your view of supernatural/scientific happenings the ending will be a big stumbling block.

Actually I've made up my mind by writing this. I am dissapointed. I loved Duma Key and this just didn't live up to those standards.

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FishyFish

FishyFish

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I enjoyed Under the Dome a lot. It's odd that, despite it's length, it never felt like a long book - possibly a result of the short timeframe in which the events transpire and the fact that everything is confined to Chester's Mill.

A couple of the connections to King's other work were nice...

The symbol on the alien box being the same as the one on the door to IT's lair, and the way it flashed in a very similar way to the car in From a Buick 8.

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Treble

Treble

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I enjoyed Under the Dome a lot. It's odd that, despite it's length, it never felt like a long book - possibly a result of the short timeframe in which the events transpire and the fact that everything is confined to Chester's Mill.

A couple of the connections to King's other work were nice...

The symbol on the alien box being the same as the one on the door to IT's lair, and the way it flashed in a very similar way to the car in From a Buick 8.

Haven't read it, but if it links to those two things, it's part of the Dark Tower universe.

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Glasgowchivas

Glasgowchivas

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You're not wrong. It's something that he has been including in his books now for years and years. But it was never the intention from the start. Now he's actively refrencing older books in ways such as having symbols match up and character's talk about people from other books. To a non-fan it must be quite confusing.

Personally, I like the little nods to other works.

The best bit of Dreamcatcher (:)) was the graffiti scrawled above the drain at the end:

Pennywise Lives!

Gave me more of a chill than the rest of the book that did.

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FishyFish

FishyFish

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The best bit of Dreamcatcher (:quote:) was the graffiti scrawled above the drain at the end:

Pennywise Lives!

Gave me more of a chill than the rest of the book that did.

That reminds me of the throwaway line in The Tommyknockers where two of the characters travel to Derry and think they hear a chuckling sound coming out of a storm drain.

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FishyFish

FishyFish

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Even when King's stories doesn't reference the DT stuff (and I don't think much at all did until into the 90s - although a lot of it has been woked into the back story in one way or another since e.g. I think the events in The Talisman were retrospectively brought into the DT canon if I'm honest), there've always been cross references between his stories on one level or another - passing mentions of a dog that once went crazy in Castle Rock, shared geography, and so forth - which I've always enjoyed. It gives his stories a continuity and place in a fixed literary universe that I'd miss if they were all completely seperate from one another.

On another note, there was a poll on King's message board recently where he asked what people would prefer him to write - a new novel set in the DT univers, or a sequel to The Shining (called Doctor Sleep). The Shining sequel edged into the lead (though not by a huge margin).

Hey, you guys--I saw a lot of you Constant Readers while I was touring for Under the Dome, and I must say you're looking good. Thanks for turning out in such numbers, and thanks for all the nice things you've said about Under the Dome. There'll be another book next year. It's a good one, I think, but that's not why I'm writing. I mentioned two potential projects while I was on the road, one a new Mid-World book (not directly about Roland Deschain, but yes, he and his friend Cuthbert are in it, hunting a skin-man, which are what werewolves are called in that lost kingdom) and a sequel to The Shining called Doctor Sleep. Are you interested in reading either of these? If so, which one turns your dials more? Ms. Mod will be counting your votes (and of course it all means nothing if the muse doesn't speak). Meanwhile, thanks again for 2009.
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sucker4life

sucker4life

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MMM Shining sequel. I don't have much premise for writing in here only that I preferred 'The Shining' the movie to the book, and unfortunately Kubrick is not around anymore to follow on (King might be glad about that). Anyone in the right mind who saw both Kubrick's and King's version would agree the former is the masterpiece. King can't make a TV/film if his life depended on it. (maybe a story for one of his future books?).

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Treble

Treble

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Even when King's stories doesn't reference the DT stuff (and I don't think much at all did until into the 90s - although a lot of it has been woked into the back story in one way or another since e.g. I think the events in The Talisman were retrospectively brought into the DT canon if I'm honest), there've always been cross references between his stories on one level or another - passing mentions of a dog that once went crazy in Castle Rock, shared geography, and so forth - which I've always enjoyed. It gives his stories a continuity and place in a fixed literary universe that I'd miss if they were all completely seperate from one another.

This. A lot of DT stuff's retconned. Early on, King talks about places where he describes the walls between universes as being worn and thin, and things come through. There's a direct mention of it in Crouch End, which is a Cthulhu mythos story. Early on his books sort of fell into three or four separate universes: supernatural stories (Salems Lot, Cycle of the Werewolf, The Shining) psychic/scientifically rooted stories (Firestarter, Carrie, The Dead Zone) and the odd one that was horrific but real-world (Cujo, some short stories).

Later on, I think he realised a lot of his stuff shared enough common themes to group many in the same universe, but I think it's detrimental to make them all 'levels on the tower' and some should stand alone. That said, I quite like the idea that, on one floor of the tower, Maine is plagued by a psychic vampire from a hell dimension (It) and on another couple it's infested with two types of aliens: green psychic ones who're dead (Tommyknockers) or shit weasels (Dreamcatcher). Poor fucking place ^_^

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FishyFish

FishyFish

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Some brief details on his next book (taken from the official stephenking.com forum):

I have been given permission to announce that Steve's next book titled FULL DARK, NO STARS, is a collection of 4 previously unpublished novellas and is expected to be released in November (possibly 9th, but that is subject to change). We will announce more details as they become available.
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Scribblor

Scribblor

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Just finished Under the Dome (and remarked only this morning how it felt more like his older stuff than his recent output to me!). Time to dive into The Dark Tower, which I've only read the first three of, years and years and years ago.

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