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Hey Trout, you read this one yet? Excellent, excellent novellas. 1922 in particular I read on a flight from Long Beach to SLC and couldn't put it down. I think King is always great, but IMO he's at his best when writing short stories like in Graveyard Shift or Just After Sunset.
 
Boondocksaint27 said:
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Hey Trout, you read this one yet? Excellent, excellent novellas. 1922 in particular I read on a flight from Long Beach to SLC and couldn't put it down. I think King is always great, but IMO he's at his best when writing short stories like in Graveyard Shift or Just After Sunset.
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I haven't, but I will pick it up ASAP. I trust you when it comes to King.
 
Any of you King fans read On Writing? I listened to the audio book two and a half times on a solitary drive back from Boston. Pretty interesting.
 
balli said:
Any of you King fans read On Writing? I listened to the audio book two and a half times on a solitary drive back from Boston. Pretty interesting.
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You know, that's one I need to get around to reading as well. I always read the excerpts from the back of King's books where he writes on how the ideas for his novels came about. I often read these before I read the book, or will flip to the back and read it in the middle of the story. The man has a way of taking the reader into the supernatural like no other.
 
TroutBum said:
Negative. Is it fiction or a 'How To' on writing?
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Eh. Presented as a kind of a 'how to' type of thing but more just a description of his own method and ideals. Some good critique of other writers, a lot of his own personal history and a bit on how some of his own books and stories came to be. Sort of a weird hodgepodge of his life, his work, his method and his suggestions for would be writers. I haven't read much King or pop fiction in the past decade, but I used to and thought it (On Writing) was enormously interesting. How often does a mega-author write a manual on how he does it?
 
Boondocksaint27 said:
full+dark+no+stars+cover+full.jpg


Hey Trout, you read this one yet? Excellent, excellent novellas. 1922 in particular I read on a flight from Long Beach to SLC and couldn't put it down. I think King is always great, but IMO he's at his best when writing short stories like in Graveyard Shift or Just After Sunset.
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Pretty sure there was a bigger image of this out there.....maybe not though.
 
balli said:
Eh. Presented as a kind of a 'how to' type of thing but more just a description of his own method and ideals. Some good critique of other writers, a lot of his own personal history and a bit on how some of his own books and stories came to be. Sort of a weird hodgepodge of his life, his work, his method and his suggestions for would be writers. I haven't read much King or pop fiction in the past decade, but I used to and thought it (On Writing) was enormously interesting. How often does a mega-author write a manual on how he does it?
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Agreed. I found it very entertaining, and informative, and the way King writes anyway you feel like you are sitting with him in his study while he is telling you this book, rather than just reading it. I have liked his non-fiction books, this and especially Danse Macabre.
 
LogGrad98 said:
Agreed. I found it very entertaining, and informative, and the way King writes anyway you feel like you are sitting with him in his study while he is telling you this book, rather than just reading it. I have liked his non-fiction books, this and especially Danse Macabre.
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I was trying to think of the best way to describe King's story-telling last night while posting in this thread, but yours is perfect. Vinyl, I agree 100%. I re-read The Stand every year.
 
VINYLONE said:
Ever read The Stand? Some of his best work...
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Really "The Stand" and maybe "The Shining" and "The Dead Zone" are probably his best. He worked into a formula in other books that he follows somewhat that make a lot of his other books kinda cookie cutter. But IMHO King really shines in his short works (stories, novella, etc.). His story collections are spine-tinglingly scary and often full of wonder and amazement. Something he has difficulty catching in his books anymore. I think he got too caught up in placing ALL of his works into his "Dark Tower" universe and some them (and we readers) suffered for it.

BTW, am I the only one who threw the last Dark Tower book across the room in disgust for the crappy and fake way he neatly tied up all the loose ends, neutered the otherwise very scary and mysterious bad guy (The Crimson King) and then ended it with a horrible cliche cop-out?
 
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