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Stephen King


Lloyd Dupont

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I don't like horror much, it's why I prefer BRP over CoC and it's why I don't watch much horror movie. 

But in a moment of boredom now I'm watching Doctor Sleep, from a Stephen King novel.. 

I'm not sure this is an accurate critic, but I feel like I want to say I understand why Stephen King is so successful. He doesn't just write a scary stuff, it's a meaningful and internally consistent, there is a real story here! 

Like it so far, even like it's a long 2 hours and half! :)

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4 minutes ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

I don't like horror much, it's why I prefer BRP over CoC and it's why I don't watch much horror movie. 

But in a moment of boredom now I'm watching Doctor Sleep, from a Stephen King novel.. 

I'm not sure this is an accurate critic, but I feel like I want to say I understand why Stephen King is so successful. He doesn't just write a scary stuff, it's a meaningful and internally consistent, there is a real story here! 

Like it so far, even like it's a long 2 hours and half! :)

I've never seen or read any Stephen King, but what you just said makes me want to:)

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The Langoliers is pretty Cthulhu -  a handful of passengers on an aircraft wake up on an almost empty plane, even the pilots are missing. But there is something very wrong with the world, no lights, no radio, no sign of life. Even has terrifying monsters.

And of course Stephen King's story Gramma

and Crouch End of course - very cthulhu..

 

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Why is that so "Wow"?  There are thousands of authors pumping out reams of bestsellers.  Their efforts pack giant chain bookstores to the gills and their offscourings fill discount store shelves for decades after their names are forgotten.  You can't read or even sample them all.

I've sampled enough Stephen King to recognize that he has talent and to realize thar his works are not to my taste.  Ditto Brian Lumley.  Never touched Clive Barker.  Doubtless there are dozens of New York Times bestselling genre authors I've never even heard of.  Cut the 'strok9 a break.  Everybody has to discover a particular author for the first time.

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2 minutes ago, seneschal said:

Why is that so "Wow"?

Popular fiction that had a lot of films and TV Series made.

OK, so Dethstrok9 was born a lot later than I was, so would have missed out on the 70s and 80, where you couldn't move without a Stephen King adaptation. 

But, even in recent times you have had Under the Dome and a remake of IT.

Also, with streaming, a lot of the older films are available in different genres. 

I was just surprised.

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Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

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4 hours ago, seneschal said:

IT ... that's the one where things went horribly wrong at a call center?

Yes, I work in IT, I should know. Bunch of clowns if ever I saw them.

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Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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7 hours ago, soltakss said:

Popular fiction that had a lot of films and TV Series made.

OK, so Dethstrok9 was born a lot later than I was, so would have missed out on the 70s and 80, where you couldn't move without a Stephen King adaptation. 

But, even in recent times you have had Under the Dome and a remake of IT.

Also, with streaming, a lot of the older films are available in different genres. 

I was just surprised.

I'm younger to the point where I'm actually not allowed to read Stephen King, I will eventually.

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2 hours ago, Dethstrok9 said:

I'm younger to the point where I'm actually not allowed to read Stephen King, I will eventually.

Dunno.  I'm an old fart and R.L. Stine is almost too much for me.  I can handle Poe, Lovecraft and M.R. James because their language is so archaic I don't know what they're talking about half the time.  😉

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There are lots of author, yes, but only a few stand the test of time.

And while Stephen King doesn't write my favourite genre, hence I read of watch little from him, I think I can safely say he is one of those that do stand the test of time! 😮 :)

I quite like the Dark Tower movie too! This one is not horror though... more like a strange approach to a merger between fantastic and contemporary..

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7 minutes ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

There are lots of author, yes, but only a few stand the test of time.

And while Stephen King doesn't write my favourite genre, hence I read of watch little from him, I think I can safely say he is one of those that do stand the test of time! 😮 :)

I quite like the Dark Tower movie too! This one is not horror though... more like a strange approach to a merger between fantastic and contemporary..

My friend told me Dark Tower was the gateway drug. Now I know he's right...

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How about "The Tommyknockers"? Entire town comes under a malign influence, acting like deranged cultists. The only person who is unaffected is the town drunk, everyone thinks its because of a steel plate in his head blocking the influence.

Beautiful scene where someone says to him "it wasn't the steel plate in your head, it was the iron in your head".

One of the few cases where the movie is definitely better than the book.

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12 hours ago, Dethstrok9 said:

I'm younger to the point where I'm actually not allowed to read Stephen King, I will eventually.

I did wonder about that, I thought you were in your late teens, so might have only just been able to legally watch some of the films based on his works.

By the way, I didn't mean to offend, I just thought it was surprising that someone with such an interest in horror hadn't read or seen anything by Stephen King.

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Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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7 hours ago, soltakss said:

I did wonder about that, I thought you were in your late teens, so might have only just been able to legally watch some of the films based on his works.

By the way, I didn't mean to offend, I just thought it was surprising that someone with such an interest in horror hadn't read or seen anything by Stephen King.

It's a little complicated, I am in my late teens, but up until I discovered Lovecraft, I actually steered clear of horror, I'm a new convert:)

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I think Pet Sematary (the book, not the movies) has a very strong Lovecraft vibe, but it could be just me. I know Ithaqua was added to the mythos by Darleth and not Lovecraft, but the book mentions the wendigo a few times and there's a chapter the main character senses he's being followed by something huge and ancient in the woods.

But yeah, King's work is generally more hopeful and sentimental than Lovecraft's ever was.

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  • 3 weeks later...

King's hit and miss for me. Some of his stuff's great horror and fun to read, other stuff is confusing, incoherent nonsense (in his own words he was apparently doing coke at multiple points while writing IT, so take that for what you will).

Edited by TheEnclave
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On 3/14/2020 at 1:34 AM, seneschal said:

Dunno.  I'm an old fart and R.L. Stine is almost too much for me.  I can handle Poe, Lovecraft and M.R. James because their language is so archaic I don't know what they're talking about half the time.  😉

I'm not a fan of Stephen King, but I did read quite a bunch of his books when I was 14 or 15 (at this time, he was indeed unmissable...). I do admit he's got talent for atmosphere - at least when he focuses on atmosphere and succeeds to avoid his usual psychological pitfall... I mean, I prefer his short stories (like The Mist) and briefer novels (maybe except for IT - but maybe that's because I discovered King with IT). Tommyknockers, at least in my opinion, looses himself in too much psychological developments. I even prefer the 1st edition of The Stand (1 volume - "editor's cut") than the initial story republished in 3 books.

But there are still many good stories, including in his novels - Pet Sematary, Blaze, Carrie, Charlie..., and I won't forget his essay Anatomy of Horror. I'm sure he is an author who can at least interest Lovecraft fans - a Stephen King wouldn't exist without a previous HPL (atmosphere, alien entities like IT...). Incidentally, that's what John Carpenter tells us in his excellent In the Mouth of Madness.

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On 3/21/2020 at 9:49 AM, Darius West said:

I cut my horror teeth on King's "Salem's Lot" in 1979 after watching the miniseries at the tender age of 11.  I got "nostalgia shock" pretty hard when I tried rewatching it a few years ago.

Salem's Lot. Only book that have ever given me nightmares and forever defined vampires to me. Even now I can't play Vampire: the Masquerade. Can't sympathize with such horrors.

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On 3/14/2020 at 1:40 AM, Lloyd Dupont said:

I only watched the movie, it was quite good... The book is a very long series, I think...

I particularly enjoyed reading the whole Dark Tower series (have not seen the movie).  It's a blend of dark and urban fantasy, western, and horror genres.  There's crossover with some of his other novels including Salem's Lot.

 

 

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