http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/04/06/the-living-and-the-dead Comments On: The Living and the Dead by Paul Constant en-us Copyright 2009 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0800 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0800 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
You couldn't be more wrong about "Cell" "Cell" is one of King's best, and I don't like a lot of Stephen King. "It" is really good and scary. "'Salem's Lot" is good when it doesn't deal with asides about the townspeople and sticks to the main character. "The Stand" is too long and King usually can't wrap things up or write a decent ending to save his life.

As for "Cell," i picked it up in an airport bookstore, something I almost never do, hoping for just a fun, summer book, blahblahblah. "Cell" was incredibly engaging, emotionally engaging. I loved the story. I loved the characters. It felt original to me, and terrifying at times. It was sad and heartbreaking. It was surprising and fun and scary. It was really good writing.

Also, I've tried reading "Lisey's Story" about three times, and just can not get into it. And "The Dead Zone" is also one of King's best novels.

Oh, and his book on writing was a great read.

So, there, Paul. EAT IT. :)

Thanks for writing your blog entries on slog, Paul.

Posted by Jack Brabble]]> Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:37:38 -0700 The Stranger
But Duma Key is shit. Any book whose antagonist is a mental fungus named the Bad Gunky deserves to be torn in half and thrown away.
Posted by Paul Constant]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:52:27 -0700 The Stranger
King is unappreciated in his time.

Therefore, King is Dickens.

Got it.
Posted by Marv]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:00:16 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Jen]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:27:32 -0700 The Stranger Posted by elswinger]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:16:53 -0700 The Stranger
and @21, I like Zardoz and box mac & cheese too. And Michael Nesmith is a genius. The other Monkees...maybe not so much. ;-)
Posted by Geni]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:57:15 -0700 The Stranger
"It" would have been a gread book if King could have put his ego aside long enough to listen to an editor and get it down to a managable length.

The early books; Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Stand are fantasticly entertaining pot boilers...then King got to be a Superstar and too big to listen to editors and the books got worse and worse.
Posted by michael strangeways]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:29:47 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Thinner was a great story, as was Eaters of the Dead]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:17:01 -0700 The Stranger Posted by They each have written winners & losers]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:14:55 -0700 The Stranger Posted by everyone but you]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:03:03 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:34:20 -0700 The Stranger Posted by elswinger]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:02:59 -0700 The Stranger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_(comi…)
Posted by j.lee]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:52:14 -0700 The Stranger Posted by douglas]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:38:46 -0700 The Stranger Posted by smade]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:35:57 -0700 The Stranger
He wrote what I consider the single scariest woman-on-the-run-from-abusive-spouse novel EVER in Rose Madder (and the single scariest villain in Frank - much more frightening than any supernatural character he's ever written).

And I loved Duma Key. Sure, parts of it get a bit silly, but it's still a great STORY.

Full disclosure: I've written exactly three fan letters in my life - to Robert Heinlein, George MacDonald Fraser, and Stephen King - and only sent the one to Stephen King, and he replied, with a personal note. I thought that was pretty classy of him.
Posted by Geni]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:30:28 -0700 The Stranger Posted by ratzkywatzky]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:25:17 -0700 The Stranger
I haven't read anything since Needful Things do to personal reasons, but have picked up all of his subsequent hardback books at Goodwill for $3 each). I will read them, but not until I read "Under The Dome" which I have been hearing about for decades.

King excels in the long form. The Stand (long version) should be to future generations what Dune and The Lord of the Rings were for past generations.

And I read "It" in one 17 hour sitting and almost cried at the end when it was over. So, I'm a sucker, but the characters in "It" seemed to be going through the same shit I was at the time.

Salem's Lot, the Dead Zone, The Shining, The Stand, Firestarter, and Christine is a pretty serious body of work and is every bit as valid as Shakespeare or Dickens, or any other "popular" writer of their day.

His Richard Bachman books are pretty great too.
Posted by elswinger]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:20:49 -0700 The Stranger
There is no need to go around saying authors like King are any good. No need. He sells tons of books already, and just saying you think he's good isn't going to get him any real respect. But I understand how hard it is to give supporting reasons why he's good. There aren't any.
Posted by elenchos]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:13:12 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Mad Professah]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:10:26 -0700 The Stranger
Years ago, as a teen, I slogged (heh) through It and The Stand (great set up, shitty shitty novel) and swore I'd never read his novels again, though I do wonder sometimes if at least the short stories hold up.

Crichton's stuff used to be reliably good airplane or beach reads, until his formula wore thin sometime around "Congo".
Posted by Peter F]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:10:12 -0700 The Stranger Fnarf: You have an unbalanced parenthesis. Be careful: you may break the internet.
Posted by Indy]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:08:19 -0700 The Stranger Posted by KB]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:00:19 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Julie in Eugene]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:54:10 -0700 The Stranger Posted by arbeck]]> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:49:07 -0700 The Stranger