Babe and I were discussing Pennywise the Clown from "It" in another thread, so I used the search feature and was surprised to find out that we've never had a thread specific to Stephen King here. Especially since so many of his works have been adapted into movies. Did you know that he is now the best selling living novelist, with over 300 million books sold?

I realize that selling books has little to do with being a great writer these days, but in my opinion King is prolific. When the literary snobs dismiss him as a "genre" writer it drives me nuts. Is he my favorite author? No, he's not, but I enjoy him immensely.

The first King book I ever read was "The Shining." I read it in hardcover in 1977 as a college freshman, and it's still my favorite. I wasn't crazy about the film because it wasn't very faithful to King's story. I did enjoy the Steven Weber mini-series, though. It was much more faithful to King's vision. My favorite film adaptations are "The Shawshank Redemption" (based on "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption"), and "Stand Ny Me" (based on "The Body").

Anyone else?

Stephen King is a favorite writer of mine. Because his books are so dense in internal thoughts and description they tend not to transfer well to film imo. He had a collection of short stories called "Night Shift" which contains the story "Last Rung on the Ladder" which doesn't have any supernatural elements and for me is the most powerful story he ever wrote.

As far as film adaptations "The Mist" was pretty good despite some key changes. I know that King was not crazy about Kubrick's version of "The Shining". But I still like it because I think Kubrick captured the isolation perfectly. The first adaptation of "Salem's Lot" with David Soul and James Mason was worthwhile.

Yes, Lilo. That's a great one. Although most of his stories do have elements of the supernatural, he can be quite effective without them. In that regard, "Hearts in Atlantis" may have been his Magnum Opus. A phenomenal grouping of related stories (although none of them supernatural), and one of the best novels I've ever read covering the 1960s and the Baby Boomers. But yeah, the movie sucked .

Pizzaboy, I too enjoyed The Shining, and while I liked the jack Nicholson movie, I preferred the mini-series that you mentioned. Another mini-series, based on his fiction, that I enjoyed was "Rose Red."

I started reading King back in junior high school with "'Salem's Lot". It scared the bejeepers out of me. I then moved on to "Carrie" and just kept going. I sort of lost interest during his admittedly bad writing period, mostly written when he was so zonked out on cocaine that he barely remembered getting up to piss, much less write a coherent sentence. Then I picked up "Hearts in Atlantis" the other day, and little Bobby has me completely enthralled.

I think that Andy Dufresne is probably my favorite character of his, although now it's so intertwined with the movie after repeated viewings that it's hard to say. I really enjoyed most of that mini-series, although Molly Ringwald as Mother Earth?? Really?? Who did she screw to get that part?? However, the rest of the cast was mostly wonderful, from Bill Faggerbakke (sp?) as Tom Cullen (M-O-O-N), Gary Sinise as Stu, Rob Lowe as Nick and Miguel Ferrer as Lloyd - all terrific.

His non-fiction "On Writing" is extremely entertaining as well. He stirs in just enough autobiographical information to keep the book interesting.

Yeah, Andy was really easy to root for, but for me the film made it even easier. Tim Robbins just has a nice guy quality about him, that made him perfect for the part of the innocent man done wrong.

Love Stephen King,from his bible length epics to his extremely clever short stories,the man just entertains. I can't think of one of his books that i never liked. I have yet to read Cell and Duma Key but i will get round to them soon

While I haven't "read" as much of his work as others, I've enjoyed many of the movies based on his books. Among my favorites, The Shining, Carrie, Silver Bullet, It and others. Oh, and let's not forget Misery(with Annie, his #1 fan).

A couple years ago they had a biography on King and said that he threw his script for "Carrie" in the trash because he didn't think it was any good. He said his wife took it out and encouraged him to keep/sell it.

TIS

"Duma Key" was great, Yogi. It reminded me a lot of "The Shining" because it takes place in a very isolated area of Southwest Florida during the summer "off season," much like "The Shining" took place during Colorado's winter isolation.

My 13 year old daughter who is vampire crazy just now, wants to read SALEMS LOT. She has read the TWILIGHT books,but i warned her she may find King's vampire tale a bit scarier

I've never read any of his books, that's due to the fact that I've never been a real big reader. I've been known to take 2 years or more to finish one book.

But I've seen some of the movie adaptations my favorites being.

Christine(my all time favorite)
The Storm of the Century
The Stand
Rose Red
Firestarter(another personal fave)
The Shining(the Steven Weber one, I've never seen the Kubrick version yet)

I forgot about Christine. Perhaps not a huge hit, but I liked it too. Oh, and I liked Pet Semetary too.


TIS

Believe it or not, I find the Weber version to be superior. Yes, the Kubrick version had a way over the top Jack Nicholson, but the Weber version was much more understated and truer to the original work.

PB,

While I can't say it's better, I agree that the remake with Weber was superior for a remake. I liked it too.


TIS

The character who I found the most suprior in the remake was the wife. Rebecca DeMornay was awesome in the mini-series, while Shelley Duvall was HORRIBLE in the original. She had a serious "Olive Oil" thing going on .

King's books generally DON'T translate well to the screen (two very notable exceptions, and among my favorite movies are "The Green Mile" and "The Shawshank Redemption").

I can't believe how prolific a writer he is... he is the Edgar Allan Poe of our day. I LOVE how he can take a story and make three or four separate sub-stories all come together in a neat bundle at the end.

He has a wonderful gift (the ability to tell a story) but even more than that, he is a true genius by virtue of him coming up with the ideas about the stories.

Great description, SC. That's exactly what I was trying to convey when I started this thread, but couldn't phrase it quite as well as you just did .

Ha ha... Was The Shining after she played Olive Oyl? Yea, she has the O.O. look that's for sure.

TIS

I didn't like the ending of the new adaptation of "The Shining". Weber does disturbed pretty well but he's no Nicholson.
*Check out Weber in the movie "Farmhouse". It was pretty good.

Here are a couple of reviews that are more supportive of Kubrick's version.

http://www.chokingonpopcorn.com/popcorn/2003/10/the-shining-1980/

http://www.cornponeflicks.org/shining.html

There's always so much subtext, secondary stories and narrative going on in King's work that much of it doesn't transfer to the scene very well. I thought "Needful Things" was one that did ok in movie form.

Love Stephen King. 'The Shining' was first book of his that I read, too. Could not put it down. Remember screaming out loud reading a particular passage that involved a bathtub. Funniest thing is that while reading it I thought to myself that Jack Nicholson would be PERFECT as the father if and when it were made into a film...before even knowing that Nicholson had already been cast in the part!

It was such a disappointing film though, although it did depict well the complete isolation of the hotel. I remember reading somewhere that having the hedges coming to life in a realistic, frightening way was technologically unachievable at the time (without looking ridiculous), which is why they went with the maze and 'frozen' ending. Talk about anti-climactic!!! There I was waiting for a boiler to blow!!!
Weber tv version was much better.

Another King all time favorite of mine is 'The Stand', which also was made into a pretty good mini-series. I never managed to read 'It', but enjoyed that on tv as well, so I can only hope it was true to the original story.

I haven't read many of his books; such that I can't remember if it is the movie I'm thinkin about or the book. I think I read "The Shining" and "Stand By Me", but I know I read "Dreamcatcher" which was very weird. But I do love the movie versions of "The Green Mile", "Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand By Me".

Ditto to what SC said so very well! He's a delightful storyteller, and the deep insight into all of his characters is what makes me wish I could continue reading about them even when the story's over. He gives such amazing descriptions of everything, and I truly love the details.

I guess I got started on him by watching the movie versions of The Shining first, and I've since read that novel, along with Misery, Desperation, The Stand, Carrie, The Green Mile, and Hearts in Atlantis. Since I was little, I've always been a bit OCD with my reading, trying to make sure I take in all of the details, so I'm quite slow in doing so...but I've got about ten more by him that I'd love to get to someday. Anytime I have a chance to do non-school reading, it's by him.

The Stand is what I most recently read, so I'd really like to check out the miniseries.

I think my least favorite adaptation of King's book to film was "The Dead Zone". The movie was not even close to the book, which is one of my favorites. Johnny Smith was a tragic character that could make you smile, a wonderful coup of characterization on King's part. However, the movie strayed so far from the original plot that it got just plain silly. Martin Sheen as the evil politician was devilishly good, though.

Stephen King is an excellent writer...but not as good as Richard Bachman

richard bachman is 100x's better than king

Yeah...but John Swithen could kick both their asses in no time.

I have not read any of his writing, though I have enjoyed quite a few movies based on his novels. I love Shining and Shawshank Redemption.

Last night I picked up the complete novelization of "The Green Mile." I read it in serial form back in the '90s, prior to the film coming out, so I'm looking forward to reading it straight through for the sake of continuity.

great book...

Huge news, Stephen King fans. A sequel to "The Shining" may finally be in the works.

Stephen King plots The Shining sequel
Horror writer Stephen King has revealed that a sequel to The Shining would focus on a 40-year-old Danny Torrance

By Alison Flood, The Guardian

Jack Torrance's little boy Danny was last seen recuperating in Maine after escaping the insane evil of the Overlook Hotel, but Stephen King is now plotting a sequel to The Shining which would age the clairvoyant boy to 40 and transport him to a New York hospice.

Speaking to an audience of fans in Toronto about his new novel Under the Dome, King divulged that he'd begun working on a tentative idea for a follow-up to The Shining – first published in 1977 – last summer.

Danny, he said, was certain to have been left "with a lifetime's worth of emotional scars" after his experiences at the Overlook, where his father was possessed by the hotel, tried to kill him and his mother and eventually died.

How Danny deals with both his nightmarish experiences and the clairvoyance, or "shining", which saved him, might make "a damn fine sequel", King said, according to local Toronto news website the Torontoist. His vision of the book – tentatively called Doctor Sleep - sees Danny now aged 40, working at a hospice for the terminally ill in upstate New York. He is apparently an orderly at the hospice, but his real work is to help make death a little easier for the dying patients with his psychic powers – while making a little money on the side by betting on the horses.

King attempted to calm expectations about the sequel, telling the Toronto audience that he wasn't "completely committed" to it, and adding: "Maybe if I keep talking about it I won't have to write it." The Shining was made into a film in 1980 by Stanley Kubrick, starring Jack Nicholson as Danny's father Jack Torrance and Shelley Duvall as his mother Wendy.

King also revealed this month that he has an idea for a new book in his epic Dark Tower fantasy series, which follows the adventures of the gunslinger Roland based on Robert Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came". The working title for the eighth book in the series, King announced on his website, would be The Wind Through the Keyhole, but he added that he hadn't yet begun writing it and it would be "a minimum of eight months" before he did.