On the other hand, "From a Buick 8" was really, really excellent. I also liked "The Colorado Kid". I tend to like his more compact, tightly scripted stories.

Yeah,I know this might be a bit controversial,but even though Ol Steven is such a huge success(no one author I know of has had as many books turn into movies?)I have never really been a big fan.

Not saying Salems Lot did not scare me as a kid amd that The Shinning and too many others too list were not great.

I was always irritated by his constant use of his hometown of "Bangor Maine"as the locale for every damn story(almost)LOL

Whoa!! we're talking about my favorite author there fellas......LOL....." Cell" bit the big one as did Insomnia, Needful Things, and Storm Of the Century. 

There were a few I considered sub par but I certainly wouldn't lump The Dark Tower in that group...with the exception of the Final chapter i thought it was brilliant.  No offense Ron, I just enjoyed the hell out of it.  At times I can see how it would have got tedious, because he took what was supposed to be a quadrilogy and expanded it to 7 books...never a wise move IMO.

I'd list my favorites but there are to many.  I love 98% of his short stories including my absolute favorite which seemed to translate best to film..."Rita Hayward and the Shawshank Redemption"  Even his groaners are entertaining enough to finish for me...I just never get tired of the twisted and fantastically imaginative ideas that escape those dark corners of his mind.

  If you've ever read his non fiction such as Danse Macabre and On Writing you'll see that ideas that appear innocent and everyday to you and I get turned into Carrie, Tommyknockers, It, the Talisman, etc

.  I also totally agree that far to many lousy movies have been made from his stories but a few have produced gems...take your pick....Carrie, Shawshank, Misery, Delores Claiborne, etc.

 As for him moving to the Keys.....yeah , that was after his "accident".  (There is speculation that it may not have been such an "accident).  The cold and dampness of the northeast just became to hard on his body and soul that he was forced to leave his beloved home during the winter months.  He also has a home in New Zealand and  Costa Rica from what I understand now as well.  Tabitha finally got him interested in travelling as long as he had "roots" the rumor has it.

On the whole I like King quite a bit, although I haven't read much of his stuff since the mid-90's. Danse Macabre is an excellent, excellent book.

I must admit to having loved the Dark Tower series... Roland's character was, in my opinion, a great warrior archetype... all the flaws and hangups of the classic western gunslinger, and all of the skills of a man of constant action... I agree though, King seems to have a talent for the anti-climax, am I right?

Sun

It's truly great to know that some other people out there in the Deathlands universe are reading the Zombie work of Keene. And if he ever does read this little note, I would like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Rising' and the sequel 'City Of The Dead' - however, that said Mr. Keene I really hated the ending and I kept thinking that our hero's son would have been far better off starving to death in the loft, than seeing all the horror and mutilation in the new Zombie apocalyptic world, before being eaten alive by zombie rats !!!

As for Keene doing a Deathalnds book ? Love to see it myself, but anyone who has not read his zombie stuff will be in for a shock if the death and mutilation in afore mentioned books carries over to DL , for it would even make cannibal moon look a little tame. I can honestly say that I had never read so many enjoyable gore crusted pages in any book.

Not sure if your all reading other zombie stuff but, I'd rate Keene's zombies at number two on my Z list. Well above World War Z and Wellingtons Island/Nation/Planet novels that went nowhere and just below my current fav' 'The Words Of Their Roaring' by Matthew Smith - Zombie gangsters in London ! Superb !  


 

Yeah,I think you stated it better than I did!I did not mean to say Stephen King is not a great author,look at his success?

All i meant was waht you said,he does indeed have that gift of "Anti-climax"as you so well stated.
And I did enjoy reading his books,especially the Dark Towers(3 that I read)the gunslinger was a cool cat,I just stick to my criticism of his letting me down with his endings is all.

That he does (tend to end his stories abruptly)...but I find many writers especially Horror Sci-Fi and mystery writers do it. I think its a occupational hazard with the genres. Just think: you've scared your readers shit less or at least kept them in suspense for 5-9 hundred pages, what do you do for an encore? Just my angle on the Anti-climax problem. Without exception I find every DL and OL book is the same. I doesn't bother me I guess cause of 33 years of reading Bangor Steve. Koontz does, it Straub does it etc. Christ now if I WAS to read something and the ending wound down too slow I'd probably consider it long and drawn out, tedious even.

True enough.

My biggest Irk from him maybe is "Needfull Things".

Excellent start,plot builds intricately,then it ends with him beating the devil with a lame card trick?
I really enjoyed that long ass read then to have it end that way?

not to mention ...IMO....it sucked. Period.

Shit,I thought you were the big King fan.

I actually liked it all but the end,but hey,you have your opinion and thats cool.

Like I said, with the exception of Storm of The Century, needful things, Cell and Insomnia I love his writing...those four were fill in garbage while he was having writers block or something as far as I'm concerned. 4 out of over70 is more then forgivable. Gems Like The green Mile, The Talisman/blackhouse, Carrie, Dark Tower, It, Buick 8, etc, etc, etc, more then make up for them. The fact that even though I didn't like them I finished them should confirm my level of fandom...is that even a word? LOL Ghoul movies have never appealed to me with the exception of the Friday 13th and Halloween movies. I even enjoyed Rob zombies remake of Halloween but was a little put off by how the whole back story ended up dominating the movie. The new "Friday" was fun as well. Damn Nana Visitor is looking haggard and old.

Like I said before the man is a genious no doubt.I can't think of anybody to have so many of their books become good(and some bad movies)

I think The Shinning/Shawshank Redemption/(most of) The Stand and Salems Lot(that movie scared me so badly as a child.LOL!)Are my favorites.
I even enjoyed "The Mist".Not a great film,but a really cool plot and idea in general (so much more could have happened in that movie and it would have been incredible)
p.s.
Are you an Iron Maiden fan?(your avatar?)I loved them as a kid!

Funny story about the first time I read the Mist. Top 5 favorite shorts of all time for me BTW. When it came out in 1980 in Dark Forces I was 11 and I saw Steve's name on the cover so I bought it. My mother was appalled and horrified. She still hates him to this day because carrie scared the shit out her. Anyway I got really sick...most likely a case of Food poisoning I guess, so on the third day I was feeling better so I picked it up and started to read it....well It scared me so much I threw up....LOL...it was the most exhilarating barf session I can ever remember. Great read that translated to a mediocre movie.
I still own Dark Forces BTW and I understand it may be worth some cash since its a first edition.

Was and still am a Maiden fan although I prefer their older stuff.  I love their historical lyrics...very unique.

I am a fan of the old Maiden stuff too!You are only 4 years older than I am I think.(my oldest bro R.I.P.turned me onto them) I love Number Of The Beast/Run To The Hills/Alexander The Great/Aces High/2 Minutes to Midnight and Wasted Years.
I actually can play almost all their stuff on bass and some lead guitar.
I even played "The Trooper" live in a Thrash Metal band I was in in 1994!(We nailed it dead on ;vocals,bass,and guitar harmonies/leads, etc......

lol... Brian Keene discussion turns Stephen King discussion turns Iron Maiden discussion... honestly though, Ron is probably the coolest Mod ever due to the fact that he's totally cool with non-structure... sorry to interrupt your threads guys, and I am also a fan of I.M. Strangely enough, my wife is a huge fan of them... who'd have thought a woman with a 3.9 all the way through college was a IronWoman lol...

Sun

True man,we went way off topic,but it happened way before us and I see it all over this site.haha!Everyone does it.Even Ron sometimes and yes,he is way cool to let us BS like we do about non DL and Outlanders stuff!

AP ur killin us.A DL's book with Tom, Chucho, and maybe a zombie or two on the south pole?That makes for one hell of a book.

I agree Diablo!A book with Chucho and Tom(2 of the coolest new characters since Jak)and zombies written by A.P.?Awesome idea!
Btw,you really should join our gun group bro!!!