What is it with Stephen King? What is the magic dust? I was a casual fan of King, like yeah, I like Pet Semetary and the Shining, but It was just kind of in the background of my interests. Then in about 2014, I had a roommate at a shared house who was REALLY into King, and it just flipped a switch for me. I realized not only had King been a way bigger influence on me than I had realized, but that I wanted to write as well. One of the first books I can remember reading front to back by my own choice was The Mist at 8 or 9 years old. Fast ward 30 years later, I'm on a camping trip with dog (in an rv) and reading The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and it just connected, it hit the right spots in my brain. Almost every SK story I've consumed over the past 10 years or so has felt like it fit perfectly into that time in my life. Maybe that's the genius of the guy. I feel like I've mined a lot of the gold from the 90s and on, there's probably still some veins I've overlooked, but I have been reluctant to delve into the 80s, especially The Dark Tower. I've listened to a few short story comps from then, and its strikingly different. For some reason I don't feel as drawn into it. Plus its all very overshadowed and diluted by the movies. I did listen to The Talisman, and kind of liked it, but there was something kind of off about it. Supposedly Peter Straub co-wrote it but it sounded like 100% King to me. It just didn't hit like TGWLTG, or like The Outsiders, when I listened it to back in the summer of 2016. Anyone else have a similar experience with the King of horror?
by inappropriateshallot
1 Comment
Dude, I totally get this! King has this weird ability to hit you exactly when you need it. I had a similiar thing happen with 11/22/63 – read it right after going through some personal stuff and it just destroyed me in the best way.
About the 80s stuff though, don’t sleep on The Stand if you haven’t read it yet. Yeah its from ’78 but the extended version from the 90s is incredible. And honestly? The Dark Tower is worth it, but maybe start with The Gunslinger and see how it feels. The movies are garbage so just pretend they dont exist lol. The books are nothing like that mess.
The Talisman thing is interesting – I always heard Straub did more of the fantasy world building stuff while King handled the “real world” parts, but who knows. Either way that book gets weird in the best King way