Stephen King surging popularity...

[Leon Troutsky 26,857]

So I’ve been watching Stephen King movies and reading his books since at least middle school.  (Also, I have horrible parents who allowed me to watch and read that s*** in middle school...but that’s a story for a different therapist.)  I was a gigantic fan throughout high school, also, and actually had arguments with my high school literature teacher about his work.  She thought he was trash fiction and his popular success would be confined to a few crappy movies.  

Anyway, there’s obviously been a huge surge in Stephen King movies lately and his popularity seems to have surged.  Funny enough, I started re-reading his stuff about 3 years ago when I stumbled across his sequel to The Shining and then his newer book Mr. Mercedes.  Started them more out of curiosity and got hooked with Mr. Mercedes on his newer books.  

And now, over the past few months, I’m actually going back and reading some of his original stuff again.  I had forgotten how immersive the dialogue and atmosphere could be.  Aside from the caricature of the histrionic wife in Children of the Corn, that’s a helluva short story.  And now I’m into the first part of Cujo and just got lost in the entire backstory about the advertising wars for the Sharp cereal company...something that has nothing to do with the main story (at least not that I can tell at the moment).  

There’s not really a point to this other than that I’m surprised at how interesting and engaging these 35+ year old books still are today.  I’m surprised at how much I enjoy his early works. 

Anybody else finding a renewed interest in Stephen King’s books or movies?  

[WhenFalconsWin 27,655]

No, and your parents set the precedence at too early of an age, by letting you indulge in King. It obviously explains a lot about the way you are.

Parents with younger children, let this be a lesson for you, discretion is your friend.

[toadfishtom 5,526]

Yes , I enjoyed "The Stand " , book and mini-series . Engrossing story .

[WalkingTheDawg 861]

King has held my interest since childhood.  He's a top tier story teller disguised as a horror writer.

[Dago 3.0 8,688]

14 minutes ago, toadfishtom said:

Yes , I enjoyed "The Stand " , book and mini-series . Engrossing story .

Did you read the unabridged version? 

I always felt that eyes of the dragon was an underrated fairy tale type fantasy story

[Leon Troutsky 26,857]

7 minutes ago, WalkingTheDawg said:

King has held my interest since childhood.  He's a top tier story teller disguised as a horror writer.

That’s why I was so impressed with Mr. Mercedes.  Straight up crime/investigation story told very well.

I especially like his latest book The Outsider.  It’s a fantastic crime mystery story that later folds in some of his classic horror/supernatural elements to it.  I don’t want to say too much for those who haven’t read it yet, but I LOVE how the story unfolds through the first half of the book.  Warning: If you plan on reading Mr. Mercedes and the two sequels, you should probably finish those before reading The Outsider.  There’s a lot of stuff from that trilogy mentioned in the latest book.  

[WalkingTheDawg 861]

4 minutes ago, Leon Troutsky said:

That’s why I was so impressed with Mr. Mercedes.  Straight up crime/investigation story told very well.

I especially like his latest book The Outsider.  It’s a fantastic crime mystery story that later folds in some of his classic horror/supernatural elements to it.  I don’t want to say too much for those who haven’t read it yet, but I LOVE how the story unfolds through the first half of the book.  Warning: If you plan on reading Mr. Mercedes and the two sequels, you should probably finish those before reading The Outsider.  There’s a lot of stuff from that trilogy mentioned in the latest book.  

I haven't gotten to those yet but I'll certainly check them out. 

[toadfishtom 5,526]

1 hour ago, Dago 3.0 said:

Did you read the unabridged version? 

I always felt that eyes of the dragon was an underrated fairy tale type fantasy story

I don't remember .

[Leon Troutsky 26,857]

1 hour ago, Dago 3.0 said:

Did you read the unabridged version? 

I always felt that eyes of the dragon was an underrated fairy tale type fantasy story

That was one of the first King books that I ever read.  Thought it was really good.

[Gritzblitz 2.0 27,102]

11/22/63 really wasn't that bad. 

[Dago 3.0 8,688]

1 hour ago, toadfishtom said:

I don't remember .

If it had a character named The Kid out of Shrevesport, Looooosiana it was the unabridged

[Dago 3.0 8,688]

1 hour ago, Leon Troutsky said:

That was one of the first King books that I ever read.  Thought it was really good.

I like his short stories a lot...especially the non horror. He did a pretty good Sherlock Holmes, a story about euthanasia, and one I remember called Last Rung on the Ladder

Enjoyed the Bachman Books as well. Rage was sadly prophetic and I think The Running Man will turn out to be as well

[toadfishtom 5,526]

47 minutes ago, Dago 3.0 said:

If it had a character named The Kid out of Shrevesport, Looooosiana it was the unabridged

That rings a bell , I'd like to reread The Stand anyway'

[Mr. Hoopah! 82,791]

 

[Sponge 20,882]

7 hours ago, WhenFalconsWin said:

No, and your parents set the precedence at too early of an age

My daughter started playing Black Ops 2 Zombies at age 5. She likes the python (.357 mag) because it takes heads off with one shot.

No man will ever abuse her.

[JayOzOne 20,215]

7 hours ago, Leon Troutsky said:

So I’ve been watching Stephen King movies and reading his books since at least middle school.  (Also, I have horrible parents who allowed me to watch and read that s*** in middle school...but that’s a story for a different therapist.)  I was a gigantic fan throughout high school, also, and actually had arguments with my high school literature teacher about his work.  She thought he was trash fiction and his popular success would be confined to a few crappy movies.  

Anyway, there’s obviously been a huge surge in Stephen King movies lately and his popularity seems to have surged.  Funny enough, I started re-reading his stuff about 3 years ago when I stumbled across his sequel to The Shining and then his newer book Mr. Mercedes.  Started them more out of curiosity and got hooked with Mr. Mercedes on his newer books.  

And now, over the past few months, I’m actually going back and reading some of his original stuff again.  I had forgotten how immersive the dialogue and atmosphere could be.  Aside from the caricature of the histrionic wife in Children of the Corn, that’s a helluva short story.  And now I’m into the first part of Cujo and just got lost in the entire backstory about the advertising wars for the Sharp cereal company...something that has nothing to do with the main story (at least not that I can tell at the moment).  

There’s not really a point to this other than that I’m surprised at how interesting and engaging these 35+ year old books still are today.  I’m surprised at how much I enjoy his early works. 

Anybody else finding a renewed interest in Stephen King’s books or movies?  

I don't care what anybody thinks about Stephen King. What he accomplished with the "Dark Tower" series blew my mind. A series of books that are ambitious enough to tie in almost every lead and secondary character from 25 years of prolific writing was a remarkable task. And to do it so well was even more incredible. I read some of his books but I'm acquainted with people who have read all of them and they are even more amazed than I am. I might re-read the "Dark Tower" and then start reading his stuff from the beginning just to see if it adds depth to the situation.

[WhenFalconsWin 27,655]

2 hours ago, SpongeDad said:

My daughter started playing Black Ops 2 Zombies at age 5. She likes the python (.357 mag) because it takes heads off with one shot.

No man will ever abuse her.

And I love that and you are responsible enough to handle that, as well as she is. Heck, Trout is not responsible as a grown adult, it's obvious King had a serious influence on a mind that couldn't handle it. 

[Mr. Hoopah! 82,791]

46 minutes ago, WhenFalconsWin said:

And I love that and you are responsible enough to handle that, as well as she is. Heck, Trout is not responsible as a grown adult, it's obvious King had a serious influence on a mind that couldn't handle it. 

What a miserable human being. 

[WhenFalconsWin 27,655]

1 hour ago, mdrake34 said:

What a miserable human being. 

This is why we can't have nice things. 

[Flip Flop 2,451]

Mr Mercedes was a great read.  I didnt get hooked back into King like you did, but I did really enjoy that book. I always felt that Kings story telling genius came from a basic understanding of the metaphysical battle between good and evil.  His characters are complex people and the conflict is both external and internal.  Father Callahan vs Barlow is one of my favorite examples.  Barlow challenges Callahan to stand against him with just his faith then mocks him saying that the boy is worth ten false priests.  If I remember correctly Callahan wont put his cross away which exemplifies a weak faith that is in the trinket.  I tend to agree with you that people dismiss King because of his use of horror, but his stories are both fun and thought provoking.  

[Optimus_Cr1m35 4,957]

On 6/18/2018 at 5:32 AM, Leon Troutsky said:

So I’ve been watching Stephen King movies and reading his books since at least middle school.  (Also, I have horrible parents who allowed me to watch and read that s*** in middle school...but that’s a story for a different therapist.)  I was a gigantic fan throughout high school, also, and actually had arguments with my high school literature teacher about his work.  She thought he was trash fiction and his popular success would be confined to a few crappy movies.  

Anyway, there’s obviously been a huge surge in Stephen King movies lately and his popularity seems to have surged.  Funny enough, I started re-reading his stuff about 3 years ago when I stumbled across his sequel to The Shining and then his newer book Mr. Mercedes.  Started them more out of curiosity and got hooked with Mr. Mercedes on his newer books.  

And now, over the past few months, I’m actually going back and reading some of his original stuff again.  I had forgotten how immersive the dialogue and atmosphere could be.  Aside from the caricature of the histrionic wife in Children of the Corn, that’s a helluva short story.  And now I’m into the first part of Cujo and just got lost in the entire backstory about the advertising wars for the Sharp cereal company...something that has nothing to do with the main story (at least not that I can tell at the moment).  

There’s not really a point to this other than that I’m surprised at how interesting and engaging these 35+ year old books still are today.  I’m surprised at how much I enjoy his early works. 

Anybody else finding a renewed interest in Stephen King’s books or movies?  

I've enjoyed King since I was young. He actually lived in my home town at some point. I actually just recently got my wife into some of his stuff. She had seen some of the movies, but had never really read anything. Since I was picking up books for our "library" (older, hard covers that look nice) I picked up a bunch of his books at the Half Priced Book Store.

 

My personal favorite to read is Needful Things. It's legit. While there is a horror aspect, there's so much character development, social observations, and the complexity of the narrative that makes it hard to stop reading. Cujo is great. IT is awesome. I read The Green Mile in high school.

[Leon Troutsky 26,857]

12 hours ago, Optimus_Cr1m35 said:

I've enjoyed King since I was young. He actually lived in my home town at some point. I actually just recently got my wife into some of his stuff. She had seen some of the movies, but had never really read anything. Since I was picking up books for our "library" (older, hard covers that look nice) I picked up a bunch of his books at the Half Priced Book Store.

 

My personal favorite to read is Needful Things. It's legit. While there is a horror aspect, there's so much character development, social observations, and the complexity of the narrative that makes it hard to stop reading. Cujo is great. IT is awesome. I read The Green Mile in high school.

Yeah, I loved Needful Things also.  I was always a fan of “Secret Garden, Secret Window” but I’m not big on the movie.   

[Dago 3.0 8,688]

40 minutes ago, Leon Troutsky said:

Yeah, I loved Needful Things also.  I was always a fan of “Secret Garden, Secret Window” but I’m not big on the movie.   

What are you doing up so late professor?

[Leon Troutsky 26,857]

11 minutes ago, Dago 3.0 said:

What are you doing up so late professor?

It’s 1PM where I’m at.

[Dago 3.0 8,688]

Well shet mah mouf

Where r u