I prefer his older stuff... Long Walk, It, Shining, Night Shift, Different Seasons...

Quoted from darthbrion I loved several of King's earlier works - Salem's Lot, The Shining & The Stand.  Some of the stuff he's done over the last few years has kinda sucked to me.  From A Buick 8 comes to mind. I also love several of his short stories - The Mist, Survivor Type, The Reapers Image, etc. The Cell was okay but it reminded me of a novel I read years ago called "Blood frenzy" It was a book about parents who suddenly go nuts and start killing their own (or anyones) kids.  Kind of a reverse Children of the Corn I guess.   Anyway I'm rambling like a dork. brion

The Mist is being made into a movie, I believe. It's one of King's best tales (for those who haven't read it, you can find it in the collection 'Skeleton Crew'); I just hope whoever makes it doesn't royally screw it up as so many have done in the past with his stuff.

Just a question for the Stephen King fans. A few years ago Stephen had a short story competition and the prize for the winner was having their story published in Stephen's next book. The story that won was about a guy who worked in a shopping mall and became depressed when he saw someone commit suicide.

Does anyone recall the name of the story and the title of the book that it was in?  

I believe there was a contest to submit a short story to King around the same time his "On Writing" book was released. As I recall, the winning entry would be added to his paperback version which came out in 2001.

I have the paperback copy but I don't recall any short story attached. I'll need to take a second look.

Yeah. That's the one I thought it may have been in. Lets us know when you find out, MacDuff.

Thanks.

Hey Chris,

My paperback copy is from 2000 and it does not contain the short story.

I found this online though. Look to the bottom of the article:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,380115,00.html

Hope this helps,
Stew

Interesting article, Stew, but I couldn't find any mention of the stories’ title. I'll continue my search.

Best: The Shining followed by Salem's Lot
Worst: Insomnia.

Quoted from MacDuff Hey Chris, My paperback copy is from 2000 and it does not contain the short story. I found this online though. Look to the bottom of the article: http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,380115,00.html Hope this helps, Stew

I finally tracked it down. It's called Jumper by Garret Adams. Now to get my hands on a copy. Thanks for your help, Stew.

Not a problem. I'm actually interested in reading the short too...

I like "On Writing" best

I don't really like how King most of the time uses ghosts or possessions to explain everything that happened. I liked  Kubricks 'The Shining' far better because he leaves it to the viewer if there's something with the hotel or if Jack's just going mental without any help.

Somehow I like 'Thinner'. I should read Shawshank and Green Mile though, they didn't feel like King-stories.

When I lived in Chicago, I was in a musical version of Carrie. It was called sCarrie! I played Tommy Ross.

'Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Dead Zone - you can't go wrong with these. Even Christine, which seems to get lots of hate, for me is King doing what he does best. His most indulgent, the over-inflated IT and The Stand, still are good thrill rides.

It's a shame that Salem's Lot & The Shining, maybe his best novels, never got good film adaptations, despite both being filmed twice. The David Soul version of Salem's Lot is probably more effective than the misbegotten attempt from TNT a few years back. The Shining went from Kubrick's comedy version to King & Garris' ham fisted take for TV, which AGAIN failed to include the darn topiary animals, and had maybe the WORST final scene ever ( the hilarious graduation scene).

I have all the Dark Tower series, but to honest after book 3 I just could not plow through anymore. In later years King did have a few more gems ( Gerald's Game, Bag Of Bones). but I tried 3 of his more recent novels - Cell / From A Buick 8/Lisey's Story - and couldn't finish any of them. I don't know if it's more a change of my tastes or King's style, but they left me cold.

But there's no doubt, he's written some genre classics.

I've read the dark tower series and plan to read it again, eventhough I have mixed views on it. I'm interested in his characters. That's what surprise me overall.

Gabe

I really haven't read King in a while, mainly because of the fact that it seems like his last couple of books are the same thing over and over. However, I recently became a big fan of his son, Joe Hill. His book Heart Shaped Box was amazing and his short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts was amazing. I really recomand him because of the fact that he writes like his father's earlier stuff.