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Under The Dome was TERRIBLY political. I'm a democrat myself, but King's consistent bashing of conservatives and republicans started irritating me. The world isn't divided into black and white like King made it seem.
Not only was it political it was a really bad book. So bad I had concluded that King was pretty much washed up.
Then I read "Full Dark No Stars", a new collection of short stories. It's one of his best, I highly recommend it.
Has anyone mentioned Robert Bloch? His short stories are essential horror.
I read a Koontz. What I like about him over King is that he doesn't weigh the books down with the uncecessary rambling. King's concepts are much better, though. *sigh* if only we could get King's ideas with Koontz's delivery.
You really have to distinguish the King eras. His first ten years in my opinion far exceed anything Koontz has ever produced.
But King's last ten years have been pretty weak, I'd say Koontz has aced him during that time.
But in many ways I don't view Koontz as a "horror" novelist, as his stories rarely if ever involve supernatural elements. They border more on science fiction than horror. Koontz is more aligned with Robin Cook than Stephen King.
Lovecraft is perhaps the most over-rated writer in all of genre fiction. He was a master of mood. But characterization isn't even thick enough to be called paper thin. His characters would have to grow a dimension to even qualify as one dimensional. His plots are shoddy and tend to wander, and he is the king of monster ex machina to end a story. And yeah, he was a pretty ugly racist. Some apologists try to excuse it as simply being tpical attitude of his time, but Lovecraft's racism went way beyond the general attitudes of the time.
I am sure Lovecraft was a virulent racist, but I don't think that should stop anyone from reading his work. Just ignore the racist allusions.
I would agree that he was not a skillful writer, all the things you say about his prose are absolutely correct.
But Lovecraft's genius for moving the reader in terrifying, unsettling, and macabre ways trumped his inability to master the mechanics of writing. That is what makes him unique, and why people are still reading and discussing his stories over 70 years after his death.
He's quite prolific but I just heard of him, am about half way through "Infected" and it has some of the most horrific written scenes I've ever read...in fact I have skipped over some of the more gory pages because I'm a wimp like that.
He has a very hip, intelligent, steampunk style, great character development and a cliffhanger on almost every page.....I'm hooked!
Not only was it political it was a really bad book. So bad I had concluded that King was pretty much washed up.
Then I read "Full Dark No Stars", a new collection of short stories. It's one of his best, I highly recommend it.
Has anyone mentioned Robert Bloch? His short stories are essential horror.
I never finished Under the Dome, and I never finished Duma Key, and I hated it that he inserted himself and his accident into his recent books, including the Dark Tower series. I get it that it was traumatic for him, but move on already for the reader's sake.
Interesting that you liked Full Dark, No Stars but after his last 3 books, this time I will wait for the paperback. Dare I hope there is no Stephen-King-Had-An-Accident story in there?
He's quite prolific but I just heard of him, am about half way through "Infected" and it has some of the most horrific written scenes I've ever read...in fact I have skipped over some of the more gory pages because I'm a wimp like that.
He has a very hip, intelligent, steampunk style, great character development and a cliffhanger on almost every page.....I'm hooked!
Thanks for the recommendation. I looked him up and I'll definitely look for his books.
Get this, I was about 2/3 of the way through the book and tried to stay awake long enough last night to finish it. Instead, I dropped it from the bed onto the floor when I fell asleep and my Rottweiler puppy (who is usually crated at night but wasn't last night) ATE IT!!
So I ordered it, along with "Contagious", this morning....dang it I was really looking forward to finishing it today.
I never finished Under the Dome, and I never finished Duma Key, and I hated it that he inserted himself and his accident into his recent books, including the Dark Tower series. I get it that it was traumatic for him, but move on already for the reader's sake.
Interesting that you liked Full Dark, No Stars but after his last 3 books, this time I will wait for the paperback. Dare I hope there is no Stephen-King-Had-An-Accident story in there?
LMAO yes I hated that about Duma Key too, that ploy was pretty lame. And just like you, I got halfway though Under The Dome and could not finish the thing. So many freaking characters you had no idea what was going on, and with the premise based on the Simpson's movie... wow, what was he smoking when he wrote that one?
"Full Dark, No Stars" doesn't have as much self serving nonsense in it. The first two stories, "1922" (133 pages) and "Big Driver" (114 pages) are right up there among his best. Seems to me that King was always more comfortable with the short story form than in writing full length novels. Maybe he had these saved back for a rainy day, who knows?
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