Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
can't say I disagree w/ him a bit! but I know, to each their own...
I've never read Stephanie Meyer, but I have read Stephen King - and while I care for little he has done in past quarter century, I think three of his novels are brilliant, and I will probably read each of them one more time.
However, I am not one of those people who makes it all about me by defining 'good writing' as 'writing that I happen to like'.
“If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented.”
--Stephen King Quote by Stephen King:
Perhaps Stephanie Meyer is no Stephen King... whatever that means. But then, King is no Cormac McCarthy, or F. Scott Fitzgerald, or Joseph Conrad. And that's fine, because we have a Cormac McCarthy, a F. Scott Fitzgerald, a Joseph Conrad. King should be King. And Meyer should be Meyer, doing... well, doing exactly what King concedes she is doing.
While Stephen may not be a fan of Stephenie’s writing, he understands the appeal of the series. From the article:
Quote:
“People are attracted by the stories, by the pace, and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it’s very clear that she’s writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It’s exciting and it’s thrilling and it’s not particularly threatening because it’s not overtly sexual.”
She is writing stories to which people are attracted, en masse. That seems a more laudable goal to me than trying to write stories which will glean praise from Stephen King.
I like King, and he can often be a very interesting interview. But sometimes he insists on being a bit of a Richard.
I heard about that too.. lol. And.. I had just picked up Salem's Lot. I never knew he had written a vampire book. In my opinion.. his book is written well.. I think it's "balanced." But.. I don't think the story is as suspenseful or engaging as other vampire stories. For whatever reason, it comes off as Our Town meets Dark Shadows. I don't think Salem's Lot would've made for a very good movie but I would've prob enjoyed it as a Twilight episode. All in all.. I'm glad to have read it.
You are looking at Salem's Lot through 2014 eyes. I read it when it first came out in the 1970s and it was the scariest thing I ever read and very original, too. Salem's Lot was a movie.
The most interesting thing to me is 5 years later, Meyers' series of books seems to have driven a stake through the heart of the vampire craze. Vampires are supposed to be villains, not tortured teenagers who are having trouble with their sexual desires. I read half of Meyers' first book borrowed from my niece, and couldn't finish it. There's a lot of young adult fiction much better than hers. It's no wonder her books hastened the departure of vampires and ushered in the current zombie popularity.
What's a zombie after all? Nothing but a vampire in slow motion, without the sexiness of the throat sucking, and way more fun to kill off in the end by the dozens. Ain't no touchy-feely with zombies, and zombies don't bother themselves with anything but eating human flesh, the more the better. They are bad to the bone.
Vampires are so 20th century now. Zombies have the right stuff for today's fantasies, it seems.
Interestingly, King has written about both. As was mentioned, Salem's Lot is a vampire tale, and Pet Semetery is a zombie story with an effective twist. I've read a lot of Steven King's stuff, and he's always been uneven, but his worst stuff is still pretty darned good, certainly good enough to keep me reading to the end.
King's later works have become more magic realism than horror, but magic realism was always a big part of his writing. The Stand, most fans' King favorite is a 50/50 combination of magic realism and horror, and the Green Mile is all magic realism. When a writer as popular as King has been there, done that so many times, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, even when one of his new books doesn't hit me. Some of his new stuff still packs a punch.
Where is Stephanie Meyers going to go now? her territory just got covered like a blanket by 50 Shades of Grey, in it's way a book that's as much horror as sexual fantasy, and much more a dangerous read for females young and old.
As for me, all I know is Pet Semetery was one of only 2 books that had the power to keep me awake all night in apprehension. My wife was expecting our 3rd child when I read it, and the father's dilemma both broke my heart and filled me with dread.
As for King, his best books have a GREAT engine, and very often some topnotch writing. But his recent efforts just don't grab me like his old stuff.
I haven't read much King, but I thought his 11/22/63 was brilliant. (And not a horror story.) I do agree w/ him about Meyer. Even my then-teenage nieces thought that her series was not well written, back when it first came out.
Why is King getting dumped on for his opinion? Yes, her books suck arse I agree with him while I haven't read too many of his book which I have liked to far but the man is entitled to his opinion like it or not.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
