The Stephen King Megathread

[label]

Admiral2 wrote:

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That's exactly what makes it silly.

"Wow! The super powerful extra-dimensional alien bully showed mercy just like that little girl bully showed Julie mercy. That's the way everybody should live. Let's all sing Cumbaya!" It's hard to take the tension of the rest of the book seriously when it's saddled with that "ABC Afterschool Special" ending.

You and I have very different definitions of ABC After-school specials.

The one's I watched did not have an almost the entire town get massacred - mostly at each others hands - all because some advanced species wanted to have a little "fun".

I understand what your saying, but I felt that the book did a great job holding a mirror up to the human race and how we are often capable of similar, unspeakable cruelty and how little it really takes for us to walk through that door. Plus, I think it' s also accurate that every once in a while we acknowledge the pleas for mercy and take a little pity even if there's little or no remorse for the pain we've inflicted.

Honestly, given how much death there is and how gruesome some of it is in this story compared some others I've read I really don't know how you thought it was a Kumbaya moment just because the alien race decided not to kill every last person in the town.

[Starbreaker]

DigificWriter wrote:

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For the longest time, I had a great deal of interest in reading The Dark Tower series, but was interested in reading it moreso because it appealed to my tates as a fan of Fantasy fiction than because it was written by King; however, after reading The Talisman and Black House (the first two King novels I ever read, BTW) and the first four novels in The Dark Tower series, he's now become one of my favorite authors in terms of the way he writes and his skill as a storyteller. I have seen the movie version of The Green Mile and really enjoyed it, but have yet to read anything by King outside of the 6 books mentioned above, and am not entirely sure that I ever will, mainly because a lot of his work doesn't really appeal to me even though I do, as mentioned, like the way he writes and the way he's able to successfully weave a story that is compelling and engaging.

The fact that you've liked everything of his is reason to read more. I didn't think I'd really like his Dark Tower stuff, but I love it so far. I think his straight up horror stuff is even better, though.

[Admiral2]

label wrote:

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You and I have very different definitions of ABC After-school specials.

I watched that series religiously when I was a kid. If we have different definitions you weren't watching the same shows I was.

The one's I watched did not have an almost the entire town get massacred - mostly at each others hands - all because some advanced species wanted to have a little "fun".

Of course not, but they did all end with a message about life, which is out of place in a story about the situation you just described.

I understand what your saying, but I felt that the book did a great job holding a mirror up to the human race and how we are often capable of similar, unspeakable cruelty and how little it really takes for us to walk through that door.

Absolutely true.

Plus, I think it' s also accurate that every once in a while we acknowledge the pleas for mercy and take a little pity even if there's little or no remorse for the pain we've inflicted.

Not all of us and not always, or else there wouldn't have been half as much carnage as there was in the story, and that's why an ending that eludes to bullies showing mercy detracts from the rest of the story.

Honestly, given how much death there is and how gruesome some of it is in this story compared some others I've read I really don't know how you thought it was a Kumbaya moment just because the alien race decided not to kill every last person in the town.

Because it was an easy, heart-tugging moment that couldn't possibly have happened if the aliens were truly alien in their thought process. How could they even have understood the concept of mercy without the example of the Merciful Little Girl Bully in someone's head?

Here's my mindset: Remember that my favorite King stories all have Good&Evil, Life&Death struggles at the end. A couple of those battles may have been one-sided, but, well, nobody sat there and begged Carrie "Please, stop"...and Carrie didn't stop until she pretty much nuked the town.

And Carrie's not even alien.

It was a silly ending.

[label]

Admiral2 wrote:

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Because it was an easy, heart-tugging moment that couldn't possibly have happened if the aliens were truly alien in their thought process. How could they even have understood the concept of mercy without the example of the Merciful Little Girl Bully in someone's head?

Speaking for myself, I would have been pretty depressed if I read that book, got to know all those people, watched them struggle to survive, begin to care about their lives (especially that boy on the farm left alone by himself) and just to have them all die.........I dunno......given the set up and the story about the bullies and the obvious corollaries between that story and the aliens I really don't see how he could have ended it differently unless one of two things happened.

Despite their pleas for mercy, it falls on alien, deaf ears and they all die

or

some techno-babble answer about temporarily defeating the force shield and letting a small group escape. The first would have been depressing (much like the end of the movie version of the Mist) and the second would have been like a Star Trek solution to a problem.

What would you have preferred to happen in the last 100 pages....? They discover the device at the barn, they recognize a malevolent alien presence..... then what?

Here's my mindset: Remember that my favorite King stories all have Good&Evil, Life&Death struggles at the end.

That's just it......there's no struggle and no potential for struggle........like ants under a magnifying glass, they are completely subject to the whims of their captors....that was one of the central points of the story in the end.

[Joel_Kirk]

Random post:

I want to see Julia Stiles as the lead in an adaptation of 'The Breathing Method.'

[timothy]

I've read the first book in the series loved took a break now that all seven are aviable on the nook I plan on reading all of them before the trilogy comes out.
anyone see episode of family guy were stephen run's into dean koontz and he wants
to work together on a novel . then kills him with his car which is christine.

[Admiral2]

label wrote:

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Speaking for myself, I would have been pretty depressed if I read that book, got to know all those people, watched them struggle to survive, begin to care about their lives (especially that boy on the farm left alone by himself) and just to have them all die.........I dunno......given the set up and the story about the bullies and the obvious corollaries between that story and the aliens I really don't see how he could have ended it differently unless one of two things happened.

Despite their pleas for mercy, it falls on alien, deaf ears and they all die

This would be preferable for a horror story. The ending doesn't always have to be happy.

or

some techno-babble answer about temporarily defeating the force shield and letting a small group escape. The first would have been depressing (much like the end of the movie version of the Mist) and the second would have been like a Star Trek solution to a problem.

What would you have preferred to happen in the last 100 pages....? They discover the device at the barn, they recognize a malevolent alien presence..... then what?

Your option one, like I said.

......there's no struggle and no potential for struggle........like ants under a magnifying glass, they are completely subject to the whims of their captors....that was one of the central points of the story in the end.

Which means their captors have absolutely no reason to show mercy, and realistically, they wouldn't have.

It was a cheap tearjerker cop-out.

Joel_Kirk wrote:

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Random post:

I want to see Julia Stiles as the lead in an adaptation of 'The Breathing Method.'

So...you want to see Julia Stiles in a movie where she'll be headless for most of the third act?

[Joel_Kirk]

Admiral2 wrote:

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So...you want to see Julia Stiles in a movie where she'll be headless for most of the third act?

Yeah, that will be kind of weird.

It's a heartbreaking story about a woman shunned by society, then suddenly turns into a horrific decapitation...

[Starbreaker]

timothy wrote:

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I've read the first book in the series loved took a break now that all seven are aviable on the nook I plan on reading all of them before the trilogy comes out.
anyone see episode of family guy were stephen run's into dean koontz and he wants
to work together on a novel . then kills him with his car which is christine.

That's not what happens. Brian runs over who he thinks is King and apologizes. The guy then says he's Dean Koontz and Brian proceeds to back over him again.

[timothy]

there is that also . they have done three episodes with king in them the one your talking about is the first one . the one I am talking about is the third one there is one where peter hits im he flies in the air and say's this would make a great story scribles it down and lands on his and say;s done. now has anyone read just after sunset?
and how many of his books coinside with his gunslinger series I know the mist and heart's in atlantis do what others.

currently watching season 3 of supernatural then onto season 2 of v.
currently reading star trek articles of the federation & star wars knight errant.

[Starbreaker]

Salem's Lot (father Callahan)
The Stand (Randall Flagg)
The Eyes of the Dragon
Insomnia
It
The Talisman

Almost everything has references.

Link

[timothy]

okay thanks for that link . you ever watch kingdom hospital or golden years?

currently watching season 3 of supernatural then onto season 2 of V.
currently reading star trek articles of the federation & star wars knight errant.

Then onto the games of throne and then the dark tower series .

and how about ROSE RED where did that come from.

[Admiral2]

timothy wrote:

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okay thanks for that link . you ever watch kingdom hospital or golden years?

I loved Golden Years.


Kingdom Hospital, not so much. (The evil giant anteater ruined it for me.)

[Starbreaker]

Finally to the point in The Waste Lands where I gave up on it ten years ago... and I made it a little further this time.

[label]

Starbreaker wrote:

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Finally to the point in The Waste Lands where I gave up on it ten years ago... and I made it a little further this time.

I don't know how any one gives up in that book.....I find that for myself, the earlier books are the high points and I generally fly through the first 4 books in no time flat. By the time I've hit The Drawing of the Three I'm in full speed ahead mode and nothing really slows me down until I get to the Wolves of Calla, about half-way through where it starts to be a bit more tedious to get through. Song of S. isn't bad to get through but parts of the The Dark Tower are also a bit slow as well.