Best Steven King book?

[XemaSab]

All of 'em are good, but which one RAWKS???

[Shell Beau]

1. That is really a toughie!!!

[AllegroRondo]

2. The Long Walk

Ive read it at least a dozen times, it still gets to me.

[maveric]

45. The most disturbing King book ever!

Although I pick "The Stand" as his best work.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. Most of my faves not listed: Firestarter, Dead Zone. (edited)

[AlCzervik]

4. i have 2, The Stand and The Talisman with Peter Straub.

[Miss Marmelstein]

5. I loved The Talisman....

but was very disapointed with The Black House sequel.

[BlueIris]

6. I'm torn between The Dead Zone and Pet Semetary.

Especially now. The Dead Zone is actually one of my top five favorite novels.

[XemaSab]

8. So if you could go back,

would you... never mind. :D

[BlueIris]

11. Hee. Mind-meld. I think about that aspect of the novel a lot.

No. Because there would have to be a lot and I mean a LOT of "going back" and, er, um, removing the Bad People to avert this disaster for the world. There isn't just one key guy a person could "take out."

[XemaSab]

30. Prescott

n/t

[Mike03]

7. I voted for "other"

because I think his best novel is "Pet Semetary". Fun question.

Kubrick's "The Shining" is the best film made from any of his books, but I didn't care for the novel.

[BlueIris]

12. Wow, my mileage varies.

I agree that The Shining is the best King film (even better than Misery) because a) as King himself complains, Kubrick didn't make it into a film of the horror genre, he just made it a horrifying one and b) it's really, really fucking terrifying. But I think the novel is even scarier. I got through the film of The Shining with my brain intact. The novel was the most terrifying and unpleasant literary experience of my life. And yes, I think it's valid to call some of King's books literature. The Shining, unlike the other really scary King novels has horrible ideas in it and makes you, or at it made me, feel horrible reading it.

[Mike03]

14. Yes

I loved your post on this. I agree with everything you wrote.

[CatholicEdHead]

9. Stand and Christine

[RebelOne]

10. The Stand, hands down, both versions.

[Draill]

13. I voted for The Stand.

I really love Insomnia, too.

[DawgHouse]

15. The Tommyknockers

This was the first book of his that I had to put down for a few days because it really started messing with my head :scared:

[BlueIris]

17. This book? Is possibly the most underrated King novel.

Seriously. Almost no one I know has read it, yet I think, despite its length, it's possibly the most consistently well-written novel of his of that size, and has a few moments in it that are positively chilling. Also, as I grow older, I come to realize that those are some of his most realistically constructed writer/artist characters. Especially Bobby. I now know what it's like if you have a rep as a "serious" artist and you start setting your novels in the Old West. Even if they're still excellent books, your old friends will disown you.

[hfojvt]

29. how strange it is one of a few that I have read

I have read
The Stand, Cujo, Tommyknockers, Rose Madder, Thinner, The Bachman Books, It, The Dark Half, Four Past Midnight, The Eyes of the Dragon, the one with the handcuffs, and half of Needful Things.
On second thought, I guess I have read quite a bit of King. I think I would take It barely over The Stand, but I have not read all of them in the poll.

[HeeBGBz]

16. The Stand has always been my favorite

I enjoy the earlier ones.

[bicentennial_baby]

18. The Stand

duh! :P

[Elidor]

19. Night Shift

I gave up on his novels eventually. Verbal diarrhea, and a lot of dreck over the years. Short stories are where he's shone best. No pun intended.

[SeattleGirl]

20. The Stand.

That book just creeps me out -- so much, in fact, that I've read it 3 times!

[marigold20]

21. too hard to choose

I picked the Shining, but then The Stand is so good too. The Dead Zone was good...

[blackcatpgh]

22. if you happened to be 8 years old in 1982, then it would be....

the graphic novel CREEPSHOW, illustrated by Bernie Wrightson:



i still have my copy, dogeared as hell.

[slay]

28. Turned out to be

a damn good movie too. That one short "The Crate" used to scare the shit out of me when I was a kid. :evilgrin:

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

23. The Shining.

Most of King's books can't grab my interest, and I put them down out of boredom before the story gets going. The Shining hooked me right from the beginning, partly because it was so much better than the movie.

"It" would be my second choice. Who knew kiddy porn could be so literate?

[RandomKoolzip]

24. If by "best," you mean, the one that burns brightest when englufed in

the flames of my specially built incinerator (constructed just to burn shitty horror hack novels!), then I'd have to say the unabridged version of The Stand, since it's unconscionably long, therefore it creates the brighest, hottest fire.

[PassingFair]

25. I voted for The Stand as well...

but he hooked me with Salem's Lot.

[hippiechick]

26. The Green Mile was actually a REALLY good book ....

I think that was King ... :shrug:

But yeah, The Stand. It's sorta on the verge of happening now, eh ?


:(

[slay]

27. Has to be The Stand

Uncut version preferably. Also right up there are Eyes of the Dragon, It, and The Talisman. :)

[Broken_Hero]

31. Dark Tower series for sure...

A lot of stuff going on in these books, Roland and crew are great...i loved the whole series, except the first book, the Gunslinger, it took me three months to read a 225 page book, but the drawing of the three got me hooked big time...the series is great, ties in a lot of his other books into the series, including The Stand, IT, Insomnia, Salems Lot...damn, a lot of them! And the death of a certain badass in this book (FG) was a stunner for me...it was great reading.

[bridgit]

32. The Dark Tower series...

[BigMcLargehuge]

33. On Writing

that was his best book. Probably the best book for inspiring new writers out there.

[bliss_eternal]

34. I still find it hard to believe

that he was going to throw away his first book. Imagine if his wife didn't take it out of the trash...

[BigMcLargehuge]

35. Believe me, I've been there

[bliss_eternal]

36. Just don't throw it all away--

you never know what you've got! ;)

What genre do you enjoy writing, if I may ask?

[BigMcLargehuge]

37. I enjoy writing historical fiction (at the moment)

but I've written science fiction and some literary fiction as well.

[bliss_eternal]

38. Submitted any for publishing?

Or is it more for self-enjoyment? :)

[BigMcLargehuge]

40. I have submitted several shorts

I recently sold two to www.escapepod.info -

Iron Bars and the Glass Jaw

Off-White Lies

Both stories will appear as podcasts, one either this week on Thursday or early in November, the second in Feb 06. Both stories are set in the same "universe" and have overlapping characters. I have 7 stories in the series, and one full length novel a well. If I can generate some interest in the shorts I will try and market the book again.

Union Dues, as I call the set of stories, is social science fiction.


I am working with my editor/agent to get my book Tears of Amaterasu in front of some publishers as we speak. Tears of Amaterasu is a piece of historical fiction set during the 1937 Rape of Nanking.

[bliss_eternal]

42. Wow!!!

Congratulations!!! That is QUITE an accomplishment! Some people go their entire lives, dreaming of such things. Good for you!

Science fiction and historical dramas seem to me, rather challenging areas to write. You MUST be good to have sold some of your work--way to go! :applause:

[BigMcLargehuge]

43. thanks for the compliment

:)

[Rabrrrrrr]

41. That one or The Stand

Easily his best books. And difficult to choose.

[BamaGirl]

39. Definitely The Stand

[XemaSab]

44. kick!

n/t