The Stephen King Club

[TheRipper00]

This is a club that should be self explanatory, but just in case here's the jist of it.

Its for fans of Stephen Kings novels, short story's and films. A place to discuss the authors books and all that takes place in them. If your a avid Stephen King reader then you have read the monumental Dark Tower series. Its an epic tale spanning 7 books and IMO one of the greatest literary achievements of our time.

I first heard of Stephen King when I was around 4 when my mother read me IT. It was scary but I liked it, from then on i would listen to her read me the books or listen to the audio tapes till I was older and could read and understand the books better. I have read almost everything he has written, and he is without a doubt my favorite author. So I hope this club takes and we can discuss the King and all the books we have come to love over the years.

He has written 89 Published works and 11 unfinished novels and short story books. The following is a List of those works.

1960 - People, Places, And Things - Volume 1 (limited edition with Chris Chelsey)
1964 - The Star Invaders (limited edition)
1974 - Carrie
1975 - Salem's Lot
1977 - The Shining
1978 - Night Shift (stories)
1978 - The Stand
1979 - The Dead Zone
1980 - Firestarter
1981 - Cujo
1981 - Danse Macabre (nonfiction about horror)
1981 - Roadwork
1982 - Creepshow (comic book, illustrated by Bernie Wrightson)
1982 - The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger
1982 - Different Seasons (novellas)
1983 - Christine
1983 - Pet Sematary
1983 - Cycle of the Werewolf
1984 - The Talisman (written with Peter Straub)
1985 - Skeleton Crew (stories)
1985 - The Bachman Books (novel collection)
1986 - It
1987 - The Eyes of the Dragon
1987 - Misery
1987 - The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
1988 - The Tommyknockers
1988 - Nightmares in the Sky (Photo book with text by King)
1988 - Dark Visions
1989 - The Dark Half
1989 - Dolan's Cadillac (limited edition)
1989 - My Pretty Pony (limited edition)
1990 - The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition
1990 - Four Past Midnight (stories)
1991 - Needful Things
1991 - The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
1992 - Gerald's Game
1993 - Dolores Claiborne
1993 - Nightmares & Dreamscapes (stories)
1994 - Insomnia
1995 - Rose Madder
1995 - Umney's Last Case
1996 - The Green Mile (originally published as a monthly serial consisting of six parts: The Two Dead Girls, The Mouse on the Mile, Coffey's Hands, The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix, Night Journey, and Coffey on the Mile)
1996 - Desperation
1997 - Six Stories (stories)
1997 - The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
1998 - Bag of Bones
1999 - Storm of the Century
1999 - The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
1999 - The New Lieutenant's Rap (limited edition)
1999 - Hearts in Atlantis
1999 - Blood and Smoke (audio book)
2000 - Riding the Bullet (electronically published novella)
2000 - The Plant(electronically published)
2000 - Secret Windows
2000 - On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (nonfiction autobiography)
2000 - Dreamcatcher
2001 - Black House (written with Peter Straub)
2002 - From a Buick 8
2002 - Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales
2003 - The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (revised edition)
2003 - The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
2004 - The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
2004 - The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
2004 - Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
2005 - The Colorado Kid
2006 - The Secretary of Dreams
2006 - Cell
2006 - Lisey's Story
2008 - Duma Key
2008 - Just After Sunset
2009 - Stephen King Goes to the Movies
2009 - The Little Sisters of Eluria (limited edition)
2009 - "Graduation Afternoon" (in PostScripts)
2009 - "Throttle" (in He is Legend)
2009 - UR (e-novella available only on Amazon.com's Kindle)
2009 - Under the Dome
2009 - "A Good Marriage"
2009 - "Big Driver"
2009 - "1922"
2009 - "Fair Extension"
2010 - Blockade Billy
2010 - Full Dark, No Stars

Richard Bachman's Published Books
"Richard Bachman" is a pseudonym that King used until Bachman's true identity was discovered by fans, after which he only published one more Bachman novel.

1977 - Rage
1979 - The Long Walk
1981 - Road Work
1982 - The Running Man
1984 - Thinner
1996 - The Regulators
2007 - Blaze

Stephen King's Unpublished Books and Stories

1959 - Charlie (short story)
1963 - The Aftermath (novel)
1970 - Sword in the Darkness, also know as Good Day Sunshine (novel)
1974 - The House on Value Street (unfinished)
1976 - Welcome to Clearwater(unfinished)
1976 - The Corner (unfinished)
1977 - Wimsey (unfinished)
1983 - The Leprechaun (unfinished)
1983 - The Cannibals, also known as Under the Dome
1984 - Keyholes (unfinished)
1996 - The Pretender (unfinished)

[pirogpod]

I have been wanting to read it how close was it to the movie?

[chiefindomer]

You know, I feel kind of bad that I've never actually sat down and read a Stephen King book. I've always felt like I've been missing out. I've seen just about every movie/miniseries that's based off one of his books though. I do have a copy of The Stand, well it belongs to my dad, he's had it since before I was born, he wouldn't mind me borrowing it though. In fact, I remember a few years back my dad telling me I should read it, he's read it twice. I'll have to free up some time soon and finally get around to reading it.

[HeavenDuff]

Sounds like a great idea. I was actually thinking about getting some of his books and didn't knew where to start. I guess some people could really help me decide where I want to start.

[K2LU]

I've read Misery, Carrie and The Shining. Been meaning to read more Stephen King as I really like those books.

[SomaGuye]

I read the Dark Tower series, was baller as fuck.

[Lost-Chances]

At 8/13/11 05:25 PM, SomaGuye wrote: I read the Dark Tower series, was baller as fuck.

The only book/s that I've found justifiably disappointing. No ending would of avoided a feeling of anti-climax.

Anyway, got a pretty good collection of Stephen King books. I'll probably list them later.

[camobch0]

I've read Misery and The Long Walk, both great books.

[TheRipper00]

At 8/13/11 04:00 AM, HeavenDuff wrote: Sounds like a great idea. I was actually thinking about getting some of his books and didn't knew where to start. I guess some people could really help me decide where I want to start.

Couple of choices but I would start old school then read the new stuff.

Nightmares and Dreamscapes - A collections of very good short stories, also gives you a feel for how King writes.

Salems Lot, IT, The Dark Half, Pet Cemetery - All awesome novels and a great place to start with his books. If you want to see his writing at its most Brutal read just about anything from his other persona Richard Bachman.

[AniMetal]

The Stand is possibly my favorite book ever. Count me in. :D

[SomaGuye]

Oh yeah, I also read Cell. Good story but I remember being disappointed with the ending, much like I was with the Dark Tower series as well.

[HeavenDuff]

At 8/15/11 08:40 AM, TheRipper00 wrote: Nightmares and Dreamscapes - A collections of very good short stories, also gives you a feel for how King writes.

Damn, the name makes me feel all special in mah belly. Guess I should start there!

[pirogpod]

The best stephen king book i ever read has to be the stand it is a really good book.
I mean cell was a really good book to but i still like the stand better

[Gagsy]

I'm really quite eager to join this club!

I don't read as much as I'd like to, I can honestly never seem to find the time considering I prefer to spend my free time doing other stuff. But I adore reading really. Haven't read much, but those I have, I have simply loved. Those are;

IT, The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon and Needful Things.

Not in any favourite order though maybe I do love IT a bit more because of the miniseries or film starring Tim Curry. I found the book to be 10 extra levels of awesome just because it was already something I loved. Same for The Stand I guess to, I could watch that miniseries over and over. I heward rumours that someone wants to remake it, but that's not really the right discussion here probably. Anyway I loved the extra Uncut verison, it just griped me from beginning to end even with some stomach turning chapters (the women sex slaves, not good).

I guess thats why I then read The Eyes of the Dragon, because of a certain Randall Flagg appearance. I found the book different and fascinating.

And Needful Things is like just watching a trail of fire or something. So good.

I'd love anyone to recommend me what I should be reading next from Stephen King. I probably should stick to the horrors, the ones that got made into movies, just because I like being able to connect to that when I'm reading the (better) books.

[TheRipper00]

At 8/16/11 05:48 AM, Gagsy wrote: I'd love anyone to recommend me what I should be reading next from Stephen King. I probably should stick to the horrors, the ones that got made into movies, just because I like being able to connect to that when I'm reading the (better) books.

First off, Tim Curry gave his best performance as Pennywise.

I have a great list for you of Books that were made into movies.

1976 - Carrie
1979 - Salem's Lot
1980 - The Shining
1982 - Creepshow (Five short films: "Father's Day," "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill," "Something to Tide You Over," "The Crate," and "They're Creeping Up On You") An Awesome Movie and one of my favorites as a kid.
1982 - The Boogeyman (short film)
1983 - Cujo- the book is so much better than the film because your able to read what the dog is thinking and feel his pain.
1983 - The Dead Zone
1983 - Christine
1983 - Disciples of the Crow (short film)
1983 - The Woman in the Room (short film)
1984 - Children of the Corn - Short Film but amazing non the less. The Original mind you not the remakes. Exept the new Children of the Corn that was aired on SyFy the King wrote.
1984 - Firestarter
1985 - Cat's Eye (Three short films: "Quitters, Inc.," "The Ledge," and "The General")
1985 - Silver Bullet
1985 - Stephen King's Nightshift Collection (Two short films: "The Woman in the Room" and "The Boogeyman")
1985 - Word Processor of the Gods (episode of Tales from the Darkside)
1986 - Gramma (episode of The Twilight Zone)
1986 - Maximum Overdrive - One of my all time favorite Movies because King wrote it, Directed it, and Ac/Dc made the album Who made Who for it.
1986 - Stand By Me
1987 - Creepshow 2 (Three short films: "Old Chief Wood'n'head," "The Raft," and "The Hitchhiker")
1987 - A Return to Salem's Lot
1987 - The Running Man - Story was less Arnold and it was a great look at what could come to be in our future. I have no dout that eventually a form of Deathmatch will return in the worlds future.
1987 - The Last Rung on the Ladder (short film)
1987 - Sorry, Right Number (episode of Tales from the Darkside)
1989 - Pet Sematary
1990 - The Cat From Hell (short film)
1990 - Graveyard Shift
1990 - It (TV mini-series)
1990 - Misery
1991 - Golden Years (TV miniseries)
1991 - Sometimes They Come Back
1992 - Sleepwalkers
1993 - The Dark Half
1993 - Needful Things
1993 - The Tommyknockers (miniseries)
1993 - Chinga (episode of The X-files)
1994 - The Shawshank Redemption
1994 - The Stand (miniseries)
1995 - The Langoliers (miniseries)
1995 - The Mangler
1995 - Dolores Claiborne
1995 - Stephen King's Nightshift Collection
1996 - Thinner
1997 - The Night Flier (HBO Movie)
1997 - Quicksilver Highway (segment Chattery Teeth)
1997 - Trucks (TV Remake of Maximum Overdrive but not as good.)
1998 - Apt Pupil Great short story about a sick old man and a disturbing young boy.
1999 - The Green Mile
1999 - Storm of the Century (TV miniseries)
1999 - Llamadas (short film)
2000 - Paranoid(short film)
2001 - Hearts in Atlantis AMAZING Book. Heats ties so many of his storys together, The Dark Tower and a number of others have timelines or characters that run through it.
2001 - Strawberry Spring (short film) Fantastic Short story.
2002 - Rose Red (TV miniseries)
2002 - Night Surf (short film)
2002 - Rainy Season (short film)
2003 - Dreamcatcher - Books more crazy than the film but both are very good.
2003 - The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (TV movie)
2003 - Autopsy Room Four (short film)
2003 - Here There Be Tygers (short film)
2003 - The Man in the Black Suit (short film)
2004 - Secret Window - Great Book and Film.
2004 - Kingdom Hospital (TV series)
2004 - Salem's Lot (TV miniseries)
2004 - Luckey Quarter (short film)
2004 - The Secret Transit Codes of America's Highways (short film)
2004 - All That You Love Will Be Carried Away (short film)
2004 - Riding the Bullet
2005 - I Know What You Need (short film)
2006 - Desperation (TV miniseries)
2006 - Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the stories of Stephen King
2006 - Suffer the Little Children (short film)
2007 - 1408
2007 - The Mist

Thats a big ass list but you can pick and choose your favorites and then catch up with the Book. With the exceptions of a few movies all of Kings books put you so much deeper into the world than they can achieve on the screen. Hopefully you will find something on there that you look forward to reading!

[HeavenDuff]

So I finally started reading Stephen King's work. I'm reading The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger right now. I know I'm not doing myself a favor by starting with such a huge serie of books, but I like odysseys and epic quests. I'm liking it so far!

At 8/16/11 11:28 AM, TheRipper00 wrote: I have a great list for you of Books that were made into movies.

1980 - The Shining
1999 - The Green Mile
2007 - 1408
2007 - The Mist

I saw these four movies and It. The Shining and The Green Mile are masterpieces. 1408 was pretty good. The Mist was ok I guess. It was fantastic :)

[HeavenDuff]

At 8/27/11 03:39 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: So I finally started reading Stephen King's work. I'm reading The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger right now. I know I'm not doing myself a favor by starting with such a huge serie of books, but I like odysseys and epic quests. I'm liking it so far!

I finished reading the first part of The Dark Tower. The book was pretty good, but I can't really understand or guess where this is going after reading just this one book.

So now, I'm working on:
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three

Just read a few pages, the whole prologue in fact. Looks promising ;)

I hope this club gets a little more active in the future, this could turn into a cool place :)

[Lost-Chances]

At 9/6/11 02:47 AM, HeavenDuff wrote:

At 8/27/11 03:39 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: So I finally started reading Stephen King's work. I'm reading The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger right now. I know I'm not doing myself a favor by starting with such a huge serie of books, but I like odysseys and epic quests. I'm liking it so far!

I finished reading the first part of The Dark Tower. The book was pretty good, but I can't really understand or guess where this is going after reading just this one book.

So now, I'm working on:
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three

Just read a few pages, the whole prologue in fact. Looks promising ;)

It's generally a very good series, just the ending is as disappointing as everyone hyping up your 18 birthday gift as being awesome, only to find out it's a Happy Meal toy.

I hope this club gets a little more active in the future, this could turn into a cool place :)

I don't know really, there's not that much to talk about beyond "oh, this Stephen King book is cool, and they're making a film of this book".

[HeavenDuff]

At 9/6/11 07:23 AM, Lost-Chances wrote:

At 9/6/11 02:47 AM, HeavenDuff wrote:

So now, I'm working on:
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three

Just read a few pages, the whole prologue in fact. Looks promising ;)

It's generally a very good series, just the ending is as disappointing as everyone hyping up your 18 birthday gift as being awesome, only to find out it's a Happy Meal toy.

Oh really ?? Then I don't want to read the books anymore... :'(

I hope this club gets a little more active in the future, this could turn into a cool place :)

I don't know really, there's not that much to talk about beyond "oh, this Stephen King book is cool, and they're making a film of this book".

In fact, Stephen King's work is very influencial to many. We could also recommand other authors to the members of the club, depending on their personnal tastes :) I know we can still discuss a few things :O

[Glides]

Big fan of Stephen King, he's one of the best authors today.

Ones I remember that I've read off the top of my head are Carrie, Cujo, The Stand, Christine, Different Seasons, The Tommyknockers, The Shining, and The Eyes of the Dragon

[HeavenDuff]

At 10/9/11 04:18 AM, Aci6 wrote:

At 8/27/11 03:39 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: 1408 was pretty good.

Actually it was pretty fucking atrocious.

Ok

[Luke]

1408 was bad in my books, I thought it was a very poorly executed movie. The story itself was solid, I picked up the book it's featured in. But it was definitely not the best story in the entire book. There was one that was very good, not film material mind you - But excellent regardless.

I just did some research, it was titled "Autopsy Room Four"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopsy_Roo m_Four

[HeavenDuff]

At 10/10/11 04:37 AM, Aci6 wrote: The best book in Everything's Eventual for me was either The Man In The Black Suit or the title story... which is worth reading before DT 7. Something worth mentioning is if you're reading the DT series then you should read them as you read other King books to enrich the journey such as The Stand before DT 3.

Good to know. Other books I should read as I read the Dark Tower series?

[Auz]

At 10/10/11 02:57 AM, Luke wrote: 1408 was bad in my books

Coming from someone who hasn't read the book: Yes, the film was pretty bad. Not completely terrible, but definitely not worth watching.

Anyway, I was thinking about reading some Stephen King books. I've heard so much of the guy (so much praise), but I haven't read any of his material. Only seen a few films that used his books as a basis (The Green Mile, 1408, The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption).

Instead of asking what books I should read (you guys have posted plenty of recommendations already), I was wondering: Which of his books should I really avoid?

I see most of you are dissapointed with The Dark Tower series, so I won't look out for them. Anything else you guys think wasn't worth the read?

[SomaGuye]

At 10/10/11 05:33 AM, Auz wrote: I see most of you are dissapointed with The Dark Tower series,

I disagree, I think they're some of his best, only let down by the ending which is probably so bad because he wrote them over such a long time and didn't know where it was going.

[FattyWhale]

At 10/10/11 05:33 AM, Auz wrote: I see most of you are dissapointed with The Dark Tower series, so I won't look out for them. Anything else you guys think wasn't worth the read?

His short stories have never quite done it for me. Also some of his newer stuff (Cell, Duma Key) have been disappointing.

[FattyWhale]

At 10/10/11 10:56 AM, Bryan wrote:

At 8/13/11 03:41 PM, K2LU wrote: I've read Misery, Carrie and The Shining. Been meaning to read more Stephen King as I really like those books.

Same. Well actually I didn't read Misery, I stopped in Carrie because I read it when I was younger and honestly, I found it gross. I loved The Shining though. Might have to pick up Misery and Carrie again one of these days.

Oooh. Misery is so good. The ending was so fucking unexpected and frightening. Gave me chills when I read it! So much better than the ending to the movie.

[TheRipper00]

At 10/9/11 03:25 AM, ImaSmartass2 wrote: for the Dark Tower. IV is my favorite.

I would say that DT4 is on of my all time favorite books. Has anyone picked up Full Dark No Stars? I want to get it i have just been caught up rereading the DT series.

I am also eagerly waiting 11/22/63 as well as The wind through the keyhole, the next chapter in the DT series.

[FattyWhale]

At 10/10/11 11:12 AM, TheRipper00 wrote: I would say that DT4 is on of my all time favorite books. Has anyone picked up Full Dark No Stars? I want to get it i have just been caught up rereading the DT series.

I've read it, but again, I'm not much a fan of his short stories.

[Luke]

I'm probably going to check out the DT series, eventually... I was doing some research on them last night, but nothing too much really.

Instead, I started reading Insomnia. Since I saw this thread and remembered how great Pet Semetary was, when I read it many years ago... I didn't know what to check out as I was looking through the lists, but I remembered my dad watching a movie called Insomnia, which then I mistook as a Stephen King movie. Totally different things, but I said fuck it and checked the book online yesterday anyway.

Prologue was interesting, chapter 1 I will read today... I don't know what to expect whatsoever, so I'm really looking forward to the experience.