Thoughts on Stephen King?

  • 🏰 The Fediverse is up. If you know, you know.
  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
You have to admit this dude has written more shit that was turned into movies than literally anyone. It's ridiculous how many of this guy's writings have been made into movies.
One thing no one can take away from ol' Stevie is how good he is at playing the game when it comes to staying relevant in the publishing industry to Hollywood pipeline. But that's a marketing/self-promotion issue rather than a statement on his writing itself.
 
This is also true of Lovecraft who's formula for writing was to look up synonyms for every single word he wrote and pick the longest and most obscure one.

This is sort of a divergent opinion I'm aware but I think Lovecraft's extremely weird way of writing came from the fact that he was a complete nervous wreck. Like we all know he's RAYCISS but dude was literally afraid of fucking everything. Everything. Read his more obscure works some time, they detail his fears of not just foreign people but foreign religions, cultures, practices, even other white people (he was inspired to write Shadow Over Innsmouth because he discovered he had a Welsh ancestor. The horror.) and also things like bugs, rats, poor living conditions in general, mental illness, the idea of past civilizations, the idea of aliens, the idea of other planets, the idea that there might be invisible things we cannot see, and literally things as basic as the size of the fucking universe. Literally afraid of everything.

Christ if I had that level of anxiety I'd never leave my fucking house either.

I wouldn't be surprised if he never actually was a writer at all and his collected works are just something some therapist wrote down after listening to the man talk.
 
This is sort of a divergent opinion I'm aware but I think Lovecraft's extremely weird way of writing came from the fact that he was a complete nervous wreck. Like we all know he's RAYCISS but dude was literally afraid of fucking everything. Everything. Read his more obscure works some time, they detail his fears of not just foreign people but foreign religions, cultures, practices, even other white people (he was inspired to write Shadow Over Innsmouth because he discovered he had a Welsh ancestor. The horror.) and also things like bugs, rats, poor living conditions in general, mental illness, the idea of past civilizations, the idea of aliens, the idea of other planets, the idea that there might be invisible things we cannot see, and literally things as basic as the size of the fucking universe. Literally afraid of everything.

Christ if I had that level of anxiety I'd never leave my fucking house either.

I wouldn't be surprised if he never actually was a writer at all and his collected works are just something some therapist wrote down after listening to the man talk.
You might be onto something there, after all, most of his most famous works where written in first person, framed as first hand accounts. That would be some irony, he was not a writer writing fiction about psychological horrors, he was a mentally ill schizophrenic writing about his delusions. As for his Raycissness, I still hate that they censor out Nigger Man in modern reprints. But I have the Necronomicon on Audible and its unaltered in it which makes me happy.

EDIT: Oh yeah and since we are talking Lovecraft, check out Stygian Reign of the Old ones on GOG and Steam. Its a really good CRPG in a lovecraftian setting. I would recommend getting it on sale since $30 might be a bit steep for it, but if you like Lovecraft and CRPG's you will love what it has to offer. It even has some very subtle racisim as well if you have your net up to catch it.
 
That would be some irony, he was not a writer writing fiction about psychological horrors, he was a mentally ill schizophrenic writing about his delusions.

I intended my first post to be partially humorous but I will get serious here and say I unironically believe this theory. I don't see HP Lovecraft as the racist horror author from the 1930s that everyone likes to meme about because Cthulhu. I see him as someone who was horriffically mentally ill and his writings are a product of that. Some of them are fucking borderline nonsensical sometimes. Dude was shithouse rat insane despite by all accounts being generally polite (aside from his racist sense of humor). I don't mean like, dead hookers hung up in the basement insane, but definitely the kind of person who would lie awake in the dark at night just staring at the ceiling.

That's not a colorful metaphor either by the way, his biographies detail that the man had intense night terrors where he was screaming and shouting and fighting.... something. He based the Nightgaunts directly off these experiences and yet even he did not put a face on them. I'm surprised this shit isn't like, required reading for psychologists because I would write volumes on this guy. And I'm not even a big Lovecraft fan.
 
Last edited:
I intended my first post to be partially humorous but I will get serious here and say I unironically believe this theory. I don't see HP Lovecraft as the racist horror author from the 1930s that everyone likes to meme about because Cthulhu. I see him as someone who was horriffically mentally ill and his writings are a product of that. Some of them are fucking borderline nonsensical sometimes. Dude was shithouse rat insane despite by all accounts being generally polite (aside from his racist sense of humor). I don't mean like, dead hookers hung up in the basement insane, but definitely the kind of person who would lie awake in the dark at night just staring at the ceiling.

That's not a colorful metaphor either by the way, his biographies detail that the man had intense night terrors where he was screaming and shouting and fighting.... something. He based the Nightgaunts directly off these experiences and yet even he did not put a face on them. I'm surprised this shit isn't like, required reading for psychologists because I would write volumes on this guy. And I'm not even a big Lovecraft fan.
He was probably a high functioning schizophrenic or suffered from some other form of delusional illness. There are actually a lot of highly intelligent people who accomplish amazing feats of human ingenuity while being mad for lack of a better term Howard Hughs was another, dude sat naked in his own personal theater pissing in bottles and shitting on newspapers in the corner, but he was a testament to modern aviation.

As a matter of fact, his anal writing style might have been from him unironically being autistic, his tick was using really big and obscure words.
 
He was probably a high functioning schizophrenic or suffered from some other form of delusional illness. There are actually a lot of highly intelligent people who accomplish amazing feats of human ingenuity while being mad for lack of a better term Howard Hughs was another, dude sat naked in his own personal theater pissing in bottles and shitting on newspapers in the corner, but he was a testament to modern aviation.

As a matter of fact, his anal writing style might have been from him unironically being autistic, his tick was using really big and obscure words.

Wouldn't be surprised. A friend of mine once joked with me that intelligent people just eventually go insane by nature, and rather than Howard Hughes I think of Kurt Godel. Genuis mathmetician. Undeniable. Advanced the field by years. However, when he got older he became paranoid that everything was poisoned except the food his wife would cook for him. Insert your joke about husbands/boyfriends that don't cook for themselves here, but this guy was fucking committed. Or probably should have been committed, to an asylum.

She ended up having some sort of physical sickness and being hospitalized for a few months. No big deal right? Dude starved. Starved fucking to death. Actually died just because he was so afraid of food not prepared by his wife. That's how a genius died.

In retrospect, no wonder Lovecraft was so afraid of going insane.
 
Last edited:
You have to admit this dude has written more shit that was turned into movies than literally anyone. It's ridiculous how many of this guy's writings have been made into movies.
Yes, and damn near all shit.
I'm still pissed off over Pet Semetary.
 
Yes, and damn near all shit.
I'm still pissed off over Pet Semetary.

Why the fuck does everyone hate the Pet Semetary adaptation so much? Its a perfectly servicable horror movie. Everyone tells me the book's pages are made of pure heroin laced with fentanyl by comparison. I refuse to believe there can be a book that good.


....except Night Shift.

Also the best King movie (and I love many of them) is The Dead Zone. You have The Walken and Cronenberg together, plus Michael Sheen.
 
Yes, and damn near all shit.
I'm still pissed off over Pet Semetary.
Have you seen the trailer for The Outsider? They Black washed Holly. The Mr Mercedes series they did was alright, they nailed the casting on that one.

Also the best King movie (and I love many of them) is The Dead Zone. You have The Walken and Cronenberg together, plus Michael Sheen.

The Green Mile is my favorite of the film adaptations.
 
Why the fuck does everyone hate the Pet Semetary adaptation so much? Its a perfectly servicable horror movie. Everyone tells me the book's pages are made of pure heroin laced with fentanyl by comparison. I refuse to believe there can be a book that good.


....except Night Shift.

Also the best King movie (and I love many of them) is The Dead Zone. You have The Walken and Cronenberg together, plus Michael Sheen.
Because they tried to make PS funny in places, and it's not funny.
And the part where Louis takes Gages' body to be buried? One of the most frightening parts of the book. The movie adaptation was stupid.
It captured none of the fear and horror of the book.
The book still scares me, but now I feel sorrow along with the fright. Having children just made me feel more for Louis and Rachel.
 
Have you seen the trailer for The Outsider? They Black washed Holly. The Mr Mercedes series they did was alright, they nailed the casting on that one.



The Green Mile is my favorite of the film adaptations.

There's a trailer for The Outsider? and they blackwashed Holly?! Nooooooooooooooooo! Now I don't have to watch the trailer because I instantly didn't care after seeing that :p

Okay but seriously I read The Outsider and liked it (figured out part of it pretty early on but not all and the rest was a nice surprise.) I almost didn't read it after the first and second pages mentioned the BLM movement but thankfully that was the only mention of it. He virtue signals hard but a lot of relevant people do that to stay relevant (not that I like that but I'm not famous and don't have a career to maintain so whatever.)

My biggest problem with King is the same problem I usually have with stuff, and that's his fanbase. People seem to love reading his work only to tear it apart and say 'wow the ending of this one sucked, too!' but it would be different if they ever gave an actual alternative to how they thought it should have ended. I think I've met one person ever I could discuss his writing with who talked about the stories and themes and didn't go off on a tangent about all of his books that they didn't like. All of his books that I didn't enjoy I didn't finish, and it was pretty early on in the book that I realized it just wasn't for me.

The only one of his books I'm going to offer my take on for now is Needful Things. The story itself was great, I just didn't think it needed to be as long as it was. I don't hear many people talk about this book but I'd go so far as to recommend it to anyone who likes a lot of build up. It was an exercise in weaving together a lot of individual stories, all different kinds of people in many age groups and social classes and he did a pretty great job with that.
 
There's a trailer for The Outsider? and they blackwashed Holly?! Nooooooooooooooooo! Now I don't have to watch the trailer because I instantly didn't care after seeing that :p

Okay but seriously I read The Outsider and liked it (figured out part of it pretty early on but not all and the rest was a nice surprise.) I almost didn't read it after the first and second pages mentioned the BLM movement but thankfully that was the only mention of it. He virtue signals hard but a lot of relevant people do that to stay relevant (not that I like that but I'm not famous and don't have a career to maintain so whatever.)

My biggest problem with King is the same problem I usually have with stuff, and that's his fanbase. People seem to love reading his work only to tear it apart and say 'wow the ending of this one sucked, too!' but it would be different if they ever gave an actual alternative to how they thought it should have ended. I think I've met one person ever I could discuss his writing with who talked about the stories and themes and didn't go off on a tangent about all of his books that they didn't like. All of his books that I didn't enjoy I didn't finish, and it was pretty early on in the book that I realized it just wasn't for me.

The only one of his books I'm going to offer my take on for now is Needful Things. The story itself was great, I just didn't think it needed to be as long as it was. I don't hear many people talk about this book but I'd go so far as to recommend it to anyone who likes a lot of build up. It was an exercise in weaving together a lot of individual stories, all different kinds of people in many age groups and social classes and he did a pretty great job with that.
I did write a letter to King in a drunken frenzy about how disappointed I was with PS, and comatose monkeys could've written a better screenplay.
I sobered up and tossed the letter, but a tiny part of me still wishes I had sent it.
 
There's a trailer for The Outsider? and they blackwashed Holly?! Nooooooooooooooooo! Now I don't have to watch the trailer because I instantly didn't care after seeing that :p

Okay but seriously I read The Outsider and liked it (figured out part of it pretty early on but not all and the rest was a nice surprise.) I almost didn't read it after the first and second pages mentioned the BLM movement but thankfully that was the only mention of it. He virtue signals hard but a lot of relevant people do that to stay relevant (not that I like that but I'm not famous and don't have a career to maintain so whatever.)

My biggest problem with King is the same problem I usually have with stuff, and that's his fanbase. People seem to love reading his work only to tear it apart and say 'wow the ending of this one sucked, too!' but it would be different if they ever gave an actual alternative to how they thought it should have ended. I think I've met one person ever I could discuss his writing with who talked about the stories and themes and didn't go off on a tangent about all of his books that they didn't like. All of his books that I didn't enjoy I didn't finish, and it was pretty early on in the book that I realized it just wasn't for me.

The only one of his books I'm going to offer my take on for now is Needful Things. The story itself was great, I just didn't think it needed to be as long as it was. I don't hear many people talk about this book but I'd go so far as to recommend it to anyone who likes a lot of build up. It was an exercise in weaving together a lot of individual stories, all different kinds of people in many age groups and social classes and he did a pretty great job with that.
You will notice too that she is the only one they blatantly race swaped too, and they did not fuck around, the nog they chose is a black panther poster child. She is also the one playing Hariet Tubbman in the black empowerment docudrama movie Hariet. She was pretty good in Bad Times at the El Royale though so she is at least talented, but its crystal clear that this is a virtue signal casting, and she is absolutly wrong for Holly. Holly is a nervous wreck white weeb, not a black dyke.

 
Stephen King represents all successful white men post 1965. Intelligent, verbose and the ultimate cuck.

Capable of great works of ingenuity. Redefines his industry.

In later years acquiesces to left leaning politics due to fear of being racist. Erases his own history and his culture in support of a smelly dumb brown future of infinity immigrants/niggers


All in all I prefer Sutter Kane.
 
Stephen King represents all successful white men post 1965. Intelligent, verbose and the ultimate cuck.

Capable of great works of ingenuity. Redefines his industry.

In later years acquiesces to left leaning politics due to fear of being racist. Erases his own history and his culture in support of a smelly dumb brown future of infinity immigrants/niggers


All in all I prefer Sutter Kane.
LMFAO all I could think about after reading this was "Do you read Sutter Kane?"
 
Concerning Stephen King's stories, I liked the following:
  • It
  • Pet Sematary
  • Night Shift
  • 11/22/63
I plan to read The Institute (and maybe Different Seasons) in the future. I have found that I like his older stuff more than his newer stuff. For example, Dreamcatcher was atrocious, and Insomnia and Bazaar of Bad Dreams were both mediocre at best. However, I didn't like some of the older stuff like 'Salem's Lot and The Tommyknockers.

I do not like King's Democrat politics at all. For example, I do not agree with his stances on matters such as gun control and his disgust with Donald Trump. I find it ironic that King is so much for gun control, yet has a book series entitled "The Gunslinger". I say this because you would think anti-firearm people would not want to publish stories where the main protagonist is using a firearm.
 
Back
Top Bottom