Worst of Stephen King - Worst books or stories

[jertzog]

Rage is so horrible a read that I'm surprised you don't have Bachman Books in the poll. It's bad enough for all four.
His short stories are all over the map, and are probably the best format for him. The only one I remember thinking was especially stupid was that prequel to The Stand with teens on some island slowly catching and dying from the superflu. Very bland.

 

[Constellationzero]

Just snagged a copy of Delores Claiborne. Looks short as King books go--even a little shorter than Misery, I think?

What are your thoughts/opinions on it? I also found a copy of Mr. Mercedes but I put that one back on the shelf at Goodwill.

 

[Internet War Criminal]

Should have kept Mr Mercedes

 

[nukelol]

ive only watched film adaptations of kings work and im starting to think tht is for the best. the only time i tried one of the books was an audiobook of IT. i had it on in the background while gaming and pulled the plug pretty early. instead of horror and mystery all i remember is a lot of gay shit including descriptions of fisting "up to the elbow." now this thread is telling me IT has a gangbang featuring the kids? wht the actual fuck.

 

[Candlelight Desolation]

ive only watched film adaptations of kings work and im starting to think tht is for the best. the only time i tried one of the books was an audiobook of IT. i had it on in the background while gaming and pulled the plug pretty early. instead of horror and mystery all i remember is a lot of gay shit including descriptions of fisting "up to the elbow." now this thread is telling me IT has a gangbang featuring the kids? wht the actual fuck.

That whole early part of the book is super weird and not to mention beyond over the top. Like the bar owner of the Falcon is described as having no idea it'd become a gay bar despite one of the patrons being described as outrageously and flamboyantly gay in his behavior and how he dresses, and then there's the description of the guy with the actual lipstick and high heels. The phrase King uses, "you could read the wrinkles in his cock", is still burned into my mind over a decade later.

Like the whole point of the scene with Adrian Mellon getting beaten and thrown over a bridge, only to be then killed by Pennywise, in 1985, 27 years after Georgie was killed, is to show that the cycle has started up again. Both Georgie Denbrough and Adrian Mellon were the respective first victims of the 1958 cycle and the 1985 cycle. Still a stupid writing choice.

 

[nukelol]

That whole early part of the book is super weird and not to mention beyond over the top. Like the bar owner of the Falcon is described as having no idea it'd become a gay bar despite one of the patrons being described as outrageously and flamboyantly gay in his behavior and how he dresses, and then there's the description of the guy with the actual lipstick and high heels. The phrase King uses, "you could read the wrinkles in his cock", is still burned into my mind over a decade later.

Like the whole point of the scene with Adrian Mellon getting beaten and thrown over a bridge, only to be then killed by Pennywise, in 1985, 27 years after Georgie was killed, is to show that the cycle has started up again. Both Georgie Denbrough and Adrian Mellon were the respective first victims of the 1958 cycle and the 1985 cycle. Still a stupid writing choice.

"you could read the wrinkles in his cock" christ almighty

if the whole point of all tht was just to show pennywise was back then im left even more confused. i know from his tweets and shit tht he is very liberal... so was all this to show solidarity with lgbwhatever? because i dont see how it comes off as complimentary, even as a device to show gays as victims of discrimination. idk wht im supposed to take away from it.

is king a repressed homo?
is he rubbing our noses into the lgbtq lifestyle and drinking our fascist tears? (if so shouldnt the bullies be the ones getting got?)
is it meant to illicit sympathy since mellon would still be alive if not for the big bad bigots?
all the above?

god i cant get this image out of my head of him sitting there on his typewriter drooling as he writes it.

 

[skykiii]

Has King ever written a good novel? Back in the day I tried a lot of his stuff, because the odd duality is that from a distance his work sounds interesting... some of the concepts in Insomnia, Dark Tower etc. all have promise... but then you actually read his work and he just gets bogged down talking about how everyone is absolutely psychotic, nobody is likable, and he's way too obsessed with describing bowel movements.

And of course left-wingers love his work. Probably because this is exactly how they see the world.

 

[Krokodil Overdose]

"you could read the wrinkles in his cock" christ almighty

if the whole point of all tht was just to show pennywise was back then im left even more confused. i know from his tweets and shit tht he is very liberal... so was all this to show solidarity with lgbwhatever? because i dont see how it comes off as complimentary, even as a device to show gays as victims of discrimination. idk wht im supposed to take away from it.

is king a repressed homo?
is he rubbing our noses into the lgbtq lifestyle and drinking our fascist tears? (if so shouldnt the bullies be the ones getting got?)
is it meant to illicit sympathy since mellon would still be alive if not for the big bad bigots?
all the above?

god i cant get this image out of my head of him sitting there on his typewriter drooling as he writes it.

King was at his typewriter hammering away madly while occasionally sniffing and wiping his bloody nose. Guy was coked out of his mind for most of the 80s, and the sad husk of [the current year] is just the refuse of a man who's lost all his creative powder... err... "power."

 

[skykiii]

The ending of Needful Things is true laugh-out-loud Stephen King.

Spoiler: needful things spoilers

"The coming of the White! Oh Jeezum! The White is coming!" the protagonist received a vision of a cowboy riding through a field of roses. "The White!" he screamed. He flapped his hands at the boogeymonster, casting shadows on the wall that attacked the monster's shadow. "Aiiiiiiie!" screamed the monster. The monster fled from town, his torn shadow trailing behind him. And now Castle Rock could rest easy, at least until Stephen King wanted to jerk himself off and write another novel taking place in the same damn town.

Okay how can he write more Castle Rock stories when... isn't Needful Things...

Spoiler

...the one where the town gets blowed up?

 

[skykiii]

Just because you write child sewer gangbang scenes that doesn't mean you condone child sewer gangbangs

"At least, that's what I'll say if the cops come knocking." -- King.

 

[Adrenochrome Dreams]

Stephen King has the facial features of a paedophile. I've noticed that they tend to have snubby noses and weird philtrums.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Just snagged a copy of Delores Claiborne. Looks short as King books go--even a little shorter than Misery, I think?

What are your thoughts/opinions on it? I also found a copy of Mr. Mercedes but I put that one back on the shelf at Goodwill.

Haven't read it, but I liked Mr Mercedes as a departure from the supernatural and the sequel, Finders Keepers, was also good. End of Line on the other hand... Well, what I liked about the first two books was that they were grounded in reality, just straight forward stories of a retired detective solving the case that haunts him, and later getting dragged into another unsolved case when the murderer gets out of prison and wants the treasure he left behind.

End of Line and Mr Mercedes spoilers hidden in case anyone wants to read it.

Spoiler

At the end of Mr Mercedes, the villain gets brain damage and falls into a coma, waking up but still a vegetable. Throughout Finders Keepers, he gets referenced because odd things have happened around him, like a framed photo of his mother falling over randomly or lights coming on. The book ends with confirmation that yes, Bradley (The villain) is now psychic). End of Line is then about the guy trying to get revenge on what happened in the first book, by using his new psychic powers to get people to commit suicide. Eventually the heroes find him in a new body and kill him.

Usually I'm okay with stories being one offs or even a simple trilogy but it felt like King was building up to something more. If you're not bothered by the genre shift, book three isn't too bad. But I found the first two stronger.

 

[nukelol]

King was at his typewriter hammering away madly while occasionally sniffing and wiping his bloody nose. Guy was coked out of his mind for most of the 80s, and the sad husk of [the current year] is just the refuse of a man who's lost all his creative powder... err... "power."

lmao u srs abt him abusing drugs, cuz i wouldnt be surprised

 

[Marc]

Many of my feelings concerning Uncle Stevie's pulp have been thoroughly addressed by others in this thread. Now, being as none of you Constant Readers have yet mentioned Garth Marenghi's TerrorTome: It is an excellent and highly specific parody of lazy horror writing, including plenty of potshots readers of King's novels will recognize (with The Dark Fraction being the most obvious). The only knock I have is that it intentionally drags at the same points many of the novels it takes the piss out of tend to.

 

[Big Al's Famous Pork]

I never knew I wasn't supposed to like The Tommyknockers until King told me he was on drugs and it was bad.
I will still like the Tommyknockers, despite all the bullshit Gard backstory.

 

[skykiii]

lmao u srs abt him abusing drugs, cuz i wouldnt be surprised

They're serious. King has admitted--millions of times--that he used to have a drug problem.

 

[Romeo]

I'm not too familiar with King as I don't read his works but I have watched one of his film adaptations, The Shawshank Redemption, which was considered superior to the book counterpart, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. Would this thread consider his novel to be good or something that is only elevated by the movie and Frank Darabont's direction?

 

[nukelol]

They're serious. King has admitted--millions of times--that he used to have a drug problem.

ah tht explains alot nothing like a little blow to help write sewer orgies

I'm not too familiar with King as I don't read his works but I have watched one of his film adaptations, The Shawshank Redemption, which was considered superior to the book counterpart, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. Would this thread consider his novel to be good or something that is only elevated by the movie and Frank Darabont's direction?

interesting tht the film is considered better than the book, i wonder how often thts the case, i know the shinings film adaptation was better than the book as well. king has all the right politics so i wonder how much tht helped him as opposed to actual writing talent.

 

[The Taco Santo!]

I'm not too familiar with King as I don't read his works but I have watched one of his film adaptations, The Shawshank Redemption, which was considered superior to the book counterpart, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. Would this thread consider his novel to be good or something that is only elevated by the movie and Frank Darabont's direction?

I liked it.

 

[Sparkletor 2.0]

lmao u srs abt him abusing drugs, cuz i wouldnt be surprised

As the lore goes, Steve's family confronted him about his drug use and he said it wasn't that bad. They took his trash can and dumped it on the floor and it was nothing but empty plastic cocaine baggies and beer cans. That's when he realized the extent of his problem. King also has admitted that he was so fucking high that he didn't even remember writing Cujo.

King likes to use the same quirky phrases again and again. One of his favorites is to refer to cocaine as "Bolivian marching powder."