Worst of Stephen King - Worst books or stories

Worst story collections

  • The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

    Votes: 15 10.4%

  • Different Seasons

    Votes: 5 3.5%

  • Everything's Eventual

    Votes: 9 6.3%

  • Four Past Midnight

    Votes: 9 6.3%

  • Full Dark, No Stars

    Votes: 10 6.9%

  • Hearts in Atlantis

    Votes: 55 38.2%

  • If It Bleeds

    Votes: 13 9.0%

  • Just After Sunset

    Votes: 3 2.1%

  • Night Shift

    Votes: 11 7.6%

  • Nightmares & Dreamscapes

    Votes: 7 4.9%

  • Skeleton Crew

    Votes: 7 4.9%
  • Total voters
    144
NOXIN said:
Getting through Joe Hill's story collection Strange Weather and man, for a guy that chose a penname to avoid connections with his dad... he writes exactly like his dad. Worse in fact, the lefty politics are so on the nose it reads like parody. Second story is about a gun nut white guy surrounded by ethnic characters so infallible and likeable it's like he's never met another human before, let alone a black one.
Click to expand...
I wonder if they are sheltered. When I read Sleeping Beauties, which King co-wrote with his son, Owen, what struck me is that clearly, these guys don't know any real women besides Mrs. King. These women are in an alternate world where they forge this perfect society because they know everything they need just because they learned from osmosis (Literally, one woman knows carpentry because her husband was a carpenter). And they also get along perfectly.

For Hill, I think the main reason he uses a pen name is to be taken seriously since his father literally named him Joking.
 
  • Like
  • Informative
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: Return of the Freaker, TowinKarz, The Un-Clit and 5 others
Niggolash said:
That makes you the first one I've ever heard say that. Any particular reason why? Everybody else generally considers it rto be nothing but ragebait and a massive waste of time.
Click to expand...
The Crimson King was lame as fuck. Reading his chapter felt like watching Jeremy Irons in Dungeons & Dragons, except it wasn't unintentionally funny.
 
  • Agree
  • Like
Reactions: Day Walker, The Un-Clit, Mola Ram and 1 other person
Niggolash said:
That makes you the first one I've ever heard say that. Any particular reason why? Everybody else generally considers it rto be nothing but ragebait and a massive waste of time.
Click to expand...
Yeah I don’t mean the book. I mean the very ending itself: the idea that once he gets to the tower, he goes up and and up then… it just restarts the cycle over again. First the whole Ka theme.
 
  • Horrifying
  • Like
  • Agree
Reactions: The Un-Clit, From The Uncanny Valley, Niggolash and 1 other person
Internet War Criminal said:
Yeah I don’t mean the book. I mean the very ending itself: the idea that once he gets to the tower, he goes up and and up then… it just restarts the cycle over again. First the whole Ka theme.
Click to expand...

A major problem with this, perhaps unavoidable, was that many Tower junkies had sussed out this ending, or something like it, for years before the books wrapped up. If I remember correctly, it even had a name -- "the Loop Theory." Exactly how it was going to happen nobody knew, but from all the "Ka is a wheel" stuff, a few vague hints that this stuff had happened before, and King's shameless pimping of the line, there was a large contingent of fans who had long guessed that the last line of the series would be The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
 
  • Like
  • Informative
Reactions: naaaaiiiiillllll!!!, The greater a'tuin, Internet War Criminal and 4 others
Mola Ram said:
A major problem with this, perhaps unavoidable, was that many Tower junkies had sussed out this ending, or something like it, for years before the books wrapped up. If I remember correctly, it even had a name -- "the Loop Theory." Exactly how it was going to happen nobody knew, but from all the "Ka is a wheel" stuff, a few vague hints that this stuff had happened before, and King's shameless pimping of the line, there was a large contingent of fans who had long guessed that the last line of the series would be The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
Click to expand...

The man in black fled across the desert, and the black man followed.
 

Attachments

  • elba.webp
    elba.webp
    211.9 KB · Views: 16
  • Deviant
  • Winner
  • DRINK!
Reactions: naaaaiiiiillllll!!!, Internet War Criminal, Niggolash and 2 others
The Institute is really good so far, definitely top SK adaptations I’ve seen so far. Hope they stick the landing.

Looks like it will be so much better than the Welcome to Derry multiracial bullshit.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: The Un-Clit
I had a dream about "Rage". Was the whole story about, "Yeah, your life sucks but it sucks for everyone else too. Stop being a bitch about it."

Maybe I misremember but I thought that the kid taking the class hostage just complaining about his life and everyone else explaining how their life sucked too and they just put on a brave face. Instead of shooting people.
 
  • Thunk-Provoking
  • Like
Reactions: catsandsoup and Mola Ram
Sparkletor 2.0 said:
I had a dream about "Rage". Was the whole story about, "Yeah, your life sucks but it sucks for everyone else too. Stop being a bitch about it."

Maybe I misremember but I thought that the kid taking the class hostage just complaining about his life and everyone else explaining how their life sucked too and they just put on a brave face. Instead of shooting people.
Click to expand...

He does shoot the teacher, and the class golden boy gets traumatized into catatonia, but that's about it for bodycount.
 
  • Like
Reactions: catsandsoup, From The Uncanny Valley and The Un-Clit
Mola Ram said:
He does shoot the teacher, and the class golden boy gets traumatized into catatonia, but that's about it for bodycount.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I remember the kill count was low. I thought the main character was going to kill everyone else because they had better families but they didn't so he just gave up and went to a mental hospital.
 
Mola Ram said:
He does shoot the teacher, and the class golden boy gets traumatized into catatonia, but that's about it for bodycount.
Click to expand...
2 teachers, actually. "Book Bags" who was teaching the class, and one other teacher who came to the door to try and get the class evacuated due to the fire alarm going off when Charlie set fire to his locker before going to class and shooting his teacher. (I re-read it recently)
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: Samuel Fuller, From The Uncanny Valley and Mola Ram
I remember reading IT and thinking "what the fuck" multiple times. It wasn't scary at all, just very disgusting. No idea if this was one of the books where he was drugged out of his mind. But he really went into uncomfortable detail and I felt disgusted by the way he described the children.
 
  • Like
  • Horrifying
Reactions: Cheesegirl78, catsandsoup and From The Uncanny Valley
Lovely Kin said:
I remember reading IT and thinking "what the fuck" multiple times. It wasn't scary at all, just very disgusting. No idea if this was one of the books where he was drugged out of his mind. But he really went into uncomfortable detail and I felt disgusted by the way he described the children.
Click to expand...
He was a raging alcoholic at the time, and doing lots of coke. He says he barely remembers writing Cujo or directing Maximum Overdrive.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Samuel Fuller, From The Uncanny Valley and The Un-Clit
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back