Life after Stephen King...

Author
Discussion

Nezquick

Original Poster:

1,528 posts

133 months

Friday 27th June 2014
quotequote all
I'm not going to beat around the bush......i'm a huge King fan and have currently read about 95% of all of his released work.

The question is, what do I turn to when i've read them all?

As I commute on the train, I read a book a week on average so i've gone through them all quite quickly. I love his style of writing and I love the horror genre but don't really know which author to try next for something similar.

If anyone has any thoughts, i'm open to suggestions?

SV8Predator

2,102 posts

172 months

Sunday 29th June 2014
quotequote all
Quite a difficult question really, as King is unique (in the true sense of the word).

Have you tried Dean Koontz yet? His later stuff is not as accessible as King, but the early stuff is similar.

StuntmanMike

11,671 posts

158 months

Sunday 29th June 2014
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I'm the same op, I could almost map my life out to his books, Salems lot was the first one I read, by the time It came out I was reading them as they were published.
I remember him being interviewed on the radio and saying his next book was going to be about a girl who digs up a flying saucer, that would have been the first book I actively waited to be published.
No other writer means as much to me, I have reread some of his older books lately and found them to be better now I'm older.
Op have you read Mr Mercedes yet, took me about two days, or Joy land, or Dr Sleep, if not get them.

Nezquick

Original Poster:

1,528 posts

133 months

Monday 30th June 2014
quotequote all
Yeah i'll give Koontz a try then I think.

I've read Joyland and Dr Sleep, just not Mr Mercedes as yet. I'm tyring to ration the books of his which I've not yet read rather than simply do them one after the other. I also need to read "From a Buick 8" and "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon".

Overall though, my favourites so far have been:

The Gunglinger series - absolutely brilliant
It
The Stand
Under the Dome

towser

1,015 posts

218 months

Monday 30th June 2014
quotequote all
Nezquick said:
Yeah i'll give Koontz a try then I think.

I've read Joyland and Dr Sleep, just not Mr Mercedes as yet. I'm tyring to ration the books of his which I've not yet read rather than simply do them one after the other. I also need to read "From a Buick 8" and "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon".

Overall though, my favourites so far have been:

The Gunglinger series - absolutely brilliant
It
The Stand
Under the Dome
I'm interested in reading his alternative history of the Kennedy assassination ( think it's called "11.22.63" ). Is it any good?

matt666

445 posts

211 months

Monday 30th June 2014
quotequote all
The Stand unedited version - I read this on my Kindle so didn't know what I was getting myself into, the paperback is about 1400 pages I think. 20 minutes reading and it's still not gone up by even 1%, that's when I knew it would be taking me a while to get through this one! Great book though and worth the effort. I've read a lot of Stephen King over the years. Presume you've read his Richard Bachman books? They're as good if not better than his mainstream ones.

Also some of the classics have a similar tone, 1984, Lord of the Flies, Koontz is a good shout as is James Herbert and Thomas Harris.

Nezquick

Original Poster:

1,528 posts

133 months

Monday 30th June 2014
quotequote all
towser said:
Nezquick said:
Yeah i'll give Koontz a try then I think.

I've read Joyland and Dr Sleep, just not Mr Mercedes as yet. I'm tyring to ration the books of his which I've not yet read rather than simply do them one after the other. I also need to read "From a Buick 8" and "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon".

Overall though, my favourites so far have been:

The Gunglinger series - absolutely brilliant
It
The Stand
Under the Dome
I'm interested in reading his alternative history of the Kennedy assassination ( think it's called "11.22.63" ). Is it any good?


Well worth a read. TBH it wasn't what I expected at all but it's certainly one of his more thought provoking books.

Nezquick

Original Poster:

1,528 posts

133 months

Monday 30th June 2014
quotequote all
matt666 said:
The Stand unedited version - I read this on my Kindle so didn't know what I was getting myself into, the paperback is about 1400 pages I think. 20 minutes reading and it's still not gone up by even 1%, that's when I knew it would be taking me a while to get through this one! Great book though and worth the effort. I've read a lot of Stephen King over the years. Presume you've read his Richard Bachman books? They're as good if not better than his mainstream ones.

Also some of the classics have a similar tone, 1984, Lord of the Flies, Koontz is a good shout as is James Herbert and Thomas Harris.
Yes i've read his Bachman books. They're very good but from the style, it wouldn't have taken a genius to work out it was him - no wonder he was rumbled. For instance, he's the only writer i've come across who uses teh phrase "full dark" and that's included in one of the Bachman books (can't remember which).

The full version of The Stand is epic. One of the best "good v evil" books i've ever read.

knotweed

1,988 posts

183 months

Tuesday 1st July 2014
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Joe Hill? King's son and writes in similar style.

IroningMan

10,299 posts

253 months

Wednesday 2nd July 2014
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Dean Koontz for certain.

The long version of The Stand runs to 47 hours on audio...excellent stuff.

LordGrover

33,699 posts

219 months

Thursday 3rd July 2014
quotequote all
matt666 said:
The Stand unedited version - I read this on my Kindle so didn't know what I was getting myself into, the paperback is about 1400 pages I think. 20 minutes reading and it's still not gone up by even 1%, that's when I knew it would be taking me a while to get through this one! Great book though and worth the effort. I've read a lot of Stephen King over the years. Presume you've read his Richard Bachman books? They're as good if not better than his mainstream ones.

Also some of the classics have a similar tone, 1984, Lord of the Flies, Koontz is a good shout as is James Herbert and Thomas Harris.
Is there an 'edited' version?
I read it donkey's years ago - thought I might revisit after this reminder. The only edition on Amazon UK is 1,348 pages; click.

Nezquick

Original Poster:

1,528 posts

133 months

Thursday 3rd July 2014
quotequote all
I believe the original version (released 1978) was just over 800 pages. The full version was released in 1990.

StuntmanMike

11,671 posts

158 months

Friday 4th July 2014
quotequote all
Nezquick said:
Yeah i'll give Koontz a try then I think.

I've read Joyland and Dr Sleep, just not Mr Mercedes as yet. I'm tyring to ration the books of his which I've not yet read rather than simply do them one after the other. I also need to read "From a Buick 8" and "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon".

Overall though, my favourites so far have been:

The Gunglinger series - absolutely brilliant
It
The Stand
Under the Dome
Favourite King books, difficult.
Salems lot.
It.
The Talisman.
Black house.
Then I really don't know, I loved the Dark tower series, I'm going to have to reread a few, I haven't read some since they were published.
Books I have disliked,
Under the dome.
Carrie.
The Stand. ( although I intend rereading this. ).

bint

4,664 posts

231 months

Saturday 5th July 2014
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I found James Herbert after about 6 King books and decided I preferred him. My first read was The Magic Cottage.

StuntmanMike

11,671 posts

158 months

Thursday 10th July 2014
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bint said:
I found James Herbert after about 6 King books and decided I preferred him. My first read was The Magic Cottage.
I quite like him myself, Dean Koontz is a no no for me, I think James Herbert's death was a big loss, I did think his last book was cack though.

gregd

1,715 posts

226 months

Wednesday 16th July 2014
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Nezquick said:
Yeah i'll give Koontz a try then I think.



I'm interested in reading his alternative history of the Kennedy assassination ( think it's called "11.22.63" ). Is it any good?


I really enjoyed it. It lulls a little 3/4 of the way through but it's a very entertaining book.


Nightmare

5,230 posts

291 months

Wednesday 23rd July 2014
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random horror charity bookshop find was a guy called Richard Layman - and it was actually pretty damn good. I like Herbert, but think both Koontz and King are a fair bit better

I did enjoy reading IT, but the ending.....god thats awful.

i thought Insomnia was one of his better recent releases....(assuming thats the one about the old people!)

spats

838 posts

162 months

Wednesday 23rd July 2014
quotequote all
Big King fan here. Although I've slipped in recent years and not found the time to read anything after The Dome.

James Herbert is a good shout, as is Dean Koontz. Also Richard Laymon is another good one. I used to read Shaun Hutson as well.

First book I read was Four Past Midnight and the first story The Langoliers and the Sun Dog stories blew my mind!

Some Gump

12,868 posts

193 months

Wednesday 23rd July 2014
quotequote all
I also enjoy King, but surely Cell, and Leseys Story have to be classified under the heading "bilge?"
I think The Stand is my fave, if for no other reason it takes nearly half a holiday to get through - although the Bachman Books are pretty damn epic as well...

blindswelledrat

25,257 posts

239 months

Wednesday 23rd July 2014
quotequote all
towser said:
I'm interested in reading his alternative history of the Kennedy assassination ( think it's called "11.22.63" ). Is it any good?
Of all the words you would apply to a normal King novel, "Boring" is not one of them.
In the case of that one, though, it was applicable. I only read half of it and normally I have nothing bad to say about him.