Stephen King is and always has been a hack. He's Danielle Steele with an ego and a penchant for taking a 100 page novel and squeezing 850 pages out of it, a pop culture parasite remnant of the lost generation whose moderate talent for spinning a good yarn was long ago done in by an inflated sense of his own worth as a, and I use this word lightly, literary figure. He thinks himself Edgar Allen Poe but he's pure pulp and with possible exception of the film adaptations that Frank Darabont has made, destined to be forgotten and insignificant in 2, possibly 3 generations after his death.

 

Sorry, a little aside there, totally uncalled for, I admit. I humbly apologize.

Whatever. He has great ways of making the familiar creepy, good ideas and can create a mood better than most writers. Especially The Stand, the first Gunslingers novels and his short stories are good. He always has trouble finishing/ending though. Still concepts such as 'low man in yellow coats' I really like. To me you and your 'he's pure pulp and with possible exception of the film adaptations that Frank Darabont has made, destined to be forgotten and insignificant in 2, possibly 3 generations after his death' just come across as pretentious particularly since you do not know this and it is completely irrelevant anyway.

Gues this little rant is also uncalled for, but hey I liked his books. Cheers.

Did not like CoT overly much first time around. It was very usefull during the waits though because I could force myself to really carefully read it and find new things in there. Kinda like rsahae said, read the details, really bite in and drink deep. I also find the BS books lighter on detail and hence a different experience during rereads (like them though as well as his other books, especially Elantris).

I also still feel angry about the way Stephen King ruined his Dark Tower series. First 4 books were just so great. Fifth was ok-ish but missing direction. The last two just really godawful and then that bloody letter to his readers, grrrrr...

Which reminds me; what's with the admonishments and censorship over 'awful' of all things?