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[Vester]

While I'm pretty sure a lot of us are disappointed at the way The Walkin' Dude meets his end, and even more disappointed at the way the Dark Tower saga was resolved, those weren't Stephen King's only books. Since he tried to spin a lot of his latter novels and stories into a single vast mythos, there's a lot of room for discussion.

For example, there's something I've been wondering about.
- How are Pennywise the Dancing COSMIC SPIDER Clown and the Crimson King related, if at all? They certainly both seem to be tied to Maine in some way (IT, Insomnia), despite both of them being the Kingverse equivalent of Elder Things. (I remember, the most chilling moment of Dreamcatcher (for me) wasn't anything to do with the aliens, but the moment Jonesy - I think - comes across the memorial dedicated to all the kids killed by IT, with the words PENNYWISE LIVES scrawled across.)

Also, did anyone else like the original version of The Gunslinger better than the revised one?

Another thing: a lot of the villainous characters in the Kingverse are pedophiles. Off the top of my head: The Talisman, Black House, The Library Policeman, Needful Things, and Popsy all feature or contain characters who are so inclined. that's another thing I've been wondering about - although note that a lot of his heroes are children, or at least mentally children (John Coffey, Duddits).

Let's also discuss his novels in general, rather than the universe. For example, I found Lisey's Story kind of lacking in the driving, impelling force that imbues a lot of Stephen King novels, especially the ones I most loved. Maybe it was just this feeling that the story is set after another story, which ended badly. I'd rather have read about Scott's confrontation with the thing with the endless piebald side than Lisey dealing with the "crocodile hunters", especially since the plot itself felt sort of lackluster.

[Willfor]

I'm going to be reading Misery for the book club I'm in this month, so I'll likely be posting my thoughts of it here. It will be the first time I've read anything by him besides On Writing. Until then, I'll likely avoid it to prevent myself from getting spoiled. (despite being semi-spoiled in On Writing itself).

[Duke 2.0]

 I want to read other works of his, but at the moment all I have read were The Talisman, Insomnia and the revised version of the first Dark Tower book, which was so uninteresting that I forgot the name.

[Vester]

The original version of The Gunslinger was rather faster-paced.

If you've read the Talisman, you should probably (definitely) pick up Black House, if only to find out what happens to Jack. And I loved Insomnia, especially because of Ralph's character.

It was also the first book where I encountered the Crimson King, which is an inherently menacing name.

I'm going to be reading Misery for the book club I'm in this month, so I'll likely be posting my thoughts of it here. It will be the first time I've read anything by him besides On Writing. Until then, I'll likely avoid it to prevent myself from getting spoiled. (despite being semi-spoiled in On Writing itself).

That'd be nice! I liked Misery myself.

[Heron TSG]

And I loved Insomnia, especially because of Ralph's character.

That's the only one I really made it through. Ralph was an awesome character, and the story was pretty good. The book was scary at times (such as when you first read about the 'doctor'), but not as scary as IT. (The kind of scary where you lock it in the freezer, like a friend of mine did.)

[Vester]

IT was about that terrifying for me as well, especially since I first read it when I was 13. I'm not scared of clowns the way people usually say they are, but there was just something about Pennywise and his ridiculous savagery that struck a chord in me. I'm pretty sure that Pennywise was Stephen King's first Lovecraftian villain, something so beyond the main characters as to be (theoretically) incomprehensible.

As to Insomnia... well, a lot of the book just locked into place for me, pure and simple. Despite its sheer doorstoppery-ness, it's deftly written and put together in a way that the pace never really does slacken. Ralph was one of Stephen King's most compelling main characters, and I fell in love with his character the same way I fell in love with Randall Flagg's character in The Stand - it's interesting, I find them perfect opposites for some odd reason I can't explain.

[Muz]

I feel disappointed with a lot of his more recent books. I really did love some of his older works - The Dark Half, Pet Sematary, Carrie... but the recent books were just not that interesting. It feels that as time goes by, his books become more and more detailed, to the point that there's just too much detail and not enough action. The pace just slows to a crawl. I mean, with horror, it's sometimes more fun to have things go slowly, especially when detailing some of the scarier bits.

I'll probably go and check out Insomnia when I have the money

[Mindmaker]

I've read the Tower-Saga (once in german and then the first two parts in english), which was great, though it hadn't a satisfying ending.
Really liked Insomnia, with its unusual characters and its surreal setting.
Shining wasn't bad as well.

Bought The Stand extended version, but never finished it, because the beginning was so damn boring.
That's generally the problem with most of his books.
In the first half of it nothing of interest happens, then it starts gradually getting exciting.

[Cthulhu]

I read IT.  It was alright, but I don't see why people thought it was so scary.

[Little]

Pet Semetary was great, and The Dark Half was fantastic.

IT was pretty freaky when you finish reading it at three in the morning and your ten years old.

[Vester]

A lot of the stuff he wrote during the period when he was still writing as Bachman and King was pretty interesting. I found a collection called The Bachman Books, which contains four of them in full: Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, and The Running Man. The Long Walk and Rage are pretty good, and I'm sure we're all familiar with the Running Man in one form or another.

It's funny though, because apparently after Columbine (or some such thing), Stephen King requested that they stop printing copies of Rage, either out of responsibility or to avoid any blame. Which should be enough to tell you what Rage is about.

Yet it's still my favourite story out of the four, because it clearly shows his early style as Bachman - clean, concise, and brutal. Bachman was what made the Dark Half so amazing.

Pet Semetary was great, and The Dark Half was fantastic.

It's kinda sad when you find out what happens to Thad after The Dark Half, though.

I feel disappointed with a lot of his more recent books. I really did love some of his older works - The Dark Half, Pet Sematary, Carrie... but the recent books were just not that interesting. It feels that as time goes by, his books become more and more detailed, to the point that there's just too much detail and not enough action. The pace just slows to a crawl. I mean, with horror, it's sometimes more fun to have things go slowly, especially when detailing some of the scarier bits.

I'll probably go and check out Insomnia when I have the money

You should also check out the Mist. It's one of his later novellas, but it's a pretty much straight-to-the-point monster story.

[Cthulhu]

I also read Cell, it was pretty good.

[RAM]

I don't really follow King's work, but where did Kingdom Hospital come from?

[Duke 2.0]

 I was a little reluctant to search for Black House, as reading the back of the book made it seem too different from The Talisman. I suppose I should trust King to keep the character Jack, but I get the feeling that the Territories will be shoved out of the way.

 Then again, the Territories were hardly touched upon in the back of the Talisman book I had, so I should try to check it out.

[deadlycairn]

I managed to buy The Stand and Dreamcatcher for $4 from a book stall. Read through most of The Stand today (and now I have horrible double-vision) and I've really enjoyed it so far. Even though it took a while even for the main characters to meet up, I was happy with the pace of things. Everything has a very inexorable feel, but that might just be me.

I'll post my thoughts on the ending when I actually finish the book.

At the moment, I'm just a few chapters past

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Nick and Susan getting blown up.

That was a bit of a bummer actually, cause I liked Nick the most.

Also, I don't think I've ever read a book that puts so much detail into describing the characters - even unimportant ones. Makes everything feel more real.