The Body and The Shawshank Redemption are two novelettes that are not only excellent stories, but they made excellent movies (The Body was the story that Stand by Me was based on. The Green Mile was very good IMO.
Then he has his dogs. A number of his early works had really dumb endings and to me, a book with an F- ending just can't be considered very good. Salelm's Lot, Firestarter, The Shining (which was very good up until everything blew up, IMO) are a few examples. I think Carrie and The Dead Zone were pretty good, and the Stand was too, but I knew half way in that everything was going to blow up.
There was one forgettable book, i forget the title, that involved kids and a scary clown and a sewer system or something under the town that of course blew up at the end of the story, taking most of the town with it (they made a mini series out of it I think) that was just terrible. Stupid - threw it across the room when I finished it. IMO, of course.
So anyway, I don't think that you can dismiss King as a hack. He has his moments, and I think some of his work will stand for a long time. Like Dickens'.
-- Doug GSV So There _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
