Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Well I've just finished misery, which I wanted to gie another chance to being that last time I read it was 16. As I expected, I was far less bothered by the slow pace, and it helped that the reader did a great anny wilks. I liked some of the atmospheric writing and general nastiness, especially the way Paul's thought of anny changed, but again, the book did seem to drag a bit too much and to peter out towards the end rather.Not as bad as I thought, but not one of King's best, particularly since these days I'm a little more immured to gore so didn't find certain scenes that shocking. Oh, and I still! found those fake bits from the actual misery books, hammy historical romance though they were far more interesting than much of the story, :d. though I did quite enjoy some of the metaphores this time rather more than when I first read the book.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=152000#p152000 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Hi Dark. Well Christine is definitly a good read. There's a lot of mystery in it. If you haven't read Joyland yet I would say don't bother. It's a good story but it could have been much, much better.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151953#p151953 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Awsome, I'll gladly give it a try (only 3 parts? it must be a short book, or is there more to come). I hope she reccords more of her stuff, or perhaps sells audio versions, indeed I'd much rather listen to the world's worst human reading poetic or rythmic stuff than a synth, synths just don't have the way to present the rythms of the human voice, (I wince whenever reading back my own poetry, though in fairness I'd probably do that anyway however it was read).Oh, and don't worry about gushing, i've been guilty of that myself .URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151354#p151354 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Awsome, I'll gladly give it a try (only 3 parts? it must be a short book, or is there more to come). I hope she reccords more of her stuff, or perhaps sells audio versions.Oh, and don't worry about gushing, i've been guilty of that myself .URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151354#p151354 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Thankfully she's recorded a live reading of the novel on her web site for free download if you'd like. There's some occasional background noise and she stops and stutters from time to time, but it's interesting hearing the author's take on her work.http://catherynnemvalente.com/podcast/Apologies for all the gushing, I'm just a big fan and she's sadly obscure.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151342#p151342 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King I'll see if I can get any of her stuff, though that sort of thing especially! needs a human reader.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151310#p151310 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Then you'll be in for a treat. Vallente is the kind of author when reading who's style is hyper poetic to the point where you could take out any random set of ten pages and publish it in a poetry magazine.As an example, here's A few pages from one of her best novels, In the Night Garden:ONCE THERE WAS A CHILD WHOSE FACE WAS LIKE THE NEW MOON SHINING on cypress trees and the feathers of waterbirds. She was a strange child, full of secrets. She would sit alone in the great Palace Garden on winter nights, pressing her hands into the snow and watching it melt under her heat. She wore a crown of garlic greens and wisteria; she drank from the silver fountains studded with lapis; she ate cold pears under a canopy of pines on rainy afternoons.Now this child had a strange and wonderful birthmark, in that her eyelids and the flesh around her eyes were stained a deep indigo-black, like ink pooled in china pots. It gave her the mysterious, taciturn look of an owl on ivory rafters, or a raccoon drinking from the swift-flowing river. It colored her eyes such that when she was grown she would never have to smoke her eyelashes with kohl.For this mark she was feared, and from her earliest days, the girl was abandoned to wander the Garden around the many-towered Palace. Her parents regarded her with trepidation and terror, wondering if her deformity reflected poorly on their virtue. The other nobles firmly believed she was a demon, sent to destroy the glittering court. Their children, who often roamed the Garden like a flock of wild geese, kept away from her, lest she curse them with her terrible powers. The Sultan could not decide—after all, if she were a demon, it would not do to offend her infernal kin by doing away with her like so much cut grass. In the end, all preferred that she simply remain silent and far away, so that none would have to confront the dilemma. And so it went like this for many years, while thirteen summers like fat orange roses sprang and withered. But one day another child came near to her, though not too near, hesitant as a deer about to bolt into the shadows. His face was like a winter sun, his form like a river reed. He stood before the girl in her tattered silk dress and shabby cloak which had once been white, and touched her eyelids with his sweet-scented forefinger. She found, to her surprise, that she endured his touch, for she was lonely and ever full of sorrow.“Are you really a spirit? A very wicked spirit? Why are your eyes dark like that, like the lake before the dawn?” The pretty boy-child cocked his head to one side, an ibis in midstream. The girl said nothing.“I am not afraid of you!” The boy stood his ground but his voice broke hoarsely. The girl continued to stare at him while the willow trees wavered in the east wind. When she spoke her voice was the low hum of cicadas in the far-misted hills.“Why not?”“I am very brave. One day I will be a great General and wear a scarlet cloak.” At this there was almost a smile on the girl’s pale lips.“And you have come to slay the great girl-demon who haunts the Garden?” she whispered.“Oh, no, I…” The boy spread his hands, feeling suddenly that he had shown very bad form somewhere along the way.“No one has spoken so many words to me since I saw the winter snows through a warm window draped in furs.” The girl stared again, impossibly still. All at once, a tiny light stole through her dusky eyes and she seemed to make a decision within herself. “Shall I tell you the truth, then? Tell you my secret? You of all the children who wear ruby rings and smell of olive soap?” Her voice had gone so quiet it was almost without breath.“I asked, didn’t I? I can keep secrets. My sister says I am very good at it, like the King of the Thieves in the nursery story.” There was another long silence, as clouds covered the sun. And the girl began to speak very softly, almost afraid to hear her own voice.“On an evening, when I was a very small child, an old woman came to the great silver gate, and twisting her hands among the rose roots told me this: I was not born with this mark. A spirit came into my cradle on the seventh day of the seventh month of my life, and while my mother slept in her snow white bed, the spirit touched my face, and left there many tales and spells, like the tattoos of sailors. The verses and songs were so great in number and so closely written that they appeared as one long, unbroken streak of jet on my eyelids. But they are the words of the river and the marsh, the lake and the wind. Together they make a great magic, and when the tales are all read out, and heard end to shining end, to the last syllable, the spirit will return and judge me.“After the old woman vanished into the blue-faced night, I spent each day hidden in a thicket of jasmine and oleander, trying to read what I could in a cast-off bronze mirror, or in the reflections of the Garden pools. But it is difficult; I must read them backwards, and I can o
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Lol Bryan, I think your mum has a bit of a missconception about scale if she believed it was possible for Jaws to fit in her sink .I agree Dark Abomination, King can wander rather severely over miner characters, particularly harping on their various nafarious doings, that was one thing which surprised me about Doctor Sleep, that it actually cracked along at quite a pace, often too quickly as I said.Interestingly enough, Salem's lot was the King book my dad (who got me into Steven king back when I was thirteen), recommended when I complained about King wandering, since my Dad stated that Salem's lot was the one King novel that started creepy and carried on. I admit though my over all patience has improved as I've got older, (I couldn't have got through the wheel of time if not). christine is one of King's I've not read, though i'd be interested on your recommendation. Gayman I really like, albeit reading Neverwhere as his first novel (after I watched the Tv series), was probably a mistake since having now read all Gayman's novels and short stories I still regardd NEverwhere and American Gods his best. My only issue with some of gayman is that while it's amazingly written, very poetic and has a wonderful sense of fantasy, a lot is too much of a skim. Stardust felt like this, it setup fantastically and then stopped, and while mystery is a wonderful thing sometimes Gayman's level of mystery is a little too much to tell a coherent story. Grave yard book was a wonderful read with some great ideas, but it just felt like a collection of sketches, not a complete work, since the plot that tied everything together just felt far too thin in many places for all that the writing quality was so good that you rarely noticed. china Mievelle I haven't read yet (though he's on my list of authors to try), however I know Clive Barker very well. I really! enjoyed weave world, my first barker novel, however everything I've read by him sinse has just felt a come down, getting far too bogged down in rather too much x rated s/xual stuff, not merely in descriptions of incidents when they occur, (and they do frequently), but as over all themes in most of the rest of the book. Great and Secret show I enjoyed, though had to zone out during much of it, and imagica was an absolute slog in places, though in both of those books there was enough of really nicely done speculative, poetic and just planely well written fantasy and philosophical edges to make up, however the Damnation game was a disappointment, and Sacriment I actually had to give up half way through, something I literally never do with books. After that I just decided I'd read the best of Baarker and didn't want to try anymore, which was a shame since I'd still regard We ave world as one of the finest works of it's type I've ever read. Of course, I admit my genophobia makes it difficult for me to correctly assess books with such themes. For someone like Steven King, robbin Hobb, or George R R Martin, where descriptions can be extreme but occur infrequently, I can zone out enough while such things are being described for them not to bother me, however in a writer like Barker or Anne Rice where such things pretty much consume most of the book discomfort can just get a bit too much. I've not heard of Libba Bray or Catharin M vallente before, but if you like stuff with the weerd, mythological edge, I can highly recommend Tim Powers, really weerd stuff with a historical and literary twist, especially the Anubis gates, On stranger tides and Dinner at Devient's palace. Dianna wynne jones is also pretty awsome for really twisted takes on fairy tales and alternative magic. Though her books tend to be young adult or nomainall y aimed at children, in terms of concept, characters and writing they are just fascinating, it also helps she can write, although probably her most famous novel, howl's moving Castle I regard as one of her worst. Still her chrestomancy series, the stand alone semi scifi Alternate reality novel A tale of Time city, and the novel Castle in the air, I can highly recommend. I also very much Enjoyed Tad Williams War of the flowers as an example of what I believe you mean by Myth punk, as well as Brandon Sanderson's mistborn series. An author I also recently reacquainted myself with was Susan Cooper. most people know her Dark is rising series, but the book i read was Seaward, a more adult novel and almost in it's impressionistic and beautifully described setting of a journey by two characters across a fantasy world towards a highly unknown goal a prototype for series like The Dark Tower, although far shorter and more compact. I'll actually be writin g a review of Seaward for www.fantasybookreview.co.uk in the next couple of days.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151256#p151256 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sa
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King King can be good, indeed quite good, but many of his books have a ton of intentional filler. Many times he'll stop the story dead in it's tracks to give a detailed backstory on a minor character that gives an important plot point, then vanishes or gets gruesomely killed.For me at least it's very easy to get used to his slipstream style particularly when something supernatural or psychological is going on, but at the same time it really loses it's effect after you've read more than a few books. Though his characters and nature of that book's particular baddy can change, the rest of the plots and twists can get really predictable and formulaic if you know what to expect.Aside from DT already mentioned, his best books are Christine and Salem's Lot in my opinion. Christine does a really good job at capturing a distinctly early American point of view and for the most part is pretty tightly plotted and not to in your face psychological as his others.Clive Barker, Gaimon, and China Mieville are really good dark fantasy/horror authors that tend to avoid the usual horror and fantasy tropes.My prefered genre tends to be New weird and Myth Punk these days with Libba Bray and Catherynne M Vallente being some mind-blowing authors that are incredibly beautiful and rich in their writing.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151245#p151245 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King I never read Cell, though my mom did. It kinda made her afraid to answer her phone in case it was the Pule LOL. Then again she had a similar reaction to the first Jaws movie. She didn't want to stick her hand in a sink filled with water LOL.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151185#p151185 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Well that is weerd about the titles, especially if "the shining" would be gramatical in Danish. I suspect the thing about "evil's hotel" though was what the film title was translated as, this has happened before, look at the way the film version of the first Harry Potter book was still called "Sorcerer's stone" in America as was the book published afterwards.Beware! further doctor sleep spoilage below! Guitarman , I do agree completely on the psychic turn table being cool, indeed the psychic duel stuff was really rather awsome, I just wish there was a bit more to Abra than that. With the True Knot still being out there though i don't know, since only 15 of them actually left, and they did it in fairly isolated couples, with the implication that either they would die of the measles, or that they couldn't kill enough kids on their own to survive, still it might be interesting if more of them did show up. I'v e not read Joyland so can't say for certain on similarities, but I have noticed King has reused ideas in the past, for example several have featured alcoholics, and writers, and several more have featured people wandering the highways of America as pennyless drifters doing day work, either good characters on hard times, salem's lot, or bad characters looking to do nasty stuff, like The stand. I've also noticed King has a thing about tough old retired naighbors who end up as the main characters' side kick, jud from pet cemetory, or the sherrif from the Castlerock books, and indeed Dick Halloran in the Original Shining. I suppose though any writer has ideas or tropes they like to repeat somewhat, especially when they have such a large catalogue of work to go on, heck, I've just finished my third Robin Hobb series and I've noticed she has a bit of a thing about duty bound overbearing fathers, or on the other extreme amazingly tough old ladies who prove themselves more than worthy of taking charge when the time arises.And lets not even start! with different character tropes in the wheel of time :dInterestingly enough, I'm now reading stealheart by brandon sanderson, and it's amazing how many similarities that book bares to his first Mistborn novel.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151177#p151177 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Dark and Alex: Thanks for your comments.Yes, this is indeed the book called Cell I was mentioning. I don't remember where, but I read somewhere that the english translation was pulse. Lol.thanks for the comment about the dark tower series. I'll consider that, and also Doctor Sleep if I can figure out what weird translation this title has gone through. alex: Did you know that Ondskabens hotel is not the actual book but the title from the movie which was released in 2000 I think? A newer book called Ondskabens hotel was released around the same time as the movie, but I don't know the differences between those books. It's just weird and confusing that an newer book was released with the same story but a totally different title, and the movie also got released by this new title. Oh by the way, Dark: I think you're right regarding to the different languages. It's just annoying the title of books are translated that differently, so you don't have any idea about what the original title is.Edit: Doctor sleep hasn't been translated to danish yet, so if I enjoy reading The shining, I might read Doctor sleep in english. URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151160#p151160 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Dark and Alex: Thanks for your comments.Yes, this is indeed the book called Cell I was mentioning. I don't remember where, but I read somewhere that the english translation was pulse. Lol.thanks for the comment about the dark tower series. I'll consider that, and also Doctor Sleep if I can figure out what weird translation this title has gone through. alex: Did you know that Ondskabens hotel is not the actual book but the title from the movie which was released in 2000 I think? A newer book called Ondskabens hotel was released around the same time as the movie, but I don't know the differences between those books. It's just weird and confusing that an newer book was released with the same story but a totally different title, and the movie also got released by this new title. Oh by the way, Dark: I think you're right regarding to the different languages. It's just annoying the title of books are translated that differently, so you don't have any idea about what the original title is.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151160#p151160 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Dark and Alex: Thanks for your comments.Yes, this is indeed the book called Cell I was mentioning. I don't remember where, but I read somewhere that the english translation was pulse. Lol.thanks for the comment about the dark tower series. I'll consider that, and also Doctor Sleep if I can figure out what weird translation this title has gone through. alex: Did you know that Ondskabens hotel is not the actual book but the title from the movie which was released in 2000 I think? A newer book called Ondskabens hotel was released around the same time as the movie, but I don't know the differences between those books. It's just weird and confusing that an newer book was released with the same story but a totally different title, and the movie also got released by this new title. URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151160#p151160 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King
"Puls"is indeed the Danish title for "Cell". And yeah, pretty cool book. I should read that again."The shining" would in Danish be translated to "den skinnende", which means... Well... The shining. A more acurate translation on its Danish title though would be "the boy who shone" ("Drengen der skinnede"). I'm not sure if it's got other titles in English, but here it has at least two. Different translations, I guess. The other one is "Ondskabens hotel" which would be directly translated to "The evil's hotel". I kinda like that one better. Hehe.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151152#p151152
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Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King "Puls"is indeed the Danish title for "Cell". And yeah, pretty cool book. I should read that again."The shining" would in Danish be translated to "den skindende", which means... Well... The shining. A more acurate translation on its Danish title though would be "the boy who shone". I'm not sure if it's got other titles in English, but here it has at least two. Different translations, I guess. The other one is "Ondskabens hotel" which would be directly translated to "The evil's hotel". I kinda like that one better. Hehe.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151152#p151152 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Hi. Well I just finished doctor sleep last week and yes I think it did need to be longer. One of the things I thought was funny about that book was that it was very similar to King's earlier book Joyland. Maybe this is because I read them so closed together but in joyland all the people have carnival names like Jonesy and the people who go there are called rubes. I wonder if it's because joyland and doctor sleep were written so closed together?I did like the story a lot there were definitly twists I didn't expect. I do wish the true knot had more of a back story. King hints about there past riding around in wagons in earlier centuries.Spoilers!I do like the fact that at the end of the story most of the true knot are out there somewhere. Also, the fact of a psychic turn table was really cool. I loved the part of the book where Rose was trying to break into Abra's mind and got the file cabinet drawer slammed on her hand. I thin k the book pulse must be cell because that's what the problems with the cell phones were called.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=15#p15 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King I would recommend The Shining, one of his most solid early books, and you can also go on and read Doctor Sleep afterwards too. I don't know Danish, but I do wonder if the title got the change because it wouldn't work grammatically. In English, you can legitimately use a verb as a nown to indicate a state of that verb. The most common of these is the term "A wedding" which is obviously from the verb "to wed" ie, to get married. It's also common in English to refer to "the washing" ie, a stack of laundry, or "the shopping" ie, what is bought from shops. For titles this technique is used often for especially mysterious titles where the word doesn't quite explain the concept. For example, there is a very good Doctor Who audio story called "the suffering" which not only refers to an alien influence psychically projecting waves of anger and suffering, but also to the Sufferagette movement of the la te 19th century, where women campaigned, (often enduring extreme misstreatment), for the right to vote. Thus the title "the shining" refers directly to the psychic abilities of the boy in the story, but makes them quite mysterious. I'm not sure if this replacement of verb would work in other languages. For example, I know given the structure of Italian or Spanish a title like "the shining" would translate most closely to "to shine!" which would be completely different (sounds like something from the Soul blade song!), . Still, whatever it's called it was a good book.Regarding Dark tower, well I'd actually advise you read the second book before making a complete decision on the series. king himself admits the first isn't a good introduction, and I do agree it's far too long winded. The second has m uch more action and weerdness, and also introduces the major characters of the series beside Rowland, who are a lot more lively and give a very different perspective on things. I'm not sure what you mean by "pulse" unless this is another case of changed titles, maybe it was the book steven king called cell? since I know that involves a pulse from mobile phones that turns people into zombies.Then again, the title "cell" doesn't really fit in England either, since the term it comes from "celula phone" is a purely American one. over here they'd just be called Mobile phones, and I confess I never really understand the logic of the term "celula" since it sounds more like something biological .URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic .php?pid=151052#p151052 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Hi.I think The shining is the next book I'll read, because I've heard so much great things about it. the danish translation for the books name is damn weird. It's "The shining boy." Lol.I have read the first book in the tower series, and I really like the story, but I think the book is too long. I might continue the series later on, but currenly I want to read books where the story progresses quicker.I have also read Pulse which is a damn awesome book. I really like the story, and I can't recommend this book enough. There were a few things I didn't liked in the book, but I really enjoyed reading this awesome horror story.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=151026#p151026 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Yes, it's my turn for Threadcromancy! . The reason for this is that just yesterday i finished Steven King's new sequel to The Shining, Doctor sleep. While I havent' read any King for a significantly long time, having previously read through Robbin Hobb's taunyman series I wanted a break from fantasy for a while and thus fancied something set a little closer to home.The Shining is one of King's books that I really enjoyed, despite it having so many of the hallmarks I disliked in other titles like Gerald's game and misery. Isolated setting, few to no characters. Maybe it was the fact that in The Shining the story was as much about a family stuck with a violent alcoholic father as it was about a psychically tallented boy in a ghost filled hotel. Maybe it was that The Shining got straight into the interesting stuff without the hug e rambling preamble introducing millions of characters, or the massive focus on everyone's dirty little secrets that mars some of King's other novels, (really sometimes King needs to learn some people actually don't! have violent fantasies, shady financial dealing or illicit affairs). whatever it was, I really enjoyed the Shining and was looking forward to the sequel. Beware! spoilage for doctor sleep below, if you haven't read the book and don't want it spoiled, go and jump in a lake rather than reading anymore of this post!Generally i liked Doctor Sleep, even though this was distinctly less a horror novel and far more a psychic fantasy, although it had a few horror like sequences. While I initially didn't think much of Dam torance being portrayed as yet another alcoholic, just like Gardener from The Tommyknockers, I did appreciate the fact that most of the book was about Dan at a recovered state, indeed I like the way you see him at the very bottom of his alcoholic binge, then see him start to work his way out and most of the book is about his life and how he stays that way. I also liked the initial idea of the antagonists. It would have been far too easy for King to have yet more ghosts, but a group of psychic mind vampires riding around in camper vans, (the piratical names were also genius). My only real problem with them is I would've liked a little more background on where they had been in the past, especially those like Rose the Hat, jimmy Numbers and Crow daddy who were major characterws in their own right. By making his antagonists essentially a bunch of immortal, but still very human characters who just happened! to need to torture kids to death to survive, King could've had a really interesting look at their pasts, especially how they existed through time. He implies some were thousands of years old, but doesn't really say much else, which distinctly spoiled the menace of sever al villains. Also, nasty as it sounds a little more idea of the scale of their child murderings would've been good, since from the book while it was implied! that they did in several kids a year there was no clear scale. not that I actually wanted to read many long and protracted descriptions of kids being slowly cut to peaces (one was enough, and I admire King's restraint even with that one), at least a few more general hints would've been good, perhaps in conversational remniscences. My real problem with the book however wwas with Abra. Basically, the second half of the book degenerated into Dan and half the cast running around to save her, and yet Abra herself really felt a thin character. She was 12, and pretty, and blonde, and did well at school and had friends, but that was about it. King is quite capable of writing fully fleshed out teenaged girls, look at Susan from Wizard and Glass, or Bev from It, yet Abra just felt like a lot of elements chuck ed together, indeed her chief defining feature was her psychic abilities, which is always bad for a character. Even Steven King's attempt! to tie her to modern popular culture, by saying that she wanted to be Danarres in the Game of Thrones books was something of a backfire, (since frankly no parents as protective and responsable as Abra's should be letting their 12 year old kids read Game of Thrones).In general about the only thing I liked about Abra was the way she psychically fought off the attacks of the true knot, and that more due to King's writing than to her as a character. This also made the end, implying that she actually inherretted Dan's temper rather flat, since how did that temper actually contrast with the rest of her personality? well not much since she didn't have one! Maybe I've been spoilt, since recently I've read both the Liveship Traders and Game of Thrones, all of which have several adolescent female char acters who are distinctly and very much their own people, (indeed how I went from hating Malta in Liveship traders as an annoying self obsessed exhibitionist, to actually cheering for her as she grew up was fantastic), but frankly I need a little more than "this is a pretty girl" to make me
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Yes, it's my turn for Threadcromancy! . The reason for this is that just yesterday i finished Steven King's new sequel to The Shining, Doctor sleep. While I havent' read any King for a significantly long time, having previously read through Robbin Hobb's taunyman series I wanted a break from fantasy for a while and thus fancied something set a little closer to home.The Shining is one of King's books that I really enjoyed, despite it having so many of the hallmarks I disliked in other titles like Gerald's game and misery. Isolated setting, few to no characters. Maybe it was the fact that in The Shining the story was as much about a family stuck with a violent alcoholic father as it was about a psychically tallented boy in a ghost filled hotel. Maybe it was that The Shining got straight into the interesting stuff without the hug e rambling preamble introducing millions of characters, or the massive focus on everyone's dirty little secrets that mars some of King's other novels, (really sometimes King needs to learn some people actually don't! have violent fantasies, shady financial dealing or illicit affairs). whatever it was, I really enjoyed the Shining and was looking forward to the sequel. Beware! spoilage for doctor sleep below, if you haven't read the book and don't want it spoiled, go and jump in a lake!Generally i liked Doctor Sleep, even though this was distinctly less a horror novel and far more a psychic fantasy, although it had a few horror like sequences. While I initially didn't think much of Dam torance being portrayed as yet another alcoholic, just like Gardener from The Tommyknockers, I did appreciate the fact that most of the book was about Dan at a recovered state, indeed I like the way you see him at the very bottom of his alcoholic binge, then see him start to work his way out and most of the book is about his life and how he stays that way. I also liked the initial idea of the antagonists. It would have been far too easy for King to have yet more ghosts, but a group of psychic mind vampires riding around in camper vans, (the piratical names were also genius). My only real problem with them is I would've liked a little more background on where they had been in the past, especially those like Rose the Hat, jimmy Numbers and Crow daddy who were major characterws in their own right. By making his antagonists essentially a bunch of immortal, but still very human characters who just happened! to need to torture kids to death to survive, King could've had a really interesting look at their pasts, especially how they existed through time. He implies some were thousands of years old, but doesn't really say much else, which distinctly spoiled the menace of several villains. Also, nasty as it sou nds a little more idea of the scale of their child murderings would've been good, since from the book while it was implied! that they did in several kids a year there was no clear scale. not that I actually wanted to read many long and protracted descriptions of kids being slowly cut to peaces (one was enough, and I admire King's restraint even with that one), at least a few more general hints would've been good, perhaps in conversational remniscences. My real problem with the book however wwas with Abra. Basically, the second half of the book degenerated into Dan and half the cast running around to save her, and yet Abra herself really felt a thin character. She was 12, and pretty, and blonde, and did well at school and had friends, but that was about it. King is quite capable of writing fully fleshed out teenaged girls, look at Susan from Wizard and Glass, or Bev from It, yet Abra just felt like a lot of elements chucked together, indeed her chief defining fe ature was her psychic abilities, which is always bad for a character. Even Steven King's attempt! to tie her to modern popular culture, by saying that she wanted to be Danarres in the Game of Thrones books was something of a backfire, (since frankly no parents as protective and responsable as Abra's should be letting their 12 year old kids read Game of Thrones).In general about the only thing I liked about Abra was the way she psychically fought off the attacks of the true knot, and that more due to King's writing than to her as a character. This also made the end, implying that she actually inherretted Dan's temper rather flat, since how did that temper actually contrast with the rest of her personality? well not much since she didn't have one! Maybe I've been spoilt, since recently I've read both the Liveship Traders and Game of Thrones, all of which have several adolescent female characters who are distinctly and very much t heir own people, (indeed how I went from hating Malta in Liveship traders as an annoying self obsessed exhibitionist, to actually cheering for her as she grew up was fantastic), but frankly I need a little more than "this is a pretty girl" to make me want to follow a character as much as I f
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Well, King works quite well in Danish. At least I've had no problems with his books. Ooh, gonna download that audio book as soon as I'm home again. Definitely sounds interesting.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=148232#p148232 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King It's an audio book, read by the author like most things on podiobooks, (if it were a drama I'd have let you know).URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=148230#p148230 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King [[wow]], is the corridor an audiobook or an audiodrama with sounds? Interesting storry!URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=148219#p148219 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King John saul I've not heard of. if you like king's brand of horror and fantasy, though I can recommend niel gayman, indeed i just read his latest book, the ocean at the end of the lane the other day, which was rather good though not imho up to his best, Neverwhere and American gods. Graham Masterton writes particularly good purely monster horror, as does james herbert, though I find herbert's books can vary quite a lot in quality, some are good, but many really aren't. We've already mentioned scot sigler, though sigler I find far less interesting in his characters, since everyone is either a victim, an arrogant business or political type, or a complete hard case, though his monsters, and above all his gorey deaths are some of the most awsome I've seen.Lastly has anyone heard of a book called the Corridor? It was posted on podiobooks, but has since vanished from there. This is a shame since it is simply one of the best h orror/fantasy novels I know, quite up to king or gayman, indeed I'm really sorry the author (who just calls himself zan), hasn't written anything else since this is awsome! The good news however is that the book was so exceptional (one of the best things on podiobooks, and likely one of the better novels of it's type I've ever read), that I thought it was a shame for it to vanish completely just because podiobooks had a redesign. so, I'm hosting it Here on sendspace Since it was freeware anyway, there's no problem with rehosting it, or posting the link here. I'd highly recommend this one, especially if you like king or niel gayman's writing.The plot concerns a corridor which is used to travel between different worlds, and down which some highly unpleasant creatures or forces can come, and the people called Walkers who have the ability to traverse the c orridor and travel to other worlds.The principle character is an everyday australian man called Adam who has recently lost his wife, but who is saved from a carcrash by a being he can't explained, a man called Harwold groon wearing a belt of shrunken heads, who tells Adam he is destined to be a Walker.Adam doesn't believe any of this, well not until the unpleasant vivisector appears to inform him that a being called the prodromos who rules over all the worlds on the corridor is looking for him, (the vivisector is particularly awsome!). I won't spoil anymore of the plot, but suffice it to say if you haven't read the corridor and enjoy horror/fantasy ala Steven King, I'd highly! recommend it.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=148208#p148208 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King John saul I've not heard of. if you like king's brand of horror and fantasy, though I can recommend niel gayman, indeed i just read his latest book, the ocean at the end of the lane the other day, which was rather good though not imho up to his best, Neverwhere and American gods. Graham Masterton writes particularly good purely monster horror, as does james herbert, though I find herbert's books can vary quite a lot in quality, some are good, but many really aren't. We've already mentioned scot sigler, though sigler I find far less interesting in his characters, since everyone is either a victim, an arrogant business or political type, or a complete hard case, though his monsters, and above all his gorey deaths are some of the most awsome I've seen.Lastly has anyone heard of a book called the Corridor? It was posted on podiobooks, but has since vanished from there. This is a shame since it is simply one of the best h orror/fantasy novels I know, quite up to king or gayman, indeed I'm really sorry the author (who just calls himself zan), hasn't written anything else since this is awsome! The good news however is that the book was so exceptional (one of the best things on podiobooks, and likely one of the better novels of it's type I've ever read), that I thought it was a shame for it to vanish completely just because podiobooks had a redesign. so, I'm hosting it Here on sendspace Since it was freeware anyway, there's no problem with rehosting it, or posting the link here. I'd highly recommend this one, especially if you like king or niel gayman's writing.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=148208#p148208 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Hi. Gerald's Game was the first book I ever read by King. I hated it mostly because it was so slow moving. It is a good story though it takes some getting used too. The dark tower has always been one of my favorite series. It's one of those stories that will always keep you guessing.I read a sample of doctor sleep yesterday and it was awesome. That's coming out soon I do recommend you read the shining first otherwise the story won't make any sense.One author I forgot to mention before was John Saul. He also writes horror novels that are similar to King's novels.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=148166#p148166 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Well I can't really imagine misery making a good film, mostly due to there only being two characters. I'm not sure how well king would read in danish, especially since several of his books use a very specifically american manner of language and writing, heck there are a few odd elements of King's setting in the states, particularly when he starts talking about specific american brands of things or about sports and school that are lost on me, and I'm at least reading them in a dialect of the same language.That being said there are some truly astounding books as I said that I'd highly recommend even so, and their elements I'd imagine would show through even in Danish.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=148133#p148133 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King thanks for all your comments and for keeping the discussion going.I'm quite surprised that Stephen Kings books aren't more pobular here in my country. Most of his books are translated into danish which I really like, but I haven't heard his books mentioned many times. Well, I'll maybe do what I can to change that. I have seen Misery, the movie, which I got someone to explain what happened because of the lag of audiodescription. I found the movie quite borring, but also interesting. I think I would like the book, because I found it pretty difficult to folow what happened in the movie.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=148115#p148115 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King I'd disagree on king not writing bad books. Myself, several of king's I find take far to long to get going or to introduce miner characters, have x rated stuff that is a little gratuatous, ie, stuck in just to be shocking and not really to serve a purpose of the over all plot, and some even have let down climaxes.I felt this way about both gerald's game and misery, indeed in misery I enjoyed what bits I got of the hammy, historical romances with misery as the main character more than King's actual book . Tommy knockers was quite a slog in some parts, what with a lot of character that didn't seem to matter and a slow down of the over all plot, and I principly read it after seeing the sky 1 miniseries, however the ending did eventually deliver in that one albeit it took a long time to get there. This is one reason I so admire salem's lot, that pretty much throws you straight in! . The same can be said for the books he wrote under the psudonim Richard backman, which include the running man, the scifi novel that the arnald shwatzanigga film was based on, and the regulators.I as backman king was experimenting with different plot construction, and it actually does work.As regards under the dome and some of king's later stuff like cell, that is indeed what I need to have a look at. The dark tower I can't recommend highly enough. I began it when I was 13, and read the other books successively as king wrote them and as I could get hold of them (the last three I even had to order from the states because the stupid rnib didn't do them for several years). My dad and I disagree about the ending, he disliked the ending extremely, but I myself couldn't really see another way King could've! ended it at the finish, albeit I do think what happened to flag was sort of disappointing, and I did rather prefer the original order of things he wrote in the first dark tower novel where Flag and walter were said to be different people and where there was supposed to be one called "the beast" above walter, and one more above that. Apparently he did rewrite the first book at one point to be a more reasonable introduction to the series, but I've not read that version.I won't say anymore though since if anything doesn't need spoiling it's the dark tower.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=148107#p148107 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King I have never read a bad book by Stephen King. I haven't read everything he's written yet, but most of it. I will agree that some books are better than others, but none of them are bad. One book worth noting that no one has mentioned yet is Under the Dome. This summer, it has been turned into a tv series, though it doesn't exactly follow the plot of the book, since they're hoping to continue the series for several seasons. However, the book is excellent.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=148086#p148086 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King HiKing did write some weird stuff like Cujo. While it was good I thought it could have been much better.Almost all King's books have ties to the Dark tower Series. I remember at one point King called the series his uberstory.One thing I have always liked is King's unique way of writing. Like his descriptions of people like in Cell there's Mr. Speaking-in-tongues and the raggidy man. Or even in the stand there is the monstershouter.I'm looking forward to King's new book Doctor Sleep which is the sequel to the shining.Btw, if you enjoy King's work you should check out his son Joe Hill who also writes horror novels.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=148081#p148081 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King I've read a lot of King's stuff, and to be honest it does vary a bit. King himself went through a period where he was a card carrying alcoholic, and while this produced some interesting stuff it also produced books that really were not as good, or at least I didn't find them so. I've not read his short story collections accept for four past midnight, which was good in parts but not in others (the langoliers was particularly awsome). Myself, the best of King I've read have been it, The stand, Salem's lot, Insomnea, hearts in atlantis and the dark tower series, though I'd advise you to read the others I mention (especially salem's lot, hearts in atlantis and insomnea), since the dark tower ties into those particularly. Carry was enjoyable though short, and pet cemetery and Bag of bones were okay, but not imho his best. I actually need to read some more king myself, since after finishing the d ark tower several years ago I haven't read anything else by him sinse.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=148076#p148076 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Thank you very much for your replies. I'm glad you haven't spoiled any endings or something like that. I got pretty much surprised that I have access to more than 50 books by Stephen King which is, epic! So for that reason, I'll never get bored for more than a half year when thinking about all the other things I'm doing. I think I'll start by reading The dark tower series.I checked out Stephen King on Wikipedia, and [[wow]], interesting read there. Sounds like this guy really have some issues when thinking about his childhood and when he keeps writing crazy stories etc. But, who knows. URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=147983#p147983 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Hi. Slj, almost all of King's books are worth reading. Some are better than others but I've read most of his work and have never disliked any of it. The dark tower series is excellent. You should definitly read It, Dreamcatcher, and insomnia. Also check out his short story collections night shift and nightmares and dreamscapes.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=147932#p147932 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King The Dark Tower is definitely worth reading. A lot of people complained about the way te series ended but I'll say without giving it away that he ended the series the only way he really could have done and kept it believable given the nature of the beast. I also liked his one true Fantasy novel, The Eyes of the Dragon, which is itself tied in to the Dark Tower universe as are many of King's books. Another excellent read is The Green Mile, which in a break with the usual Hollywood tradition was made into an impressively faithful film adaptation. I also liked Bag of Bones and Insomnia, the latter of whhich is another Dark Tower tie-in.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=147905#p147905 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Nice, thanks a lot for your replies. Time to check what books has been translated etc. URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=147890#p147890 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King Start with Nightshift. A nice collection. I also really liked the drama of The Pet Cemetery which I still consider to have been best so far, though I should probably catch up on his newest stuff which seems to be getting pretty good reviews.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=147886#p147886 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Books by Stephen King
Re: Books by Stephen King He is definitely worth checking out. I haven't read that many of his works, but what I've read so far was indeed well written. Especially the dark tower series is worth spending some months on... (Or at least weeks, since it's about 4000-5000 pages long...)So yeah, I say go for it. URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=147872#p147872 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
