• ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      The Dark Tower series is fantastic. Also, you’re in a definite minority. Steven King is well known as one of the greatest authors alive. He’s wrote duds but much of his work is regarded as great, like Pet Cemtary, Christine, and Salems Lot.

      • space_comrade [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        I get that you have fond memories of reading his books but “one of the greatest authors alive”? Really? It’s horror schlock for teenagers, it’s fun but it’s not this groundbreaking literature you’re making it out to be.

        • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 year ago

          Lol. The dude literally defined a genre. Why do you think he’s got like a dozen movies made based on his books and several TV series?

          • space_comrade [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            Amount of books sold and movies made doesn’t make him one of the greatest authors alive. Harry Potter sold well too and tbh they’re kinda mediocre books now that I’m an adult. Also by your metric the Twilight series is one of the greatest book series ever made.

            All of those are books for kids, maybe young adults, and those demographics don’t really have the greatest taste in art.

      • frogbellyratbone_ [e/em/eir, any]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        Steven King is well known as one of the greatest authors alive

        Your argument would be more persuasive if you knew how to spell his name :)

        He has a book On Writing that is very, very good. He goes through his writing process, discusses other authors, gives advice of the trade, etc. He openly admits he’s merely okay/good at writing and that there’s eons of better authors than him. He is being humble, but he’s not the greatest writer alive by any means. He talks a lot about luck, name recognition, etc. that continue to propel him, and other shit ass authors, ahead.

        The Dark Tower series is fantastic.

        Dark Tower rules. I still think Complete/Uncut The Stand is, bar none, the best shit he’s ever written without a doubt. I haven’t got to Fairy Tale yet tho.

      • Kuori [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        The Dark Tower series is fantastic

        i keep hearing this but i swear king has the dullest writing style of any author i’ve ever read. i suffered through the entire first book and when i got to the end all i could think was that i had picked up the wrong book by mistake bc there’s no way people could be lavishing praise on that shit

        to each their own ofc but king feels like one of those authors whose work is conceptually interesting but terribly executed imo

        • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 year ago

          He may not be your cup of tea, but he is for millions of others. I just looked up his total books sold. It’s currently around 400,000,000. One of the top 20 fiction authors of all time.

          • Kuori [she/her]@hexbear.net
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            1 year ago

            did you think i was unaware of who i was criticizing or something? “the bible has sold the most out of any book ever, so that makes it the best book of all time. the super bowl routinely ranks among the most watched programs ever, so that must make it the best television ever aired”

            none of these are the arguments for quality you seem to think they are. popularity and quality are not the same thing. i already said i don’t begrudge his fans, i just don’t understand them. i’ve tried reading a handful of king’s books but i find i’d inevitably rather be nailing my dick to a wall every single time shrug-outta-hecks

      • star_wraith [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        See the turtle, ain’t he keen? All things serve the fuckin’ Beam.

        I do love the DT as a series, but I certainly like some books more than others. The Gunslinger and Wizard and Glass are among my favorite fiction novels, while I’m not crazy about of Song of Susannah.

        And the patron saint of Hexbear, Matt Christman, is a Dark Tower fan.

    • star_wraith [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      Stephen King struggle session! Stephen King struggle session!

      I’m not going to defend that part of It, of course. And he’s written a ton of crap that tends to follow along with when he got sober (good for him, but bad for his writing). But I gotta say, books like The Stand, ’Salem’s Lot, The Shining, and the first 4 Dark Tower books especially 1 and 4…. more than any other books I’ve read, I was unable to put them down. Like, I would try and find time on the toilet or waiting around some to find out what happens next. He absolutely knew how to tell an engaging story. And as someone else said, like him or not he defined the modern horror genre.