"Writers in Paradise" weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida, featured "An Evening with Stephen King" this past Saturday, and I got to go! It wasn't a book signing and we didn't get to meet him in person; he read a brand-new story to us ("Willa"), and then did about 30 minutes of Q & A. I also got to meet some people I know from the Stephen King website via simonsays.com, which was a lot of fun.

It was a great time! Steve is so witty and has a wonderful sense of humor. He had us in stitches most the time.
One of the questions was who did he think was his most evil creation and without a pause he said, "Randall Flagg!"
Everyone cheered.

Well, I don't want to clutter up the board if no one's interested, so I'll leave it at that for now, but if anyone DOES want to chat about it a bit, I'll be glad to tell more.

Hey Lija, that is really cool, I love Stephen King!

Did anyone ask him about selling the Dark Tower to Marvel for a comic book, or what not?

Or the possibility of a movie in the future? (I think since Marvel will make the comic book there is a good chance they could produce a movie for it too)

No, I'm afraid not. I wish they'd do a DT movie, that would be great. The Q & A part was mostly about him, not upcoming projects. Except he's thinking of of setting a book in FL soon.
I'll write more later, but tonight I'm not feeling so well. Caught a cold or something.

Yup, Randall Flagg hands down lol.

The Stand was awesome.

No, I'm afraid not. I wish they'd do a DT movie, that would be great. The Q & A part was mostly about him, not upcoming projects. Except he's thinking of of setting a book in FL soon.
I'll write more later, but tonight I'm not feeling so well. Caught a cold or something.

Well I am thinking that eventually a DT movie will be made only because Marvel is going to produce a comic of the series which is slated to come out relatively soon, within the next year or two I believe. Since Marvel is releasing a lot of movies based on their comic books lately I am going to assume that if the DT comic book gets a lot of readers they may consider making a movie.

Has anyone started the new SK novel? The Fishbowl interview with him and Bill Mahar on amazon.com is funny. Also enjoyed Colorado Kid recently, short and sweet. Also I recommend Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.

FROM THE PUBLISHER
Civilization doesn't end with a bang or a whimper. It ends with a call on your cell phone.
What happens on the afternoon of October 1 came to be known as the Pulse, a signal sent though every operating cell phone that turns its user into something...well, something less than human. Savage, murderous, unthinking-and on a wanton rampage. Terrorist act? Cyber prank gone haywire? It really doesn't matter, not to the people who avoided the technological attack. What matters to them is surviving the aftermath. Before long a band of them-"normies" is how they think of themselves-have gathered on the grounds of Gaiten Academy, where the headmaster and one remaining student have something awesome and terrifying to show them on the school's moonlit soccer field. Clearly there can be no escape. The only option is to take them on. CELL is classic Stephen King, a story of gory horror and white-knuckling suspense that makes the unimaginable entirely plausible and totally fascinating.

I think that I am going to buy this on the way home from work. It sounds awesome. I'll let you know how is is.

Yes, The Stand is one of my favorite books.

Marvel is going to produce a comic of the series? I didn't know that, but then again I don't keep up w/ the comics. I should, for that sort of thing at least, but I just don't remember to half the time.

Eventually, I'll be posting in my LJ about the evening w/ SK...as soon as I get over this blasted cold. I could try to put in a link when I'm done. I say 'try' because I'm not always successful at that kind of thing. (computer illiterate. *sigh*)

If you just go to Stephen King's main site there is information about the comic there because that is where I saw it...

I want to read it, but just dont have the time right now! :frown:

Last week or the week before EW put out an issue that had the first 2 chapters. I thought it was pretty good. I've never read a Stephen King book before, but from what I read, I think it'll be my first.

My teacher was talking about it. He really enjoys SK and he told is about the first chanpter, and it sounded pretty good. I haven't read SK before, ut i am planning to start reading Carey soon.

I'm still trying to finish his last book in the Dark Tower series but I would really like to read this book since I have read most of his classic stuff. It sounds a little bit like The Stand to me, but still hopefully I have some time soon to read this it sounds interesting.

I've seen a few of the movies, the stories weren't bad, just the acting was horrible so it was really hard to get into. My brother owns the majority of his books, I should probably borrow some.

I finished it this weekend. I really liked it. Much better than some of his recent stuff. It reminded me of his earlier works. I would recommend it. :)

Thanks devilblonde - What book(s) would you say it reminds you the most of? I'm really looking forward to reading it now.

I would say it reminds me most of The Stand.
Kind of "The Stand-Lite"
BUT, Not nearly as epic.
I found it to be a quick, easy, entertaining read.

I would say it reminds me most of The Stand.
Kind of "The Stand-Lite"
BUT, Not nearly as epic.
I found it to be a quick, easy, entertaining read.

I finally finished it yesterday, as well as the preview chapter at the end for Lisey's ____ I forgot the title of the book sorry...I thought it was good, not his best not his worst---just right there in the middle. If zombie-type stuff creeps you out you'll like it. It's hard to get through some parts of it without wondering about the plot holes but nothing too bad. Overall I think IT is the most scary of the books, if you're in the market for horror.

Has anyone started the new SK novel? The Fishbowl interview with him and Bill Mahar on amazon.com is funny. Also enjoyed Colorado Kid recently, short and sweet. Also I recommend Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman.

Yes, finished Cell a few months ago. Great book. Remotely similar to The Stand. Though it is a good read, it definitely is not King at his best in my humble opinion. By the way, anyone read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - I think this is sheer genius.

Just wondering what everyone's fave book is of the master horror writer Stephen King!!!
Mine is down to 2 of them, The shining and Pet Cemetary. Also what is your favorite short story by him? If you have a fave short story. I don't know I have alot of fave short stories by s.k. Among them, "you know they've got a helluva band" and "the mist".

Loved The Stand. Enjoyed Misery.
Also liked the novella, The Running Man(So different and so much better than the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie)

The Shining and Misery tie for favorites and then The Stand

I really loved Misery and Cujo. Of his short stories, I liked The Mist. I also highly recommend The Long Walk.

I think my favorite books are The Talisman, The Stand, and Green Mile.
short story- Library Policeman, Long Walk.

i really liked Desperation, The Regulators, The Talisman, and Black House... Black House is kind of a follow-up to Black House, and The Regulators and Desperation have the same character names... Eye of the Dragon was great as well-- medieval setting

The Stand and It are still my all time favorites. I haven't read as much of SK's work in recent years...for a while he seemed to lose something to me. I have heard good reviews of some of his more recent works, so I just might get back in to him gain.

I loved The Stand. Any time you can invest about 1,000 pages in a book and still want more, I think you have a winner.

I liked most of his earlier works. For short stories, I liked "The Mist" and "The Long Walk."
I also liked "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon."

I haven't read Cell yet. I agree with Chelly; I don't often like his new stuff as much as the old. I just started re-reading "Firestarter" a couple nights ago. Haven't read that one in years.

The books are almost always better than the movies, IMO. Hence the saying,
"Never judge a book by its movie!" :)

Haha! I've never heard that Lija. But I think it's very appropriate. Although, I commit the cardinal sin of book readers. I always watch the movie first. I figure that if I read the book first, then I will most likely HATE the movie. But if I watch the movie, then I can still love the book because it is so much better. I know, I'm in the minority there.

It does make some sense, though, kitty. I know that if I've looked for a book after I saw a movie, I'll almost always enjoy the book more. So that has a certain ring of truth to it.

Many movies can be found as books, I've found. It's a matter of remembering to read the credits to find out if it's an "adapted from".

I am one of the people that flat out refuses to see the movie before reading the book. And yes, the book almost always ends up being better. The only Stephen King movie I have seen that lived up to the book was Misery, IMHO. I was even disappointed in Secret Window (which I insist on calling Secret Window, Secret Garden because I don't do well with change), and that had my boyfriend Johnny Depp in it.

P.S. Don't tell my husband about me and Johnny. ;)

I actually liked the movie version of The Stand. It wasn't perfect, but I liked the actors they got to play the roles (yay Gary Sinise) and I liked the movie, overall. When you finish reading it, strwbrry, you should check out the movie. I'll even let you borrow mine. :smile:

Thanks! I am looking forward to seeing The Stand (if I can ever finish the darn book). I :heart: Gary Sinise. He's in both of my favorite movies.

The Stand is very well done, considering it was a made for TV movie. I usually watch it once a year on DVD. I think you'll enjoy it.

Misery is probably one of the better Stephen King book turned movies. Stand By Me is good too.

Ah yes, I forgot about Stand By Me. The worst movie adaptation, IMHO? The Langoliers. Man, that was godawful...

Haha! Langoliers. I was disappointed that they didn't "scurry," like in the book. They didn't even have legs! How do you scurry with no legs?

The Motion picture adaptations of Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile were my favorites. As I stated before, The Running Man movie was god awful and nothing like King's Novella. Also, even though Steven King himself hated it, I prefer Stanley Kubrick's Shining movie over that unwatchable TV mini-series made years afterwards.

I forgot about Shawshank Redemption. That was a great movie.
And as for the remake of The Shining, I am one of those few people who likes the idea of remaking some old movies to make them look better. I don't mean this for all movies, mind you. Some are perfect just the way they are. But they bombed this remake. It was awful!

I forgot about Shawshank too! Oh, and The Green Mile. That was a good one, too.

I was even disappointed in Secret Window (which I insist on calling Secret Window, Secret Garden because I don't do well with change), and that had my boyfriend Johnny Depp in it.

I agree; the movie (even w/ Johnny!) didn't live up to the story at all.

The Stand is very well done, considering it was a made for TV movie. I usually watch it once a year on DVD.

Me too! I thought they matched the actors with the characters very well. I could never see "East Texas" without Gary now!

I forgot about Shawshank too! Oh, and The Green Mile. That was a good one, too.

I forgot to mention Shawshank too--that is the best of all the adaptations, I think. I watch it every time it comes on TNT--and it comes on TNT a LOT. OK, so I guess I don't watch it every time. LOL

I've seen parts of the Green Mile movie, but never read the book(s). I need to remedy that, I think.

Yes, read it all. :) BTW, does anyone know if they ever made a movie of The Long Walk?

Yes, read it all. :) BTW, does anyone know if they ever made a movie of The Long Walk?
I don't believe so, but I think it would make a great movie, even if just for TV.
The Running Man is a movie I definitely want to see remade just so they can actually base it on the book this time. :rolleyes:
And just to add, even though it wasn't a book first, I did love Storm of the Century. Tim Daly and Colm Feore were perfectly cast for that show.

Yeah, I would love to see The Running Man done right. And yes, The Long Walk would make an awesome movie. And they could do it so cheaply.

I've seen parts of the Green Mile movie, but never read the book(s). I need to remedy that, I think.

The books were very close to the movie. I remember when that book first came out.. it came out a few chapters at a time, a couple weeks or so apart. I bought them each on the first day they were released, I was so hooked.

That's why I didn't buy Green Mile as a serial, I knew it would drive me crazy waiting a month to finish each part. I don't have that kind of patience!

I liked Storm of the Century, too, although not enough to buy the DVD.

I seem to vaguely remember that there was talk of making a "Long Walk" movie, but they decided against it because it was inherently so bloody. Of course, this was before the current crop of movies like "Final Destination", etc., so it could still be in the works somewhere, I suppose. If anyone wanted to check out stephenking.com, the answer might be there.

I got very addicted to Stephen King's stuff this summer! I loved The Green Mile, Pet Sematary, Cujo, 'Salem's Lot, and I'm currently working through The Stand (darn school). I thought Carrie was okay, but it didn't totally grab my attention.

I just finished re-reading "Firestarter" today. I hadn't read it in a very long time. I'd forgotten what a great story it was, how it sweeps the reader away, totally making you feel immersed in their world. I kept picturing Drew Barrymore (when she was about 8, I guess) as Charlie, of course, but that didn't take away the fun of reading it again. Great story.

I've read most of his earlier stuff. Once I moved to Maine his stuff started to freak me out because they usually take place in Maine... My favorite of his is "It". Although it's a horror novel, I loved the way he captured the tone and feel of the children and their bond. His portrayal of them as children was sweet yet honest. "The Stand" was excellent as well, and reminds me of Lost quite a bit.

Hey all!
The re-make of Salems Lot (with Rob Lowe) was shot in my home town last year, and ever since then I have been meaning to start reading SK's books.

I have bought The Shining and The Dark Tower Series. Anyone have a suggestion on what I should start first, or possibly even recommend a better SK novel?
Thanks :smile1:

Hey all!
The re-make of Salems Lot (with Rob Lowe) was shot in my home town last year, and ever since then I have been meaning to start reading SK's books.

I have bought The Shining and The Dark Tower Series. Anyone have a suggestion on what I should start first, or possibly even recommend a better SK novel?
Thanks :smile1:
Surely you've heard of the Stand? Best Stephen King book yet, IMO.

Surely you've heard of the Stand? Best Stephen King book yet, IMO.

Actually no *ducks*, lol, I'll definately check it out though, thanks for the heads up.

I also loved the novella "Running Man", nothing like the 80's Arnold movie.

I also loved the novella "Running Man", nothing like the 80's Arnold movie.

Lol, how many of SK's stories have become movies? All?

I think so. Well, they still havent made a movie based on his Dark Tower books.