Stephen King: Difference between revisions

{{creator}}

[[File:Stephen-King-2max.jpg|frame|In the time it took for you to look at this picture, he just wrote a 1500-page novel.]]

 

 

 

 

Many of his books have been [[The Film of the Book|made into films]]. Few of those have been good films, and most of those that are good are, ironically, ''not'' horror films. This is often due to the directors of the given movies having no idea how to convey the thoughts of King's characters, which often affect their situations just as much as their actions, into workable scenes.

King is also in a rock band with a shifting lineup of fellow writers (including [[Dave Barry]], [[Amy Tan]], Ridley Pearson, and Mitch Albom) called The Rock Bottom Remainders.

 

* ''[[Carrie]]'' - [[Scrapbook Story]] about [[Butt Monkey|an abused girl]] with [[Psychic Powers]] who takes a terrible revenge after a [[Prank Date]] to the prom. King's wife stopped him from throwing the manuscript out and convinced him to finish it. Made into a movie by [[Brian De Palma]] that received two Academy Award nominations (for acting), which later received [[The Rage: Carrie 2|a sequel]] and a [[Made for TV Movie|made-for-TV]] [[The Remake|remake]]. It was also made into an infamously terrible musical that has become a byword for "flopped on Broadway".

* ''[['Salem's Lot]]'' - [[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampires]] in a small town in Maine, and the efforts of a few to get rid of them. Made into two TV miniseries. King's first visit to the Creepy Small Town, which he keeps coming back to, under a variety of names and states. Notable that his publisher advised him NOT to have this as his second book, lest he be pigeonholed as a horror novelist. Guess they got over it.

** ''[[The Lawnmower Man]]'' -- '''Very''', very loosely...

** ''Graveyard Shift''

* ''[[The Stand]]'' - [[After the End]], good and evil clash as a [[Loads and Loads of Characters|dozen characters]] journey across the land. The unabridged version of ''The Stand'' could probably [[Doorstopper|be used as one]]. Made into a TV miniseries, with a new feature film in the works, as well as a tie-in [[Comic Book]] series.

* ''[[The Dead Zone]]'' - The protagonist is plagued by visions of a terrible future. Made into a movie starring [[Christopher Walken]], and then served as loose inspiration for a TV series. Notable as a prominent American novel containing {{spoiler|the "lone gunman" assassin figure as the main hero/protagonist}}.

** ''The Body (or, Fall from Innocence)'' - Four young friends trek into the woods to see another boy's corpse. Made into a movie under the title ''[[Stand by Me]]''.

** ''The Breathing Method (or, A Winter's Tale)'' - A woman wants to keep her child, no matter what. Has never been made into a movie, and it would probably be really hard to do so.

* ''[[Pet Sematary]]'' - Sometimes the dead walk. Sometimes, [[Came Back Wrong|dead is better.]] Made into a movie.

* ''[[Cycle of the Werewolf]]'' - A small Maine town is menaced by a [[Our Werewolves Are Different|werewolf]] over the course of a year. A sort of combination short novella and [[Graphic Novel]], featuring illustrations by Bernie Wrightson (of ''[[Swamp Thing]]'' fame). Made into a movie, ''Silver Bullet''.

* ''[[The Talisman]]'' - Epic quest across America and its dimensional cousin, co-written with Peter Straub. A proposed movie adaptation has been in [[Development Hell]] since 1985 (with such names as [[Will Smith]], [[Michael J. Fox]], and [[Steven Spielberg]] being connected with the project at various times), and was at some point expected to see light as a miniseries, but nothing has came from it.

** ''The Mist'' deserves some mention, as it has gone on to influence a number of likewise highly influential games, such as ''[[Half Life]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]''. Made into a movie starring Thomas Jane.

* ''[[IT]]'' - A small Maine city is infected by an [[Eldritch Abomination]] disguised as a [[Monster Clown]], and only the children know. Made into a TV miniseries most notable for [[Tim Curry]]'s [[Nightmare Fuel|portrayal]] of said clown, and adapted again for a duology of films, with the first one to be released in 2017.

* ''[[Needful Things]]'' - [[The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday|A shop with bargains galore]], each at [[Deal with the Devil|a terrible price]]. Made into a movie which starred Max von Sydow.

* ''[[The Dark Tower/The Waste Lands|The Dark Tower]]'' - Third in the ''Dark Tower'' series. Roland's [[True Companions]] are completed, and travels through the decaying remains of [[After the End|a world that has moved on.]]

* ''Dolores Claiborne'' - "Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has to hold onto." Made into a movie starring Kathy Bates ([[Rotten Tomatoes]] gives it 87%). Second of the "abused wife" trilogy (explicitly connected by a solar eclipse and weird empathy to ''Gerald's Game'').

* ''Nightmares and Dreamscapes'' - Anthology of short stories, some of which were adapted for cable TV in a miniseries of the same name.

* ''[[The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon]]'' - A little girl gets lost in the Appalachians... with no supplies... for weeks. Made into a pop-up book.

* ''[[Hearts in Atlantis]]'' - Vietnam-era story anthology. First story was made into a movie.

* ''[[Black House]]'' - Sequel to ''[[The Talisman]]'', again co-written with Peter Straub.

* ''[[From a Buick 8]]'' - Rural Pennsylvania police keep a car - or some ''[[Cosmic Horror|thing]]'' shaped like one - secreted away from John Q Public. After finishing it, King was hit by a van [[Life Imitates Art|while the driver was throwing meat to his dogs]] and [[Author Existence Failure|nearly died]]. He worked the accident into the ''Dark Tower'' books that he had yet to write.

He is also part of a rotation of featured columnists in ''Entertainment Weekly'' magazine.

 

* [[Action Survivor]]

* [[After the End]]: Most notably ''[[The Stand]]'' and ''[[The Dark Tower]]''.

* [[The Alcoholic]]: Several characters, most notably Jack Torrance in ''The Shining'' and Jim Gardener in ''The Tommyknockers''. King himself used to be an alcoholic.

** Several pages of Gardener's introduction feature a ''disturbing'' description of what alcoholism feels like from the drunk's perspective.

* [[Anyone Can Die]]

* [[Attack of the Killer Whatever]]

** There is a direct reference to Lovecraftian mythos in the short story ''Crouch End''.

** And "CTHUN" from the short story ''N''.

* [[A Fete Worse Than Death]]

* [[Finger-Twitching Revival]]: Carrie's hand jutting out of the ground in the film.

* [[Groin Attack]]: Frequently of the non-comedic variety.

* [[Hard on Soft Science]]: In ''The Stand''

* [[Haunted Technology]]

* [[Homage]]: The short story "Jerusalem's Lot" from ''Night Shift'' is a [[H.P. Lovecraft|Lovecraft]] pastiche, written in epistolary style with sprinklings of [[Purple Prose]], and contains a [[Shout-Out]] to that ''other'' [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]] from the Cthulu Mythos, ''De Vermis Mysteriis''.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Nineties]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Creator Index]]

[[Category:The Eighties]]

[[Category:Authors]]

[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]