I started King late. Where I came from, there was also this disdain. Oh, Stephen /King/. He writes /horror/. His books made those movies about dead /pets/.
I picked him up in grad school. I didn't much care for my first king (The Dark Tower trilogy, please don't hurt me), but I liked his style well enough to pick up a few more. Mostly recent, because that's what was handy. Duma Key, Lisey's Story. I liked them enough to dig up older ones. By the time I hit The Shining, I had decided that those people full of disdain for King were complete. And utter. Morons.
I love King because he writes genuinely entertaining fiction and tight stories while also having amazing things to say about the human soul and community and a million other things that dig far deeper than anyone ever gives 'genre' credit for doing. I love him because he keeps doing it, over and over again, because he has things to say no matter what people say about him. I love him because he can take ideas I've read a thousand times and make them new and human and interesting.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-09-21 06:06 pm (UTC)I picked him up in grad school. I didn't much care for my first king (The Dark Tower trilogy, please don't hurt me), but I liked his style well enough to pick up a few more. Mostly recent, because that's what was handy. Duma Key, Lisey's Story. I liked them enough to dig up older ones. By the time I hit The Shining, I had decided that those people full of disdain for King were complete. And utter. Morons.
I love King because he writes genuinely entertaining fiction and tight stories while also having amazing things to say about the human soul and community and a million other things that dig far deeper than anyone ever gives 'genre' credit for doing. I love him because he keeps doing it, over and over again, because he has things to say no matter what people say about him. I love him because he can take ideas I've read a thousand times and make them new and human and interesting.
The man is gifted.