Horror, Fantasy, and other non-sci-fi genres...

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Originally Posted by Winston*

I have The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon in my bag atm to start reading today. My 3rd King book (+ the short story 'The Jaunt'). Bought it for 10 cents.

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"The Jaunt" is one of my all-time favorite stories. What a fucking amazing story that is. That ending! Holy hell....the horror.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is the book that got adult-me back into King. I hadn't read anything by him in about 15 years, and picked that one up for super cheap. Read it in a day and was hooked; I started to re-read everything with a fresh appreciation for his talents.

I highly recommend The Dark Tower series, and The Stand if you haven't read those.

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Originally Posted by D_Davis

"The Jaunt" is one of my all-time favorite stories. What a fucking amazing story that is. That ending! Holy hell....the horror.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is the book that got adult-me back into King. I hadn't read anything by him in about 15 years, and picked that one up for super cheap. Read it in a day and was hooked; I started to re-read everything with a fresh appreciation for his talents.

I highly recommend The Dark Tower series, and The Stand if you haven't read those.

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I've read The Long Walk and 'Salems Lot. I thought of giving The Dark Tower books a go at some point, but reading about all the King intertextuality turned me off.

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Originally Posted by Winston*

I thought of giving The Dark Tower books a go at some point, but reading about all the King intertextuality turned me off.

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That's the stuff I really like. King takes a big epic quest fantasy, and turns it into a personal story about art and the artist. He takes a bunch of genre tropes, and examines them in how they impacted his life, his fiction, and the worlds he created. It's quite remarkable, if you're into that kind of meta stuff, the relationship between the artist and the art - I know that some people aren't.

The Long Walk is masterful, as is 'Salem's Lot.

Yeah, this discussion is going to get pretty heated if I continue.

Suffice it to say, I greatly disagree with the idea that one can be so very certain of one's superior tastes. That's pretty douchey.

Completely casting my opinion aside with "it just wasn't the right time for you to read it - don't worry, sometime you'll see how right I am!" is equally asinine.

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Originally Posted by megladon8

Suffice it to say, I greatly disagree with the idea that one can be so very certain of one's superior tastes. That's pretty douchey.

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By the same token, thinking one's opinion is valid, simply because it can be expressed out loud, is idiotic.

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Originally Posted by D_Davis

That's the stuff I really like. King takes a big epic quest fantasy, and turns it into a personal story about art and the artist. He takes a bunch of genre tropes, and examines them in how they impacted his life, his fiction, and the worlds he created. It's quite remarkable, if you're into that kind of meta stuff, the relationship between the artist and the art - I know that some people aren't.

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Don't have any problem with metatextuality. I'm a lit major after all. Just thought I wouldn't be able to appreciate that aspect of the series if I hadn't experienced much of Kings books.

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Originally Posted by Irish

By the same token, thinking one's opinion is valid, simply because it can be expressed out loud, is idiotic.

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If you can articulate reasons behind your opinion and its validity, there's nothing idiotic about having your own opinion.

We're not talking about opinions on human rights and ethics, here. We're talking about art and culture.

If someone can give a well-thought argument for their belief that Transformers is a better film than Citizen Kane, I see no reason why their opinion cannot be treated as valid.

When I was in Jiu Jitsu there was this kid 2 or 3 years older than me who, whenever someone said something that he didn't agree with, he would respond with "oh it's okay. Everyone has a right to their own opinion even when it's WRONG!"

Read the first page of The Last Dragon on Amazon. Just ordered that shit, bros.

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Originally Posted by megladon8

Completely casting my opinion aside with "it just wasn't the right time for you to read it - don't worry, sometime you'll see how right I am!" is equally asinine.

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It's happened to me many, many times, and I never think that the person suggesting it is douchey, especially if they recommended me the thing in a thoughtful manner, and I usually discover that they were right.

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Originally Posted by Winston*

Don't have any problem with metatextuality. I'm a lit major after all. Just thought I wouldn't be able to appreciate that aspect of the series if I hadn't experienced much of Kings books.

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That makes sense, and I think you're right on that one.

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Originally Posted by Winston*

Read the first page of The Last Dragon on Amazon. Just ordered that shit, bros.

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Right on, dude.

LD has one of my favorite opening sentences; I was hooked from the very beginning. I'm going to re-read it this year. Such a beautiful and poetic fantasy, thick with atmosphere, mystery, and weirdness. It's the fantasy by which I measure all others.

McDermott also writes the absolute best female characters in genre fiction, regardless of medium. They're strong, not juvenile male fantasies, have interesting conversations about things not related to men and relationships, and are the driving force in many of his stories. As a matter of fact, I can't name another author that I've read who writes female characters with more conviction.

One thing I really like about Mistborn is the magic system. It is very, very cool.

But that dialog! YAK! Jesus....I can't recall a book with more on-the-nose, expository dialog.

Full Dark No Stars is excellent so far. I'm through "1922" (oof), "Big Driver" (agck), and the first bit of "Fair Extension" (hah!).

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Originally Posted by Dead & Messed Up

Full Dark No Stars is excellent so far. I'm through "1922" (oof), "Big Driver" (agck), and the first bit of "Fair Extension" (hah!).

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It lives up to its title. I feel like 1922 is King's attempt at a Lansdale pastiche.

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Originally Posted by D_Davis

Right on, dude.

LD has one of my favorite opening sentences; I was hooked from the very beginning. I'm going to re-read it this year. Such a beautiful and poetic fantasy, thick with atmosphere, mystery, and weirdness. It's the fantasy by which I measure all others.

McDermott also writes the absolute best female characters in genre fiction, regardless of medium. They're strong, not juvenile male fantasies, have interesting conversations about things not related to men and relationships, and are the driving force in many of his stories. As a matter of fact, I can't name another author that I've read who writes female characters with more conviction.

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I wanted to buy The Divinity Student at the same time, but I can't find that book for less than $80 US.

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Originally Posted by Winston*

I wanted to buy The Divinity Student at the same time, but I can't find that book for less than $80 US.

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There is an omnibus version that contains the sequel as well:

http://www.amazon.com/San-Veneficio-...3585269&sr=1-7

BTW, I was talking to McDermott this morning, and his new novel MAZE should be out this year, and the final part of the Dogsland trilogy will be out early next year. I've read a rough draft of MAZE and it was good (looking forward to reading the final draft), and the Dogsland books have been amazing so far - they are very, very low fantasy. I've compared them to The Wire, if The Wire was a very low urban fantasy. They're subtle and nuanced to the core - very small and quiet, punctuated with violence and phantasmagoria.

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Originally Posted by D_Davis

There is an omnibus version that contains the sequel as well:

http://www.amazon.com/San-Veneficio-...3585269&sr=1-7

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Ah. Cheers. His website should make this more clear.

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Originally Posted by Winston*

Ah. Cheers. His website should make this more clear.

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I don't think he updates his website much. From what I gather, he's kind of a Luddite.

Gave up on Mistborn. Just couldn't stand another page of expository dialog.

And in preparation for Dr. Sleep, I started a re-read of The Shining. Goddamn this is a fantastic book. Haven't read it since I was in jr. high. So well written, and it gets so deep into the characters, their pathos, and their own trips into their personal hells.

New Michael Cisco this October! A novel called, Member.

Can't wait to see where he goes after Celebrant.

I ordered the two first volumes of the "Dogsland" trilogy to give McDermott another shot.

Interested to see what you think of those. Very different than LD. Very small and personal.

Man, The Shining is fantastic.

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Originally Posted by D_Davis

Interested to see what you think of those. Very different than LD. Very small and personal.

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Me too. With "Last Dragon", I found his prose undeniably gorgeous, but the story itself just lost me about halfway.

I've been reading a lot of small press horror, sci fi and fantasy stuff lately. In a month or two I am going to make a little list of some author discoveries I've made. I hope you'll check them out!