King, Stephen

Average customer rating:

Pretty Good...
Poor Lisey--She deserved much better
A smucking good read
Dreadful
Zzzzzzzz

Lisey's Story
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743289412
Release Date: 2006-10-24

Amazon.com

Since his first novel was published in 1974, Stephen King has stretched the boundaries of the written word, not only bringing horror to new heights, but trying his hand at nearly every possible genre, including children's books, graphic novels, serial novels, literary fiction, nonfiction, westerns, fantasy, and even e-books (remember The Plant?). With Lisey's Story, once again King is trying something different. Lisey's Story is as much a romance as it is a supernatural thriller--but don't let us convince you. Who better to tell readers if King has written a romantic thriller than Nora Roberts? We asked Nora to read Lisey's Story and give us her take. Check out her review below. --Daphne Durham

<hr size="1">Guest Reviewer: Nora Roberts

<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/books/promos/a-plus/angels.tilt.1.jpg" border="0" align="left"> Nora Roberts, who also writes under the pseudonym J.D. Robb, is the author of way too many bestselling books to name here (over 150!), but some of our favorites include: Angels Fall, Born in Death, Blue Smoke, and The Reef. 

Stephen King hooked me about three decades ago with that sharply faceted, blood-stained jewel, The Shining. Through the years he's bumped my gooses with kiddie vampires, tingled my spine with beloved pets gone rabid, justified my personal fear of clowns and made me think twice about my cell phone. I've always considered The Stand--a long-time favorite--a towering tour de force, and have owed its author a debt as this was the first novel I could convince my older son to read from cover to cover.

But with Lisey's Story, King has accomplished one more feat. He broke my heart.

Lisey's Story is, at its core, a love story--heart-wrenching, passionate, terrifying and tender. It is the multi-layered and expertly crafted tale of a twenty-five year marriage, and a widow's journey through grief, through discovery and--this is King, after all--through a nightmare scape of the ordinary and extraordinary. Through Lisey's mind and heart, the reader is pulled into the intimacies of her marriage to bestselling novelist Scott Landon, and through her we come to know this complicated, troubled and heroic man.

Two years after his death, Lisey sorts through her husband's papers and her own shrouded memories. Following the clues Scott left her and her own instincts, she embarks on a journey that risks both her life and her sanity. She will face Scott's demons as well as her own, traveling into the past and into Boo'ya Moon, the seductive and terrifying world he'd shown her. There lives the power to heal, and the power to destroy.

Lisey Landon is a richly wrought character of charm and complexity, of realized inner strength and redoubtable humor. As the central figure she drives the story, and the story is so vividly textured, the reader will draw in the perfumed air of Boo'ya Moon, will see the sunlight flood through the windows of the Scott's studio--or the night press against them. Her voice will be clear in your ear as you experience the fear and the wonder. If your heart doesn't hitch at the demons she faces in this world and the other, if it doesn't thrill at her courage and endurance, you're going to need to check with a cardiologist, first chance.

Lisey's Story is bright and brilliant. It's dark and desperate. While I'll always consider The Shining, my first ride on King's wild Tilt-A-Whirl, a gorgeous, bloody jewel, I found, on this latest ride, a treasure box heaped with dazzling gems.

A few of them have sharp, hungry teeth. --Nora Roberts <hr noshade="noshade" size="1" class="bucketDivider" /><div class="bucket">

Book Description

Lisey Debusher Landon lost her husband, Scott, two years ago, after a twenty-five-year marriage of the most profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, bestselling novelist and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey had to learn from him about books and blood and bools. Later, she understood that there was a place Scott went -- a place that both terrified and healed him, that could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live. Now it's Lisey's turn to face Scott's demons, Lisey's turn to go to Boo'ya Moon. What begins as a widow's effort to sort through the papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited. Perhaps King's most personal and powerful novel, Lisey's Story is about the wellsprings of creativity, the temptations of madness, and the secret language of love.

Customer Reviews:

Pretty Good..........2007-06-26

After everything was said and done I actually enjoyed this story. The language between Lisey and Scott didn't really bother me and it did take about a chapter or two before the pace started to pick up in the story. After her flashback of the shovel scene don't give up reading the book. What I really liked most about the story is the mystery in Scott's past. It was almost as if all these questions kept popping up earlier in the book that I was so desperate to find the answers too. I asked for more than I could chew when Scott revealed what happened to his brother and father. Crazyyyyyyy! Had me scared. During those scenes I found myself sitting up anxious to know what happened. Also the "cowboy" coming after Lisey was a sit-up moment. Other than that you really just relax reading the book. Boo'ya Moon was expansive but you really didn't get the feel of it being so. I have to say that I did like Lisey. Of course when reading you imagine your character's appearance how you want them to appear but I honestly enjoyed Lisey and all of her sorrow, joy, determination, etc. I felt like I was satting alongside her the entire time revealing Scott's mystery. Some things I think were still left unanswered for me. Sometimes I don't get it until a second reading (took me four days to finish this one) but I wanted to know exactly what "long boy" was or what it represented. See I can only take things for what they appear on my first try and I was so caught up in the story I didn't think too much about it. Next I really wanted to know what was "bad-gunky" exactly. Now Scott mentioned later in the book that it was something simple that got to his brother and father. Like a virus of some sort but I still was left wondering exactly what it was and where did it come from. It was so frightening to see it come alive in his family that I wanted an explaination from a survivor. I guess that's left for me to search and figure out. Anyway, this is a great story. It has it's moments as it paces along but to get to all the little nasty goodies of Scotts past. It's worth the read.

Poor Lisey--She deserved much better.......2007-06-25

I'll skip the plot summary since it's already written elsewhere by much better writers than me, and focus on the book itself. First, this was clearly a novella or long short story that somehow got rounded out into a much larger mess (Even Kings states in the afterward that even his editor used a merciless red pen to the point it had become illegible. I'm not so sure King was exaggerating).

If you are planning to buy it and are wondering if you'll ever get back the rewards from reading a good book, the answer is no--IMHO. From the ridiculous characters, artless writing, puerile phrases and made-up words like smucking, bad-gunky, bools, Incunks, blood-bools, and the oft-repeated Jesus, Mary, and JoJo the carpenter (ha ha, get it? there's lots more, and it's a treat), to the glacial pace of plots, subplots, and sub-subplots. Those made-up words are part of the secret language of love between Lisey and Scott (the dead hubby who is a fractured man but who really, really loved his wife). I mean, he smucking loved her. More on that love in a bit.

The supporting characters are all sisters (similar to King's real-life extended family--his wife has five sisters, and I guess this is payback? Flattery?), and it's like a freakish gathering of King's female protagonists from past books, but now each is given bit parts (except for one) in varying degrees of plot thickeners (like corn starch, they add zero nutritional value, but you need them for filler). One sister is Dolores Clairborne, another Rose Madder, still another like that mother from Pet Semetery, and well, you get it. If you've read all his books as I have, you will hear each voice clearly, drowning out Lisey's unremarkable character, the pro-angst-onist.

Yes, Lisey (pronounced Leecey), has a lot of angst, two years after her spouse's death. And let's be clear: King doesn't create a Father-Knows-Best husband, or even an Al Bundy wannabe. The former wins best Dad of the year, the latter gets the Homer Simpson "never try" award, but at least each was fun to watch in their day and age.

No, our Scott Landon is a selfish lout who comes across as being cuckolded by his very first date with Lisey, only getting worse with marriage.
Scott to Lisey: If you marry me, NO children, as they might be born with the bad gunky. (Don't ask, it's even painful writing it here). Doesn't tell her why until her eggs have dried up and it's too late. Nice.
She is shown as nothing more than appendage on his book tours, with a silver shovel for luck.
He's a drunk. He talks too much and talks at his wife. Even she knows he's a schmuck.
He self-mutilates (to do that blood-letting thing which releases the gunky). But he IS a fast healer!
And, contrary to the book's title, this is all about Scott, his brother, his upbringing, his father, his everything. The world really did revolve around him. Lisey never had a chance with a catch like him! But the baggage he carried, you might say, should make up for it. Dear God, if everyone with baggage used that excuse, the world would be a very ugly place.

The last third of the book is about more gunky, how Scott with ADHD (which they talk about) has planned out this intricate plan to save Lisey's sister, for AFTER he's dead, set her on her own 'scavenger' hunt, and, by golly, get her RC cola when it's all said and done. The only truly interesting plot thread, of the many, is THE STALKER. If he had written a book about a famous novelist's widow dealing with a truly mad fan, and everything else was background noise, I'd give it five stars. Any chapter with the sociopath involved was VINTAGE King. Only he knows how to make a truly terrifying nut job. But alas, this was a minor plot point that he seemed to flesh out when he realized the book was going nowhere after 150 pages. Yes, 150 pages of yawning, boring, non-sequiturs. Even stalker-man seemed bored until he found his talents with a corkscrew and human flesh. And I give King's book a star for that character.

If you've read King's books on alternative Universes, Multi-verses, and loved The Talisman, Black House, the entire Gunslinger series, then you'll be in for a shock at how he took a subject he's normally quite adept at and made a mess of things (except for McStalker McCool). I really do love 99% of his books, but this novel (a long short story), is not the kind I looked forward to reading every night. And I base a good book (you can write it in crayon and I wouldn't care) on how quickly I want to drop what I'm doing and get back to reading. Poor Lisey, she deserved so much better from King, the husband, and my attention span. Bool. The End.

A smucking good read.......2007-06-22

Once again, master storyteller, Stephen King, has smucking blown me away. It took me less than a week to read this 512-page riveting, spellbinding novel, and those adjectives don't come close to how it made me feel while I was reading it, but they'll have to do for the moment. I love the way he literally crawls inside the brains and hearts of his characters and then displays it for the reader on the written page. I was caught up in the unfolding drama the same way I was when I was years younger and I read "It"...I just couldn't put the book down. Up until the very end, however, I was having a difficult time understanding why this book was categorized as a romance novel. I can grasp it now; now that I've read the entire book. Lisey's Story is not your typical "romance", though. How could it be? Stephen King wrote it. I don't think he is capable of mass-producing what society refers to as trashy romance novels. He is so far above that, or beyond that, or whatever you want to call it. He's been my idol for a long time and if the truth were known, he is probably the impetus behind my own style of writing. Not that I try to copy him or emulate him in my books, or even that I could, but he is the one who got me interested in reading and then eventually writing my own novels. Great big kudos, Stephen King! SOWISA!!!!! P.S. If you want to know what smucking means, you'll have to read the book!
Joyce Marie Taylor-Author and Poet

Dreadful.......2007-06-22

I am a King apologist. I have defended him for years, even after the cop out ending of the Dark Tower series.

This however is the only book i've started but not finished. The whole 'smucking' thing made my flesh crawl, it was emotion by numbers.

I sincerely hope this was a one off but there seems to be a trend occurring. 'Cell' was readable, just.

What happened to the boy who wrote The Stand?

Sobriety killed the muse?

Wouldn't be the first time.

Zzzzzzzz.......2007-06-22

Om my gosh what was Stephen King thinking? I have NEVER been able to NOT finish a book before. I couldn't get past page 97. I'm so sorry Mr. King, but I just couldn't do it! What exactly is this book about? I got lost after the first couple paragraphs and even reread them to see if I could figure it out. Nope. Not worth it. Gonna sell this one. Sorry if it's YOU that ends up with it...

Average customer rating:

Wonderful Book
Simple and brilliant.
King's style shines even in the classroom!!!
One of the best books for writers
Must Reading for Aspiring Writers

On Writing
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0743455967

Amazon.com

Short and snappy as it is, Stephen King's On Writing really contains two books: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a tough-love lesson for aspiring novelists. The memoir is terrific stuff, a vivid description of how a writer grew out of a misbehaving kid. You're right there with the young author as he's tormented by poison ivy, gas-passing babysitters, uptight schoolmarms, and a laundry job nastier than Jack London's. It's a ripping yarn that casts a sharp light on his fiction. This was a child who dug Yvette Vickers from Attack of the Giant Leeches, not Sandra Dee. "I wanted monsters that ate whole cities, radioactive corpses that came out of the ocean and ate surfers, and girls in black bras who looked like trailer trash." But massive reading on all literary levels was a craving just as crucial, and soon King was the published author of "I Was a Teen-Age Graverobber." As a young adult raising a family in a trailer, King started a story inspired by his stint as a janitor cleaning a high-school girls locker room. He crumpled it up, but his writer wife retrieved it from the trash, and using her advice about the girl milieu and his own memories of two reviled teenage classmates who died young, he came up with Carrie. King gives us lots of revelations about his life and work. The kidnapper character in Misery, the mind-possessing monsters in The Tommyknockers, and the haunting of the blocked writer in The Shining symbolized his cocaine and booze addiction (overcome thanks to his wife's intervention, which he describes). "There's one novel, Cujo, that I barely remember writing."

King also evokes his college days and his recovery from the van crash that nearly killed him, but the focus is always on what it all means to the craft. He gives you a whole writer's "tool kit": a reading list, writing assignments, a corrected story, and nuts-and-bolts advice on dollars and cents, plot and character, the basic building block of the paragraph, and literary models. He shows what you can learn from H.P. Lovecraft's arcane vocabulary, Hemingway's leanness, Grisham's authenticity, Richard Dooling's artful obscenity, Jonathan Kellerman's sentence fragments. He explains why Hart's War is a great story marred by a tin ear for dialogue, and how Elmore Leonard's Be Cool could be the antidote.

King isn't just a writer, he's a true teacher. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

"Long live the King" hailed Entertainment Weekly upon the publication of Stephen King's On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer's craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King's advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported near-fatal accident in 1999 -- and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it -- fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.

Download Description

For years I dreamed of having the sort of massive oak slab that would dominate a room.... In 1981 I got the one I wanted and placed it in the middle of a spacious, skylighted study in the rear of the house. For six years I sat behind that desk either drunk or wrecked out of my mind.... A year or two after I sobered up, I got rid of that monstrosity and put in a living-room suite where it had been....In the early nineties, before they moved on to their own lives, my kids sometimes came up in the evening to watch a basketball game or a movie and eat pizza....I got another desk -- it's handmade, beautiful, and half the size of the T. rex desk. I put it at the far west end of the office, in a corner under the eave....I'm sitting under it now, a fifty-three-year-old man with bad eyes, a gimp leg, and no hangover. I'm doing what I know how to do, and as well as I know how to do it. I came through all the stuff I told you about ... and now I'm going to tell you as much as I can about the job.... It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support-system for art. It's the other way around. --

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful Book.......2007-06-15

This was a wonderful book and a delight to read.

For the most part, this isn't a 'how to' on writing. More than half of the novel is a memoir, starting with King's childhood and discussing his love of books, comics, and movies. He relates anecdotes from his life such as meeting his wife in a college poetry class and the incidents which provided inspiration for his first novel, explaining how he had once worked as janitor at a high school. That job had him noticing that there were shower curtains in the girls locker room but not in the boys to which his fellow janitor mused that perhaps young girls were more shy than boys. When naively asking what the dispensers on the wall were, King was told they were tampons... and anyone even vaguely familiar with his work is aware of where this is going.

He discusses writing primarily by telling the reader how he writes and the stories he has written -- and that's a good thing. It's both enlightening and entertaining to read about the process he has gone through and the things he has learned while going through that process.

He does discuss mechanics, stating his feelings about grammar and the necessity of excising adverbs. And he recounts advice he received from editors and publishers during the course of his career. There really are resources in the book for the aspiring writer as he goes over the terrain of dialog, description, pacing, the use of symbollism, themes, etc. Still, where the book shines is in the discussion of his own life and work.

Late in the book, King reveals that he had been writing "On Writing" when he was (infamously) run over and nearly killed. The last section of the book deals with the accident and his recovery, revealing the way writing played a part in his recovery, and ending the book with an opus to the love of writing.

"On Writing" is relatively short, straight forward, and lacking in pretension. It's as much autobiography as a book on the craft of writing. King himself comes across as endearing through his much professed love for his wife and children.

This is truly one of the better books that I've read in a while.

Simple and brilliant........2007-06-14

I learned more from this one book than all the other books on writing I've ever read. It's simple, insightful, direct, personal and entertaining. Stephen King is truly a master of his craft.

King's style shines even in the classroom!!!.......2007-06-10

I was a bit skeptical before buying Stephen's book "On Writing" as personal and gifted talent doesn't always transfer to the classroom but I was happily mistaken. Stephen's easy style allowed me to learn more and understand a greater command of the basics. Solid skills, solid advice. He reminds you not to take yourself too seriously and know where you are at all times with your work.

One of the best books for writers.......2007-06-09

On Writing should be on the list for every writer, both aspiring and professional. While King describes what it was like for him growing up and becoming an author, he also sheds considerable light onto the craft as a whole.

Some interesting points in the book include how much stock one should put into critique groups vs. their own opinion of the work, as well as the old adage: If you want to be a writer, read a lot and write a lot.

This book presents King's view about writing and is straight-forward in a way that most readers will appreciate. The examples in the back of the book are extremely helpful, and the beginning of the story "1408" will give writers some insight on what it takes to revise a work. Every writer has to do it, even the famous ones.

Must Reading for Aspiring Writers.......2007-06-04

To say the least writing is an emotional career whether you write fiction or non-fiction. There's so much perspiration, so many blank pages and so much anxiety all intertwined with a little inspiration. When a fellow author insisted I read this book in the midst of one of my writers blocks, I was caught off guard. Stephen King--the horror guy--has a book on writing? Yes he does and compelling reading it is. Once you get past all the F-words in the midst of his candor about his life and the craft of writing, you will be very glad you read it. Aside from a fascinating autobiography of a multi-million selling author, ON WRITING is an inspiring how-to manual navigating serious writers right back on the road to a finished manuscript. Take a break from your writers block and read this book!

Average customer rating:

Good Read
Dark Tower Boxed Set
Good books
dark tower
The dark tower box set

The Dark Tower Boxed Set (Books 1-4)
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451211243

Book Description

Now Available in a box set-the first four Dark Tower Books -- with new material from the author!

The Gunslinger
The Drawing of the Three
The Waste Lands
Wizard and Glass

In this brilliant series, Stephen King introduced readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, The Last Gunslinger. Roland's quest for the Dark Tower took readers on a wildly epic ride-through parallel worlds and across time. A classic tale of colossal scope-crossing over terrain from The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon, Insomnia, The Talisman, Black House, Hearts in Atlantis, Salem's Lot, and other familiar King haunts-the adventure took hold with the turn of each page...

In a major publishing event, the quest for the Dark Tower continues in Wolves of the Calla (Volume V), Song of Susannah (Volume VI), and The Dark Tower (Volume VII), coming from Scribner, beginning in November 2003.

Now readers can go back to where it all began with this box set of the first four Dark Tower titles, each featuring a new packaging and new introduction. Plus Book I, The Gunslinger, has been completely revised and expanded throughout.

Customer Reviews:

Good Read.......2007-04-10

This series so far has been very good and I am looking forward to books 5 thru 7 that will be delivered soon.

Dark Tower Boxed Set.......2007-03-19

I only recently decided to enter the world of Stephen King's Dark Tower. This boxed set provided me with an excellent chance to do so.

The Dark Tower series is King's ultimate opus. It's a saga that entertains and constantly evolves with each book. In my opinion the series is a must read.

The set itself is a great introduction to the Dark Tower world. The first book is newly revised and exapanded. All these revisions make sense in the larger context of the series. All four of these books contain new introductions by Stephen King himself. Here he does a great job on introducing us to this wonderfully imaginative saga.

At a very affordable price, this box set is a must have. Each book has its own unique voice, and these four set up a strong foundation for the seven part saga. The overall presentation of the books is done well. A great pruchase for those looking to delve into the Dark Tower universe.

Good books.......2007-03-09

I have read a number of King's other books and figured I would commit myself to the Dark Tower Series. I love his writting and his stories. The first book isn't typical King however in the next volume it is more of what you are used to.

dark tower.......2007-02-17

the series starts off a little slow, the first book is rather confusing but from the last chapter onwards into the next books its addictive. great reads

The dark tower box set .......2007-02-08

The story of the dark tower is amazing but the print in the books are a bit small for my less than better eyes. I was a good deal and I'm glad I bought it.

Average customer rating:

Look to John Barth & Tolkien for better examples
Brilliant final
VULGAR!
A distinct improvement
Thank God For Spoilers

The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7)
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1416524525
Release Date: 2006-08-29

Amazon.com

At one point in this final book of the Dark Tower series, the character Stephen King (added to the plot in Song of Susannah) looks back at the preceding pages and says "when this last book is published, the readers are going to be just wild." And he's not kidding.

After a journey through seven books and over 20 years, King's Constant Readers finally have the conclusion they've been both eagerly awaiting and silently dreading. The tension in the Dark Tower series has built steadily from the beginning and, like in the best of King's novels, explodes into a violent, heart-tugging climax as Roland and his ka-tet finally near their goal. The body count in The Dark Tower is high. The gunslingers come out shooting and face a host of enemies, including low men, mutants, vampires, Roland's hideous quasi-offspring Mordred, and the fearsome Crimson King himself. King pushes the gross-out factor at times--Roland's lesson on tanning (no, not sun tanning) is brutal--but the magic of the series remains strong and readers will feel the pull of the Tower as strongly as ever as the story draws to a close. During this sentimental journey, King ties up loose ends left hanging from the 15 non-series novels and stories that are deeply entwined in the fabric of Mid-World through characters like Randall Flagg (The Stand and others) or Father Callahan (Salem's Lot). When it finally arrives, the long awaited conclusion will leave King's myriad fans satisfied but wishing there were still more to come.

In King's memoir On Writing, he tells of an old woman who wrote him after reading the early books in the Dark Tower series. She was dying, she said, and didn't expect to see the end of Roland's quest. Could King tell her? Does he reach the Tower? Does he save it? Sadly, King said he did not know himself, that the story was creating itself as it went along. Wherever that woman is now (the clearing at the end of the path, perhaps?), let's hope she has a copy of The Dark Tower. Surely she would agree it's been worth the wait. --Benjamin Reese

<a name="darktower-store"> Visit the Dark Tower store
<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1880418622.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg" align="left">Over 30 years in the making, spanning seven volumes, Stephen King's epic quest for the Dark Tower has encompassed almost his entire body of fiction. Find every volume of this fantastic adventure, an interview with the master himself, and much more in our Dark Tower Store.

<a name="darktower-authors"> Authors on Stephen King
<img src="http://g-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/homepages/roto-ads/0103/books-sking-2.gif" align="left">Mystery writer Michael Connelly thinks Stephen King's "one of the most generous writers I know of." Thriller author Ridley Pearson says "King possesses an incredible sense of story..." Read our Stephen King testimonials to find out what else they and other authors had to say about the undisputed King of Horror.

<a name="darktower-path"> The Path to the Dark Tower
<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/gifts/60x60rosesummer.gif" align="left">There are only seven volumes in Stephen King's Dark Tower series but more than a dozen of his novels and short stories are deeply entwined with the Mid-World universe. Take a look at the non-series titles, from Salem's Lot to Everything's Eventual. Can you find the connections?

<a name="darktower-timeline"> History of an Alternate Universe
<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/074325208X.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg" align="left">Robin Furth, an expert on Stephen King's Dark Tower universe if ever there was one, has created a timeline of Mid-World, the slowly crumbling world of gunslinger Roland Deschain. Read it and get up to speed on a world of adventure.

<a name="darktower-audio"> Hail to the King
<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0743539869.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg" align="left">Fans applauded and critics howled when Stephen King was awarded the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Service to American Letters. In typical fashion, King accepted the honor with humility and urged recognition for other "popular" authors. Listen to a clip of his acceptance speech, then order the entire speech on audio CD.

Book Description

Creating "true narrative magic" (The Washington Post) at every revelatory turn, Stephen King surpasses all expectation in the stunning final volume of his seven-part epic masterwork. Entwining stories and worlds from a vast and complex canvas, here is the conclusion readers have long awaited -- breath-takingly imaginative, boldly visionary, and wholly entertaining.

Roland Deschain and his ka-tet have journeyed together and apart, scattered far and wide across multilayered worlds of wheres and whens. The destinies of Roland, Susannah, Jake, Father Callahan, Oy, and Eddie are bound in the Dark Tower itself, which now pulls them ever closer to their own endings and beginnings . . . and into a maelstrom of emotion, violence, and discovery.

Download Description

"All good things must come to an end, Constant Reader, and not even Stephen King can make a story that goes on forever. The tale of Roland Deschain's relentless quest for the Dark Tower has, the author fears, sorely tried the patience of those who have followed it from its earliest chapters. But attend to it a while longer, if it pleases you, for this volume is the last, and often the last things are best. Roland's ka-tet remains intact, though scattered over wheres and whens. Susannah-Mia has been carried from the Dixie Pig (in the summer of 1999) to a birthing room -- really a chamber of horrors -- in Thunderclap's Fedic; Jake and Father Callahan, with Oy between them, have entered the restaurant on Lex and Sixty-first with weapons drawn, little knowing how numerous and noxious are their foes. Roland and Eddie are with John Cullum in Maine, in 1977, looking for the site on Turtleback Lane where ""walk-ins"" have been often seen. They want desperately to get back to the others, to Susannah especially, and yet they have come to realize that the world they need to escape is the only one that matters. Thus the book opens, like a door to the uttermost reaches of Stephen King's imagination. You've come this far. Come a little farther. Come all the way. The sound you hear may be the slamming of the door behind you. Welcome to The Dark Tower. "

Customer Reviews:

Look to John Barth & Tolkien for better examples.......2007-06-11

It's pretty obvious to anyone who's read these books that King owes an enormous debt to both John Barth and JRR Tolkien; unfortunately those two writers were MUCH more successful in their works than King in the final three books of his Dark Tower Series.

A lot of readers have complained about how King has written himself into his own books. It's a risk to be sure & one that ultimately turned out to be very poorly executed. To anyone who found that idea interesting, I would recommend taking a look at the works of John Barth, in particular his book Chimera, which reworks myths & legends into a kind of post-modern meta-fictional loop. Great stuff, flawlessly executed & funny as hell, something which got kind of lost with King's Dark Tower series. The conceit of these meta-fictional loops & conundrums works so well with Barth mostly because a wicked sense of humor shines through--King's work just comes across as self-important & even ponderous to the point where it started to boil my blood & made me want to throw the book across the room in frustration!

As for Tolkien, King's attempt at creating a new "language", while interesting, still comes no where near the complexity or originality of what Tolkien accomplished. Further, Tolkien absorbed the classics of Anglo-Saxon literature, drew from the epics of Old English as well as the Norse, and even, as one critic noted, possibly wrote his work as a response to Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelung". King tries to make his quest important, but in the end it comes no where near the tragic & literary heights that Tolkien reaches in his Lord of the Rings & Silmarillion. Also, Tolkien's success as a storyteller stemmed from his knowing exactly what was to happen, from beginning to end, in his L.O.T.R. quest, & explaining only one sliver of a much longer history. King, it appears, had no idea where the story was going for the past 37 years--and it's painfully obvious, especially when comparing it to Tolkien. What results is a very flabby, unevenly paced series of 7 volumes that showed so much promise but could have been much much better.

This is not to say that I didn't enjoy these books; I found them easy to read & good entertainment, but overall extremely disappointing as literature and extremely repetitive (how many times will they go back & forth between New York, Maine & these other worlds?!?!). As in all of the works I've read by King, he has been able to create very complex modern characters, but seems to excel especially with adolescent psychology & emotions; I can think of no author who can portray the horror of paranoia and schizophrenia better than this guy. Too bad it works better in other stories--especially his short stories--than in the Dark Tower series.

Ultimately I hesitate to call this his Magnum Opus, because that implies a certain greatness that just hasn't been reached. The only thing Magnum about it is the overall length of the whole series, and maybe Roland's guns (ha ha).Chimera

Brilliant final.......2007-06-08

Some time ago I have written a review on Gunslinger then I have decided to refrain from reviewing the rest of the series until I have finished The Dark Tower VII.
Now, I have reached the destination. I have finished the last book in the saga. It was indeed a very long journey. It started almost 1 year ago. While reading the series I picked up a few more books to get a bit of a rest from the series (after the first 4 volumes), then I re-read Gunslinger and understood/liked it much more than when I read it for the first time. I have also read Salem's Lot and Hearts in Atlantis between volume VI and VII. I would suggest reading them after Wizard and Glass, book 4. It would make Father Callahan's story in Wolves of Calla, book 5 more interesting.

I didn't know what to expect from The Dark Tower VII. I have read too many negative reviews about S. King screwing it up completely and its ruined ending (as well as a lot of unsympathetic moaning about Wolves of Calla and Song of Sunnah). I don't know what everybody expected from the series. The ending is completely unpredictable and different from any other book I have ever read. It was certainly highly unusual... I still think it was interesting how he did it, by tying it into his view of the Dark Tower. Sure some people would like a more traditional finish but I think this particular ending is very good. As King said, it could not be different and the journey was fantastic as well.

When I finished the book, I felt a little bit disappointed by the ending, but why? I could not explain it to myself, so I re-read the last chapter (Coda/Found) the next day in the morning. Then I have done some thinking about it and the more I thought, the more I became convinced that the ending is brilliant?!
It is not a Hollywood happy end, but if it were anything like that it would have an artificial/contrived feeling to it. The ending as it is does feel very natural, very fit and thoughtful. I believe I quite like it, I almost love it.

Another thought have crossed my mind. I would like to re-read The Dark Tower in future. I know how it is going to end and still I would like to re-read the series. Moreover, I have this feeling right now, right after I finished the series vs. having the same feeling in 5 years time when I remember next to nothing. I wonder, what does it mean? There were many books I enjoyed and I liked their happy or not very happy endings. However, I didn't feel like I want to re-read them in order to go through all the details of the saga, to start the journey from the beginning.
I guess it is like The Lord of the Rings. We know the ending (actually we might hate it) but we would like to come back for details. I think it is a mark of a greatness of a book. I believe this is what makes a particular book/series outstanding.
Actually, I feel a little bit sad that I have so say Goodbye to Roland and his company with whom I spent almost a year.
I would definitely recommend the series to my friends.

VULGAR!.......2007-05-31

I have the (audiobooks) for the entire Dark Tower Series. While many of them have one or two parts that were grotesque or vulgar...this book had 10 times that.
There just were too many disgusting descriptions of brutal killings, [...] villains, booger eating mutants and vulgar sexual innuendos. All of it was very unnecessary to the plot and I would warn anyone with a queasy stomach that this book may not be for you.

The plot was okay...but it dragged on and on with unnecessary descriptions of towns, and characters...that seemed at times endless. Maybe I've just had enough of the series...who knows, but I truly was relieved when this book FINALLY ended...strange ending or not.

A distinct improvement.......2007-05-31

I had doubts as to whether I would finish this series. The last two books were pretty bad, and I basically forced myself to finish them. This last book still suffers from alot of Classic King inane babblings (as though everyone of the characters was tripping on acid and making sounds in their heads because the more you say it the weirder it sounds.) He does, however, finally manage to bring the action out of the extremely boring nether-regions of the character's minds...(yay Stephen, how do you do women so well? Are you in fact a woman in a man's body and you just have to show the world?) and back into the physical world. I enjoy the battles, the tension leading up to a gunfight, the detail of everything coming into focus for the gunslingers and everything working perfectly...that is why I enjoy this series, and King finally delivers in this novel. However, it is a bit cheesy the way he writes himself in, but then attempts to cover any vanity in the act by self-depricating to the point of making himself a buffoon. He truly tries to convince the reader that none of this is his idea, that he is merely channeling the Creator's words onto paper, not unlike the way the Bible was written. Methinks someone has a bit of a God-complex?
But, overall a fun read.

Thank God For Spoilers.......2007-05-29

After reading the first book of this series I became enthralled with anything, and everything, Dark Tower. Roland was my hero and I wanted to see good triumph over evil. Books 1-4 were the best, 5 and 6 kept me entertained, but I just couldn't make it beyond the third chapter of book 7. Thanks to all who included spoilers, although I never lost sleep after putting down book 7 prematurely.

I think the series would have been best left incomplete, at least then we could all debate what would have happened and postulated how great it would have been. Instead we are left with the weaknesses of books 5 and 6 and the complete drivel that is book 7.

Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6)

Average customer rating:

Good, but Average compared to the series
Is Stephen King Scared??
Transitional book
Mind blowing
Back to the feel of the originals.

Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6)
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

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ASIN: 1416521496
Release Date: 2006-05-23

Book Description

SONG OF SUSANNAH

THE DARK TOWER VI

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Susannah Dean is possessed, her body a living vessel for the demon-mother Mia. Something is growing inside Susannah's belly, something terrible, and soon she will give birth to Mia's "chap." But three unlikely allies are following them from New York City to the border of End World, hoping to prevent the unthinkable. Meanwhile, Eddie and Roland have tumbled into the state of Maine -- where the author of a novel called 'Salem's Lot is about to meet his destiny....

Download Description

"Stephen King The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah with 10 full-color illustrations by Darrel Anderson The next-to-last novel in Stephen King's seven-volume magnum opus, Song of Susannah is at once a book of revelation, a fascinating key to the unfolding mystery of the Dark Tower, and a fast-paced story of double-barreled suspense. To give birth to her ""chap,"" demon-mother Mia has usurped the body of Susannah Dean and used the power of Black Thirteen to transport to New York City in the summer of 1999. The city is strange to Susannah...and terrifying to the ""daughter of none,"" who shares her body and mind. Saving the Tower depends not only on rescuing Susannah but also on securing the vacant lot Calvin Tower owns before he loses it to the Sombra Corporation. Enlisting the aid of Manni senders, the remaining katet climbs to the Doorway Cave...and discovers that magic has its own mind. It falls to the boy, the billy-bumbler, and the fallen priest to find Susannah-Mia, who, in a struggle to cope -- with each other and with an alien environment -- ""go todash"" to Castle Discordia on the border of End-World. In that forsaken place, Mia reveals her origins, her purpose, and her fierce desire to mother whatever creature the two of them have carried to term. Eddie and Roland, meanwhile, tumble into western Maine in the summer of 1977, a world that should be idyllic but isn't. For one thing, it is real, and the bullets are flying. For another, it is inhabited by the author of a novel called 'Salem's Lot, a writer who turns out to be as shocked by them as they are by him. These are the simple vectors of a story rich in complexity and conflict. Its dual climaxes, one at the entrance to a deadly dining establishment and the other appended to the pages of a writer's journal, will leave readers gasping for the saga's final volume (which, Dear Reader, follows soon, say thank ya)."

Customer Reviews:

Good, but Average compared to the series .......2007-06-06

I found this book somewhat average compared to the rest of the series. In particular, I wasn't too thrilled with the whole "SK" thing. It felt somewhat cutsy to me, and yanked me completely out of the narrative. So, my issue is with the style, not the execution, of the plot in this book.

That being said, the book is an integral part of the series, moves the story in many compelling ways, and I consider it an enjoyable must-read.

Is Stephen King Scared??.......2007-04-26

Overall the book was O.K. at best. It gave alot of information about the Dark Tower itself and how everything works, but is this the best plot King can come up with? I just feel that he could do so much more. King seems scared that he weren't going to finish the series and wrote it off quickly. I mean writing Callahan into the story is one thing but writing himself into it as an instument of gahn (God) is another. I have not read the last book yet so just maybe he can pull it off with out leaving me disapointed (I dont see how!). Although, he is KING, and he hasnt disapointed me in a book yet.

Transitional book.......2007-04-24

This book was good...but not as good as the others...I consider it to be a transitional book.
Everything that needed to be explained thus far was recapped and we were provided with the info we needed to carry into the finale.

Did Stephen King really write himself into this book...yeah thats what I thought...whatever...as a fellow "wordslinger" I think that takes a lot of Goddamn guts.

Mind blowing.......2007-04-10

Stephen King reaches the parts other writers cannot reach. In a different class, roll on the final installment.

Back to the feel of the originals........2007-03-23

After four amazing books in this series, I was very shocked and dissapointed by the Fifth book in the seires, "Wolves of the Calla". So much so, that I was almost afraid to read any farther with the anticipation of the series getting worse from there.

Wow, was I glad that I picked this book up! Not only is it leaps and bounds better than its predecessor, but it is back to the feel and mood of the Second and Third installments, dealing with travel to the alternate wheres and whens that Roland and Eddie did in the good ol' days. The doors have returned, and what a delight it is to read about the old hijinx once more.

I don't want to give too much away, but let me just say that King delivers with unthinkable plot twists and story points that did anything but dissapoint me! I loved it all! You also get alot more explination about the Crimson King and what he is all about. (Along with answers to Susannah's "problem", and what it means.)

This story takes place in the course of only one day, and the Ka-tet is now split, so we get a very fast-paced feeling to the story because it keeps cutting between parties as different members of Roland's tet do their thing in different wheres and whens across the Tower's entire span. If you like this style of storytelling, then you shouldn't have a problem, although some people may find many things dissapointing here, but then again, I had plenty things bad to say about book 5, so it's really about the individual and their take on it, and how they choose to look at it.

One thing I found a little tedious was Susannah's mental "dogan". I don't understand the reasoning behind it and simply found it unneccisary and boring. However, it could be simply because it brought me back to ugly Calla Bryn Sturgin again! :)

Oh man, I cheered when the last of the Ka-tet went away from that place for good, as the last remnants of WotC finally left the pages of this otherwise amazing book, and new areas and locations were introduced. Also, and probably the most good about this volume, the story moved forward, unlike the last book. Not only did the story move forward, it RACED at a very fast speed and never let up. Susannah isn't really my favorite character, but the story points talked about during her moments in the book kept me interested, and Roland and Eddie being my two favorites, I never got tired of their half of the story.

Without spoiling anything, I want to advise you to get ready for a great ride. Action-paked, this one is. Shootouts, races against time, story revelations, plot-twists, new lovable characters, and more are crammed into this one, and I feel like it's back to the magic of books 2 and 3.

I haven't spoken about artwork thus far in my reviews of this series, but I just wanted to take a brief moment to compliment the artist who painted very beautiful abstract paintings for the trade hardcover version of this book; bravo, I loved the way it complimented my mood as I read. Normally I dislike artowrk in books because it warps the mental picture I already have in my mind, but because these paintings were abstract, they merely reflected the mood, not the image, so that was very cool.

Verdict: I went through this book in a matter of days, because I couldn't put it down. The ending gets a little slow, but that's forgivable, since two major cliffhangers come into play right when you think it's gonna end on a low note. Don't worry, though, because this cliffhanger will only leave you wanting to buy the last book and begin right away! This book isn't quite a four, but I didn't see where you could rate half-stars, and this book is certainly better than three, so accept my final score as three-and-a-half stars!

Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, Book 5)

Average customer rating:

the naration falls flat on its face
Entertaining chapter of the Dark Tower
A bunch of weird turn of events...
He forgot to be objective...
Great Entertainment

Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, Book 5)
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

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ASIN: 141651693X
Release Date: 2006-01-24

Book Description

Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, the DARK TOWER series is unlike anything you have ever read.

Here is the fifth installment, "one of the strongest entries yet in what will surely be a master storyteller's magnum opus" (Locus).

Roland Deschain and his ka-tet are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World on their quest for the Dark Tower. Their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis. But beyond the tranquil farm town, the ground rises to the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is stealing the town's soul. The wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to. Their guns, however, will not be enough....

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"Roland Deschain and his ka-tet are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World, the almost timeless landscape that seems to stretch from the wreckage of civility that defined Roland's youth to the crimson chaos that seems the future's only promise. Readers of Stephen King's epic series know Roland well, or as well as this enigmatic hero can be known. They also know the companions who have been drawn to his quest for the Dark Tower: Eddie Dean and his wife, Susannah; Jake Chambers, the boy who has come twice through the doorway of death into Roland's world; and Oy, the Billy-Bumbler. In this long-awaited fifth novel in the saga, their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis, a tranquil valley community of farmers and ranchers on Mid-World's borderlands. Beyond the town, the rocky ground rises toward the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is slowly stealing the community's soul. One of the town's residents is Pere Callahan, a ruined priest who, like Susannah, Eddie, and Jake, passed through one of the portals that lead both into and out of Roland's world. As Father Callahan tells the ka-tet the astonishing story of what happened following his shamed departure from Maine in 1977, his connection to the Dark Tower becomes clear, as does the danger facing a single red rose in a vacant lot off Second Avenue in midtown Manhattan. For Calla Bryn Sturgis, danger gathers in the east like a storm cloud. The Wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to, and they can give the Calla-folken both courage and cunning. Their guns, however, will not be enough. "

Customer Reviews:

the naration falls flat on its face.......2007-06-22

The previous 4 audio books featured amazing narration that kept me immersed in the story and its characters. In book 5 however, the narrator sounds as if he has had a stroke or has down syndrome. The slurring of his words and lack of ability to emulate the voices from the previous books is so distracting that it takes away from every aspect of the book. I would equate it to watching the miniseries "band of brothers" only to find out that a few episodes in they replaced the entire cast with 100 kids from the Special Olympics.

Entertaining chapter of the Dark Tower.......2007-06-14

It does rely heavily on the Seven Samurai for inspiration, but it is entertaining nonetheless. The backstory of Father Callahan is interesting, seeing as I've missed him since his Salem's Lot days. The people of the Calla lack intrigue, but this book gets you excited for the impending (in two books) finale.

A bunch of weird turn of events..........2007-04-24

This book was sort of the turning point in the series...from here on out...everything got very complicated (more so that originally).

Father Callahan is introduced...
The property in New York is introduced...

But at least the novel ends with a pretty kickass battle with the Wolves...with a few jokes thrown in...can you believe they were throwing Harry Potter Snitches?

He forgot to be objective..........2007-04-17

This book would have been great if it was the length of the original gunslinger. it was a long, long book that seemed even longer than it was. it was actually much shorter than his last book, however the flashbacks were quite useless and added nothing to the story.

lets make everyone happy and cut the whole summary chunk in the middle of the book down to about 30-40 pages, keep the intro, and keep the last 20% of the book. the whole thing could be about 300 pages of top-notch writing. instead, it's a wordy tale that does little to gain your interest.

oh, and another thing, he relies on alcoholism far too much as a character flaw. it's pretty ridiculous.

Great Entertainment.......2007-04-10

The Seven Samurai or The magnificent seven it may be, but done Stephen King style. Moving ever closer to the Dark Tower. Excellent!

The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut (Signet)

Average customer rating:

My favorite book of all time
Read this book!
The Stand - Uncut
The Stand: Complete and Uncut
Couldn't stand the end

The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut (Signet)
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0451169530

Amazon.com

In 1978, science fiction writer Spider Robinson wrote a scathing review of The Stand in which he exhorted his readers to grab strangers in bookstores and beg them not to buy it.

The Stand is like that. You either love it or hate it, but you can't ignore it. Stephen King's most popular book, according to polls of his fans, is an end-of-the-world scenario: a rapidly mutating flu virus is accidentally released from a U.S. military facility and wipes out 99 and 44/100 percent of the world's population, thus setting the stage for an apocalyptic confrontation between Good and Evil.

"I love to burn things up," King says. "It's the werewolf in me, I guess.... The Stand was particularly fulfilling, because there I got a chance to scrub the whole human race, and man, it was fun! ... Much of the compulsive, driven feeling I had while I worked on The Stand came from the vicarious thrill of imagining an entire entrenched social order destroyed in one stroke."

There is much to admire in The Stand: the vivid thumbnail sketches with which King populates a whole landscape with dozens of believable characters; the deep sense of nostalgia for things left behind; the way it subverts our sense of reality by showing us a world we find familiar, then flipping it over to reveal the darkness underneath. Anyone who wants to know, or claims to know, the heart of the American experience needs to read this book. --Fiona Webster

Book Description

The epic #1 bestseller, and the "book that has everything." (The New York Times)

Customer Reviews:

My favorite book of all time.......2007-06-24

I read this in 1990, when my mom sent it to me. I was deployed on an aircraft carrier in Desert Storm. It's a long book, but I had lots of time. It is still my favorite book of all time.

Read this book!.......2007-06-02

This was an interesting apocalyptic story with a plethora of diverse characters. I have read a bunch of mediocre books this year (spring 2007) and wanted/needed a book I could get lost in, that would continually call me back throughout the day. I'd had The Stand sitting on my shelf since last summer, just waiting. I picked it up, and it did the trick. This is the classic story of the battle between good and evil, between God and the Devil. The characters need to choose which side they're going to be on, though they don't necessarily realize the spiritual implications of their choices, at least at first. I appreciated Stephen King's character descriptions. He assumes we can think. He describes the characters in unobtrusive ways; we know what they're like without having to be told in so many words.

I rated this book a 4 instead of a 5 for two reasons. Firstly, I didn't like the way King described the sex scenes. It seemed that the intent was to get the reader aroused. I don't mind reading stories with a sexual aspect, but when the author seems to be deliberately trying to get the reader involved in it, it's distracting to the story. I won't recommend this book to certain people because of this. Secondly, I thought there were two many random descriptions of people that essentially had nothing to do with the story. Learning about them did help me to understand a bit more about what was going on throughout the country, but mostly it was distracting to the story.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. Stephen King grabbed me from the first page.

The Stand - Uncut.......2007-05-25

I read "The Stand" when it was first published and loved it. The author stated that it was in an incomplete form, edited out many things.

As a Constant Reader of SK - I have waited patiently for this book in its true form, or as SK would say, "His way, his words - all of them."

Although the subject matter may turn some people off. It is a great read and "The Stand" will remain with you long after you put the book down. Which is what the author wants.

Thank you Stephen King for your amazing stories and never giving up writing for your ever "Constant Readers."

The Stand: Complete and Uncut.......2007-05-19

Well, where should one start about such a glorious book, considering the fact that it is over 1000 pages long. I might as well start with the characters. There are many characters from extremely important people to the ones who just help provide more depth to the story.

The book is the basic good versus evil setting. Although the complete and uncut version offers more reading for you, it does have some things that are kind of pointless to have. (Maybe only like 50 pages of the stuff that can bore you if you don't continue reading)
By the time you are at page 30, you are basically entranced, and you won't want to stop until you finish, but that's kind of hard to do in one day. If you read it slow and lavish the taste of the deliciousness you get from it, you will be rewarded with a great feeling.

There are some downsides though like the fact that you may start thinking a little bit like some of the characters. So you may feel a little bit of insanity at times: love, pain, loss, sadness, and other thoughts like that. Also you want the book to last forever so you feel disappointed when you do finish the book.

There is lots of death in the book but that's ok because there was a big plague that kills almost everyone. I actually literally loved the book, because it gave lots of feelings of goodness and it gave thoughts of evil. If you have time I would suggest getting it so you could read it and get the same feeling of joy I got from it.

I absolutely loved the book, so if you like Stephen King I would suggest you get it. The imagery is also very good, so good it's like watching a movie. If you do decide to read it, take your time so you can enjoy the book to its fullest extent.

Couldn't stand the end.......2007-05-16

I read the shorter version of the novel as it was originally published, and although I found much to enjoy, I do not wish that I had read the expanded version. Stephen King's apocalyptic epic starts with a bang and sustains impressive narrative drive during the initial outbreak of the superflu and the rapid collapse of society that follows. Once the survivors begin segregating themselves to the emerging communities of Boulder (under the prophetic Mother Abagail) and Las Vegas (under the demonic Randall Flagg), the plot stagnates. The final showdown with Flagg is disappointingly underwhelming and conventionally religious. There's still enough good stuff here to fill two or three novels of more moderate length, but in the end King's achievement doesn't quite eqiual his vision.

Average customer rating:

STEPHEN KING
Good story
Living Up To My Expectations
Okay, But Stephen King Has Done Better
STATIONARY BIKE

Stationary Bike
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0743555619

Book Description

New on audio from Stephen King...an unabridged novella"as artful as anything he has ever written." (Booklist)

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Climb aboard Stationary Bike -- a streamlined fever dream of a tale, in which an ordinary household object assumes otherworldly powers and a familiar journey takes a terrifying twist.

When commercial artist Richard Sifkitz finally gets around to having that physical he'd been putting off for years, and his cholesterol comes back dangerously high, he does what so many thirty-something, junk food-eating couch potatoes have done before him: he buys a stationary bike, and vows to ride it regularly.

Unlike many a mid-life exercise convert, however, Richard actually starts to ride his new stationary bike. A lot. Soon he's spending so much time on his bike that he decides to put his artistic talents to use and paint a mural on the wall opposite his stationary bike. But it turns out that Richard's mural is no ordinary picture -- and soon his stationary bike is taking him places he doesn't want to go...and can't stay away from.

A riveting riff on artistic frustration, midlife mortality, and hard-won redemption, Stationary Bike is a thrill ride that could come only from the mind of Stephen King.

Customer Reviews:

STEPHEN KING.......2007-05-13

GREAT STORY. I DIDN'T CARE FOR THE READER ON THIS ONE, BUT STILL A GREAT STORY.

Good story.......2007-04-06

There are two things that I look for in an audio book. First, is whether it can capture my mind so I am taken into the story like I was part of it. Second, is how much of the story I can pisture months after I heard it. This book accomplished both. I felt like I was on that road experiencing the action with the rider.

Reason why it did not receive 5 stars are because it was a very short ride and I felt the end did not live up to my expectations.

Living Up To My Expectations.......2007-03-09

Stephen King has never failed to live up to my expectations, and in Stationary Bike, he surpasses them. I found myself engaged by the main character, Richard, and his desire to reach his goal. I rode with him along every mile and it has been a thrilling and terrifying journey!

Okay, But Stephen King Has Done Better.......2007-02-03

Stephen King's stories usually work well as audiobooks. I think his books work well in audio because his stories are great entertainment and excellent readers are chosen to narrate his work. With Stationary Bike, King's story falters on both points. The story is okay but is very similar to a previous King story "The Road Virus Heads North." The narrator here, Ron McLarty, isn't bad, but he's not as good as Justin Long, who narrated "Everything's Eventual," Josh Hamilton who did "Riding the Bullet," or the great ensemble that performed "From a Buick 8."

The story centers on an artist who buys a stationary bike to get back into shape. To reduce the boring nature of excersing on the bike, the artist paints a picture of a landscape that he imagines he is traveling to. Pretty soon, the picture begins changing, and the artist keeps cycling to unravel the mystery. The big problem here is that when the mystery is finally revealed, you may be left scratching your head and thinking, "What? You got to be kidding me."

The story isn't that bad and would be better if it was part of a collection, but here, it's a standalone, and it isn't really worth the purchase unless you're a die-hard Stephen King fan.

STATIONARY BIKE.......2007-01-11

GOOD IDEA FOR A STORY - I ENJOYED IT, BUT IT WAS TOO SHORT !

Average customer rating:

Terrific story!
Surprisingly Good
Thoroughly Entertaining & Enjoyable
Crime Caper
The Master Returns

Blaze: A Novel
Richard Bachman
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 141655484X
Release Date: 2007-06-12

Book Description

The last of the Richard Bachman novels, recently recovered and published for the first time. Stephen King's "dark half" may have saved the best for last.

A fellow named Richard Bachman wrote Blaze in 1973 on an Olivetti typewriter, then turned the machine over to Stephen King, who used it to write Carrie. Bachman died in 1985 ("cancer of the pseudonym"), but in late 2006 King found the original typescript of Blaze among his papers at the University of Maine's Fogler Library ("How did this get here?!"), and decided that with a little revision it ought to be published.

Blaze is the story of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. -- of the crimes committed against him and the crimes he commits, including his last, the kidnapping of a baby heir worth millions. Blaze has been a slow thinker since childhood, when his father threw him down the stairs -- and then threw him down again. After escaping an abusive institution for boys when he was a teenager, Blaze hooks up with George, a seasoned criminal who thinks he has all the answers. But then George is killed, and Blaze, though haunted by his partner, is on his own.

He becomes one of the most sympathetic criminals in all of literature. This is a crime story of surprising strength and sadness, with a suspenseful current sustained by the classic workings of fate and character -- as taut and riveting as Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

Customer Reviews:

Terrific story!.......2007-06-26

I read this one in just about one sitting. (the family wanted me to make them dinner...can you imagine?) I wanted to continue listening to Blaze's story, both present and past. Bachman (King) has such a wonderful way with characterizations that you feel like you know them. George's voice is well done, too. At first you wonder if Blaze is being haunted by his pal, now gone because of a crap game gone wrong. They've spent years together, working one con or another, waiting for one another if one ended up behind bars.

George's big idea of the one big con to retire on is to kidnap a baby. George is gone, but the plan remains, and Blaze sets out to accomplish on his own what they had planned to do together.

Because of an abusive childhood, Blaze is a little on the slow side and this made me feel for him and let me accept his criminal life just a little bit easier. Why is that, do you suppose?

Anyway, check this one out for yourself. It just proves what we've always known: that no matter what name King writes under, he deserves recognition for the gift he gives us in his storytelling. Thanks, Mr King. I LOVED the story!

Surprisingly Good.......2007-06-25

Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. (Blaze) has never had an easy life. A drunk driver killed his mother when he was three years old. His father was a drunk and when Blaze was in the first grade, his hungover father threw him down the stairs three times in a fit of anger. Although Blaze survived, he suffered brain damage and was made a ward of the state. He was sent to live at Hetton House, which was home to him for much of his youth, although several families did take him in when they needed their crops picked. After leaving Hetton House Blaze drifted along, moving from job to job and pulling various petty crimes. It's not until Blaze meets George Rackley that he starts pulling regular con jobs. George has an idea for a big con - kidnapping the baby of a wealthy family and holding it for ransom - but he dies before they can pull it off. But that doesn't matter to Blaze, he can still "talk" to the dead George and he decides to kidnap the baby himself.

Since this was a "trunk" novel by Stephen King (King himself warns readers of this in his introduction), written in 1973 and published under the name Richard Bachman, I wasn't expecting much, especially since I'm not a big fan of the books put out under the Bachman name. I was, however, pleasantly surprised. When King is at his best, he's a great storyteller and "Blaze" is a good example of his storytelling skills. Told in both the present and through the use of flashbacks, I liked the flashbacks best as they helped develop Blaze as a character. King has a knack of creating characters that come alive and readers care about one way or the other and Blaze does come alive for better and worse. He is at times a sympathetic character, especially in the way he has been treated, used and abused throughout his life and at other times a very brutal character who kills several people. You know from the beginning that the book can't end well, but King still has readers turning the pages both to learn more about Blaze's past as well as what is happening in the present. The book is not perfect, King goes a little overboard in creating Blaze's miserable childhood and a plot line involving a family called Bluenote was a bit too convenient and melodramatic. Although Blaze is a fully developed character, the others aren't as full developed, with only Blaze's childhood friend John Cheltzman coming close. King may have done this on purpose as the book is from Blaze's viewpoint. However, I would have liked to know more about George, he was an interesting character, but there wasn't enough about him, even in the flashbacks.

Fans of Stephen King, especially those that like to collect everything he writes, will enjoy "Blaze".

Thoroughly Entertaining & Enjoyable.......2007-06-25

Stephen King may be the "master of horror," but with BLAZE he proves that he's also just a plain ole good writer. This story is a mixture of a thriller, a mystery, a police procedural, and a personal struggle to figure out who you are.

Blaze, aka Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., is a dummy, and he knows it. Ever since his father threw him down a flight of stairs (and then hauled him back up and did it a couple of more times), Blaze hasn't had the brains for learning. The dent in his forehead might make him look scary, but we soon learn that Blaze isn't much of a threat -- except when he's really angry. He might look like a giant at 6'7" and nearly 300 pounds, but this man's heart is as soft as his mind.

Blaze has pretty much drifted through life by skirting the law and mostly (with exceptions) avoiding trouble. When he meets George Rackley, Blaze learns the art of the con. The two of them (or, rather, George) have been planning one big job for awhile now. That big job would be kidnapping the baby of a rich couple, collecting the ransom, and living the high-life somewhere with white sandy beaches and lots of sun.

But we soon learn that things aren't going quite the way either man had expected. For one, George is dead, even though he's still helping with the kidnapping plot. For another, Blaze, as we've already learned, isn't the smartest guy around.

What follows is a mixture of present day mystery/thriller as Blaze carries out the kidnapping of little Joey, mixed with the flashbacks of his life that show how Blaze ends up where he's at.

King (aka Bachman..does it really matter the name?) shows great control in the pacing of BLAZE, and expertly weaves the present with the past. You'll also be surprised (and entertained) by the joy that is Blaze, who is a wonderful, fully-developed character.

This one is a winner!

Crime Caper.......2007-06-22

If only Stephen King could write with this kind of lean narrative today! The ideas behind Blaze are nothing extraordinary, but King's taut narrative and innate storytelling skills propel this short novel along a page-turning path. If you're a King loyalist, you won't be disappointed as long as you don't expect a miracle. This is a simple crime story, but an enjoyable one.

The Master Returns.......2007-06-22

If you've been wondering as I have where the "real" Stephen King had gone, you can wonder no more. He's back as Richard Bachman, and better than ever with BLAZE. It was odd to read in the foreword how King had put this book away for decades, how he had pretty much forgotten about it, had thought it might be lost, and so on. In my mind, trunking a story as good as this one is nearly equal to throwing a satchel stuffed with a million dollars in cash out the window, letting it be covered with snow, and not caring if Bigfoot came and carried it away while you slept. This is a GREAT book, one of King's best ever, in fact, and it should be given its due. Of course King had his reasons, and there was a LOT going on in the master's head while this one sat in a box. In the following years King produced some really fine work. So I can't fault him, really. What I can do is say how much I missed the old King, who wrote CARRIE and THE SHINING and CHRISTINE--all books of my youth that I devoured like nobody's business. And what I can do is say how much I've missed the great King-as-Bachman, with THE RUNNING MAN, ROADWORK, and so on. BLAZE reaches the best of King's work as Bachman, maybe even surpasses it in quality, and, I think, surpasses some of his more recent work written under his own name.

In this book, King (who in BLAZE had written as Richard Bachman for the last time) has created and breathed life into Clayton Blaisdel, Jr., (Blaze), a simpleton (through no fault of his own) and a criminal. Blaze talks to dead people, performs a kidnapping, even murders someone. You'll find that you want justice to be done, for things to be set right; but you'll also find yourself cheering for Blaze, for even with all his faults Blaze is a most sympathetic character.

This is a real page-turner of a book--another of those you'll read late into the night until you literally can't keep your eyes open any longer, then pick up and start reading again as soon as you awaken. It didn't last long (I finished it in a few hours), but man, what a ride. Read it and see...and maybe weep a little, too. Well done, Mr. Bachman, well done.

Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born

Average customer rating:

Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born
Stephen King , Peter David , and Robin Furth
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0785121447
Release Date: 2007-11-07

Book Description

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." With those words, millions of readers were introduced to Stephen King's Roland - an implacable gunslinger in search of the enigmatic Dark Tower, powering his way through a dangerous land filled with ancient technology and deadly magic. Now, in a comic book personally overseen by King himself, Roland's past is revealed! Sumptuously drawn by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove, adapted by long-time Stephen King expert Robin Furth (author of Stephen King's The Dark Tower: A Concordance) and scripted by New York Times bestseller Peter David, this series delves in depth into Roland's origins - the perfect introduction to this incredibly realized world; while long-time fans will thrill to adventures merely hinted at in the novels. Be there for the very beginning of a modern classic of fantasy literature! Collects Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #1-7.

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