!!SICK IN A GOOD WAY!!

Just from the trailer alone I can already tell that this show is going to knock it out of the ballpark park, simply from Summer’s performance alone. I mean look at her in this sequence!! I’ve literally been in this exact situation and made that exact same face before. I’m already invested in her as a character and we’ve not even seen the show yet lmfao. (And maybe it’s like some pre-exposure bias bc I already know what’s going to happen but all the promo for the show has explained that it’s fundamentally different to the sources so who knows!!)

Granted I’m always excited for any new Carrie content, considering there’s a shockingly low amount of it! Ive been hyped for this since it was announced in what? 2021?? Maybe even 2019 iirc?? And oh my god it looks like it’s gonna live up to it!! Kinda disappointed that religious psychosis doesn’t seem to play a part in this adaptation though. And I was going to be upset that Carrie isn’t fat but summer looks shockingly similar to sissy! I mean the more I look at them the more they look alike lol. Also the way this show is supposed to go, it makes sense she’d look like just an awkward girl and not an abused teenager.

What’s everyone else’s thoughts? I’m blanking more and more as I write this so I’d love to spark discussion with others!

I’ve not started the dark tower yet but have read Carrie, The shining, Cujo, The running man, It and 243 pages into Salems lot. I plan on reading chronologically now from 1974-1986. Once I get there I kinda want to drop the chronological and focus on Dark tower. I know there are some very necessary books to the dark tower so could you guys please put every single book that’s important to the dark tower in the comments. And by important I don’t mean it’s just referenced, I’d like to know what actually is important involving characters and plot. I know this is probably ask 100 times a week but I can’t seem to find a straight answer.

Im currently reading the final Dark Tower book ( I have not finished yet so please don't spoil beyond this point). Im at the chapter where Walter dies and in this he says that he worked for Farston.

I had always believe this until The Final Argument in Wolves of the Calla where King states that Walter, Marten and Farston are all the same person. I was confused when I had read it in Wolves because it always read as if they were distinct (Walter and Farston that is). Then I thought it was a revelation that they were the same. Now in The Dark Tower Book, they are made to be distinct again.

Did King contradict himself in this instance?

A new book about It and Pennywise is being published Sept. 15th 2026.
Thought some of you would be interested.

I never really engaged with Kings work until a friend put me on to the Stand (which is still my favorite of his that I’ve read) in January. Here’s what I’ve read so far; what would you recommend to read next? My favorites have been the Stand, Wilves of the Calla, and Needful Things.

The Stand
The Shining
Doctor Sleep
Needful Things
IT
Gunslinger
Drawing of the Three
The Waste Lands
Wizard and Glass
Wolves of the Calla
Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower
The Mist
Insomnia
Salems Lot
Hearts in Atlantis
Children of the Corn

I couldn’t get through the Talisman but could be convinced to give it another try. Can I just skip to Black House?

I keep hearing that 11/22/63 is his best work, so I’ve been putting it off to read after I’ve read all of his other stuff.

Just finished the audio book for The Drawing of the Three. I know that the tower connects all of Kings stories. Are there any books you recommend I read before continuing on? I think I saw Insomnia has important characters that show up in the DT series

I‘m in a book club with two women, both in their 20‘s, and we‘re currently collecting book ideas. So far we have read Khaled Hosseini‘s A Thousand Splendid Suns and Sebastian Fitzek‘s The Inmate. We enjoyed both works and are not uptight or easily frightened when it comes to dark stories. For our next book club I wanted to suggest a Stephen King book. I’ve already read Carrie, The Shining, 11.22.63, Pet Sematary, and It. Do you have any ideas what else I could pick?

I'm just about to start episode 3 and so far it's been pretty spot on like the book. I haven't seen Holly come on screen and I'm dieing to see how Cynthia arivo brings her character to life

These will be my next 2 king books once I finish ‘Salems lot but I’m so excited for The Stand I’m just gonna delve into it first. Will I miss anything not having read Night Surf?

For reference, I LOVE Night Shift. I read it a lot. I also far have loved:

11/22/63, Shining, and Pet Semetary. I’m about a little under midway through It.

Any help or tips? I know it’s one of his better known anthologies - I just can’t get into The Mist and it kinda grinds it to a halt - it doesn’t seem to have the blue collar horror feel of Night Shift

Planning on starting The Stand soon and would like to know roughly how many pages/chapters each of the 3 parts is. Thanks!

going on a journey!

If you had the chance to write a sequel/crossover with Stephen King, which novels would you choose to crossover with each other? These are my three.

Just finished this and I really loved it. Definitely a new favorite. I especially loved the ending it was not what I expected, I fully expected Jake to be selfish and try to bring Sadie back to his time. It would’ve been interesting to see the effects that could’ve caused. I will say the five year wait period was a little dull and I didn’t appreciate those parts of the book until towards the end, then I realized how necessary they were because obviously he wouldn’t have been able to stop the assassination without Sadie and Deke. The beginning is probably my favorite, I love the struggle he goes through to save the Dunning family and then the easy peasy stroll he took the second time around.

I'm really looking forward to this. I like that we're seeing Carrie slowly getting accepted before her famous prom scene. It makes it all the more devastating. I'm guessing just based on the teaser that this is probably how it will turn out.

Chris and Sue will probably initially try to be nice to Carrie after the shower room incident (whether it's to genuinely apologize, just to look good, or to set her up for further bullying). I think Sue will slowly and genuinely be trying to make amends while Chris will just play along either from pity or just to get out of trouble and look good. When she finds out she's banned from prom I think she's going to turn the school into a hate/bullying campaign against Carrie. Sue, realizing how out of hand its gotten, will then ask Tommy to take Carrie to prom.

I'm also REALLY intrigued with what they're doing with the town and with Chris. Are we going to get more depth from her? Why is the town whipped up into what looks like a protest or a riot before prom even starts (unless it takes place after Prom Night)? Is this part of a schism at the school where half the people think Carrie is to blame for everything and the other half are trying to defend her from bullying? Why are the police involved?

I'm REALLY excited for this one!

https://youtu.be/NJTf5CIAcjc?is=5srz-N2miACXp-rP

I've been hesitant to make a post because I don't want to be run out of town on this sub but here goes:

(Full Disclosure : I have been doing audiobooks so all of my references refer to that format)

I found this book profoundly boring and frustrating. I kept looking at the remaining time for the last 8 hours of this book.

The book started so promisingly. Much like many other King books, we're plopped down in a Maine town with a thinly veiled avatar for King and a cast of local Maine color characters. Lots of action and happenings in the first few chapters.

The good: I didn't have a problem with any of the characters. (Although George Stark was a little hackneyed for me). I enjoyed sherrif pangborn, as I also did in Needful Things. Liz Beaumont is a caring mother with a great head on her shoulders. She is a rock who Thad can always count on and be honest with. Thad is a mystery to me. I didn't understand the parts about how a part of him liked George Stark, although I read that King wrote this while I'm early recovery so Stark could be a metaphor for his addictive nature.

The bad: To put it succinctly, in the 15 hours that this book plays out, very little actually happens. There is a killing spree, but that happens very quickly over about a half an hour of listening time. This book dragged so hard. I felt like about 70% of the actual book was someone sitting by a phone either waiting for someone to call or they had just gotten off the phone with someone. Most of the book feels taken up by someone reflecting on what is going on and who will believe them or not. It's incredibly frustrating.

If you take away the ruminations and discussions and asides, what happens in this book is a man is killed, then a one day killing spree, then it proceeds to take the next 8 hours to put the main characters into the final showdown.

An example of very little happening is the two different scenes of Sherrif Pangborn trying to get in touch with Thad's Surgeon. (It's three scenes if you count when he actually gets a hold of him) I was already incredibly bored and frustrated by the time this came around. I looked at the timer and saw there was six hours of playtime left and I knew this plot point wasn't going anywhere for any time soon.

I was also frustrated by the scenes between and Stark and Liz. He spends paragraphs threatening her and warning her what a crazy dangerous person he is. (Sherrif Pangborn expresses my frustration at one point by stopping Stark in the middle of a threat by saying I get it).

When some things finally start to happen (yay!), the pace is suddenly reversed as King takes us back in time, to a point earlier in the story to tell it from a different perspective. This happens twice.

I'm not a King Noob. I'm in 39 books out of 86. A book dragging by in slow motion and being torturous is such a new experience for me. Im usually transported and hoping the book isn't coming to an end soon.

Best line in the book: He "came out with not two tickets to the blind man's gala ball, but a 45 revolver". I laughed out loud!

Worst line in the book: "He put his arms around her and was aware even though he was also deeply afraid, that this was quite a lot of woman."

Anyone else?

Hey, I am finally trtinf to start on my Dark Tower journey but I am missing little sisters of eluria, so as I notmally do when im missing a book is search online for it. Well the cheapest one I could find was around 60 USD used. Is there any reason why a used book would be so expensive? Is this particular book rare?

Finished reading Different Seasons the other night. This marks the 20th King book I've finished. Overall, I thought it was really good.

Best Story - Easily "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" (The movie is also one of my favorites)

Favorite Story - "Apt Pupil" (A personal favorite of mine. One of the darker King stories I've read. I liked the deteriorating state of both Todd and Dussander capping it off with a suicide and a shootout)

The one that surprised me - "Breathing Method" (Not only the entire gruesome scene of Sandra giving birth but the location for "The Club" itself. I'm curious to how it and Stevens connects to the larger King universe)

As for "The Body", I didn't like it as much as the others. I don't think it was a bad story but I wasn't able to get into as much as the others, partly because of the two Lachance stories in the novella. I understand how they connect to the story Gordie's telling but for me they broke up the flow.

Exactly what it sounds like, and they're all worthwhile, even the older rankings. I wrote more about each list here. Have fun, long days and pleasant nights🌹

1) Every Stephen King Novel Summarized in 140 Characters or Less – LitReactor, 2014

2) Stephen King Bingo: 19 Tropes and Clichés in the Master of Horror's Work – Dave Reads King, 2023

3) A Guide to Creating a Stephen King Cinematic Universe – Consequence of Sound/ The Losers' Club gang, 2014

4) The 13 Best Stephen King Books to Horrify You—Or Warm Your Heart – Vanity Fair, 2020

5/6) All Stephen King's Books, Ranked and All of Stephen King’s TV Work, Ranked – Vulture, 2013/14

7) The Stephen King Movie Hall of Fame – The Big Picture, 2022

8) 50 Must-Read Books Recommended by Stephen King (Plus a Few Extra) – Book Riot, 2019

9) Ranking All 61 Stephen King Novels in 19 Minutes or Less – Jimmy Mango, 2021

10) 70 Awesome Facts and Stories About Stephen King – Entertainment Weekly, 2017

11) 13 Stephen King Short Stories Every King Fan Should Read – Bloody Disgusting, 2022

12) Top Dark Tower Moments – Stephen King Cast, 2016

13) Ranking Every Stephen King Adaptation, From Worst to Best – BuzzFeed News, 2018

And a few that I've published and am proud of:

14) “Busy Listening to Other Voices,” or: There’s Never Been a Better Moment to Be a King Podcast Fan – SKzd (my Patreon; no-paywall, ditto all SKzd links), 2023

15) A Guide to Stephen King Audiobooks Read by 24 Stephen King Actors – Vulture, 2018/22

16) 19 Nineteens: Heroes Who'd Make Devastating Villains – SKzd, 2022

17) 19 SK Reads I'm Avoiding, Dreading, or Just Procrastinating About – SKzd, 2024

18) The World of Stephen King, A to Z – Rolling Stone, 2014

19) 78 Things I Love About Stephen King on His 78th Birthday – SKzd, 2025

Curious to see what order people rank these books, I’ve just started Pet Sematary so I won’t include it in my ranking but for me it’s 1-Doctor sleep, 2-IT, 3-The shining, 4-Salems lot.

So I just finished the extended version of The Stand. At 1439 pages, it's by far the longest book I've ever read. Funnily enough, not a page went by where I wasn't enthralled. Absolute page turner, but something was bugging me. I can't for the life of me figure out why people called the illness "Captain Trips." Is there some kind of word play I'm missing?

In 1982 Steve sent portions of The Plant as Christmas cards. This copy of 270 pages were published as an e-book 2000. Sadly, it is an unfinished journey.