FaBio here, popping back out of the rabbit hole to bring cheer and good will and lovingkindness (trust me, it’s a Jewish word) to the holiday season.
And what better way than to bring fair tidings from the mouths of kings?
Stephen King, to be precise. In the year-end (Dec 28 through Jan 4) double issue of Entertainment Weekly, the prolific author and fright-meister (and part-time E.W. columnist) set Game of Thrones high on his exalted list of awesomeness—not once, but twice.
First, in his “Best TV I Saw in 2012″ column, he had Game of Thrones listed at # 5, saying:
Mystery, magic, and dragons, all rendered with eye-popping special effects. Add to this a wheels-within-wheels story line and the best ensemble cast on television. I’ve been particularly charmed by Maisie Williams as Arya Stark.
Message to Maisie: America’s (arguably) two greatest living fiction authors love you. That does not suck!
Additionally, King listed A Song of Ice and Fire at # 2 under his “Best Books I Read in 2012″ column, saying:
I took two steps into this series last January, lost my balance, and went in headfirst. The HBO series is great, but no match for the wild generosity of the books. Swordplay, dragons, and magical fire-queens are all very well, but Martin brings something better to the table: an array of unforgettable characters and a staggering imaginative scope.
It wasn’t just Mr. King’s admiration; E.W. also listed “Blackwater” as the # 1 Best Episode of 2012. Yep, the George R.R. Martin-penned ep. beat everything else. The always-descriptive James Hibberd said:
Season 2′s climactic Battle of the Blackwater wins because HBO allowed producers the time and cash to stage a massive land-and-sea confrontation. Thus, this was an episode of rousing heroism, chilling cowardice, gory action, and a giant green explosion that went “FOOOOOM!” The most ingenious part? It made us care about the warriors on both sides. Staging that battle in viewers’ hearts was the most successful wartime victory of all.
Fire And Blood: Couldn’t agree more, James! And, as a longtime fan of Stephen King (It, The Shining, and The Stand remain some of my favorite books to date, and the film adaptation of his novella The Mist probably has the greatest ending to any horror movie—ever), I have wondered if he had ever read ASoIaF. The answer: not until recently! Yet another fan of the books brought in by the show!
Anyone else out there a King fan? Gimme your top 3 Stephen King works! Extra points for anyone who names for me the Stephen King protagonist/hero they think would last the longest if magically teleported to Westeros. (For my money it’s Roland Deschain from “The Dark Tower” Obvious? Sure. But hey.)
Lastly! Dan Fienberg of HitFix ranked Game of Thrones at # 7 in his “Top 10 TV Shows of 2012″ list. Fienberg gives props to Dave and Dan, as well as to Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Jack Gleeson, and Sophie Turner. Watch the video here!
Loading ...
91 Comments
High praise all round!
glennQuote Reply
I’m a Stephen King fan and a Game of Thrones addict. I made it through the ASOIAF series last year and this upcoming season of Game of Thones which covers part of A Storm of Swords is going to be awesome. My fav Stephen King novels are The Stand, Under the Dome, and 11/22/63.
NoelleQuote Reply
Wizard and Glass, The Dark Tower, and ‘Salems Lot are my top three King books, easily. Glad to hear he’s a fan!
AndrewQuote Reply
Roland would survive quite long, yes…
Charyou Tri !
ArkashQuote Reply
Welcome back Fabio!
Does my heart good to hear the man who bashed Stephanie Meyer offers such high praise to GRRM.
Agreed on the ending to the Mist, I absolutely loved it! The Shining and Pet Cemetery are my favourites.
Aegon the ConquerorQuote Reply
Cujo would probably fare well in Westeros, perhaps as the Hound’s sidekick. As for humans, Big Jim Rennie from Under the Dome would thrive in Westeros politics.
DblvajraQuote Reply
top 3 SK novels/novellas – 1 The Stand. 2 The Green Mile. 3 The Body
If you have not read all of these, check them out!
it is known-
Patchy FaceQuote Reply
It’s pretty awesome to know how a good writer such as him enjoys GRRM’s work just as much as us hardcore fans.
LexyvilQuote Reply
This is IT I think. Season 3 is going to be THE season that we fans are waiting for when the show will truly hit critical mass. The adaptation of A Storm of Swords will truly show more than season 1 and 2 what ASOIAF is truly all about. HBO seems to think so as well as they are now willing to compromise with D & D. They make the episodes longer, they pour more money into the production, they are trying to downplay various aspects of the storyline, even intimidating actors and crew to use discretion. The fact that writers like King are now noticing these books even after two seasons to buy into phenomenon shows that the GoT engine is always at slow burn never a flare up like Twilight or even Hunger Games (I hate pairing those two YA books because the HG does have some depth and good characters/themes).
If season 3 is executed well then season 4 should be the most natural, organic thing in the world to conceive. Back to back if the talent is there, and the pacing and art is there, the next two years will be fantastic. The next real challenge will be setting up the next two books, taking the split narrative and merging them together. That is where the true challenge lies. Which means that if they are aware of this they have to start planting seeds in the next two seasons. Dorne. Kingsmoot. Young Griff. All of it. I wish them the best of luck.
Praise Rhlorr!
Joshua TaylorQuote Reply
Can Roland have his guns in westeros though?
AshQuote Reply
speaking of The Dark Tower, apparently there are plans to turn it into a HBO series. I haven’t read it, so to those here who have, is it good and would it make a good tv series?
Ser TahuQuote Reply
I’m a great fan of the Dark Towe r Series.
Probably not only Roland Deschain but also his Ka-tet would last in Westeros! Though Susannah would probably be regarded as from Essos… and Jack would be a great match for Arya ;)
So my favorite King Novels are: 1) Wolves of the Calla 2) Wizard and Glas 3) Song of Susannah!
EmmaQuote Reply
Ser Tahu,
Well it would make a good adaptation but only if whoever is making it had a huge ass budget. It’s close to 3500 pages long with all 7 books put together so it would need a large budget to do it justice. But I highly recommend reading it if you are contemplating it. It makes for a great read and the ending, in my point if view was terricific. My personnel opinion, however, is that The Dark Tower series should be a movie series, not a HBO adaptation. But hey, we can’t always get what we want.
My favorite three Stephen King books probably are The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, and Black House.
Oh and I think that Jack Sawer from The Talisman and Black House would do fairly well in Westeros. He had to go through some pretty tuff stuff and he adapted between worlds fairly well before so my money’s on him.
Hodor the DreadQuote Reply
Which other author besides Stephen King loves Maisie?? I’m seriously behind in my GoT news! How Awesome for her! For Stephen King to praise your work is epic! That is awesome in deed!
My favorite SK works: Salems Lot, Misery,Diffrent Seasons(Stand By Me).
HildaQuote Reply
Hey, where’s my sub-credit for this? ;-)
The Mist movie ending was Frank Darabont’s idea though!
Shadowcat85Quote Reply
Haha, I think he’s talking about George R. R. Martin himself Hilda – plenty of praise for Maisie Williams from the man himself.
JamesDQuote Reply
Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. (first time in history the movie was better than the book!) The Shining. Misery.
Mummer’s fartsQuote Reply
“The Stand,” hands down. My only question is, why can’t the good guys be more intriguing?
MonicaQuote Reply
Don’t forget Krhryistyine*, the oxcart of death.
*Name GRRMized for accuracy!
KGQuote Reply
Ohmagad! Stephen King! Someone tell Maisie! Has she heard? Does she know? That’s incredible!
GrijnwaaldQuote Reply
Black House, Salems Lot and The Stand.
I also reckon Jack Sawyer would survive a while in westeros
StephenQuote Reply
I think Todd Bowden from APT PUPIL would give Varys and Littlefinger a run for their money at court!
PanchoFranciscoQuote Reply
mh, king didn’t like Kubricks Shining, instead he made his own crappy series of it. King all in honour, but I consider him no expert for tv and movies.
PauseQuote Reply
3 favorite King works:
1. Pet Cemetery, because it’s genuinely scary, particularly towards the end.
2. Salem’s Lot.
3. The Stand, mainly because the first 1/3 of it is the best description of civilization’s collapse I’ve ever read or seen.
Alex DubrovskyQuote Reply
Where’s the source? Their website doesn’t say anything.
What was the #1 book?
WootQuote Reply
Randall Flagg is R’hllor
nightwolfQuote Reply
Favourite three King works are The Shining, Cujo, and 11/22/63.
Randall Flagg would do quite well in Westeros. He’d freak Melisandre out.
KromsQuote Reply
interesting that this came out today, as i just saw this:
George RR Martin’s 3 Favorite Books Of 2012
Martin’s other favorite books this year (that weren’t published in 2012) were Stephen King’s 11/22/63 and Susan Orlean’s Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/20/george-rr-martin-favorite-books-_n_2339467.html
oh, number one was Tom Reiss’s The Black Count.
He Who SlithersQuote Reply
People need to stop giving just GRRM Martin credit for writing Blackwater. David and Dan wrote a lot of that episode too, it just that show runners do lots of uncredited writing.
JamesLQuote Reply
While watching Season 2 and reading ACoK and ASoS in particular, I’ve gotten somewhat of a King-esque vibe out of Arya’s development, so King’s kind regards toward Arya and Maisie fit like a glove to me, haha.
Jeff O’ConnorQuote Reply
Favorite 3 King books (I cheat a little)?
1) “The Long Walk” and “The Running Man” from Bachman Books (I feel I can add them together since they both appear in “The Bachman Books”. Yes, “The Running Man” the Movie was loosely based on King’s work, but only the concept; everything else is vastly different.
2) The Dark Towers (Books 1 -4); How can I break them up? It’s be too tough to vote any of them over any other.
3) The Talisman.
I’m not sure Roland would last too long in ASOIAF world, solely because he’d be too much like Ned Stark; too much honor to survive in that world. Now the Man in Black would fit in just right, considering how manipulative he was, he would give Tyrion a run for his money.
beernuttsQuote Reply
I love the Stand for all the same reasons I love ASOIAF. Great characters. Epic scope. But, I’ve got to say, Dreamcatcher is hands down the worst book I’ve ever read! Not sure how someone so clearly brilliant could have written that turd. I really hope GRRM doesn’t get similarly afflicted.
Love the pr
Brad VillaneQuote Reply
Woot,
It’s in the magazine. Can’t remember his #1 book choice. Think his #1 tv show pick was Borgen.
Shadowcat85Quote Reply
Welcome back! And what a cool post to do it with :)
I’ve been a SK fan for pretty much my entire life. I started reading his stuff when I was 11 I think.
My favorite book he’s written is The Talisman. I’ve probably read it a dozen times over the years. Its sequel, Black House, isn’t quite on the same level but it’s still really good, and goes to some dark places. So my answer to the question of the character best suited to Westeros would have to be Jack Sawyer. The Stand (uncut) is brilliant as well, and of course I love the Dark Tower books for the most part. The best of these are easily the first 4, with Wizard and Glass perhaps topping them all (I am a fantasy fan, after all…)
Speaking of King, and fantasy…The Eyes of the Dragon always merits attention. I think it’s his only really pure fantasy book, and boy is it ever great.
His best ‘shorter’ work IMO is The Long Walk. He writes such great characters.
ZackQuote Reply
As a kid, the first big influence on my creative side was Star Wars (movies wise) and Spider-Man (comic book wise). As a teenager it was King (It, The Talisman, and The Stand big time) and Tolkien.
Today I am more into TV and whatever GRRM is creating.
GeekFuriousQuote Reply
Episode 7 of next season, the Martin produced episode about a famous wedding. You know the one, changes the entire landscape of the books. Its going to be monumental. Going to put this show from great to amazing and one of top shows of all time. Cant wait, gonna be incredible.
Also anyone know when next Dunk and Egg is set to release? I hear all four are gonna be released as one in 2013.
Lord NogaQuote Reply
Lord Noga,
RW will happen in episode 9, not 7. Benioff and Weiss wrote it.
babarQuote Reply
Flaggs already in Westeros , just using the alias Petyr Baelish.
MormegilQuote Reply
The Plan (it seems to be on hold if not totally cancelled for now) was a bit more complicated than that.
They were going to make Three Dark Tower films which would have told the main story of the books but they would have also made 2 Seasons of TV that would have been shown between the films (with the same Cast).
HBO were in talks for doing the TV Part at one point but nothing was ever finalized.
MormegilQuote Reply
Mormegil,
Hopefully HBO just makes the whole thing as a tv series now. I love the Dark Tower series.
OT, but I am really glad that AMC is not the network making Game of Thrones right now.
sunspearQuote Reply
Hated the ending of The Mist film. It didn’t feel like King to me.
Yay so happy my favourite author likes my other favourite author.
VaessQuote Reply
sunspear,
Yeah the Film/TV Combo always seemed too ambitious to me so I would agree that a TV show (on HBO) would be the way to go.
We wouldn’t get names like Javier Bardem or Russell Crowe linked to Roland as the Film/TV Project did but I think overall we would get a better version of the story.
Another King Book, Under the Dome is getting the TV Series treatment and will be out next year.
MormegilQuote Reply
The Dark Tower would be a great TV series ! HBO doing it would be fucking amazing !
ArkashQuote Reply
All this praise and yet got misses out in awards! Hmmmm!
The mighty hodorQuote Reply
If I only get to choose three then my favorite three King Books –
The Stand
Salem’s Lot
Night Shift
John WQuote Reply
Agreed. ABC + Akiva Goldsman attached just screamed terrible at me. Everyone thought I was crazy for not wanting those to happen despite being a DT fan. HBO is the only place for The Dark Tower, otherwise don’t even bother. Unless it’s 7 full theatrical films.
ZackQuote Reply
OT: Lovingkindness a Jewish word? As a Hebrew speaker I am trying hard to figure out which word that is. In Israel we laugh about ourselves similar to the Dothraki (there is no word for “please” in Hebrew).
Back to the topic: Always good to hear such a fantastic novelist is a GoT fan and a Maisie fan to boot! Guy’s got good taste.
UdiQuote Reply
Stephen King also contributed to ” Legends “, a collection of novellas/ short
stories, which contains ASOIAF ” The Hedge Knight ” . There’s no doubt that
he admires the genre. Good to hear GRRM peers publicly support their
admiration for his works ( and GoT ).
Season Three will be met with higher expectations than the last two, across
the entertainment boards.
WildSeedQuote Reply
Dream Catcher and It are both very very good
Ser PounceQuote Reply
Emma,
You might be the only person I’ve ever seen who put Wolves of the Calla as their favorite King book! I strongly disagree, but to each their own! Mine would be IT, The Shining and probably either The Stand or Wizard and Glass.
JakeQuote Reply
Ho Ho Ho, so cool that King Loves GRRM as much as we do! My favs are The Stand, Pet Cemetery, and the Dead Zone. But ASOIAF has me in a vice grip right now. Happy Holidays fellow fanatics, hope Santa treats ya’ll RIGHT!
Mrs. H’gharQuote Reply
WildSeed,
The Shining, The Stand, Salem’s Lot.
Randall Flagg would prove deadly in Westeros.
lorinhellerQuote Reply
lorinheller,
Yes, those are great standards by King. I’m quite familiar with most of his work,
even though I haven’t read all. As for movies based on his work, I still cannot
sit through the entire ” the Shining ” movie. To date, I still hate seeing child twins
stand too close to each other , gives me the creeps :D
WildSeedQuote Reply
The two greatest living authors in America? Yeah, no.
Even just sticking to authors who have written SF/fantasy novels, you’ve got, for example, Wolfe, McCarthy, LeGuin, Gibson…
WastrelQuote Reply
Wastrel,
To each their own of course. Personally I can’t stand LeGuin, at least. :P
Jeff O’ConnorQuote Reply
John W,
Exactly my 3 favorites. Love King’s novels, but have a special place in my heart for the short stories. Survivor Type, Bogeyman, Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut. Lots of good stuff there.
JillybeanButtleQuote Reply
My older brother let me watch “It” when i was like 5 and I couldn’t go to the bathroom alone for almost a year it had me so scared king is good at what he does. Edit and I still hate clowns to this day.
KaethQuote Reply
I am so happy to see this because right after I finished ADWD I needed something else to start reading and I chose The Dark Tower series by Stephen King and it was amazing. I loved it!
Lady StoneheartQuote Reply
Love Stephen so much… How can I only pick three? It, The Stand, The Shawshank Redemption, Gerald’s Games, The Greenmile… and many more. Good to know he’s also a thronehead!
NogaQuote Reply
The Stand, Carrie, and the whole Dark Tower series. I don’t care if people think the ending was bad, I loved it, and I thought it fit the theme very well.
Lin BeifunkQuote Reply
Never read his books, but I have to give him credit for the best movie ever made: Shawshank Redemption
Pablo JainagaQuote Reply
Jeff O’Connor,
OK, but 6 Nebulas (joint record until last year, now second place), 5 Hugos (tied for 5th place overall for fiction), three Tiptrees (tied for most ever), a Sturgeon (no-one’s ever won twice), a WFA Life Achievement award, a SFWA Grand Master award, a Library of Congress Living Legend Award (one of 30 novelists, non-fiction writers, artists, photographers, filmmakers etc), 19 Locus Awards for fiction (most ever by a large margin), and, you know, being a Pulitzer Prize finalist, should probably suggest to you that on this occasion your views are controversial.
Everything, in the end, is a matter of opinion – but on some questions the general state of opinion is more overwhelming than on others.
WastrelQuote Reply
The Stand – I dunno about Randall Flagg in Westeros, however. He was a juggernaut against the smallfolk, but “Walter,” and his many incarnations, seemed to wither quite a bit in my eyes when he came up against real evil power.
IT – The creature that takes the name of “Pennywise” displays characteristics of an Other/White Walker to me.
The whole Dark Tower shebang – Roland is definitely an honorable fool, but has learned to make the hard sacrifices (to the point where they don’t seem so hard to him anymore). The ka-tet may do well, so long as there are no moving vehicles around.
I think if you pissed off Carrie enough, she’d be quite a force in Westeros. I can see her pulling the wall down, that’s for sure (don’t let Selyse and her men near her). Then again, I suspect the Crow’s Eye has some kind of gizmo squirrelled away up his sleeve that would bend her to his will.
Oy would be the ultimate direbumbler! … It is known.
anicechiantiQuote Reply
The Dark Tower, It, The Stand, and Insomnia are my favorites (although I absolutely love everything he has ever written). I also think Roland would have the best chance of surviving Westeros!
serumQuote Reply
Love King. Charlie from Firestarter would wreak havok on everyone (except Daenerys, of course). Speaking of King, I’m disappointed HBO didn’t pick up Under the Dome (CBS did).
Mike ChairQuote Reply
I read Bag of Bones from King…was so predictable and overall meh I didn’t return to reading him until I got my hands on The Gunslinger. So yeah. That one would be my Stephen King favorite because it sucked me into a wonderful series of books :)
KyrennaQuote Reply
Wastrel,
True that. Everyone can insist that the Godfather “insists upon itself” or that Lawrence of Arabia is boring or that Citizen Kane is “overrated”. It changes nothing in terms of their importance or their standing in history. People may hate Godard, Bunuel, Kubrick, Hitchcock or Cassavetes but if doesn’t make them lose their standing as artists.
Joshua TaylorQuote Reply
Wastrel,
Yeah, fair point. Touche.
Jeff O’ConnorQuote Reply
I’d love for The Dark Tower series to get an adaptation, too bad it seems like the Ron Howard project is dead.
KevinQuote Reply
I liked the Dark Tower series, but I was disappointed with the last 2 books, especially book 6. Even though it was short compared to some of the other books, it was a chore to read. The whole story about the mutants was just too weird, and I couldn’t keep track of all the names. It didn’t feel like it belonged in the same series as the earlier books. Book 4, Wizard and Glass, was my favorite of the series.
KevinQuote Reply
I’ve not read as much SK as some of the regular WiC posters, but The Stand and The Green Mile are the standouts from what I have (I’ve not read The Dark Tower). So which SK character would last longest in Westeros? Easy – it’s got to be Paul Edgcombe the long lived death row superintendent from The Green Mile ( I can see the eyebrows going up as I type). My reason for this? He may be getting on a bit, but he’s protected by God and almost/sort of immortal. So there you go! ;)
As for characters from other fantasy novels, my pick would be Logen Ninefingers from Joe Abercrombie’s books.
You can all shout at me now!! ;) But, it’s Christmas, I’ve got 3 weeks off and I’ve got free range of my parents wine cellar (well, the boxes of stuff in the garage at any rate).
Cheers and Merry Christmas all from cold & rainy England.
AthelstanQuote Reply
I’m surprised Wizard and Glass was everyone’s favorite. Well, no, I’m not — it seems to be everyone’s favorite DT. But I slogged through that thing with a boredom migraine until the pace picked up in Wolves and we got back into the weirdness again. I actually loved the last few books, especially the references to other universes. (In Keyhole, did anyone notice the protector of the Lion beam is named Aslan, like Bear beam was Shardik?) It really brought it all together, in my opinion, although I know that kind of thing is not for everyone. Possibly my only complaint is that the final battle with the Crimson King was absolutely, positively lame. Understandable, but lame. As hell. It could have at least been a shoot-out, and we could have gotten rid of Deus-Ex-Insomnia on top of it.
To each his own.
Lin BeifunkQuote Reply
I’ve not read as much SK as some of the regular WiC psoters; but The Stand and The Green Mile are the standouts from those I have, which doesn’t include The Dark Tower.
So which SK character would last longest in Westeros? Easy – its got to be Paul Edgcombe, the long lived death row Superintendent from The Green Mile. I can sense eyebrows going up at this choice, so I’ll explain. Paul may well be getting on a bit, but he’s protected by God and is almost/sort of immortal. :)
As for characters from other fantasy novels, my pick would be Logen Ninefingers from Joe Abercrombie’s books. Logen would certainly stir things up a bit!
Anyway, it’s Christmas, my Dad is being more than generous with the contents of his wine cellar (well, the stack of crates in his garage actually). So from rain lashed, flooded England Merry Christmas to all.
Athelstan
AthelstanQuote Reply
Lin Beifunk,
You’re not alone. Wizard and Glass was my least favorite DT installment (The Drawing of the Three being my favorite). I thought the characters were way too young for the narrative to play out the way it did… maybe in a way like Martin says he wishes he had started out with some of his characters as a bit older in the first place. It lends more credence to the emotional impact of some of the events. Also, the antagonist in that book was such a caricature (not that she’s the only one, but some of the others have at least been indended to be caricatures).
Anyway, if we’re going to teleport King characters into Westeros, no holds barred, I think my money’s on the little Army men from “Battleground.” That would at least lighten the mood around there until everyone got dead.
anicechiantiQuote Reply
Felt I should explain my point a bit better, even though nobody’s arguing with me.
I tend to see judgements of better and worse as probabilistic things: there’s always a chance that you’re wrong about a book (etc) for some reason. And there’s a chance therefore that sometimes a lot of people are wrong about the same book – although I’m not normally happy saying that unless I can see a clear reason why they might be. So although I do believe that some books are better than others, I’m no someone who insists on a rigid, ordered cannon, or who takes either ‘popular’ or ‘critical’ opinion as gospel.
However, I think that given the number of authors who would normally be thought of as better than Martin and King, in order to have both of them be better than any other living author, a really staggering number of seemingly trustworthy people would have to be staggeringly wrong about a large number of authors, all at the same time, at the same time that the person who says “king and martin are the two best living authors” is absolutely and completely correct despite (inevitably) not being fully informed about all the rival authors. That just seems a really unlikely confluence of happenstances to me.
So I didn’t cite LeGuin’s awards just to say ‘look at the awards she’s won, she must be best’, but rather to say ‘look how many different groups of people must be wrong about LeGuin if King and Martin are both better than her’. And then you have to think, well maybe everyone IS wrong about LeGuin, but are they really wrong about LeGuin AND Gibson AND Wolfe AND…
WastrelQuote Reply
That is great praise indeed and much deserved, even better coming from mister King himself! I also heartily agree with the description of ” Blackwater” which will remain one of my all time favorite bits of television, one that in my mind raised the bar of what TV can and should be! I agree I think Roland could definitely survive in the ASOIF world, besides “The Dark Tower” series remains one of my favorite of King’s works.
Merry Christmas and holiday cheer to the entire WIC community!
loco_73Quote Reply
Merry Christmas everyone :)
(Unless that’s not your bag. If that’s the case, have a nice day!)
KGQuote Reply
Wastrel,
Liking books is highly subjective, the most popular books are seldom the most intelligent books or the ones with the most awards. For King and Martin speaks that they are popular for quite some time already and have a huge fanbase, King more so than Martin.
And also I never read a book from King (because I don’t like horror), I saw a few films and I am pretty sure most people will know his name.
AbendsternQuote Reply
It was mentioned once above, but “Eyes of the Dragon” by King is awesome as far as pure fantasy goes. A little on the light side, but entertaining and a page turner. King’s actually a huge Tolkien fan, and credits him as an influence (I believe) at the beginning of “The Stand,” but doesn’t often write fantasy, which is a shame.
MCAJayhawkQuote Reply
For a moment I wasn’t sure whether that’s King of Fabio in the photo ;)
Hear Me RoarQuote Reply
It was quite amusing when King suggested a year back that he’d never read GRRM before. Which is interesting as my copy of THE ARMAGEDDON RAG has a highly adulatory Stephen King quote on the front cover :) He, GRRM and Dan Simmons also contributed work to a three-way horror anthology in the early 1980s, although I don’t suppose that required them to be conversant with one another’s work.
Obviously King’s a busy guy and it was 30 years ago, but it still seemed amusing that he’d completely forget that.
Adam WhiteheadQuote Reply
Abendstern,
Of course Martin and King are very popular authors, but that’s not the same as being the best authors – there’s more to talent than popularity. Even if we ignore any objective qualities of the writing, and say that the quality of an artist is purely a matter of public opinion, that’s still not the same as being popular.
Why? Two reasons. Firstly, popularity is a measure of how many people like you, not of how much you are liked – a novelist who a billion people find mildly entertaining is more ‘popular’ than a novelist who half a billion people find life-changingly brilliant. Particularly in the case of King, many people read him, like him, without loving him – book sales are about appealing sufficiently to as many people as possible, rather than about appealing as much as possible to a sufficient number of people. Secondly, even those who love an author may not believe they are good, let alone believe that they are the best in the world. There are certainly books I love – particularly books from my childhood – that I don’t think are necessarily good books, because I recognise that my reaction says more about me than about the book. Lots of people read King and Martin, but what percentage of them would honestly put them the two greatest living American authors?
And then you have to look to see how credible those people are. For a start, the basic test of whether we should listen to someone who says X is better than Y is to ask whether they have experience of both X and Y. Take those people who think King and Martin are the greatest living american authors and take away all those who haven’t read LeGuin, Gibson, Wolfe et al (and by read I don’t mean reluctantly skimmed, I mean given a real chance to of their own free will). My hunch is that not many people will be left.
WastrelQuote Reply
Udi,
I erred! All this time I thought “chesed” was Old Testament, but apparently not. My Hebrew is dusty, ser. That’s the LAST time I listen to my grandmother! (Mostly because she’s dead.)
Hear Me Roar,
That is one good-looking man then, clearly.
Fire And BloodQuote Reply
Wastrel,
Good to see someone acknowledge the permanency of “the Canon”.
Do you think with the advent of social media where this book and film literate generation articulates their own opinion on literature and film (some poorly, some astutely) is the beginning of the end of the Canon?
Or does the new era of media critics sitting at home on their computers strengthen the Canon?
Joshua TaylorQuote Reply
Cool stuff!
Read a lot of King when I was 18/19. Loved the Dark Tower, but haven’t read the final three. Also liked Pet Sematary, Salem’s Lot, The Shining, Eyes of the Dragon. I thought the first 1/3 of The Stand was amazing, but did not care for the rest; overrated, IMO.
LexQuote Reply
Everything changes, everything stays the same.
By ‘canon’, do you mean the list of books that people are taught, or the list of books that people believe to be the best, or the most worthy of reading?
I’m not sure it really makes sense to talk of THE canon in either sense, because there are some fairly fundamental disagreements. Speculative fiction is one of these: the canon of genre works will only sometimes overlap with a list drawn up by someone who thinks SF is all rubbish.
In any case, certainly books are added to canons. Books can also be taken away – usually where it’s eventually recognised that a book was succesful because of some temporary feature of the age and doesn’t hold up well to later scrutiny.
I don’t think the modern age is particularly hostile to canons, though maybe it’s hostile to books. It’s not hard to see the beginnings of canonisation in film, or, particularly in TV. I know a lot of people who will reel off a list of TV shows of the last decade that I ‘ought’ to watch, even shows they don’t themselves like.
Of course, when different people draw up lists they will draw up different lists. In that sense, a list drawn up by fans on a forum won’t be the same as that drawn up by an old librarian. That said, there’s usually a lot of overlap – a lot of old classics are being forgotten, but many others are still treasured.
WastrelQuote Reply
Zack,
I also love Eyes of the Dragon, which I read as a kid but I’d like to revisit.
lauratQuote Reply
Wastrel,
Thank you for answering my vague inquiry with a well rounded answer.
I just can’t make words right now…eggnog and all.
Joshua TaylorQuote Reply
M – O – O – N, that spells HODOR!
ho5000Quote Reply
OK, I’ve been looking over my copies of the Dark Tower series (I’ve only just started Song of Sussanah) and I’m starting to see why this series isn’t getting a movie or tv adaptation. There are a lot of things that make this look like a pain to adapt
-The way the story is broken up with different book lengths, pacing episodes would be annoying.
-A lot of the best lines are in characters thoughts, which would need to be adapted into the dialogue or just abandoned.
-They would probably need to age Jake up so his growth won’t be a problem, and that would make some of his later scenes less believable.
-Sussanah would require the best actress ever. A black, crippled woman with going on four personalities. Not many actresses could pull that off.
I still hope it gets made, but I doubt it.
sunspearQuote Reply
Wastrel,
I’ve read works by all of them. All were boring, cliche and uninspired. No contest with king and Martin. The road would have to have had the most boring protagonists with theist predictable ending I’ve ever read. Not to mention the blandest tone and style.
SmeogolQuote Reply