Jump to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

Surly Horns

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

Featured Replies

So on the Kingcast they will ask of their guests their Stephen King origin story...mine was seeing this at the floor of an older neighbor that I looked up to--I was most likely nine or ten:

 

image.thumb.jpeg.94924be402d1abaaeac1274ae29a262a.jpeg

To be followed by Night Shift.  I was a little scared of trying the novels because I had seen Cujo on TV, and my Mom had shared that the book does not have a happy ending.  

It would be a few years but I think my real affinity began with the 1990 update of The Stand, after which I tore through most of what King had published in the 80's besides the Dark Tower books, which I didn't get going on until I was an adult (and I still haven't read Tommyknockers or the Dark Half).  

  • 1 month later...
  • Replies 475
  • Views 42.7k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Most Popular Posts

  • Coach pop a bitch
    Coach pop a bitch

    Finished the Stand last night.  Wow! Just wow. I loved it. I'm bout to start the dark tower series (gunslinger). 

  • NeverMarryAStripper
    NeverMarryAStripper

    Don’t sleep on his older stuff.  Salem’s Lot is the book that got me hooked on his stuff.

Posted Images

Never read The Long Walk but picked it up since the movie came out. 

  • 2 weeks later...

Finished The Long Walk. Really enjoyed it - but the ending left me pretty meh. I've heard the ending is different in the movie but don't know how - not sure if I wanna watch it or not. 

  • 3 weeks later...

I didn't care much for The Long Walk. There was only so many pages of walking that I could take.

I'm about halfway through Under the Dome for the first time and damn it's good. 

  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/21/2025 at 8:59 AM, SimonBolivar said:

I'm about halfway through Under the Dome for the first time and damn it's good. 

Matthew Broderick GIF

On 10/21/2025 at 10:59 AM, SimonBolivar said:

I didn't care much for The Long Walk. There was only so many pages of walking that I could take.

I'm about halfway through Under the Dome for the first time and damn it's good. 

 

9 hours ago, Doc Sam Beckett said:

Matthew Broderick GIF

What’s funny is that Under the Dome came out during a bit of a post-accident fallow period for King, and I recall a lot of reviews championing it as a return to form.  
 

I like to imagine it as King’s version of Lost, which he clearly loved and wrote about in his EW column.  

The good thing about Long Walk, to me, is that it involves adolescent/young male characters, which King writes extraordinarily well, imo.

1 hour ago, South Austin said:

Not a fan?  I thought it was great.

I believe his post accident work is better than before his accident, but two that I never really cared for are Lisey's Story and Under the Dome. Lisey's I didn't finish, and it might be time to give it another go, but Dome I feel like the idea was great, but the execution wasn't. 

On 10/30/2025 at 10:21 AM, TwiceHorn said:

The good thing about Long Walk, to me, is that it involves adolescent/young male characters, which King writes extraordinarily well, imo.

 I think his newer stuff like Billy Summers shows he's lost a bit of it when writing young characters. He did a great job with The Long Walk, but of course he was a kid when he wrote it.

 

Finished Under the Dome and loved it. I like a big, epic, cast of characters.

On 10/30/2025 at 10:45 AM, Doc Sam Beckett said:

I believe his post accident work is better than before his accident, but two that I never really cared for are Lisey's Story and Under the Dome. Lisey's I didn't finish, and it might be time to give it another go, but Dome I feel like the idea was great, but the execution wasn't. 

I didn't like Lisey's Story either.  

I loved Duma Key.  I've read it three times.  One of his better post-accident novels, in my opinion.

Edited by South Austin

22 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

 I think his newer stuff like Billy Summers shows he's lost a bit of it when writing young characters. He did a great job with The Long Walk, but of course he was a kid when he wrote it.

It's even more noticeable in Fairy Tale, which he tries to resolve by writing that the lead character is a bit of an old soul and enjoys boomer media.  

I'm waiting for the next book in which he tries to update his "gee whiz" 1950's vernacular to modern times by having the kids repeat "6, 7" incessantly.  

  • Author

Needed an audiobook for the drive home from Austin on Sunday and chose the Gunslinger.  I'm enjoying it more than before having since finished the DT series.  I guess I'm in for another run at the Tower.

I have a lot more left than I thought. Any suggestions on what to read next? Besides Pet Sematary which I'm saving for later.Screenshot2025-11-04104151.thumb.jpg.901220e0921055556db55f63d130c716.jpg

If you liked The Outsider and the Hodges trilogy then read If It Bleeds. It's 3 short stories but one of them is a Holly/Outsider story and it's a good one. 

  • Author

No spoilers, but The Gunslinger should be the last book in the DT series.

  • Author
On 11/4/2025 at 10:47 AM, SimonBolivar said:

I have a lot more left than I thought. Any suggestions on what to read next? Besides Pet Sematary which I'm saving for later.Screenshot2025-11-04104151.thumb.jpg.901220e0921055556db55f63d130c716.jpg

Pet Semetary, Christine, The Dead Zone, not necessarily in that order.

On 11/6/2025 at 4:13 AM, South Austin said:

I’d say Desperation or Duma Key. 

Why Desperation and not Regulators?

Tak.

6 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Why Desperation and not Regulators?

Tak.

Regulators is a sort of bizarro Desperation. I loved it, but can’t imagine liking it as much if I hadn’t read Desperation first. 

On 11/6/2025 at 2:13 AM, South Austin said:

I’d say Desperation or Duma Key. 

Duma Key is one of my favorites. Wireman is an all time top character. 

Also think we all need to do one of those checklists that @SimonBolivar posted

On 11/11/2025 at 6:44 PM, Doc Sam Beckett said:

Duma Key is one of my favorites. Wireman is an all time top character. 

Also think we all need to do one of those checklists that @SimonBolivar posted

Screenshot2025-11-04104147.thumb.png.25f4f536f9eb22a77de3cdad0d6ab2f4.png


Also, in hilariousness from The Onion


r/stephenking - [Jokepost] The Onion Just Dropped the Definitive Ranking of Stephen King’s Best & Worst Books and I’m Honestly Concerned

On 11/3/2025 at 11:43 AM, LCHorn said:

It's even more noticeable in Fairy Tale, which he tries to resolve by writing that the lead character is a bit of an old soul and enjoys boomer media.  

I'm waiting for the next book in which he tries to update his "gee whiz" 1950's vernacular to modern times by having the kids repeat "6, 7" incessantly.  

Yeah hopefully he doesn't update anything. Hopefully the settings stay in the past. I have zero interest in reading about kids navigating AI, TikTok, and whatever else kids have to deal with these days.....get off my lawn! 

Yeah, who wouldn't want to read a novel with no punctuation and every word abbreviated so that it has no more than 3 letters in it.  Don't forget emojis, a good novel should have plenty of emojis in it.

Edited by Ghost of NMAS

On 11/7/2025 at 7:09 PM, TwiceHorn said:

Why Desperation and not Regulators?

Tak.

 

On 11/7/2025 at 7:17 PM, South Austin said:

Regulators is a sort of bizarro Desperation. I loved it, but can’t imagine liking it as much if I hadn’t read Desperation first. 

Correct. There are alternate versions of the character(s), and you really want to read Desperation first to enjoy the dichotomy and progression, even in different universes. Regulators first is just going backwards and wouldn't be very satisfying. 

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.