Thats just my opinion, you may enjoy it, so give it a shot. I just thought it was too cliche' "Disney happy-ending fairy tale" ish for my liking. But it was meant for his son to read, so there ya go.

I read The Regulators years ago and absolutely loved it.

Its hard for me to say which I liked better. I guess the Regulators.

I also really liked them both but I think I liked Desperation slightly better.

The Dark Tower series....well, I tried the first one, and I had a really tough time getting through it. I have been told that I should have given the rest of them a chance though, so I intend on reading them all.....eventually.

Its a hard decision. Desperation was a little more strenuous, but the little boy praying and all that..idk took it down half a point. The Regulators was a little darker. It also reminded me of Silent Hill (Bachman Street). At least thats what I think of them, but I recommend reading them both.

I'm in the same boat.

While we are on Stephen King, I know hes the Master of Horror and all, but after reading a large number of other authors I dare say King's horror is only mediocre to pretty good. Thats just me. I am a huge fan of the man and would be more excited meeting him than Tom Cruise any day, but where he really shines is in his human horror (Gerald's Game, Dolores Claiborne, Misery) and his short stories (I really love "Gray Matter"). I'd also strongly recommend his non-fiction works (Danse Macabre and On Writing) to any fellow aspiring horror authors.

There's something about the way that he writes. The fucker just tells a good story. It can be a shitty story, but he tells it so well. That's what being a writer is all about. That's why he's so famous. Dunno why he chose horror, although some of his horror is fucking great. I know what you mean, is what I'm trying to say. I think I know exactly what you mean.

I think too many people dismiss King because he's "mainstream" and "popular", it happens with all art; movies, music, books, hell even videogames. Something about popularity really hurts the author in the eyes of the geeks or "hardcore fans" (no I'm not talking about you cloud, just making an observation :) ). There are darker, more disturbing authors out there and even authors who write some better horror stories, but I'd be hard pressed to find an author that has written so many good to great horror novels.

...Or with more raw ability to actually tell a story. That's fucking important.

Preach it, Despare.:)

I think It is one of the greatest horror novels of all time, and he doesn't back off when it comes to scares and squirms. I think the movie adaptations of his work lead people to think of him as PG-13, but he really isn't. His hard R is a masterful one. Clive Barker and a lot of others are of course more hardcore than a hard R, but we shouldn't dismiss a book for being less than X rated any more than we should dismiss a film for its rating.

I've read some Barker. I just don't think he puts a story together so well as Stephen King. He's very descriptive and very dark. He can snag my attention, but as a story teller, he's just outranked.