The Undisputed King

One of the books that I'm currently reading is a collection of short stories by Stephen King called Everythings Eventual. King, as I have come to realise, is one of those few authors who actually inspires me to devour an entire novel in a single sitting.

The first King book I ever read was Firestarter. It was from my mom's collection of novels and she recommended it to me. That was my first taste of the macabre and ive never stopped wanting more. One of the most notable traits of King is his ability to take the most innocent scenarios and turn them into your worst nightmare with unseeming ease. I have friends who have actually had nightmares after reading King books!

Inspired by the Lord of the Rings trilogy, King has completed his own epic saga called The Dark Tower (a personal favourite). The 7th and final book of this series was released recently.The entire series has taken in excess of 13 years to complete and King has done a very fine job of it.

Several of his bestsellers have been ported to the silver screen. Of these Ive seen The Green Mile, The Dreamcatcher, Carrie, The Shining and Misery. Its quite sad to see the way his work has to be compressed to fit a 2 hour feature film. It was chilling to read how the dangerously deranged Annie chops off Paul's legs and then proceeds to weld his bloody leg-stumps with a blow torch in 'Misery'. The movie however only shows Annie (Kathy Bates) breaking his ankles with a mallet. I guess u have to judge a book and its movie on seperate merits but they could have been a little more true to the book and showed atleast a little blood.

Another thing that never fails to amuse me is the way in which a writer like JK Rowling can become a multi-millionaire by the sales of just one series of books while exceptionally gifted writer like King never tastes such widespread fame through numerous works which are far superior. Im not downplaying the calibre of Rowling but lets face it, shes just not in the same league as the undisputed King!!