Stephen King likes “noisome” and “tenebrous” a little too much.
Sometimes an author gets a particular word stuck in his head for a particular book. I noticed this in Tom Clancy’s Red Rabbit, where the phrase “above my pay grade” gets quite a workout. Some of his other books also have a pet phrase or two.
Squamous (see above) was the first one that came to my mind.
To be honest “above my pay grade” gets quite a workout in real life in the military and with contractors working closely with the military.
I use “above my pay grade” at work a lot and I’m not nor have I ever been in the military. I know at least one person from all the branches, though.
Quite so, but if it shows up in his other books, I do not recall it. In Red Rabbit, even a KGB guy uses the phrase!
The bit I left out in the middle was a digression on the subject of Nyarlathotep and camel humps which was even funnier. The entire story is at that link (which goes to the middle of the story so you’ll have to page back) but it’s worth a quick read.
ETA: Oh, and for completeness’ sake: Pete and Dud
Many years ago I read a historical novel about Rembrandt and the author sure did love to use the word “moist”, especially in describing female characters.
Tangent: I started reading a Kindle-bought fantasy “Defying Fate”, part of The Warden series, and had to give it up when it became agonizingly clear that the author had been bitten by a past pluperfect tense in childhood and had developed a total aversion to its use.
In case anyone didn’t know and cares, “squamous” apparently means “scaly.” Rather odd way to describe a town, I’d think.
…and obdurate!
…and rictus!
China Mieville and Mark Gatiss both seem rather fond of “juddering” - a word perhaps a bit more common on the UK side of the pond.
I can’t think of a smucking word that Stephen King over used. Not a single Jimla one.
Tak!
I think it was David Foster Wallace in Infinite Jest. I’m reluctant to say this because he is clearly such a good writer (although man that book went nowhere for the longest time)
Ben Black’s Quirk series used “incongruously” so much it was irritating. I even started a thread about it - some other examples are in there.
JohnT–there is no smilie for Thumbs Up! This will hafta do 
.
M-O-O-N, that spells Thumbs Up!
In Harry Turtledove’s books, tanks never explode, ignite, burn, or anything else. They always “brew up.”
Stephen R. Donaldson seemed mighty fond of the word “anile” as I recall. His books were hilariously over-written, so I’m sure there were others, but that’s the one that sticks in my memory.
Well, to be fair, that would be a clever use of a word; it’s both correct *and * at the same time is almost a homophone of another atmospherically appropriate word. There’s probably some term for that.
Yeah, Donaldson has a bunch.
In the Last Chronicles, one that really jumped out at me was “surquedry.”