And for god’s sake, people, it wasn’t an orgy.
It was a gangbang.
Please make a note of it.
I may be wrong, but don’t dark tower books usually come out in the 4th quarter so that the publishers can maximize holiday sales? I think I heard that when W&G came out…
tavalla,
I think you are right about the quote from King but I think the numbers are a little off. Thinner came out in hard cover and sold a lot of copies.
From http://www.epinions.com/book-review-73B1-7407F7F-381D6C99-bd1
“Thinner was originally published by Stephen King under the psuedonym Richard Bachman. Bachman had written four other books: Rage, Roadwork, The running man, and The Long Walk. Each of these four books had been paperbacks with moderate sales. Thinner was the first Bachman book to be issued in hardcover, and to achieve sales that approached best seller status.”
I am assuming that the article means that ‘Thinner’ with the name Bachman on the cover almost hit the best seller list. 28,000 copies isn’t enough to reach the best seller list. 28,000 copies of a book also does not warrent a hardcover of the book being released. I bet the quote was “But the fact that Thinner sold 280,000 copies when Bachman was the author and 2,000,000 with King on the cover says something.” I am also assuming that ‘Thinner’ hit the best seller list after King put his name on it.
At the same time I know nothing about the publishing world so I could be totally wrong.
Slee
ianzin–I’d recommend starting with The Stand. It is tremendously long, but totally worth it. I started with this one, and was hooked for life. (There are two versions. The original had a lot of stuff edited out because it was so long. The second version was published with all the excised material added back in. I’d say that the edited version is fine. If you like it, you can go back and read the un-edited version.)
Or, you could read Different Seasons. It has 4 novellas in it, two of which you’re probably already familiar with, as they were made into the movies Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption.
Re: The Thinner publishing numbers. King did use the “28,000/280,000” figures in his intro to the Bachman Books collection.
[Hijack]
Mr. Cynical, could you please explain the difference between an orgy and a gangbang? Inquiring, not to mention dirty, minds want to know
[We now return this thread to its regularly scheduled flight.]
Sorry, I’m not Mr. Cynical, but here’s my take on it.
Orgy - many people all having sex with each other
Gangbang - many boys having sex, one after the other, with one girl.
Hope this clears up any confusion you might have.
I was always under the impression that the world of “Eyes of the Dragon” was the same world as the DT series, just in the past.
To support that, I seem to recall rugs in both books being from Kasmin…
I could, of course, be suffering from Crackheadedness.
Tristan, they were actually Kashamin rugs, but you’re quite right. The DT and the EOTD worlds are either one in the same or very, very closely related. Check out this page for lots of good links between the two (you have to scroll about half a page down and click on “Eyes of the Dragon”)
In most cases, no. But it’s not as far off as you seem to think it is. And when Thinner was published, somewhat fewer sales were required to hit the list.
**
According to whom? 28,000 copies net is a good number for a hardcover novel, even today. It’s not a bestseller, but it’s a solid success. Lots of hardcovers don’t sell that many copies.
**
You’ve been corrected on the quote – but you are off by an order of magnitude on book sales. King now sells a few million copies per book, but the top hardcover bestseller sales have gone up substantially in the last decade or two. (So now a handful of authors do sell in the millions, but most “bestselling” authors still don’t sell that many.)
And “King” didn’t put his name on Thinner – a reporter discovered the connection and the book started selling after the story went national. (It was reprinted with King’s name afterwards, but that was after the news had hit.)
Don’t forget Desperation/The Regulators. Two books, same character names, one written by King and one by Bachman. Talk about multiple personalities!
I had to force my way through The Black House, (I loathe books written in the present tense) Dreamcatcher was not up to par, and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon was a snack, not a meal. I have also only been able to read Cujo once…because I have a son.
The Stand is my favorite, followed by The Green Mile.
ianzin:
The Shining is, in my humble opinion, King’s finest work ever and is an excellent introduction to all the things that make a King book a wonderful read: in-depth characterization, humor when you least expect it, the ability to care about all the characters in the book, and knock-your-socks-off terror. I first read it in high school, and after about page 300 I literally was afraid to stop reading. Stayed up till 2 a.m. finishing that sucker.
As a short story, Gramma (sp?) is also wonderful – although he’s written a ton of good ones.
Just popping in to say thanks for the various recommendations.
Pepperlandgirl I’m a bit puzzled by your ref to Tommyknockers. Oddly enough, it’s one of the few SK titles that has been enthusiastically recommended to me by an SK fan!
If this isn’t possible, forget it, but is there a non-spoiler way of telling me roughly what Tommyknockers is about, and why you (PLG) dislike it so much?
Obviously I am a strange one - my favorite was The Talisman.
The scariest ones however have been named - The Shining, It (read that while in the hospital having my appy out), Skeleton Crew has some EXCELLENT short stories in it, including The Mist and The Raft, Carrie and Pet Sematary.
I finally got around to reading The Stand, and it was very good, but also very long, you may want to start with something shorter, until you are hooked (I would probably go with Ths Shining).
The BEST short story-or at least, the coolest one, was “Survivor Type” about a guy on a deserted island who starts eating his own body parts. Talk about COOL!
My absolute favorite as well. I love the Dark Tower series… however The Gunslinger came out in 1989 not the 70’s.
from ianzin
NOOOO!
The Tommyknockers sucked really bad. Even worse than Gerald’s Game. Please don’t read this one until you’ve read some of the excellent suggestions in this thread.
Also, might I suggest Christine? King nailed high school life and interactions in that one.
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve watched “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Stand By Me”, which, as mentioned earlier, wer both based on novellas found in Different Seasons. This should be high on your list.
The Gunslinger was originally published in book form in 1982, by Donald M. Grant. The stories themselves came out in several editions of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction starting, I believe, in 1978.
I have an affection for both Firestarter and The Dead Zone. Neither is particularly terrifying, though.
I could not stand Desperation or The Regulators. Ug. That whole universe felt like a very bad drug trip.
The Long Walk is one of my favorite King/Bachman novellas. It can be found in The Bachman Books.
I’ve read it about ten or fifteen times, and never get tired of it.
But The Stand was the first King novel I read, and it’s my die hard favorite. I’ve replaced my paperback copies numerous times over the years.
Whenever I go to a convention, I always take my first edition hardback of the completely and uncut version, on the very off chance King will be there and I can get it signed.
Sheri