insomniac15: Clive Barker Vs. Stephen King

insomniac15 01.30.12	From what I read, Stephen King evolves one character and just lets you evolve the story through your imagination. Barker wraps you in his world with many characters each adding to the story and I find his imagination more fascinating
MO 01.30.12	steven king goes into alotttttt of back story, Barker is more direct
fsharptrit0ne 01.30.12	the stand is on my list of things to read. as is weaveworld
MO 01.30.12	the stand was so good
fsharptrit0ne 01.30.12	is there a lot of build up metallic? or is it enticing throughout
andcas 01.30.12	stephen king has written some classics but he's also produced some laughably retarded crap. not to mention all his characters are the same and from maine.
Gmork89 01.30.12	I haven't read anything by Barker, but I'm a pretty big King fan. King likes to go into back story a lot as MO mentioned, and one of my favorite things about him is he really knows people's inner dialogue, it's creepy.
insomniac15 01.30.12	I've got Weaveworld on the list too. For now, I'm reading Imajica and I have bought today Mister B. Gone
insomniac15 01.30.12	haha yes andcas that's true, everyone is from Maine.. Maine is such a boring state IMO
fsharptrit0ne 01.30.12	rereading the hobbit right now after many many years. fucking rules
omnipanzer 01.30.12	Steven king has about 10 times as many good books as Clive Barker does and Clive can't end a story to save his life but he does have Imajica which is probably one of my favorite books ever.
MO 01.30.12	both? the story grips you from the beginning cause shit hits the fan instantly like most of his books, but the journey of the characters finding eachother, etc throughout is great.
insomniac15 01.30.12	@omnipanzer I love Imajica too, I'm halfway through. My favourite Barker books are The Great and Secret Show and Everville, however I have yet to read Books Of Blood (which are his most lauded work), because I couldn't find them on stock anywhere around.
EyesWideShut 01.30.12	i think i like Barker books more, beside King's Gunslinger. Books of Blood vol.1 and Damnation Game were both good.
andcas 01.30.12	@insomniac, not to mention they're usually adulterers, bullies, and alcoholics.
omnipanzer 01.30.12	I've read everything up to "Hearts in Atlantis - 1999" and I'd say everything is worth reading once up to that point. The highlights in case you are interested would be: It The Stand The Dark Tower Series The Shining The Dead Zone Firestarter Cujo Cycle of the Werewolf The Talisman The Bachman Books The Eyes of the Dragon Misery The Dark Half (Starting here he really goes on a jag of great books many of which have crossovers in them) Needful Things Gerald's Game Dolores Claiborne Nightmares & Dreamscapes Insomnia Rose Madder The Green Mile Desperation The Regulators I can also speak for any of the short stories collections prior to 1999. They are all worth reading as well.
omnipanzer 01.30.12	Books of blood have a lot of great ideas in them and are beautifully dark but they are all like half stories IMO. I may have been irritated with them just because I was so used to King's and Poe's nicely compartmentalized novellas by then.
EyesWideShut 01.30.12	@ Omni have u read any of King's Bachman books? I heard they were his best.
Gmork89 01.30.12	"Willa" from Just After Sunset by King is amazing, it's definitely one of my favorite short stories.
insomniac15 01.30.12	@omnipanzer I have only read the first Dark Tower, Cycle Of The Werewolf and Skeleton Crew and they were good, but I don't know, I find Barker's stories as ever unfolding until the end and that fascinates me, how detailed his imagination is.
omnipanzer 01.30.12	You should get into Neil Gaiman too if you get a chance. He's a lot like them as well. Also H.P. Lovecraft if you want to see who inspired them. At the Mountains of Madness is a classic.
Killerhit 01.30.12	King can be so boring.
omnipanzer 01.30.12	"have u read any of King's Bachman books? I heard they were his best." Not his best just different ans firmly entrenched in the horror side of things as opposed to his later stuff which can go more horror/scifi/fantasy. They are all worth reading though. The Dark Half which has a lot to do with his Bachman persona is great.
MO 01.30.12	omni throw in Under the Dome and The Tommyknockers, just read them recently and thought they were awesome
insomniac15 01.30.12	One thing for Barker, his homosexuality has a big influence sometimes, especially from the 90's (Everville and others)
omnipanzer 01.30.12	"King can be so boring." Yah he spends a lot of time in settup but it can really flesh out the characters. Salems lot for example is 50% setup... the whole first half of the book but you'll notice I didn't rec it. If that isn't your thing read Koontz. A lot less setup but still really good books but he's not in the same class as King.
Killerhit 01.30.12	I don't know. All I remember about King's novels is reading them, setting them down, trying to read it again, and getting more and more exhausted. It's a challenge to read him, but he's mostly alright. I think that It was a massive stretch
Killerhit 01.30.12	If you want a book worth the length, read Les Miserables. Oh and I heard there's a 13,000 page book out there somewhere - I must hunt for it
omnipanzer 01.30.12	"I find Barker's stories as ever unfolding until the end and that fascinates me, how detailed his imagination is." I think you're actually referring to his pacing in which case I totally get it and agree but he just doesn't have the catalog King does. You can spend the next couple of years reading King. As a matter of fact go ahead and finish Barkers catalog and then get back to King... he's not going anywhere. ;^)
ConsiderPhlebas 01.30.12	Barker is pretty interesting. His early short stories have a lot of psychoanalytic symbolism etc, and even his books aimed at kids are creative and playful. King's work can be bloated at times, but he's got a sweet knack for characterization and if you stick to his punchier stuff it's all good. Plus, without him there wouldn't be Stand By Me or The Shawshank Redemption.
omnipanzer 01.30.12	"I don't know. All I remember about King's novels is reading them, setting them down, trying to read it again, and getting more and more exhausted." There are a lot of his books that have a few moments like that but they pay off in the end. The only one I almost didn't Finnish was Salem's Lot and then I read somewhere that it literally was a thrill ride from tha half way point and I remember that being a perfect description. It was almost literally the middle chapter and I read the rest of tit that day.
insomniac15 01.30.12	yeah, Barker's still got a long way, however I need to read more King to objectively compare both. Until then, I'll still prefer Barker haha
Parallels 01.30.12	I don't know much about Clive Barker, but Stephen King kinda went downhill around the late 90's, but I've heard he is just now picking it back up with the new Time Travel JFK Novel 11/22/63. New York Times said it was one of the top 10 of 2011. Can't wait for it to come out in paperback. Stephen King has great thrilling stories and is a terrific author, but also a ton of information in his novels so you can really visualize every detail about what is going on. Some people don't like that excessive detail.
omnipanzer 01.30.12	The first real novel I ever read was "The Eyes of the Dragon" and I was just hooked. For me I would never have gotten into Barker, Rice, Poe, Koontz, Lovecraft etc. without that book so I'm sure I'm somewhat biased.
Parallels 01.30.12	koontz sucks
omnipanzer 01.30.12	^ lol so not true.
Hyperion1001 01.30.12	clive barker is great, i like his style better then king i also think he has put out less shit than king has overall
Parallels 01.30.12	Yeah I've heard that Koontz wouldn't even allow interviews unless they talked about his dogs and not his books.
insomniac15 01.30.12	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnnIu9fHOUg this is one of the amazing things about Barker (I love his paintings)
omnipanzer 01.30.12	Outside of Watchers I can't think of any others of his I've read that focused on dogs. ^ great book btw.
Adabelle 01.30.12	I read the extended edition of The Stand, it ruled. I'm reading Misery, it's okay. I've never read a book by Barker. Sooooo, idk the answer to your question..