Tabitha King's books?

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kingricefan

kingricefan

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Jul 11, 2006
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morgan said:
I would like to start with Pearl (isn't that the one readers seem to prefer?). But will more than likely start with One On One because I bought a copy online a while ago at a reasonable price. Unless those of you who know her work suggest otherwise. :)
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IMHO Pearl is her best and strongest novel- it showcases her style and power as a writer. I think she 'came of age' as a writer when she did Pearl.
 
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kingricefan

kingricefan

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AchtungBaby said:
She needs to "come of age" and publish another one :D Hell, it could be a book about gardening. I'd buy that.
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She is a very good photographer in her own right- I would love to see her do a coffee table book of photos from her life with Steve and she could write a few paragraphs about each pic. I think it would be great!
 
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kingricefan

kingricefan

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AchtungBaby said:
I loved Caretakers, but the constant switching between present day and flashbacks can be a bit annoying for some readers. I like One On One but it got a little too porno for me at times.
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Caretakers was hard to read at certain points- I'd start a new chapter and didn't realize that Tabby had switched the timeline until I had read a few chapters. It was disconcerting, to say the least, but the story is wonderful!
 
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Neesy

Neesy

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morgan said:
I just read Tabby's intro to Carrie (1991 Plume edition). First time reading anything she's written. Wow - she is blunt, straightforward, and tough (and also funny)! I'm now even more excited to start reading one of her novels.
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Blunt, straightforward and tough - sounds like a perfect match for Mr. King!
 
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amaunder

amaunder

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I remember, (and this may sound blasphemous to some members) when I read my first Tabitha King novel (The Book of Reuben) and this thought occurred to me, she's the better writer...he's the better storyteller. I do wish she would write more poetry...her poem A Gradual Canticle for Augustine, which SK included in On Writing, has impressed me (over and over again) since I read it the first time sixteen years ago.
 
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A

Autumn13

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Don't kill the poster, but I read Pearl a long time ago and didn't like it much. I have never read another T King book. At that time I wondered if she would have ever been published if she wasn't related to the BIG SK. I am sure that her books didn't go into the slush pile of un-requested manuscripts the way that those of most new writers do. It helps to have connections. I read once that Peter Benchley put Jaws out to 60 publishers before one of them bit(no pun intended). Of course I am sure that those other 59 kicked themselves all the way to the movies as the novel and the movie made it big. But it looks like he didn't have any prior connections. Most fledgling writers (as I am sure most of you know) have to send it the manuscript and wait forever for someone in the office to have the time or the inclination to read it. Even if the Editor likes the book and actually reads it twice (like the book I worked on) the others on his staff don't always get it. The publisher was Dell and the Editor at the time was Chuck Adams.
His critique was good and he wanted rewrites and more sex added to the book. He then passed it another editor who didn't get it at all. Her critique sounded as if she had read a different book altogether. I still have that letter somewhere and I am always amazed when I think to find it and look again at Chuck's limited approval and her complete misunderstanding and disapproval .But we did the rewrites of the first half (the added sex would be in the second half). The story tightened up nicely and became sleeker and just had a better flow. We sent in that part for his perusal and waited and waited and waited and waited. During our wait. Chuck had moved on as many people and things do. We got the manuscript back from the new Editor in Chief with no explanation or comment on what we had done.
Four hundred twenty pages and 4 years of our lives and the manuscript now resides in that fabled bottom draw that most all writers have. No hard feelings. We had fun doing it and learned a lot in the process. But even though we had ""connections" of a sort, we still didn't have big name recognition. Life happens.
 
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kingricefan

kingricefan

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P
Autumn13 said:
Don't kill the poster, but I read Pearl a long time ago and didn't like it much. I have never read another T King book. At that time I wondered if she would have ever been published if she wasn't related to the BIG SK. I am sure that her books didn't go into the slush pile of un-requested manuscripts the way that those of most new writers do. It helps to have connections. I read once that Peter Benchley put Jaws out to 60 publishers before one of them bit(no pun intended). Of course I am sure that those other 59 kicked themselves all the way to the movies as the novel and the movie made it big. But it looks like he didn't have any prior connections. Most fledgling writers (as I am sure most of you know) have to send it the manuscript and wait forever for someone in the office to have the time or the inclination to read it. Even if the Editor likes the book and actually reads it twice (like the book I worked on) the others on his staff don't always get it. The publisher was Dell and the Editor at the time was Chuck Adams.
His critique was good and he wanted rewrites and more sex added to the book. He then passed it another editor who didn't get it at all. Her critique sounded as if she had read a different book altogether. I still have that letter somewhere and I am always amazed when I think to find it and look again at Chuck's limited approval and her complete misunderstanding and disapproval .But we did the rewrites of the first half (the added sex would be in the second half). The story tightened up nicely and became sleeker and just had a better flow. We sent in that part for his perusal and waited and waited and waited and waited. During our wait. Chuck had moved on as many people and things do. We got the manuscript back from the new Editor in Chief with no explanation or comment on what we had done.
Four hundred twenty pages and 4 years of our lives and the manuscript now resides in that fabled bottom draw that most all writers have. No hard feelings. We had fun doing it and learned a lot in the process. But even though we had ""connections" of a sort, we still didn't have big name recognition. Life happens.
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Peter Benchley had connections- he is the son of novelist Nathaniel Benchley and grandson of humorist Robert Benchley. He had connections.... Maybe he sent out the manuscript for Jaws under a non-de-plume to see if it would get picked up?
 
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kingricefan

kingricefan

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Doc Creed said:
Do you know if Tabitha plans on writing any other books? Especially the Nodd's Ridge novels.
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She already has at least one book written (Steve includes it in his list of best books at the back of On Writing) but it is as of yet unpublished. I'm sure she probably has one or two more tucked away. I guess she just didn't sell enough copies of books for her publisher to keep promoting? Which is a load of crap as she was a bestselling author in her own right. Maybe now that Cemetary Dance is doing signed/limiteds of her previous books that they can convince her to let them publish the book that Steve listed in On Writing....
 
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Doc Creed

Doc Creed

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kingricefan said:
She already has at least one book written (Steve includes it in his list of best books at the back of On Writing) but it is as of yet unpublished. I'm sure she probably has one or two more tucked away. I guess she just didn't sell enough copies of books for her publisher to keep promoting? Which is a load of crap as she was a bestselling author in her own right. Maybe now that Cemetary Dance is doing signed/limiteds of her previous books that they can convince her to let them publish the book that Steve listed in On Writing....
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Ok, thanks. I recall seeing that and wondered if she would receive a bunch of angry letters the way that Stephen did when he listed the (then unavailable) Gunslinger. I hope you are right, that's a great idea.
 
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carrie's younger brother

carrie's younger brother

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I have to admit I never read a Tabitha King book. I was aware of them as they were published but never had much interest. If they were available as e-books I would try one, but I just checked (and have been checking periodically for a couple of years now) and the only one available is the Michael McDowell book she finished upon his death. I don't want to read that (even though I love McDowell) as I want to read one of her own books first.
 
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