What authors write as well as SK?

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

Ashcrash

Well-Known Member
Jun 10, 2015
1,326
4,898
Wutsittoyu
My brother once made the blasphemous statement that he like Michael Chrichton books more then Stephen King books. We were young then. SO I had to read them recently to see if such an outrageous statement could be true. I like almost all of his books a lot but explained to my brother I think he must be TRIPPIN!:devil::devil:
 

Aloysius Nell

Well-Known Member
Apr 1, 2014
309
1,009
51
My brother once made the blasphemous statement that he like Michael Chrichton books more then Stephen King books. We were young then. SO I had to read them recently to see if such an outrageous statement could be true. I like almost all of his books a lot but explained to my brother I think he must be TRIPPIN!:devil::devil:
Crichton was a really good storyteller. He had that thing, kind of like Grisham, where if you read 15 of them you really enjoy them, and all of a sudden you realize that's all you ever want to read. I've gotten rid of all of their books, while replacing all my King paperbacks with hardbacks! If Mr. King lives to be 95 and writes the whole time, I will have them all, and prominently displayed.
 

Ashcrash

Well-Known Member
Jun 10, 2015
1,326
4,898
Wutsittoyu
Crichton was a really good storyteller. He had that thing, kind of like Grisham, where if you read 15 of them you really enjoy them, and all of a sudden you realize that's all you ever want to read. I've gotten rid of all of their books, while replacing all my King paperbacks with hardbacks! If Mr. King lives to be 95 and writes the whole time, I will have them all, and prominently displayed.


Well I was a DIE hard fan of E.R. as a kid and up to a few years before it ended. I stopped watching when that one main doctor died. I cant remember his name now but that was it for me I said F THIS and boycotted it. I only discovered A couple years ago that show was created by chrichton. I was scared to death during Jurrasic park as a kid. Fell in love with the T-rex and had the Burger King T rex watch to show it when I was a little kid. I did not read the book until two years ago and still found it awesome. So Chrichton is good but I cant say that his work was mind expanding like Kings was for me. But maybe that is because Kings books got me first as well as his movies. I may have a completely bias opinion. I hardly doubt it but would not argue if that statement was made :hammer:
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
My brother once made the blasphemous statement that he like Michael Chrichton books more then Stephen King books. We were young then. SO I had to read them recently to see if such an outrageous statement could be true. I like almost all of his books a lot but explained to my brother I think he must be TRIPPIN!:devil::devil:
Did you read Sphere? I recommend it very highly.
 

Ashcrash

Well-Known Member
Jun 10, 2015
1,326
4,898
Wutsittoyu
YA you and my brother both. I read jurassic park, lost world, pirates, deception(i think thats the name. That one dark storm (i think thats the name) about global warming was awesome to me, uuhhh congo and I have yet to read sphere but will. I tried to read that one called time machine when I was younger. It was about the same time as Hearts in Atlantis. But I could not get into it at that age and went back to king. I will try it again
 

chester brooks

Well-Known Member
Jun 15, 2015
56
176
41
Since I have been reading SK's latest work, I have come to appreciate how easy it is to follow along with his writing. His writing is a breeze to go through, and from the few authors I have read, his writing abilities are unmatched. I'm not the greatest writer myself, but my education has given me the ability to recognize the best. The only other writer I can pinpoint with the smooth touch is David McCullough who writes historical works as though they were fiction. Bill Simmons is a solid writer, though he's a sports writer. Other than that, I can't think of anyone else on SK's level.

My question to the more experienced readers and writers, what other authors write as well as SK?

No one. Absolutely no one. I've been asking the same question for years. I just can't find one guy I enjoy so much. The closest I've come to like anyone else as much was Frank Herbert. Still nothing compared to King but DUNE blew my mind. If u ever saw the movie... It was terrible. The books will blow u away. Like God empeor of DUNE. It's thousands of years later and the main guy from the first book is like this giant evil fat worm thing they wheel around on a cart and call him the tyrant lol
I never read any of his other books though. James Paterson writes Good books. Real enjoyable but still nothing like KIng. Kiss the girls yo. Mary Mary.
I could have just stuck with nobody. Yep. Nobody.
Nooobody
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
YA you and my brother both. I read jurassic park, lost world, pirates, deception(i think thats the name. That one dark storm (i think thats the name) about global warming was awesome to me, uuhhh congo and I have yet to read sphere but will. I tried to read that one called time machine when I was younger. It was about the same time as Hearts in Atlantis. But I could not get into it at that age and went back to king. I will try it again
State of Fear is the title you mean. It's great.
 

muskrat

Dis-Member
Nov 8, 2010
4,518
19,564
Under your bed
I'm thinkin writers similar to King. Top of the head--

Richard Matheson
Ray Bradbury
Ramsey Campbell (well, different, but on par)
Fritz Leiber
Robert Bloch
Dan Simmons
Robert A. Heinlein (a couple)
Robert E. Howard

Blah blah blah, you know all them cats. Whether or not they write as well as King is not for me to say. Tell ya they write as good as Stevie, though. Read me some bettah, ayuh, read me some wus.
 

kingricefan

All-being, keeper of Space, Time & Dimension.
Jul 11, 2006
30,011
127,446
Spokane, WA
No one. Absolutely no one. I've been asking the same question for years. I just can't find one guy I enjoy so much. The closest I've come to like anyone else as much was Frank Herbert. Still nothing compared to King but DUNE blew my mind. If u ever saw the movie... It was terrible. The books will blow u away. Like God empeor of DUNE. It's thousands of years later and the main guy from the first book is like this giant evil fat worm thing they wheel around on a cart and call him the tyrant lol
I never read any of his other books though. James Paterson writes Good books. Real enjoyable but still nothing like KIng. Kiss the girls yo. Mary Mary.
I could have just stuck with nobody. Yep. Nobody.
Nooobody
Did you see the expanded version of Dune? The one where the studio put back in the almost two hours of footage that they forced David Lynch to cut out in the first version? The original theatrical version is crap.
 

Blake

Deleted User
Feb 18, 2013
4,191
17,479
It's hard to compare authors like that. It's a personal preference. I was talking to Brian-over a few drinks-and he saw I had a book with me. He asked me( Brian's 63) who was my favourite writer, and I rattled off a few starting with King. I also said I liked James Herbert. Brian said he's read all of Herbert's stuff. I said Herbert's books were fantastic. Who wants to read a great writer who'll send you to sleep after five pages because they write boring stories. I'm sorry, but I have never been able to read The Sound and the Fury.
 

Mr Nobody

Well-Known Member
Jul 9, 2008
3,306
9,050
Walsall, England
Did you read Sphere? I recommend it very highly.

I was about to ask if it was better than the film version, but decided it was a stupid question. It's more appropriate to ask how much better it is: slightly, significantly, or several orders of magnitude?

More generally, Crichton and James Herbert were both good writers (IMO) and in their specific strengths were the equal of or better than SK. Crichton's problem, I found, was that his dialogue was a bit stilted and he lacked something in creating a sense of place - as Lord Tyrion pointed out in his reply to my previous post, SK has the knack of making you feel as if you were there, observing real people in a real location at a given moment in time: a rare gift - while JH could turn a phrase and evoke a strong sense of place (as well as danger/suspense), but struggled with convincing dialogue and a lot of his books relied on formula - you just knew there'd be a sex scene around the mid-point, as one example, and my memory is suggesting that he did betrayal by women/lovers a lot.
So in the round neither were as good as SK is. Which isn't to say SK's writing is flawless. He has, in the past, pointed out weaknesses for himself, and it's something of a truth universally acknowledged that he tends to struggle with endings - although, with that said, it could be argued that the weaker parts only look that way because the rest of his game is so strong.
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
I was about to ask if it was better than the film version, but decided it was a stupid question. It's more appropriate to ask how much better it is: slightly, significantly, or several orders of magnitude?

More generally, Crichton and James Herbert were both good writers (IMO) and in their specific strengths were the equal of or better than SK. Crichton's problem, I found, was that his dialogue was a bit stilted and he lacked something in creating a sense of place - as Lord Tyrion pointed out in his reply to my previous post, SK has the knack of making you feel as if you were there, observing real people in a real location at a given moment in time: a rare gift - while JH could turn a phrase and evoke a strong sense of place (as well as danger/suspense), but struggled with convincing dialogue and a lot of his books relied on formula - you just knew there'd be a sex scene around the mid-point, as one example, and my memory is suggesting that he did betrayal by women/lovers a lot.
So in the round neither were as good as SK is. Which isn't to say SK's writing is flawless. He has, in the past, pointed out weaknesses for himself, and it's something of a truth universally acknowledged that he tends to struggle with endings - although, with that said, it could be argued that the weaker parts only look that way because the rest of his game is so strong.
Well said!

To speak to your question about Sphere, which happens to be my personal favorite novel, the book is superior to the movie x5, about. The first time I saw the movie I was fairly disappointed despite an honest subconscious liking of it. I know about the subconscious liking due to subsequent viewings. But, of course, much is omitted in it from the original story. Too much, really. I deduct that you haven't read Sphere yet and that you need to please do so.
 

Mr Nobody

Well-Known Member
Jul 9, 2008
3,306
9,050
Walsall, England
To speak to your question about Sphere, which happens to be my personal favorite novel, the book is superior to the movie x5, about. The first time I saw the movie I was fairly disappointed despite an honest subconscious liking of it. I know about the subconscious liking due to subsequent viewings. But, of course, much is omitted in it from the original story. Too much, really. I deduct that you haven't read Sphere yet and that you need to please do so.

Seems about what I thought.
And you're right, I haven't read it yet. Airframe, Prey, State of Fear and The Andromeda Strain are the Crichtons I've read and/or own. Sphere was one of those movies that interested me enough, seemed to be lacking, and got me thinking that the book had to be better...without actually making me want to read the book asap. I'll have to do something about that.
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
Seems about what I thought.
And you're right, I haven't read it yet. Airframe, Prey, State of Fear and The Andromeda Strain are the Crichtons I've read and/or own. Sphere was one of those movies that interested me enough, seemed to be lacking, and got me thinking that the book had to be better...without actually making me want to read the book asap. I'll have to do something about that.
The book is kickass fascinating, weird, spooky and leaves you wondering but in a satisfied way.
 

RichardX

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2006
1,737
4,434
A friend recently described McCammon as "superior to King." I just finished Boy's Life and was not all that impressed. I want to try Swan Song before judging, b/c he said it was similar to The Stand but a far better book. Personally, I can't see that being possible!

I think King fans will enjoy "Swan Song" more if they read it for the sake of reading a King-like book. If you approach it to determine whether it is better than "The Stand" however then you are setting yourself up to be disappointed. King is at the top of that hill. I don't think many hardcore King fans are going to find any other books or authors that they like better.
 

RichardX

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2006
1,737
4,434
I've had a bug about Crichton ever since I purchased a special edition of "Jurassic Park" many years ago that was marketed by the publisher as being "signed." They even put a shiny sticker on the cover indicating it was signed. Later on some magazine found out these had all been "signed" with an autopen. A real shady rip off from an author that had made a ton of money from books and movies and had no reason to engage in that type of petty scam. There are probably folks still paying top dollar on ebay for a "signed" copy that are getting ripped off. It left a bad taste in my mouth about him. Some of his books are good, some awful.
 

Pucker

We all have it coming, kid
May 9, 2010
2,906
6,242
62
Stylistically, I would agree with everyone who said Elmore Leonard.

Once you start, you will read Leonard's catalogue quickly and when you are done you will wish there was more.

Ditto: Richard Russo