Where/ When Were You When You Discovered?

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loobylou

Well-Known Member
Feb 6, 2008
127
65
41
manchester, uk
Hi guys,
This has probably been asked a million times before but, for all the newbies out there (or oldies happy to re tell their tale) I was wondering when you all discovered Mr King? Were you already a horror lover, or a newbie? Did you discover you loved his works before you knew the writer? or were you encouraged? Was it a horror night as a tween/ a creepy movie poster or an accidental stumbling in a library, What was your first book or was it a film? What brought you all here?

My story..... I was in 13 and in foster care when I stumbled over Nightmares and Dreamscapes, my foster mum had a small bookcase and I was skipping school and bored when I found N&D, Yes I could philosophize on the roots to the love or which holes this filled but it would be a pointless waste of time tbh, I loved him from the start, all the stories were so bizarre and I felt so rebellious reading something with rude words an such gory imaginings. It was only after reading and making a note of the author I realised I had been subconsciously following Stephen King for years, I had seen Carrie, Cujo and I think Pet Semetary already (also possibly trucks and one or 2 others, those years are very fuzzy but when I looked through the book list I knew quite a few names). Thats when I started to look out for his works and was never disappointed.
Most stories would end this way as the Twilight Tweens no doubt will, but now I am a mummy of 4 with a great life, compared to the early days, and still a new Stephen King announcement causes my hackles to raise in excitement. I can go on and read the latest or re-read a favorite and the excitement and mystery from my youth are still there. Many grumble about the endings, and at times I have jumped on the old bandwagon with them (*ahem Cell!) but I have never been disappointed with the journey. The road to get to the end has always been the best, the characters, so alive you actually cry when they get hurt, the towns, always steeped in history, culture and brought to life so well, the plots are always full of twists and turns and I have personally always loved the hunt a character ( Sherrif Pangbourne anyone :) )
To me, any author that can capture the mind of a 13 year old kid or a 30 something mummy is doing something very right, IMHO, I don't ever envision a day that I wouldn't be excited to pick up the Talisman or his under appreciated shorts N&D/ 4 Past/ skeleton crew (when will someone make the raft or the nuclear summer one a real film?) Or a brand new addition to our happy little family.... we all know the motto, so sing along with me, We alllllllllllllll float down here ;)

Anyways I have waxed lyrical enough for one day, so tell me, where did your love start?

As always, thank you for reading my waffle ;)

Louise
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 

Walter Oobleck

keeps coming back...or going, and going, and going
Mar 6, 2013
11,749
34,805
I was a late bloomer. Wasn't until 2006...ought-six as I like to call it...and I think a year or two prior I had one employee who referred to me as "old man". Chris was a real hoot. I'd seen The Shining way back when...early 80s. Don't recall the exact year, but that was my first exposure to anything King-related. At the time, I wasn't convinced that anything fashionable could have any worth in the high-brow way of literature. I was mistaken. I was so much older then...I'm younger than that now. I'd caught a few movies since that initial viewing...The Running Man on television...The Langoliers at some point in the late 90s...another employee mentioned it in passing during kahvi aiga...and I watched it that night. My brother, a math teacher, math and science (he blew up the science lab...almost)...anyway, he said here, read this, this is good it's about a clown. So I read it, it was good, but it was four or five years later before I picked up The Dreamcatcher, loved it, read it several times since. In ought-six, I picked up The Gunslinger, read that first line...and the hook was set. When I got on the plane with Eddie, I couldn't read the stories fast enough. I've read them all several times since then.
 

Lord Tyrion

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2013
1,582
6,257
I watch Morning Joe on MSNBC regularly and Stephen King was on to promote his book 11/22/63. I was fascinated with the concept of someone stopping the JFK assassination and I had to read it. It was a great book and I plan on reading his other stuff.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
I watch Morning Joe on MSNBC regularly and Stephen King was on to promote his book 11/22/63. I was fascinated with the concept of someone stopping the JFK assassination and I had to read it. It was a great book and I plan on reading his other stuff.
Try Joyland and Doctor Sleep - his two newest ones Lord T. Plus you can read Doctor Sleep without having to read "The Shining" first. I did read "The Shining" a long time ago so it was not fresh in my mind, yet I still enjoyed Doctor Sleep.
 

Phantomking

Well-Known Member
Mar 26, 2008
122
117
Northeast USA
When I was around 11 or 12, my mother had a copy of The Running Man. I absolutely loved the book, but had never heard of this guy "Richard Bachman". I probably read it 15 times as a kid. Then, an ex girlfriend had a copy of The Bachman Books where I found out Bachman was King and it just blew up from there. I loved the Long Walk and then a lady at work saw me with my battered copy of the Bachman Books that I read every day at lunch for a year. She said "My husband passed away a few years ago and I have a ton of his books...here" and it was a bag full of his books. I think it had Needful Things, Insomnia, The Drawing of the Three and a few others. From then, I was hooked.
 

kingzeppelin

Member who probably should be COMMITTED!
Apr 15, 2012
7,441
20,496
Oxfordshire, UK
I was always into supernatural & horror stories along the lines of John Wyndham and Dennis Wheatley from my teens onwards.
I think, and you'll have to forgive me for not being more precise but memory starts playing tricks on you as you get older, but my first SK "fix" was either Carrie or Salem's Lot in the late 1970's. It would have been a second hand paperback edition from a local book exchange.
A shop where you can buy, read and then exchange for another.
One SK "high" and I was "hooked".
I bought, but never traded my precious "Kings", reading and rereading them many times.
I was delighted to discover that SK was the same age as me, thinking great we can grow old together, with SK as the Constant Writer and me as a Constant Reader.
The rest is history, and here I am with a great bunch of like minded fellow travellers.

So many thanks SK, keep 'em coming.:encouragement:
 

Jojo87

Prolific member
Jan 8, 2009
7,468
19,518
37
Finland
I found a short story book called Children of the corn in my sister's room summer 2006. It was
sunny and warm that day I found the book, so I decided to borrow that book from my sister and go out in the sun and read.
After the first 3 pages I was hooked.
 

notebookgirl

Well-Known Member
Oct 8, 2013
858
4,940
Somewhere over the Rainbow
I was always in to the off-the-beaten path stuff. My first book - maybe about age 8 - I wrote was about a witch. I fancied myself an author and I was a reader too. Big fan of Poe. I also wrote a story later about the Pit and the Pendulum, a rip-off of the Poe version where the people eat the victim at the end. It was a book I submitted to one of the Young Authors Conferences where the teacher helps you and the book is laminated. Anyway, I can't remember the exact moment, I just know I had "Pet Cemetary" first. I was an early teenager then and latched on to him.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
I was always into supernatural & horror stories along the lines of John Wyndham and Dennis Wheatley from my teens onwards.
I think, and you'll have to forgive me for not being more precise but memory starts playing tricks on you as you get older, but my first SK "fix" was either Carrie or Salem's Lot in the late 1970's. It would have been a second hand paperback edition from a local book exchange.
A shop where you can buy, read and then exchange for another.
One SK "high" and I was "hooked".
I bought, but never traded my precious "Kings", reading and rereading them many times.
I was delighted to discover that SK was the same age as me, thinking great we can grow old together, with SK as the Constant Writer and me as a Constant Reader.
The rest is history, and here I am with a great bunch of like minded fellow travellers.

So many thanks SK, keep 'em coming.:encouragement:
King Z - who are LoobyLou and AndyPandy? I notice the original poster's handle is loobylou so I thought I would ask. My hubby told me something about them but he is not here right now. Were they TV characters on a kid's show or a in a book (would you know?)
 

kingzeppelin

Member who probably should be COMMITTED!
Apr 15, 2012
7,441
20,496
Oxfordshire, UK
King Z - who are LoobyLou and AndyPandy? I notice the original poster's handle is loobylou so I thought I would ask. My hubby told me something about them but he is not here right now. Were they TV characters on a kid's show or a in a book (would you know?)
You remembered correctly, they were characters on TV's "Watch With Mother" aired in the 1950's.
Andy Pandy, LoobyLou & Ted had very innocent adventures on TV. Here's a sample;
 

The Nameless

M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
Jul 10, 2011
2,080
8,261
42
The Darkside of the Moon (England really)
Hi Loobylou, I am about your age and from just down the road (Liverpool), for me growing up in the 90's, Stephen King films and books just seemed to always have been around. There was no real watershed moment, I remember being drawn towards 4 past midnight in my dad's book case because of the cover, but I never read or had a real desire to read it. It was the mini series of IT that hooked me, can't remember when I first watched it, just that I loved it and re-watched it many times until deciding late on in life (3 years ago) to read the book. Now I have tons of reading ahead of me.
 

Lord Tyrion

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2013
1,582
6,257
Try Joyland and Doctor Sleep - his two newest ones Lord T. Plus you can read Doctor Sleep without having to read "The Shining" first. I did read "The Shining" a long time ago so it was not fresh in my mind, yet I still enjoyed Doctor Sleep.

I'm definitely going to read Joyland. Don't know about Doctor Sleep. I saw the Shining but I didnt read it. I dont know how similar the book and movie are. I might read Under the Dome next year.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
You remembered correctly, they were characters on TV's "Watch With Mother" aired in the 1950's.
Andy Pandy, LoobyLou & Ted had very innocent adventures on TV. Here's a sample;
This is so old - it's actually kinda creepy :eek-new: sorry :wink-new: Andy said years ago they had to put coins in some sort of meter box to make the TV work. When my Dad went over there to visit in the 70s he thought this was the greatest idea. At that time in Canada he thought we were watching too much TV!
 

Liselle

Well-Known Member
Jul 10, 2006
1,586
1,448
51
England
I was about 10/11 and read my dad's library copy of The Stand and then I was hooked. Dad tried to say I wouldn't understand what was going on but I did and I also had a very nice library lady who made an extra adult ticket in my dads name for me so I could more 'adult' books out without raising suspicion. Think she understood me more than my parents did. She is one lady I will never forget because she helped foster my love of reading and allowed me to expand my horizons beyond typical children's books.
 

blunthead

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2006
80,755
195,461
Atlanta GA
Hi guys,
This has probably been asked a million times before but, for all the newbies out there (or oldies happy to re tell their tale) I was wondering when you all discovered Mr King? Were you already a horror lover, or a newbie? Did you discover you loved his works before you knew the writer? or were you encouraged? Was it a horror night as a tween/ a creepy movie poster or an accidental stumbling in a library, What was your first book or was it a film? What brought you all here?

My story..... I was in 13 and in foster care when I stumbled over Nightmares and Dreamscapes, my foster mum had a small bookcase and I was skipping school and bored when I found N&D, Yes I could philosophize on the roots to the love or which holes this filled but it would be a pointless waste of time tbh, I loved him from the start, all the stories were so bizarre and I felt so rebellious reading something with rude words an such gory imaginings. It was only after reading and making a note of the author I realised I had been subconsciously following Stephen King for years, I had seen Carrie, Cujo and I think Pet Semetary already (also possibly trucks and one or 2 others, those years are very fuzzy but when I looked through the book list I knew quite a few names). Thats when I started to look out for his works and was never disappointed.
Most stories would end this way as the Twilight Tweens no doubt will, but now I am a mummy of 4 with a great life, compared to the early days, and still a new Stephen King announcement causes my hackles to raise in excitement. I can go on and read the latest or re-read a favorite and the excitement and mystery from my youth are still there. Many grumble about the endings, and at times I have jumped on the old bandwagon with them (*ahem Cell!) but I have never been disappointed with the journey. The road to get to the end has always been the best, the characters, so alive you actually cry when they get hurt, the towns, always steeped in history, culture and brought to life so well, the plots are always full of twists and turns and I have personally always loved the hunt a character ( Sherrif Pangbourne anyone :) )
To me, any author that can capture the mind of a 13 year old kid or a 30 something mummy is doing something very right, IMHO, I don't ever envision a day that I wouldn't be excited to pick up the Talisman or his under appreciated shorts N&D/ 4 Past/ skeleton crew (when will someone make the raft or the nuclear summer one a real film?) Or a brand new addition to our happy little family.... we all know the motto, so sing along with me, We alllllllllllllll float down here ;)

Anyways I have waxed lyrical enough for one day, so tell me, where did your love start?

As always, thank you for reading my waffle ;)

Louise
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The first movie I saw which I was aware was based on an sK work was (Kubrick's) The Shining. I had not read any sK by then (in fact, didn't start 'til 2006). I saw and loved the movies Misery, Needful Things, and The Langoliers, still without realizing they were sK, and long before I started to read him. And, it's not that I wasn't a reader then, just not a horror fan but one of suspense-thrillers.

My sister sent me a copy of Lightning by Dean Koontz. It really liked it, and since it was so totally unlike anything I'd ever read and I was in the mood for something new, I bought a few more Koontz. Though I'm not sure how Koontz characterizes his writing, I call it horror, sometimes scifi-horror.

In 2006 I felt the need to find a new author having read as much of all of my faves current at the time, but had no idea who to try. I decided to read the one William Goldman (not Golding) book I'd not read, titled Which Lie Did I tell?, in which Goldman devotes a chapter to his experience writing the Misery screenplay. Goldman, whose professional and personal opinion I trust, praised sK in enough ways to convince me that whomever's good enough for Billy's good enough for me. But where to start? Since a movie lover, and having always had questions per The Shining, that's the first sK I read (which did not answer my questions per The Shining. Only Kubrick might. I'll ask him later). I decided I can keep reading sK; in fact, I needed to due to certain circumstances because he touched me a very unique, needful way. So, I bought Misery, figuring I'd probably like it if it was at least reminiscent of the story in the movie. I was so convinced afterward as never to have looked back, and truly have yet to be disappointed.
 
Last edited:

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
oz-wizard-behind-the-curtain-769602.jpg
....I WAS paying attention to the man behind the curtain, and he whacked me with a copy of The Stand...and so it began...true story...