I've been reading King since I was like. . . 12? Anyway, something has always stuck with me. King is not in the least bit scary. Ever. Why in the heck is he called a horror writer? What makes a horror writer?
King has a lot of magical realism, and a few Lovecraftian turns -- but he actually uses Lovecraft to explain exactly why his stuff isn't horror sometimes (The Mist), or he makes the thing about something entirely different than some vague inherent dread to/of living (all the Dark Tower novels are, categorically, Westerns mashed to a Fantasy cloth).
I really don't know how to say it, because I guess I really don't know what horror is, because if it is only something that scares you -- then I'm not sure it is even possible in a book.
The only two that came remotely close, for me, were It, back when I was 12 or whatever -- right up until the end, where the (demi)god turned out to be kill-able . . . which has always bothered me, but I honestly just kinda hate happy endings. I don't believe (in) them. And then Lisey's story, which I'm about to re-read because I can barely remember it, but I know I loved it the first two times.
But, does having supernatural elements just automatically make something horror?
King has a lot of magical realism, and a few Lovecraftian turns -- but he actually uses Lovecraft to explain exactly why his stuff isn't horror sometimes (The Mist), or he makes the thing about something entirely different than some vague inherent dread to/of living (all the Dark Tower novels are, categorically, Westerns mashed to a Fantasy cloth).
I really don't know how to say it, because I guess I really don't know what horror is, because if it is only something that scares you -- then I'm not sure it is even possible in a book.
The only two that came remotely close, for me, were It, back when I was 12 or whatever -- right up until the end, where the (demi)god turned out to be kill-able . . . which has always bothered me, but I honestly just kinda hate happy endings. I don't believe (in) them. And then Lisey's story, which I'm about to re-read because I can barely remember it, but I know I loved it the first two times.
But, does having supernatural elements just automatically make something horror?