The Stand/Swan Song

[Teddy Duchamp]

First of all apologies if this has already been discussed - I havent been on the forum for a while and realised I missed my fix of SK discussion!

I just wondered what folk thought of the constant comparisons between these two books?

Ive seen Robert McCammon described as a "wannabee" Stephen King - and to be honest I can see the comparisons.

Swan Song had "the baddie" who one could compare to Randall Flagg - it even had the "leaving New York through the tunnel" scene - practically the same scenario - and to my mind quite a few other similar scenes - the group getting together - and the glass crown in Swan Song to me seemed very similar to the talisman searched for by Jack in the "Talisman".

That said I enjoyed the book, I much preferred the Stand though, much better character development and you actually cared about the characters - for me, not so much in Swan Song - it dragged on a little!.

Another of RMcC's books (Boys Life) which I thoroughly enjoyed - has echoes of "the Body"............

Arggggh Im rambling now - I suppose what I meant to ask is has anyone read both books, and what is your opinion on RMcC - do you think the books are a little "too" similar to Stephen Kings? I actually think the reason Ive enjoyed most of them are just because of this - I wonder what Stephen thinks himself? Has he ever made comment? I dont think I would be too pleased to have written such fabulous works to see "similar" efforts popping up!!

[Moderator]

He's a big fan of Robert McCammon's works so don't think any similarities have bothered him.

[fushingfeef]

I've always wondered if SK saw "The Fury" before he wrote "Firestarter", but I don't think there is any intentional copying per se. There are so many different ways of telling similar stories.

[Teddy Duchamp]

He's a big fan of Robert McCammon's works so don't think any similarities have bothered him.

Wow - thanks for coming back so quickly - my post appeared seconds after I hit "send"!

Im interested to hear that - I did love "Boys Life" and "Mine" but I did think Swan Song borrowed a few things

Ive actually started reading my SK collection again, have just finished "Bag of Bones" and "Desperation" and have read everything else but the Dark Tower which I just cannot for the life of me get myself into (shame).......... but before this I read most of McCammon's books and the reason I enjoyed them were "because" they were similar.

I must have read the Stand about 10 times since it first came out!

[Moderator]

Things have changed if it's been a while since you last logged on. Members who have 250+ posts are now unmoderated, so I don't have as many backed up in the queue which means I can get to the others much more quickly if I'm not busy with one of many other functions as Stephen's P.A.

[Teddy Duchamp]

You lucky thing - Im a PA myself but unfortunately my boss is not quite so interesting as yours

[dsurrett]

I thought Swan Song was pretty good and I saw a few similarities to The Stand except for one thing - there weren't any long parts of The Stand where I was pounding my head waiting for something to happen. Of the three long apocalyptic, end of the world type books I've read (the two aforementioned and Cronin's The Passage, which I'm currently working on), The Stand is head and shoulders about the other two.
When you start with the best, it's hard for anything else to measure up.

[Teddy Duchamp]

I thought Swan Song was pretty good and I saw a few similarities to The Stand except for one thing - there weren't any long parts of The Stand where I was pounding my head waiting for something to happen. Of the three long apocalyptic, end of the world type books I've read (the two aforementioned and Cronin's The Passage, which I'm currently working on), The Stand is head and shoulders about the other two.
When you start with the best, it's hard for anything else to measure up.

I cant disagree with that dsurrett.

What set me off was reading reviews on Amazon - some folk were saying SK copied RMcC - they were both good books but like yourself I couldnt put the Stand down - whereas I was plodding through the last third of Swan Song.

[GNTLGNT]

...I let my eyes chow down on Robert's work years ago, and was always favorably impressed...I just had to winnow down to my two favorites due to time constraints....

[mjs9153]

I cant disagree with that dsurrett.

What set me off was reading reviews on Amazon - some folk were saying SK copied RMcC - they were both good books but like yourself I couldnt put the Stand down - whereas I was plodding through the last third of Swan Song.

geez Teddy, funny you say that,was just discussing this with another member on a different thread here the other day..copy is a strong word,but man there were some real similiarities to the stand which I had a hard time getting past..but as Ms Mod says,SK himself is not upset and is a fan of Mccammon,so if he is not worked up I sure am not going to be..