what would be a good book to start with?

[ghost1986]

ive diced to start reading some horror stories and fingered i would being with King. thus far i have read 2 of his works and seen a few of his movies. the stories i read were the gunslinger and some sort story i hardly remember, neither of which i liked, and the only movies i liked were Carrie and Christine.

with that all said what would be a good novel to start with?

[sam peebles]

I would suggest Pet Sematary if you like horror. It is not very long (compared to, say It), and it's absolutely terrifying. Also, you may want to try one of the short story collections, like Night Shift or Skeleton Crew. A lot of the stories in these are wicked awesome, say thank ya.

[JRM]

I also agree that Pet Sematary is a good horror book to start with. It won't make you scream or anything, but it will make you terribly uncomfortable. Happy reading.

[constantreader85]

try Evenything's eventual for a short story or Duma Key for a novel. both pretty darn good

[ChaseTx]

Needful Things was my first SK book last year, and it's greatly entertaining. Maybe not scary, but engaging.

Since then I've read The Talisman, The Gunslinger, Cell, Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, and The Regulators (those last 4 written as Richard Bachman). I'm not easily scared, so I don't know if you'd call any of those scary....

[Lina]

I also would suggest to read Pet Sematary. That's one of the best SK's books and as far as I know, everybody who has read this book likes it very much. So, if you choose to read it you won't get disappointed!

[marynannie]

The Dark Half, Gearlds Game, Bag of Bones, just take ur pick

[ChristineB]

Have you decided on the next one?

If not, I would have to ask what kind of horror do you like?

If you are into the "new" horror like Koontz horror, then you may not like SK alot. King's horror is more along the old horror genre of the 50-60s. I like to think of it more like Hitchcock horror, suspense with a good monster (mostly of the human kind now days) thrown into the mix.

Maybe I have become callus to the actual horror in his books after reading him so much and being inundated with movie horror over the last decades. I see his stories as suspense stories about the fears of the everyday person and where those fears can take us. I guess that is a definition of horror but for me the actually "monsters" in most of his stories pale to the things the humans can and do do. Maybe I am just an ostrich here refusing to see due to the sand in my eyes. *shrug* Maybe he does write a kind of horror, but for me anyway, it is more suspense then horror.

Wow ok enough of the philisophical waxing, my suggestions for books to start with:

• Firestarter: it gets into the action very quickly, so if you like to be sucked in fast it is a good one to start with
• IT: One of his best, great monster story, although it is long it is so very worth it (expect to leave the lights on at night for a while, while reading this one).
• Pet Semetary: If you like to be scared this a good one too. If you have children be ready to build a fence around your house.
• Nightmares and Dreamscapes: Short Stories, my favorite of the collections.

Good luck and let us know what you decided and how it goes.

[BenBubb]

I started with Cell, which i absolutely loved and scared me and im not easily scared!, then i read Liseys story which kind of choked me up, and then i read Duma Key which was absolutely fantastic. Well they were my first 3 ive read many more since then! I Absolutely love him!
Its a shame you didnt like the gunslinger as i really enjoyed that one but then as i read more of the dark tower series i found i did not like the rest at all i read the first 3 and gave up.

[JimmyTheGent]

If you've had trouble getting into him, I'd agree that Night Shift would be a good start, its stories are creepy and hard to put down. As far as novels, I think The Shining is the scariest and if that doesnt make a fan out of ya, I dont know what will.