Stephen King Fans discussion

Read this book about 2 weeks ago. Really loved it; it's addictive.

However, it annoys me that some people say that it's a horror book. In my opinion, it's not at all. It's suspense but not horror.

Just found a great essay on The Running Man by Douglas W. Texter. It is called "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Dystopia": The Culture Industry's Neutralization of Stephen King's The Running Man

It's part of Utopian Studies

Is this better then The Long Walk, because Im not sure which to read first?

I didn't read the Long Walk yet, but I heard that The Running Man is quicker to read. Also, when it comes to dystopian fiction, The Running Man is more of a classic than the Long Walk.

Thus, you should probably read The Running Man, and than you can jump into The Long Walk.

Neither is a classic, per se, but I agree that The Running Man is a quicker read. I enjoyed The Long Walk more, though, a lot more; it's deeper (if you will), more psychological--though the ending is frustrating. Hope this helps!

Steven Belanger
www.stevenbelanger.com
www.stevenebelanger.blogspot.com

Steven wrote: "Neither is a classic, per se, but I agree that The Running Man is a quicker read. I enjoyed The Long Walk more, though, a lot more; it's deeper (if you will), more psychological--though the ending..."

It's not a classic, because when the book was associated to King in 1985, people automatically decided that The Running Man was a horror book. The Running Man is NOT A HORROR BOOK.
If the novel had received the merit it deserved...it would have become a classic when it comes to Dystopian Fiction

I wouldn't class The Running Man as 'horror' and there are a lot of other Stephen King books I wouldn't say are horror either, he tends to delve into different areas but everyone just assumes anything with his name on must be horror =/

Exactly!
It's suspense/thriller but not horror.

In fact, when it was published in 1982 under the name Richard Bachman, nobody saw this as horror.

However, in 1985, when Bachman's identity was revealed, people classified The Running Man as horror.

It's a shame, for like I said, this book would have become a classic in Dystopian Fiction.

I think I can speak for the majority of King fans when I say this.

Publishers, book sellers, and people that do not read Stephen King classify his books as "horror".

Stephen King fans classify his books as "Uncle Stevie books". We are our own genre.

Leave it to you, Chris, to have the final (AND correct) word on the subject: well done! :)

Well technically, even King fans consider this book to be horror...

138 people put this on their "horror shelf", and you need to take into considerations that many people don't have an horror shelf. Hence, more than 138 people that read this book consider The Running Man to be a horror book.

Another thing I hate is when people refer to this as "a short story".

I could see why people may class it as horror as it would be an awful situation to be in if the story was real, nightmarish even, it's just not what I would class a horror story to be. I also think that people might just put it on the horror shelf just because of the name too as it's SK and it is hard to define what you would actually class it as, myself I'm not sure either.

Dystopian!

=p probably, I'm a bit of a 'dystopian newb' xD don't know all that much about it so I can't comment =[

I'm writing my Master's paper on anti-utopian/dystopian works, all the way back to Apocalypse, by John of Patmos. I don't have room for The Running Man in the paper, but you are right, JC11, that's exactly what it is. The Long Walk is, too. Stevie was in a phase...

Steven Belanger
www.stevenbelanger.com
www.stevenebelanger.blogspot.com

Although there are elements of horror throughout The Running Man, I wouldn't classify it as that particular genre. To me, it's more like science-fiction.

Steven wrote: "Neither is a classic, per se, but I agree that The Running Man is a quicker read. I enjoyed The Long Walk more, though, a lot more; it's deeper (if you will), more psychological--though the ending..."

I loved The Long Walk... definitely my favorite of the original Bachman books.

I just finished The Running Man.
It was amazing! My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Hi, Jessica! I'm glad that you found it to be amazing!

I'm halfway through the novel and I'm liking it so far.

I can't understand why anyone would view this as a horror novel, but that's just me.

I'd like to note that King doesn't generally write a book with the intention of writing a horror novel. Especially when doing Bachmans, he wasn't concerned with genre labels.

That is the media and the public in general that labeled him as a "horror writer".

With Running Man, I think it was good for him to write that as Bachman, because he didn't have to worry about the publics expectations of it. No hate mail for writing a futuristic dystopia to weed through! Heh...

Just finished it. Would of liked a little more detail on the collapse of society..but that's okay.

There was a wonderful moment several years ago, Chris -- I don't know if you watch "The Simpsons" or not, but Marge had dragged the family to a book fair.. there was several authors there, (all voiced by themselves) among which was Stephen King. Marge asked King when he was going to go back to writing horror, and would he let her know when this was. King takes out a notebook and writes, "Let Marge Simpson know when I write another horror book."

says quite a lot about "genre" classifications, doesn't it?

Just read this one a few days ago, and I really liked it, and no, I wouldn't say it's horror. Though it would be kind of horrifying to be in Ben's place, but no, not a horror story. I was fascinated from the beginning. I've come to like reading/thinking about dystopian societys, however, my experience in that area is still small, and not a situation I'd really care to find myself in probably :) But I liked this story, it was a quick, adrenaline-pumping read, and I cared about the characters, and I was completely grinning and going "woohoo!" at the end, it was a great way for it to end, and I think really the only good way. I'd love to see it as an excellently-done movie. I know there's a version out there, but I've heard it sucks, plus it's old, it could be done really well nowadays.

Bondama wrote: "There was a wonderful moment several years ago, Chris -- I don't know if you watch "The Simpsons" or not, but Marge had dragged the family to a book fair.. there was several authors there, (all voi..."

I like that a lot, Bondama! Thank you.

Bondama wrote: "There was a wonderful moment several years ago, Chris -- I don't know if you watch "The Simpsons" or not, but Marge had dragged the family to a book fair.. there was several authors there, (all voi..."

I agree that I would love to see this (re)made into a movie. The one they did a while back was with Mr. "I'll be back" himself and was so cheesy that I couldn't watch more than the first ten minutes or so and, believe me, I tried.

I think this is one of his best endings (I was clapping and cheering as well) and this is definitely a book I plan on re-reading.

Just read this for the first time. It was certainly a quick read, and a whole hell of a lot better than the horrible movie they "loosely adapted" from it. Can't say it was my favorite but it was worth the quick read.

I need to read this!! I loved the Long Walk so I am hoping this is similar.

Angie wrote: "I need to read this!! I loved the Long Walk so I am hoping this is similar."

The Running Man is quite different from The Long Walk, Angie, but you should definitely read it sometime.:)

I have the red paperback version of The Bachman Books.

I loved The Long Walk and The Running Man. I thought Rage was just OK. I had to look up the other story (Roadword), but now that my memory is jogged, I remember liking it enough.

Is it this one, Marcus?
The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels by Stephen King

Dustin wrote: "Is it this one, Marcus?
The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels by Stephen King"

That's the one! Got it from my mom for Christmas one year...she had liked Thinner (another Bachman work IIRC) and thought I would enjoy these...I really did!

Marcus wrote: "Dustin wrote: "Is it this one, Marcus?
The Bachman Books: Four Early Novels by Stephen King"

That's the one! Got it from my mom for Christmas one year...she had liked Thinner (another Bachman work..."

Awesome. That's the one I have, too!!:)

Dustin wrote: "Awesome. That's the one I have, too!!:)"

Awesome!

Marcus wrote: "Dustin wrote: "Awesome. That's the one I have, too!!:)"

Awesome!"

Yep.:)

I love the countdown format of the chapters. There's even a reference to Derry in there, I believe...

I wonder if anyone knows why King made the decision to give away the ending of the book in the foreword without a warning.It somewhat ruined the book for me & when it actually came it seemed a bit too sudden & abrupt to fit into the overall narrative.

After reading the Bachman novels i can safely say The Long Walk is in a different league compared to the other 3.

Aditya wrote: "I wonder if anyone knows why King made the decision to give away the ending of the book in the foreword without a warning.It somewhat ruined the book for me & when it actually came it seemed a bit ..."

I'd have to agree with that. The Long Walk is a superb piece of writing.

No one mentions the prescience of this book! It was written in the 80's, a decade and a half before the first reality television show. I've always loved it, but I like it even more now that we're on our way there.

And, while I know in the book wasn't specifically criminals who were runners, I am almost certain with how social media has reacted to some recent criminal rulings, if there was a show where you got to see criminals slaughtered by stalkers, it would be a hit.

Ha, I love that poster Matthew. One more reason for me to read The Running Man (yeah, I'm the one goof who hasn't). I wonder how much license SK retains over his work then vs now. He blatantly hated Kubrick's Shining version, but I haven't heard what he thought of The Running Man film.

Ron wrote: "I wonder how much license SK retains over his work then vs now. He blatantly hated Kubrick's Shining version, but I haven't heard what he thought of The Running Man film."

The film was soooooooo different from the book, but it is still a great, cheesy 80's action film!

There is some sci-fi dystopian movie where prisoners are used fr a race to the death and if they win they are free.I can't think what it is right now.

@Kandice - Death Race 2000?

Tony wrote: "@Kandice - Death Race 2000?"

That's it!

I loved this story I must see the film although I know it can't possibly live up to the book

Rhian wrote: "I loved this story I must see the film although I know it can't possibly live up to the book"

Definitely do not expect the same thing at all - but appreciate the differences between the two and I think it will help you appreciate the movie more.

It was the 80's, they made cheesy action films, and often they were awesome! I have seen this move about 20 times and, IMHO, it has the best Schwarzenegger "I'll be back".

I've been told that the book had a lot of differences from the movie. I agree with you Matthew. It was 80's film cheese, and I ate it up. Dawson followed Arnold's "I'll be back" line with something like "Not in this lifetime."