King writes long well, but my favorite of his is a collection of shorts, Night Shift. Scary stuff in small packages. Gray Matter has stuck with me for a very long time. As has the title story.
Shh! I kinda wanna hear me talking right now!
Glory ,'The Killer In Me'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Beverly - May 13, 2010 12:57:47 pm PDT #11395 of 28344
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
erin_obscure - May 13, 2010 1:01:40 pm PDT #11396 of 28344
Occasionally I’m callous and strange
Re: King, the Dark Tower series is wholy quest, and pretty darned epic (even including commentary on descent and lists of weaponry) but might take a few months to finish. On the plus side, there's an awful lot of side topics and universal themes in there to discuss.
Kathy A - May 13, 2010 1:13:41 pm PDT #11397 of 28344
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
Night Shift was my very first collection of short stories--love those! I think my favorite from that book are the one where the guy has to walk around his highrise on the ledge for a bet, and the one where a guy decides to quit smoking via an extremely strict program.
§ ita § - May 13, 2010 1:17:22 pm PDT #11398 of 28344
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
The Raft from Skeleton Crew is the King short story that sticks with me the most. Goddamned being pulled through the slats. Ick.
Thinking of King and quests, does The Talisman count? I haven't read it in forever, but it does seem to fit.
erin_obscure - May 13, 2010 1:37:23 pm PDT #11399 of 28344
Occasionally I’m callous and strange
I can never forget the final sentence of "survivor type" but can't recall which short story collection that was from.
talisman was a quest, but a rather boring one.
Ginger - May 13, 2010 2:13:27 pm PDT #11400 of 28344
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
Quests: On the Road
Ulysses (James Joyce)
As I Lay Dying is written as a quest, but it's not a book I'd ever recommend.
Huckleberry Finn is often discussed as a quest, in the sense of an episodic journey towards enlightenment.
Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion books are all quests. Bujold is my default answer for many questions.
Heinlein's Glory Road
If you want a short story for dystopias, there's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas."
I wouldn't know which Stand to recommend. I love the book, but lord does the man need editing.
§ ita § - May 13, 2010 2:15:16 pm PDT #11401 of 28344
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
talisman was a quest, but a rather boring one.
Heretic!
Okay, I adored it at the time. But it's been 20 years.
Sophia Brooks - May 13, 2010 3:06:44 pm PDT #11402 of 28344
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here
In college my pleasure reading was only short stories or plays, I could not handle books. I read several Steven King collections, and all I really remember is being terrified of rats and/or fish that lived in caves and mutated to have no eyes, or wings or whatever. I hate mutation!
Kat - May 13, 2010 4:50:05 pm PDT #11403 of 28344
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo
Moby Dick as quest.
I have to say, I'm reading Moby Dick and I totally am enjoying it.
JZ - May 13, 2010 4:56:38 pm PDT #11404 of 28344
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon might qualify as a quest -- it's about a girl lost in the woods and trying to get out. But it seems kind of tangential to the quest theme, and it isn't very memorable.
Huh. I kind of thoroughly adored it. I don't know if one needs to be a girl starved for girl-centered quests to adore it, but it definitely entranced me. And even more so on re-reading a year or so ago.
So, YTGWLTGMV.