I knew there was a reason to read Dark Tower.

Damn, the library's already closed.

I don't even remember what happened to him in the book,

He tries to hold off the vampires, then falls for the "If you really had faith, you wouldn't need that cross" thing. And the vampires don't kill him.

I love the exchange with his housekeeper: "Was he strong when last you saw him?" "Yes, ma'am."

According to darktower.net, The Dark Tower has connections to almost every one of King's books. It's ridiculous and supercool. There are some major ones, though, and it looks like I've read most of them, though some too long ago to appreciate the connections. I need to do some of the required reading first and then tackle the whole series, because it sounds like a worthwhile endeavor.

the people who get stuck in the car -- out-of-towners -- during a snow storm, and get turned into vampires.

Ah yes, the little girl...whose feet weren't touching the snow.

I loved those old men. I liked how all the stories sort of touched base with them around the stove in the store. My favorite from that collection is still Grey Matter. Brrrr.

Yes, I love Grey Matter!

King based The Shining on Hill House; he even quotes that opening paragraph - which I recited, from memory, at my last booksigning - somewhere in the book. In my eyes, he doesn't come within spitting distance of Jackson. Then again, he likes shock; she preferred fear. Different beast entirely. There are, in fact, no modern ghost or horror writers I know of who are qualified to carry Shirley Jackson's luggage, although Peter Straub has come close.

I love Sheridan le Fanu. Erin, ever see the Vadim movie based on the lesbian vampire theme from Le Fanu? Blood and Roses? Gotta love it - the heroine's name is Millarca (as opposed to Carmilla) and the vampire? Wins.

First movie that ever scared me into being awake for a good long time still has the capacity to leave me shuddering and tight-spined. Carnival of Souls. Hoo, boy.

King based The Shining on Hill House; he even quotes that opening paragraph - which I recited, from memory, at my last booksigning - somewhere in the book. In my eyes, he doesn't come within spitting distance of Jackson. Then again, he likes shock; she preferred fear. Different beast entirely.

Yeah, and he totally admits that in Danse Macabre. If you read Ghost Story again, you can really see how Straub has influenced King. I like King's early works a lot for the most part. Later stuff, not so much. And The Tommyknockers was terrible.

The vamp WINS in the movie version?! Huh. Interesting. No, I've not seen it, and I should. I haven't watch the 60's version of Hill House in a long time either, and I want to.

Erin, interesting story about the effect Straub had on King. They sent him Ghost Story for a blurb for the cover. He opened it, apparently put it down nine hours later, and woke up his wife Tabitha, babbling something along the lines of "I'm not worthy I'm not worthy". Smart me - he wasn't. The blurb turned into a two-page review (beginning with, IIRC, "holy suffering CATFISH, what a book!") and was followed by a request to Straub to please work together on something?

Straub is monstrous for me, in the best sense. If he was a skosh more subtle and a skosh less graphic in his gore, he'd be up there on the same level as Jackson for me. As it is? He's close.

I"ve only read GS and the stuff he wrote with King, so I don't have all that much to base him on. I'll have to go to HalfPrice books and see what else.

One of the things I like about King is his honesty about his weaknesses as a writer and his utter unapologetic ways about writing what he does. I think his main stregths are characterization (for the most part) and his sheer love of story.

Straub's early stuff - Julia, and If You Could See Me Now - were about as terrifying as it gets. Julia broke my heart in seventeen places. Shadowland froze me in place.

I totally agree about King's love of the story. I find his early stuff very readable, but only if I take him as shock writer, rather than a ghost story writer. He had moments of blackout terror in The Shining, and a few places in Salem's Lot that just blew my mind. Carrie, eh. But then, neither the book nor the movie of The Exorcist spooked me even remotely, so I be weird.