MOONLIGHT VAMPIRE SOCIETY

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Exclusive: Stephen King on J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer

By Lorrie Lynch

I'm working on my big American Icons cover story on Stephen King today, and it could almost fill up two full issues. King gave me so much good stuff: He's a truly fascinating guy, and he had so many great stories and takes on things. When I flew up to Maine to talk to him in December, we got into a discussion of popular authors vs. the academic elite, a subject he has strong opinions about, and I asked him if his mainstream success over the past 35 years paved the way for the massive careers of Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling and Twilight author Stephenie Meyer. Remember to check out my cover story on King in the March 6-8 issue of USA WEEKEND.

King, whose Stephen King Goes to the Movies collection came out last week, doesn’t know how much of an influence he had on Meyer, but he does know that Rowling read his stuff when she was younger. "I think that has some kind of formative influence the same way reading Richard Matheson had an influence on me," King explains. "People always say to me, 'Well, what about H.P. Lovecraft?' And the thing was, you read Lovecraft when you were a kid but I never felt that he was speaking my language. It was chillier than my heart was, and when Matheson started to write about ordinary people and stuff, that was something that I wanted to do. I said, 'This is the way to do it. He’s showing the way.' I think that I serve that purpose for some writers, and that’s a good thing. Both Rowling and Meyer, they’re speaking directly to young people. ... The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good."

But then King recalls that when his mom was alive, she read all the Erle Stanley Gardner books, the Perry Mason mysteries, obsessively when he was growing up. "He was a terrible writer, too, but he was very successful," King says. "Somebody who’s a terrific writer who’s been very, very successful is Jodi Picoult. You’ve got Dean Koontz, who can write like hell. And then sometimes he’s just awful. It varies. James Patterson is a terrible writer but he’s very very successful. People are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it’s very clear that she’s writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It’s exciting and it’s thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because they’re not overtly sexual. A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that’s a shorthand for all the feelings that they’re not ready to deal with yet."

Gotta love "Uncle Stevie" he calls 'em as he sees 'em!

I will admit I think JKR is a better writer than SM, but both series (HP and Twilight) are awesome books!
As for Steven King.. After I read Gerald's Game, I refused to pick up another of his books..lol.. And the Buick book was HORRIBLE.. His books just make good movies.. JMHO..

And I agree about Danelle Steel.. I just can't read her books, and I LOVE romance..

I'll be honest I have never tried to read a Stephen King novel, his movies barely appeal to me. I do feel JKR is by far a better writer. I think he is forgetting that SM's books are what they are and who they were originally geared towards....she wasn't trying to be on the level of Poe and Chaucer for heavens sake. I find it tacky that he bashed another author so openly. To me, I could never write let alone publish a book so kudos to SM for even just that fact. PLUS, she gave us Edward which gave me my Rob so there ya have it....LMAO

I agree to that

AHHHH....a girl after my heart! (Just don't be after my Rob) HAHA

OK, OK Flo...I know back off drea, don't scare the new members (yet anyway)

LOL.. you can have Rob.. I like my long haired hunka vikings

Oh good grief... I think you two are going to be good pals! LOL, Drea you crack me up. We really need to do something about this little obsession of yours...