Katy, I've read SK's book on writing, and yes, its lessons are salutary; I think it was that book that alerted me to Strunk & White's marvellous little handbook, THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE. I guess you could call SK a stylist (Norman Mailer thought that his style had improved); my point was that his strength is as a storyteller, in the ghost/horror genre, which I happen to have a fondness for. THE SHINING is a great ghost story, better, in its own way, than Kubrick's film. I don't know if SK is a crass man as I've never met him, but he sounds like an ok bloke to me, pretty down-to-earth, the sort of guy it would be fun to go drinking with, if he still drinks. But, of course, I've never met him so I can't really know.
Duncan, I agree with most of what you've said. One of SK's least verbose (and most refreshingly short) novels is THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON, a simple tale about a young girl getting lost in the woods. Very spooky though not necessarily supernatural, it is, as I remember it, narrated largely in the girl's 'voice' It has one of the best opening lines I've come across: "The world has teeth and it can bite you with them any time it wants."
[This message has been edited by Mark Granier (edited November 12, 2005).]
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