I am constantly searching for new authors. Sadly most established authors seem to get very formulaic and predictable after the first few successes, so I go off them. I was in the library last Saturday and spied a Stephen King (Revival). I have never read him, put off by the 'horror' label, but I decided to take the plunge. I am about half way through its 389 pages at present, but where is the horror, the suspense? It is the story of a mans life and his relationship with an odd inventor and I like the writing style, so am sticking with it, but am so far very disappointed at how tame it is. Any one on here a Stephen King addict?
I used to like Bernard Cornwell (Sharpe) because his works were actioneers from the first page and I have a collection of his hardbacks. I loved the grittiness of his Sharpe novels until they got predictable and when it was televised the writing quality dropped off a cliff. Nevertheless he wrote some stirring stuff in other series and I loved his take on the Arthurian legend and that newly televised series about King Alfred. I had missed out on the last book in the series, but discovered that in the library at the last visit too. I don't know if anyone is watching 'The Last Kingdom' on TV, but within the constraints of The TV screen, CGI and our understanding of events, I think they have done a pretty passable job. Insufficient gore, mutilation and middle ages filth it is true, but if the times were depicted accurately, would anyone watch?
Mike
