It probably comes as no surprise that one of the first authors I fell in love with was Stephen King. The announcement of a new Stephen King book release was a big thing in our house when I was growing up, Salem's Lot my introduction to this writer of horror (as he was typecast back in the day). I would queue up on day of release to grab a first edition hardback (just as I did with Terry Pratchett books).
Over the years I grew a vast collection of his novels, from Carrie through to Lisey's Story. And then I needed to raise some cash and sold off my books. Since then I've had a few books from charity stores, or World of Books (a great source of second hand books at good prices).
The last Stephen King book I bought previously was back in 2023 when Fairy Tale was released. I never read it until last month, and just finished it this morning. A great story well told. While reading it I decided I wanted to build back up the entire collection of King's novels and short story collections.
So, of course I made a spreadsheet:
And so I've started tracking down second hand copies from a variety of sources and now have 15 books.
I've now started reading The Dark Tower series, starting with The Gunslinger. Previously I'd only read the series up to book 3 of the seven book run, so I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in.
If I was to cite a comparison for the book I'm now writing, it would probably be Stephen King - I'm not saying it's as good as King; just that the type of story would be familiar to readers of King. Agent's and publishers always like to know what the market could possibly be for a submission so that's what I'm going to go with - I cited Lin Anderson as a comp for my Louise Miller crime thriller books.
The plan is to get a few books each month. Once I've read the Dark Tower series, I'll probably read something new, possibly a Terry Pratchett (I need to rebuild that collection as well, though we still have quite a few on our shelves).
