Endorsed by Stephen King

[Ari_Racing]

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Li...A&rrid=3115819

The Lie
A Novel By Hesh Kestin

"A page-turner that will engage your mind and emotions in a way few novels do. The narrative is headlong, the issues have never been more current, and the characters come alive from the page. This is a story about the lies we tell until the truth is forced upon us, and about divided countries, including those of the human heart. I started reading; I ended up experiencing. The Lie is what great fiction is all about."
– Stephen King

[becca69]

http://pages.simonandschuster.com/the-troop

The Troop by Nick Cutter

“The Troop scared the hell out of me, and I couldn’t put it down. This is old-school horror at its best.” —Stephen King

[Patrick]

Yesterday I finished, THE SHINING GIRLS, by Lauren Beukes. I read it because SK recommended it. What a disappointment.

[Bev Vincent]

The Golem of Hollywood by Jonathan Kellerman & Jesse Kellerman

“An extraordinary work of detection, suspense, and supernatural mystery. I spent three days totally lost in the world Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman have created. This is brilliant, page-turning fiction with mythic underpinnings that give it a special resonance; a rare collaboration where the sum is truly greater than the parts. The book is like nothing I’ve ever read before. It sort of took my breath away.”—Stephen King

[Nickelwise]

This is in F. Paul Wilson's FAQ on his site:

9. Is there a Repairman Jack fan club? And is Stephen King really the president?

The closest thing to an "official" fan club would be the Grand Unification (GU), an occasional meetup that consists of friends from the Repairman Jack Forum. Started in 2001 as a means for the people on the board to meet in person, the GU has met about seven times since. The gathering usually happens for three or four days over a long weekend and F. Paul Wilson joins the group for at least one of those days.

As for Stephen King the short answer is "no". The reason this question comes up every so often on the forum is because King wrote a blurb for the Forge edition of Conspiracies. The blurb states:

"THE TOMB is one of the best all-out adventure stories I’ve read in years."
Stephen King (President of the Repairman Jack fan club)

This was nothing more than a jest on King’s part.

http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/content.php?108-faq

There's another Stephen King blurb that I remember reading years ago, but for the life of me, can't remember what book it was for or who the author was, but it was pretty unique. Paraphrasing, it started "This is the first blurb I've ever done that I sent unsolicited after reading the book..." I'm pretty sure I ran across it in a library probably 10-15 years ago. I'm sure I read the book, but all I can recall about it was that it was probably a female author, and I may be wrong about that.

[goathunter]

FWIW, the blurb he provided for Robert McCammon's The Five (which was reproduced earlier in this thread) was also unsolicited. Marsha contacted me (actually twice, as her first message was swallowed by my anti-spam filter, and I never saw it) to tell me that Steve had read and enjoyed The Five and wanted to know if we wanted a quote from him about it. Naturally, we were happy to get it. (Re: the "we," I run Rick McCammon's website and FB page.)

Not mentioned in this thread, unless I missed it, was Steve's blurb for McCammon's Speaks the Nightbird, which read, in part:

"Given Rick McCammon's ten-year silence, I was curious about NIGHTBIRD...eager for a new dose of one of America's truly fine story-tellers...delighted it was a BIG dose...and nervous, too. 'Cause writing novels is NOT like riding a bike--you can forget how to do it. Twenty pages in, I forgot everything but the book itself.

"...an excellent story, full of tension and suspense...

"Speaks the Nightbird is a rarity in popular fiction, a book that manages to be thoughtful as well as entertaining---think 'Burn, Witch, Burn' crossed with Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

"...The week I spent listening to the nightbird every evening between eight and eleven was a very fine one."

Hunter

[Nickelwise]

slightly OT but great avatar Goathunter. I'm a big Alice fan myself. I've never met him, but I did call in and get through on his radio show about 10 years ago. He even gave me an assignment and told me to write a movie for him based on his Brutal Planet and Dragontown albums. I recently bought a flatsigned 1st of Golf Monster and while it may not be as valuable as some of my other books, I consider it one of the gems of my collection.

[herbertwest]

This is in F. Paul Wilson's FAQ on his site:

9. Is there a Repairman Jack fan club? And is Stephen King really the president?

The closest thing to an "official" fan club would be the Grand Unification (GU), an occasional meetup that consists of friends from the Repairman Jack Forum. Started in 2001 as a means for the people on the board to meet in person, the GU has met about seven times since. The gathering usually happens for three or four days over a long weekend and F. Paul Wilson joins the group for at least one of those days.

As for Stephen King the short answer is "no". The reason this question comes up every so often on the forum is because King wrote a blurb for the Forge edition of Conspiracies. The blurb states:

"THE TOMB is one of the best all-out adventure stories I’ve read in years."
Stephen King (President of the Repairman Jack fan club)

This was nothing more than a jest on King’s part.

http://www.repairmanjack.com/forum/content.php?108-faq

There's another Stephen King blurb that I remember reading years ago, but for the life of me, can't remember what book it was for or who the author was, but it was pretty unique. Paraphrasing, it started "This is the first blurb I've ever done that I sent unsolicited after reading the book..." I'm pretty sure I ran across it in a library probably 10-15 years ago. I'm sure I read the book, but all I can recall about it was that it was probably a female author, and I may be wrong about that.

This one is a bit tricky... because it is not related, as such, to a book, but to a collection : ABYSS, a collection of books by DELL !
Here it is :

Thank you for introducing me to the remarkable line of novels currently being issued under Dell's Abyss imprint. I have given a great many blurbs over the last twelve years or so, but this one marks two firsts: first unsolicited blurb (I called you) and the first time I have blurbed a whole line of books. In terms of quality, production, and plain old story-telling reliability (that's the bottom line, isn't it), Dell's new line is amazingly satisfying...a rare and wonderful bargain for readers. I hope to be looking into the Abyss for a long time to come

This is titled as a "mission statement" that is available in most of the books of the collection.
You should take a look at this page
>>> http://toomuchhorrorfiction.blogspot...1_archive.html

[herbertwest]

Here is something that I posted in the random thoughts thread the other day :







Early in 2009, I started thinking and working on a project related to Stephen King, whose original (working) title was "Recommended by Stephen King" and deal with King's recommendations for books, movies and music.
Despite the fact that I started it, i also did let it go for awhile which allowed me to think more about it and consider how to develop it further.
Later on, I went back to it, and a lot more seriously. Browsed hundreds of essays and texts by King in order to make it more "comprehensive". I also started contacting publishers as well as agents (as in the english speaking world agents seems extremely important for contacting "major" publishers who are more likely to be able to deal with the copyright issues).

After trying to make it work for several years (with breaks in the meantime), I am just giving up. Especially since at the end of last year, when meeting King in France I mentionned it to his agent who asked me to contact him by email. We exchanged couple of quick emails but I didn't even get a reply to my second (and more detailed) email which as presenting further the project and idea behind it (which is not solely a project about Stephen King, but more like a discovery guide, based on Stephen King's recommendations).
So here is a picture of one of the ~250 pages manuscript copies that I have sent to some agents and publishers (therefore have been destroyed for most of those) and of some of my copies left.

Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that this project will see the light of the day. I wont either be posting it online for obvious copyright reasons cf King's excerpts.
It's a shame, because I am sure that most collectors would have been interested by it since in the making of it I found quite a few unknown texts / little known texts written by King : from blurbs to couple of lines to sometimes even some paragraphs and longer texts.

[Bev Vincent]

Today on Twitter:

I saw a screener of OCULUS and loved it. Very scary. I may never eat an apple again.

[Bev Vincent]

Not exactly an endorsement, but interesting nonetheless:

Stephen King went so far as to intervene on Rushdie’s behalf when a number of bookstores in the U.S. announced plans not to sell the book or to remove it from their shelves. At the behest of two Viking editors, King called the chief of bookstore chain B. Dalton and gave him an ultimatum: “You don’t sell The Satanic Verses, you don’t sell Stephen King.” The store reversed course. “You can’t let intimidation stop books,” King now says, recalling the episode. “It’s as basic as that. Books are life itself.”

>>> Source

[frik]

http://pages.simonandschuster.com/the-troop

The Troop by Nick Cutter

“The Troop scared the hell out of me, and I couldn’t put it down. This is old-school horror at its best.” —Stephen King

I read this book because of King's endorsement, and was very disappointed: Thin, simplistic plot, two-dimensional characters and not scary.
Only disgusting.

sk

[becca69]

Today on Twitter:

I saw a screener of OCULUS and loved it. Very scary. I may never eat an apple again.

I saw this last night and was drinking lots of water... I had to get up and don't you know, this is the scene I missed

[jhanic]

I read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski on the basis of King's blurb/review on the back cover of the proof and was underwhelmed. If you're not a true dog person, it's meh.

John

[Bev Vincent]

I liked Sawtelle, but I agree about the Cutter novel -- it was easier to remember the characters' stereotype traits than their names.

[carlosdetweiller]

I've read four or five books solely because King recommended them highly. I didn't really like any of them but Sawtelle was the best of the bunch. I don't pay any attention to what King says he likes anymore.

[Cook]

Did you happen to read "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt
Just curious.

I've read four or five books solely because King recommended them highly. I didn't really like any of them but Sawtelle was the best of the bunch. I don't pay any attention to what King says he likes anymore.

[Bev Vincent]

You mean, the book that just won the Pulitzer for fiction?! I did: here's my review

[Cook]

You mean, the book that just won the Pulitzer for fiction?! I did: here's my review

Damn, don't I feel like a idiot.
Great review, definitely hit the mark.
But I did think it was a nice change of pace.
I have a feeling I should bookmark your page.
Thanks

[carlosdetweiller]

Did you happen to read "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt
Just curious.

No. I didn't. Why? Is it good?

[idlewarnings]

Did you happen to read "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt
Just curious.

No. I didn't. Why? Is it good?

I thought The Goldfinch was fantastic. A little long, a little heavy-handed with the description in some spots but a great story overall.

[idlewarnings]

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Li...A&rrid=3115819

The Lie
A Novel By Hesh Kestin

"A page-turner that will engage your mind and emotions in a way few novels do. The narrative is headlong, the issues have never been more current, and the characters come alive from the page. This is a story about the lies we tell until the truth is forced upon us, and about divided countries, including those of the human heart. I started reading; I ended up experiencing. The Lie is what great fiction is all about."
– Stephen King

I just got this from the library. The NYT review made me curious about it. I didn't know King endorsed it. We'll see how it is.

[Cook]

Did you happen to read "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt
Just curious.

No. I didn't. Why? Is it good?

I highly recommend it, but to each their own.
It just felt different, new author (to me) , new style.
I hope you read it, I would love to hear your opinion.

[Bev Vincent]

Natchez Burning by Greg Iles is: “Extraordinarily entertaining and fiendishly suspenseful. I defy you to start it and find a way to put it down.”

[Nickelwise]

Natchez Burning by Greg Iles is: “Extraordinarily entertaining and fiendishly suspenseful. I defy you to start it and find a way to put it down.”

Nice! I've been eagerly awaiting for a new Iles book for a long time, I just recently found out he'd been seriously injured in a car wreck :

In 2011, Iles sustained life-threatening injuries in a traffic accident and ultimately lost part of his right leg. He has since recovered and is now finishing a trilogy of novels featuring Penn Cage which is set in Natchez, Mississippi, Iles's hometown. The first volume is titled "Natchez Burning" and will be published in April 2014.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Iles

His novella The Death Factory that came out last month was solid, and he's one of the few in his genre that have never let me down.