DR TCB, after reading The Shining and 'Salem's Lot in the late 1970s, thanks to our DR Ginny, I was a huge Stephen King fan. B the time I finished It, I was over him. Although I admire his imagination, opinions, and his politics, I found that his later books started out like gangbusters, dragged on, and then completely petered out, as though as editor threw up his hands and said, "so you don't want my opinion. Fine, you're the Successful Writer." I thought It had a fantastically creepy opening section and then went to hell.