First, I read some of his horror novels when I was in high school, and I was just kind of disgusted.

Then, in like, the early 90s, he made a needlessly snarky comment about the writing of Nicholson Baker, a particular pet writer of mine, saying that his work had the value of fingernail clippings. I really thought that STEPHEN KING needed to go back and re-read all his OWN trash before commenting on someone else's work, especially since Baker isn't a pulp novelist, lol.

But another pet writer of mine, Stewart O'Nan, seems to be very close with King. They wrote a book together about some baseball season or other, and O'Nan thanks King in the acknowledgements in a couple of his recent novels.

I figure there's something going on that I'm not privy to, but I'm still not buying King's books, lol.

As for books on writing, I think the book that O'Nan edited: On Writers and Writing, essays by John Gardner, is a good one. And I like Frederick Busch's A Dangerous Profession. I think Busch is one of the most underrated writers working today. Practically no one knows his work, but he is both prolific and proficient.