Writer Adam Christopher has embarked on a very ambitious project—reading and reviewing all of Stephen King’s books in the order in which they were published. He started a Web site dedicated to the task a couple weeks ago entitled Stephen’s Lot.

Christopher certainly has a massive task ahead of him. According to his Web site, King has written 56 books, including 46 novels, seven short story collections, and three works of non-fiction. Christopher also plans to intersperse his entries with reviews of film and television adaptations of King’s works and other King esoterica. To date he’s completed reviews of Under the Dome (which he’s calling Book #0—it’s King’s latest and out of order, hence the “zero” appellation), and has since reviewed Book #1, Carrie. Next up is ‘Salem’s Lot.

I’ve always been a big admirer of King, and while my ardor for his works has cooled considerably over the years as his page count has increased, I still believe he’s one of the finest storytellers of our generation with a handful of brilliant novels to his credit. And I maintain that Night Shift and large swathes of Skeleton Crew stand as some of the finest examples of short-form horror in the history of the genre. In fact, I think King is arguably at his best when writing short stories.

I’ve often considered a similar project as Christopher’s. Had I struck when the iron was hot—many years ago when King was at the center of my reading universe—I may have had the endurance and will to complete such a Herculean task. Those days are behind me now, but in the mid-80s through the early 90’s, I was immersed in King’s world, enthralled with its big terrors lurking in small Maine towns, tractor-trailers and laundry machines come to horrifying life, and Walking Dudes. My first encounter with King was The Shining, which I plucked off my grandfather’s bookshelf as a curious kid and scared myself half to death with (while loving every second of it). From there I diligently read his entire backlist, starting with his debut novel Carrie (1974) up through Cycle of the Werewolf (1985) or thereabouts.

When I was done with everything King had written, I proceeded to read each new King novel as fast as he wrote them. For a while King was pumping them out every year, or even quicker, but I ate up titles like Misery, The Eyes of the Dragon, The Tommyknockers, and The Dark Half with insatiable gusto. But eventually, King fatigue set in. My tastes changed and broadened. The king of horror eventually lost his grip on me.

While I still read King from time to time, I’m no longer obsessed with him, and have skipped some of his newer stuff entirely (interestingly, this is the exact opposite experience as Christopher, who had never read anything by King until picking up his 2000 non-fiction work On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, which I also highly recommend). These days I can no longer lay claim to having read every King title, but I still count him among my favorite authors, for the simple fact that he’s given me more pleasure than just about any other author I’ve read. King’s prose is just so damned readable. Christopher describes a similar moment of enlightenment while reading Under the Dome:

It was compulsive, addictive. It was also beautifully written. There was something indefinable about the prose. I suddenly understood.

Like Robert E. Howard, the secret of King’s success is the fact that he’s a terrific storyteller with a great writing “voice,” with the ability to spin compelling and page-turning yarns. Reading King is effortless, and most of the time within a page—sometimes even after a single paragraph—I find myself swept up into his stories. Some might associate that ability with eating tasty but non-nutritious comfort food, but I call it rare talent.

There’s no way I could embark on a 56-book King-binge these days (nor eat a literary diet consisting solely of any one author, for that matter), but I wish Christopher the best. I admire his gumption and I will be following his Web site. It will be interesting to see if he has the stamina to finish the job.

Thanks to Scott Danielson over at SFFaudio.com for the tip-off.