Stephen King is an awesome story teller, he really is. His endings are often times crap, but I never really feel like I'm reading "cheap" pulp stuff. I think there's a level of quality to his writing that other popular authors lack. As far as Lovecraftian stuff, a ton of his stories have that vibe. This new book really is a return to form after a bunch of mediocre books. I'm still jamming through it and it has me so excited to see how it turns out.