I have a couple of Kings Indian Attack books that focus on non e5 replies from black. For example starting out KIA does not mention it, and a black e5 repertoire book by Davies does not handle the KIA. Is it becuase it's unplayable after e5? Any experienced KIA players willing to share their thoughts?

You should look up some of the lines with the game explorer

as white, I assume you are wondering about the following continuation:

In conclusion, only play KIA vs the French, Caro-Kann, and Sicilian structures. Against 1...e5, just play the open positions and crush =)

I msut note that the KIA is rather boring - eventually after playing 100s of games in it (personal experience) you might actually feel like playing into mainline sicilians, etc. For now, play the KIA but on the side try to study the theory of French, Caro Kann, etc, one at a time - until you gradually remove your dependence on this "automatic" opening approach of the KIA.

Hope this helps,

shuttlechess92

I think it's better to play the KIA against pet openings like the sicilian or french when you don't think they were expecting it. Playing that with e4 e5 seems to give black a great game when he has the more active bishop.

shuttlechess : Thanks for you clear explanations, that was the answer I was looking for. Cheers!

In 1. Nf3 move-order maybe the best setup for Black is: d5 - Nf6 - c6 - Bf5 (a la... Lasker) or Bg4 (considered best by the KIA expert Fischer)
Don Maddox's work on KIA is excellent