– Stephen Edwin King Essay, Research Paper
The King of Terror, Stephen Edwin King, is one of today’s most popular and best selling writers. King combines the elements of psychological thrillers, science fiction, the paranormal, and detective themes into his stories. In addition to these themes, King sticks to using great and vivid detail that is set in a realistic everyday place. Stephen King who is mainly known for his novels, has broadened his horizons to different types of writings such as movie scripts, nonfiction, autobiographies, children’s books, and short stories. While Stephen King might be best known for his novels The Stand and It, some of his best work that has been published are his short stories such as “The Body” and “Quitters Inc”. King’s works are so powerful because he uses his experience and observations from his everyday life and places them into his unique stories.
Stephen King was born in September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. King’s father, Donald, disappeared when he was only three years old; with his mother, Ruth, and older brother, David, King moved around a good deal, finally returning to Maine in 1958. He wrote his first short story at the age of seven, and was a devoted fan of 1950s horror movies. In high school, King played football and joined a local band; he also began contributing a number of stories to mystery magazines and other publications. He graduated from the University of Maine in 1970 with a degree in English; in the fall of 1971, he began teaching at a high school called Hampden Academy.
After his first two attempts at a novel were rejected, King became frustrated and reportedly threw away his next manuscript. His wife, Tabitha Spruce (whom he met in college and married in early 1971), rescued it and persuaded him to continue—in 1974, Doubleday published Carrie, which became a bestseller and a hit 1976 movie, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Sissy Spacek. Sale of the paperback rights proved to be enough for King to quit teaching and embark on a full-time writing career.
King followed up on the success of Carrie with an astonishing run of bestselling short stories and novels. He published a good deal of work under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, which he used from 1977 to 1984. This disguised the true extent of his prolific output, until the ruse became public knowledge and he abandoned it.
King’s own name became synonymous with blockbuster novels blending horror, fantasy, and science fiction into a consistently creepy mix. He soon earned the title “King of Horror” for his continuing mastery of the macabre. All together, King has sold well over 100 million copies of his books worldwide and has become the richest writer of all time. He consistently ranks among America’s highest-paid entertainers, according to Forbes magazine. Some of his bestselling novels include Salem’s Lot (1975), The Stand (1978), The Dead Zone (1979), Pet Sematary (1983), Needful Things (1991), Gerald’s Game (1992), and the Dark Tower series.
An astonishing number of King’s works have been made into movies, many of which were box-office hits. The 1980 film version of his 1977 novel The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Jack Nicholson, became an all-time horror classic. A few other notable films made from his stories and novels include 1983’s Christine (from the 1983 novel); 1986’s Stand By Me (from a story entitled “The Body”); 1990’s Misery
On June 19, 1999, King was seriously injured when he was struck by a minivan on a road near his summer home in Lovell, Maine. The driver who hit King, a disabled man named Bryan Smith, lost control of his vehicle after being distracted by his Rottweiler, which was loose in the minivan; he was indicted for aggravated assault but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of driving to endanger, allowing him to avoid serving any jail time. (In an eerie twist, Smith was found dead in bed at his locked home in September 2000, and an autopsy failed to reveal a cause of death.) After undergoing extensive surgery on his leg and hip, King spent months on major rehabilitation and physical therapy before he was able to walk.
In the summer of 2000, King opened new doors in publishing when he released a first installment of The Plant on his official Web site, asking readers to pay $1.00 to download the chapter. The venture was extremely successful, with many faithful readers paying far more than the required dollar to read King’s work. He released a second chapter in late August 2000, and plans to continue such exclusively online ventures in the future. His latest novel, Dreamcatcher, was published in early 2001.
King and his wife live near Bangor, Maine, and have three children: Joe, Owen, and Naomi.
1974 Carrie
1975 Salem’s Lot
1977 Rage
1977 The Shining
1978 The Stand
1978 Night Shift
1979 The Dead Zone
1979 The Long Walk
1980 Firestarter
1980 Danse Macabre
1981 Cujo
1981 Roadwork
1982 The Running Man
1982 The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
1982 Different Seasons
1982 Creepshow
1983 Christine
1983 Pet Sematary
1984 The Talisman
1984 Thinner
1985 Cycle of the Werewolf
1985 Skeleton Crew
1986 It
1987 Misery
1987 The Tommyknockers
1987 The Eyes of the Dragon
1987 The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
1989 The Dark Half
1990 The Stand
1990 Four Past Midnight
1991 Needful Things
1992 Dolores Claiborne
1992 The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
1993 Gerald’s Game
1993 Nighmares and Dreamscapes
1994 Insomnia
1995 Rose Madder
1996 Desperation
1996 The Green Mile
1996 The Bachman Books
1996 The Regulators
1997 Six Stories
1997 Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass
1998 Bag of Bones
1999 Hearts in Atlantis
1999 The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
1999 Storm of the Century
2000 The Plant
2001 Dreamcatcher