The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. 

Born on September 21, 1947, Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine, U.S. Stephen was the son of Donald Edwin King, a merchant seaman.

His mother was Nellie Ruth King. His parents were married in Scarborough, Maine. The family lived in Chicago, then translated to Croton-on-Hudson, New York; by the end of World War 2, they had returned to Main and were living in Scarborough. His mother and older brother raised Stephen after Donald left the family, leaving the family with significant financial strain.   

At the age of 11, King and his family translated to Durham, Maine, and his mother decided to look after Stephen’s grandparents until they passed. Nellie then took a job at the local mental facility for patients with cognitive difficulties.

Nellie raised Stephen as a Methodist, but he lost his beliefs during his time in high school. While not an atheist, Stephen has made it clear he does believe in a higher being call him God, just not as described in set religions.   

Stephen Edwin King had a complicated childhood. He was witness to a tragedy. Stephen had left to play with a friend. That friend, unfortunately, was hit and killed by a train. As an adult King has expressed, he has no memory of the events that happened that day.

The family claim Stephen returned speechlessly and with a look of shock. It was only days later that news arrived at the household that the tragic incident had taken place, and Stephen had been there to witness it. It is easy to see how some commentators have claimed that the event of that day reflected on his writing. One of his famous movies, “Stand by Me,” aka “The Body,” it’s novella title features a near-miss by a train.    

While many might have assumed Kings calling for writing was based on the tragic experience; King himself has stated that in his non-Fiction “Danse Macabre 1981” chapter “An Annoying Autobiographical Pause” that while browsing through an attic with his older brother, King found a paperback version of H.P Lovecraft works, the particular states remembering the story “The Lurker in the Shadows.” The book had belonged to his father.   

King went to Durham Elementary School and the two Lisbon Falls Highs School in Lisbon Falls, Main, and graduated in 1966.

He was an avid fan of EC horror comics, especially Tales from the Crypt. King started writing for the school newspaper and contributed articles to Dave’s Rag; this was a paper published by his brother with a mimeograph machine.

He later sold stories to friends that referenced or were based on tv shows. Once the teachers found out, he was forced to return the money he had collected.   

While in high school, Stephen found one of his first stories independently published. “I Was a Teenage Grave Robber” was serialized in four issues, and then the following year was published in its full form as “In a Half-World of Terror” for another magazine.   

Steven King attended the University of Main in 1966 and graduating in 1970, completing his Bachelor of Arts in English. During his time at the university, he wrote for the student newspaper The Main Campus, while there he would attend various writing workshops. He managed to hold multiple jobs to sustain his activities, including janitor, gas station employee, and laundry room work.    

He met Tabitha Spruce, the woman who would become his wife, at one of the writing workshops directed by Burton Hatlen. They wed in 1971 and, during that year, received their first daughter Naomi Rachel. 

Bibliography  

“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn’t carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.” 
― Stephen King 

• Carrie 1974 
• ‘Salems Lot 1975 
• The Shining 1977 
• Rage 1977 
• The Stand 1978 

• The Long Walk 1979 
• The Dead Zone 1979 
• Firestarter 1980 
• Roadwork 1981 
• Cujo 1981 

• The Running Man 1982 
• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger 1982 
• Christine 1983 
• Pet Cemetery 1983 
• Cycle of the Werewolf 1983 

• The Talisman 1984 
• The Eyes of the Dragon 1984 
• Thinner 1984 
• It 1986 
• The dark Tower II the Drawing of the Three 1987 

• Misery 1987 
• The Tommyknockers 1987 
• The Dark Hal 1989 
• The Stand 1990 
• The Dark Tower II: The Waste Lands 1991 

• Needful Things 1991 
• Gerald’s Game 1992 
• Dolores Claiborne 1992 
• Insomnia 1994 
• Rose Madder 1995 

• The Green Mile 1996 
• Desperation 1996 
• The Regulators 1996 
• The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass 1977 
• Bag of Bones 1998 

• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon 1999 
• Dreamcatcher 2001 
• Black House 2001 
• From a Buick 8 2002 
• The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla 2003 

• The Dark Tower Vi: Song of Susannah 2004 
• The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower 2004 
• The Colorado Kid 2005 
• Cell 2006 
• Blaze 2007 

• Duma Key 2008 
• Under the Dome 2009 
• 11/22/63 2011 
• The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole 2012 
• Joyland 2013 

• Doctor Sleep 2014 
• Mr. Mercedes 2014 
• Revival 2014 
• Finders Keepers 2015 
• End of Watch 2016 

• Gwendy’s Button Box 2017 
• Sleeping Beauties 2017 
• The Outsider 2018 
• Elevation 2018 
• The Institute 2019 

• Later 2021 

NonFiction 

• Danse Macabre 1981 

• Nightmares in the Sky 1988 
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft 2000 
• Secret Windows, Essays and Fiction on the Craft of Writing 2000 
• Faithful 2004 

Screenplays 

• Creepshow 1982 
• Cats Eye 1985 
• Silver Bullet 1985 

• Maximum Overdrive 1986 
• Sorry, Right Number 1987 
• Pet Cemetery 1989 
• Golden Years 1991 
• Sleepwalkers 1992 

• The Stand 1994 
• Michael Jackson’s Ghosts 1996 
• The Shining 1997 
• Chinga 1998 
• Storm of the Century 1999 

• Rose Red 2002 
• Kingdom Hospital 2004 
• Desperation 2006 
• Heads will Roll 2014 
• A good Marriage 2014 

• Cell 2016 

Other Publications and Collections 

• Creepshow 1982 
• The Bachman Books 1985 

• Bar Bones: Conversations on Terror 1988 
• Six Stories 1997 
• Blood and Smoke 1999 
• Storm of the Century 1999 
• The Plant 2000 

• Stephen King Goes to the Movies 2009 
• Blockade Billy 2010 
• American Vampire 2010 
• Ghost Brothers of Darkland Country 2013 
• Guns 2013 

• Six Scary Stories 2016 
• Charlie the Choo-Choo 2016 
• Heats in Suspension 2016 
• Flight or Fright 2018 

Collections and Reprints 

• Night Shift 1978 
• Different Seasons 1982 
• Skeleton Crew 1985 

• Four Past Midnight 1990 
• Nightmares & Dreamscapes 1993 
• Hearts in Atlantis 1999 
• Everything’s Eventual 2002 
• Just after Sunset 2008 

• Full Dark, No Stars 2010 
• The Bazaar of Bad Dreams 2015 
• If it Bleeds 2020 

Short Fiction Bibliography 

“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that’s all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.” 
― Stephen King, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption 

• Land of 1,000,000 Years Ago 1959 
• Thirty- One of the Classics 1959 
• Jumper 1959 

• Rush Call 1960 
• The Cursed Expedition 1960 
• I’ve Got to Get Away! 1960 
• Hotel at the End of the Road 1960 
• Never Look Behind You 1960 

• The other Side of the Fog 1960 
• The Stranger 1960 
• The Thing at the Bottom of the Well 1960 
• The Pit and the Pendulum 1961 
• The Undead 1963 

• Trigger Finger 1963 
• The Star Invaders 1964 
• Codename Mousetrap 1965 
• I was a Teenage Grace Robber 1965 
• The 43rd Dream 1966 

• The Glass Floor 1967 
• Cain Rose Up 1968 
• Here there be Tygers 1968 
• Harrison State Park ‘68 1968 
• Night Surf 1969 

• The Reapers Image 1969 
• The Dark Man 1969 
• Stud City 1969 
• Slade 1970 
• Graveyard Shift 1970 

• Donovan’s Brain 1970 
• Silence 1970 
• The Blue Air Compressor 1971  
• In the Key Chords of Dawn 1971 
• I Am the Doorway 1971 

• Brooklyn August 1971 
• She Has Gone to Sleep While… 1971 
• Woman with Child 1971 
• The Hardcase Speeks 1971 
• Suffer the Little Children 1972 

• The Fifth Quarter 1972 
• Battle Ground 1972 
• The Mangler 1972 
• The Boogeyman 1973 
• Trucks 1973 

• Grey Matter 1973 
• It Grows on You 1973 
• Sometime They Come Back 1974 
• The Lawnmower Man 1975 
• The Revenge of Lard Ass Hogan 1975 

• Weeds 1976 
• The Ledge 1976 
• I know What you Need 1976 
• Children of the Corn 1977 
• One of the Road 1977 

• The Cat from Hell 1977 
• The King Family and the Wicked Witch 1977 
• The Man Who Loved Flowers 1977 
• Jerusalem’s Lot 1978 
• The Rung on the Ladder 1978 

• Quitters Inc. 1978 
• The Woman in the Room 1978 
• The Night of the Tiger 1978 
• Nona 1978 
• The Gunslinger 1978 

• Man with a Belly 1978 
• The Crate 1979 
• The Mist 1980 
• Crouch End 1980 
• The Way Station 1980 

• Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game 1980 
• The Monkey 1980 
• The Wedding Gig 1980 
• The Oracle on the Mountains 1981 
• The Jaunt 1981 

• The Slow Mutants 1981 
• The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands 1981 
• The Monster in the Closet 1981 
• The Bird and the Album 1981 
• The Gunslinger and the Dark Man 1981 

• The Reach 1981 
• Survivor Type 1982 
• Before the Play 1982  
• Apt Pupil 1982 
• The Body 1982 

• The Breathing Method 1982 
• Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption 1982 
• The Raft 1982 
• Skybar 1982 
• Word Processor of the Gods 1983 

• Uncle Ottos Truck 1983 
• The Return of Timmy Baterman 1983 
• Gramma 1984 
• Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut 1984 
• The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet 1984 

• The Revelations of ‘Becka Paulson 1984 
• Beachworld 1984 
• Dolan’s Cadillac 1985 
• For Owen 1985 
• Morning Deliveries 1985 

• Paranoid: A Chant 1985 
• For the Birds 1986 
• The End of the Whole Mess 1986 
• Popsy 1987 
• The Doctor’s Case 1987 

• The Night Flier 1988 
• Dedication 1988 
• The Reploids 1988 
• Sneakers 1988 
• Rainy Season 1989 

• Home Delivery 1989 
• My Pretty Pony 1989 
• An Evening at God’s 1990 
• The Langoliers 1990 
• The Library Policeman 1990 

• Secret Window, Secret Garden 1990 
• The Sun Dog 1990 
• The Bear 1990 
• The Moving Finger 1990 
• You Know They Got Hell of a Band 1992 

• Chattery Teeth 1992 
• The Beggar and the Diamond 1993 
• The House on Maple Street 1993 
• Sorry, Right Number 1993 
• The Ten O’Clock People 1993 

• Umney’s last Case 1993 
• Jhonathan and the Witches 1993 
• The Killer 1994 
• Blind Willie 1994 
• The Man in the Black Suit 1994 

• Dino 1994 
• Luckey Quarter 1995 
• Lunch at the Gotham Café 1995 
• Autopsy Room Four 1997 
• L.T.’s Theory of Pets 1997 

• General 1997 
• Everything’s Eventual 1997 
• The Feeling, You Can only say What It Is in French 1998 
• The Little Sisters of Eluria 1998 
• The new lieutenant’s Rap 1999 

• The Road Virus Head North 1999 
• Hearts in Atlantis 1999 
• Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling 1999 
• Low Men in Yellow Coats 1999 
• Why We’re in Vietnam 1999 

• 1408 1999 
• In the Deathroom 1999 
• Riding the Bullet 2000 
• The Old Dude’s Ticker 2000 
• All that You Love Will be Carried Away 2001 

• Calla Bryn Sturgis 2001 
• The Death of Jack Hamilton 2001 
• The Tale of Gray Dick 2003 
• Harvey’s Dream 2003 
• Stationary Bike 2003 

• Rest Stop 2003 
• Lisey and the Madman 2004 
• The Furnace 2005 
• The Things They Left Behind 2005 
• Memory 2006 

• Willa 2006 
• Graduation Afternoon 2007 
• The Gingerbread Girl 2007 
• Ayana 2007 
• Mute 2007 

• A very Tight Place 2008 
• The New York Times at Special Bargains Rates 2008  
• N 2008 
• Throttle 2009 
• Ur 2009 

• Mortality 2009 
• Mostly Old Men 2009 
• The Bone Church 2009 
• Premium Harmony 2009 
• Tommy 2010 

• Blockade Billy 2010 
• 1922 2010 
• Big Driver 2010 
• Fair Extension 2010 
• A Good Marriage 2010 

• Herman Wouk is Still Alive 2011 
• Under the Weather 2011 
• Mile 81 2011 
• The Little Green God of Agony 2011 
• The Dune 2011 

• In the Tall Grass 2012 
• A Face in the Crowd 2012 
• Batman and Robin have an Altercation 2012 
• Afterlife 2013 
• The Rock and Roll Dead Zone 2013 

• Summer Thunder 2013 
• Bad Little Kid 2014 
• That Bus is Another World 2014 
• A Death 2015 
• Drunken Fireworks 2015 

• Mister Yummy 2015 
• Orbits 2015 
• Cookie Jar 2016 
• The Music Room 2016 
• Gwendy’s Button Bos 2017 

• Thin Scenery 2017 
• Laurie 2018 
• Elevation 2018 
• The Turbulence Expert 2018 
• Squad D 2019 

• The Fifth Step 2020 
• If it Bleeds 2020 
• The Life of Chuck 2020 
• Mr. Harrigan’s Phone 2020 
• Rat 2020 

• On Slide Inn Road 2020 

Writing Career 

“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.” 
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft 

While at the University of Main, Stephen managed to sell his first printed professional short story. “The Glass Floor.” The client, Startling Mystery Stories, published the scary story in 1967. Once he graduated from the University of Maine, Stephen obtained his teaching certificate to educate students at a high school level. Unfortunately, he was unable to find a teaching job out of the University; then, he did manage to earn a living by supplementing his income with the sales of short stories to men’s magazines like Cavalier.   

Fortunately, many of King’s stories have been republished in various collections, the most popular one, “Nightshift.” Stephen King finally found employment as a teacher in Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine. He never stopped writing short stories for magazines and was continually working on his longer novels that were soon to come.   

Between 1970 and 1979, Stephen managed a living through his teaching and his written work. However, he did run into some interesting encounters. He was once arrested for petty larceny and fined $ 250. 

The real start of his career 

We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones. 

1973 saw the publication of King’s first novel by publishing house Double day. Carrie was Stephen’s fourth written novel.

Originally intended to be a short story for Cavalier, King found writing the female protagonist complex and actually the three-page manuscript. Fortunately, his wife Tabitha managed to rescue the papers and offered him help writing the female lead. She also encouraged him to finish and expand the short story into a novel format. Stephen King has stated, “I persisted because I was dry and had no better ideas.”   

Carrie tells the tale of a high school teenager gifted with powerful telekinetic and pyrokinetic (a word created by King) powers. Thrust into the complicated and often violent world of High School.

Carrie lived with her mother, a religious fanatic who neglected to teach her young, innocent teenage daughter even the basics of female biology. She is bullied, humiliated, and finally, upon reaching a boiling point, turns on her would-be tormentors and proceeds to punish them.    

Doubleday chose the novel for print and tried to deliver the news to King. Unfortunately, at the moment, Stephen’s phone was out of service.

It was William Thompson, a man who informed him through a telegram in late March April 1973 that Carrie would see print. The wire read “Carrie Officially a Doubleday Book. $ 2,500 Advance Against Royalties. Congrats, Kid – The Future Lies Ahead, Bill”. Stephen celebrated his newfound success with the purchase of a new Ford Pinto. The New American Library contacted King on May 13, 1973, and proceeded to purchase the paperback format for $400,000.

Due to the original contract with Doubleday, publishing was then split between them.  

The horror novel kicked started Stephen King’s career and is now considered a horror classic. It has been made into two separate films.   

The following years would see a flurry of stories being published; 1975 saw  Stephen King’s novel ‘Salem’s Lot. The Shining, published in 1977, The Stand was published in 1978. These three novels have all been turned into movies.  

Salem’s lot was also featured heavily in the T.V show Castle Rock. During this time, King relocated his family to Boulder, Colorado, following his wife’s death. Then they returned to Main in 1975. 1977 saw Owen Phillip King’s third and child. After a brief trip to England, the family returned to Main, and in the Fall, Stephen started teaching a creative writing course at the University of Main.  

Different Seasons was published in 1982, which contained four more dramatic and serious novellas than the recently seen horror stories. This printed book contained three stories that were later turned into movies. Stand (1986) by me was an adaptation from the novel The Body. The prison’s classic The Shawshank Redemption (1994) was transformed into the film from the novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and Apt Pupil (1998), which came from the same name.  

The comic book industry obtained their first taste of King’s writing as the prolific author contributed a few pages for the X-Men comic book. Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men. The profits of which were used to assist with hunger and famine relief in Africa. The comic saw the participation of other prolific writers such as Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta), Stan Lee (Fantastic Four, Hulk, Avengers), among others. King wrote an introduction to Batman #400.  

The year 1986 saw the publication of the horror classic It. Pennywise, the clown, became a staple of horror character as the clown terrified the town and slaughtered children. The book became the best-selling novel in the United States that year. The story of it has been adapted into comics and movies. The terrifying villain is considered one of the most iconic figures in horror. ITs shapeshifting nature adapting to its victim’s fear makes the monster a true nightmare for the protagonists to handle.  

Since then, the author’s name has become a synonym in pop-culture. The prolific writer has appeared in shows like the Simpsons and his own movies. His career would soon explode into other media and Pop Culture. 

Call me by my other names 

“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn’t carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.” 

It was the late 70’s early 80’s when Stephen King had the idea of trying to determine whether his success had been a fluke or an accident. He decided to create one of his alternate names.

This way, King could decide if his success was replicable and not just an accident. He chose the name Richard Backman, and under the pseudonym, he published Rage (1977), The Long Walk (1979), Roadwork (1981), The Running Man (1982, yes, the book would later be an Arnold Schwarzenegger Movie), and Thinner (1984). At the time, the publishing standards only allowed publishing one book per author a year, so the pseudonyms also helped King print more books.   

Book clerk Steve Brown of Washington DC noticed the style similarities of the two authors’ works; after some research and investigating located in the Library of Congress, the publisher’s records determined that King was the actual author of the Bachman’s books.    

The author’s unmasking leads to the pseudonym’s death from the press, referred to as “cancer of the pseudonym.” The Dark Half, a book about a pseudonym turning on the original author’s creation, was dedicated to Bachman.

1966 saw the release of two companion novels. Desperation and The Regulators, these companion novels one King and one Bachman, told a tale of the same characters but in different dimensions. Where in one they were heroic while in others they were villainous.   

Bachman made a comeback in 2006 with the novel titled Blaze and published on June 12, 2007. The King manuscript remained in his alma mater, of the University of Main; then, for many years, it had been examined by various King experts. King explained that the original manuscripts were written in 1973 that he had discovered the Bachman title again and it would see print.   

John Swithen was another famed pseudonym used by King; for the short story “The Fifth Quarter,” a report published by Cavalier in April 1972. The name of John Swithen was a character’s name is Carrie. “The Fifth Quarter” story could also be found in the reprinted collection “Nightmares and Dreamscapes,” published in 1993, later printed under Stephen King’s name.   

Charlie the Choo-Choo: From the World of the Dark Tower, a fictional children’s book featured prominently in the Dark Tower Universe, saw real-life print in 2016 with the King pseudonym Beryl Evans. 

The Internet Age 

“When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, “Why god? Why me?” and the thundering voice of God answered, “There’s just something about you that pisses me off.” 
― Stephen King, Storm of the Century 

The famed author was one of the first authors to embrace the digital medium, and in the year 200 published the serialized novel “The Plant.” The reception of which was considered unsuccessful, the perception being that the series stopped because of lack of sales and little interest. The famed author then stated that he had “simply run out of stories.” Thus, the series ended the unfinished epistolary novel can still be found on the author’s website and acquired for free.    

The novel “Riding the Bullet” also received an official digital release and was considered much more successful. The famed author has stated that he sees the digital market becoming a dominant force “probably by 2013 and maybe 2012”.   

King then tackled the online digital column by participating in the Entertainment Weekly site. The author would be uploaded around every third week. The column titled The Pop of King featured the author’s opinions or short anecdotes or even stories from 2003 to 2008. The apocalyptic novel “Cell” saw publication in 2008, followed by his collection, Just After Sunset. The stories included the story N, which was previously unpublished.    

In an association with Amazon.com, King published the digital novel Ur. The two brands joined forces to energize the launch of the second-generation Amazon Kindle. Throttle, a story he co-wrote with his son, Joe Hill, was later released as a storied audiobook Road Rage. King then published Under the Dome on November 10 of 2009. The most extensive novel he had written after the release of It. Under the dome saw great sale numbers and debuted at first place on The New York Times Bestseller List.   

February 16, 2010, the horror author announced on his site that four unpublished novellas named Full Dark, No Stars. Blockade Billy a King’s original novella was printed by the small independent Cemetery Dance Publication. Simon and Schuster would then reprint the book.   

DC Comics would then launch the American Vampire comic. The monthly series was written by King and Scott Snyder, art by Rafael Albuquerque. These works represent the horror author’s first full comic book work. He also provided a background history for the first American vampire story, “Skinner Sweet.”   

The novel titled 11/22/63, published November 8, 2011, was nominated for the World Fantasy Best Novel 2012. The Wind Through the Keyhole the eight Dark Tower Volume and was published in 2012. Joyland, the amusement park killer story, was then posted on April 8, 2012.   

On December 7, 2012, the wordsmith suggested that he was working on a crime novel based on the real-life account of a woman who drove her car into a Mcdonald’s. It was meant to be a short story but later became the trilogy of Mr. Mercedes. This novel was then published in June 2013. The Revival was released on November 11, 2014. Finders Keepers, the second book of the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, was posted on June 2, 2015, and announced King was already working on the final tome titled End of Watch, finally released on June 7, 2016.   

The novel The Outsider and the novella Elevation were released in 2019. The collection of four unpublished novellas followed the story of the Institute in the group If It Bleeds. 

“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that’s all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So, you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them, they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.” 
― Stephen King, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption 

Well known for his stories of isolation and terror, Stephen King often places his protagonists well within the claps of supernatural events well beyond the protagonists’ control. These events have ranged from haunted houses to world-ending apocalyptic events. The big issue is that the protagonists do have a chance of surviving the events that have engulfed them. While there are no set rules to surviving a Stephen King inspired event, what is important is the characters face their issues, be they emotional or physical.  

Stephen King is well known for his writing prowess, but the affluent author did not become this way purely by talent. He makes the time and has developed a professional discipline to the daily chore. He sets apart 4 to 6 hours a day for the activity of writing and does not stop. He sets a goal of 2000 words a day and will not stop until he reaches that minimum.   

Then there is his approach to professional behavior and what makes an author worthwhile “if you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn’t bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented.”  

He was once asked what makes him a writer. He responded, “The answer to that is simple. There was nothing else I was made to do. I was made to write stories, and I love to write stories, so that’s why I do it. I really can’t imagine doing anything else, and I can’t imagine not doing what I do.”   

When approached about the subject as to why his main focus is terror and horror stories, he replied, “Why do you assume I have a choice?” He is famous for starting his stories with hypothetical scenarios that imply a “what if.” What if a dome suddenly appeared and cut off a town? What if an old mage poisoned a king? 

“Because talent won’t be quiet, doesn’t know how to be quiet,” he said. “Whether it’s a talent for safe-cracking, thought-reading, or dividing ten-digit numbers in your head, it screams to be used. It never shuts up. It’ll wake you in the middle of your tirades night, screaming, ‘Use me, use me, use me! I’m tired of just sitting here! Use me, fuckhead, use me!” 
― Stephen King, The Dark Tower 

The Dark Tower series of books was Stephen King’s version of The Lord of The Rings. It introduced one of the most iconic protagonists. Roland the Gunslinger, modeled after Clint Eastwood’s portal of the Man with No Name, was the epic protagonist on the quest to arrive at the Dark Tower and save the Universe from the King in Red. The epic journey was Roland’s face against many foes, including one Randal Flagg.   

The grand story took place in eight books; these saw Roland’s journey through reality visiting various dimensions or, as they are called in the series, “levels of the tower.” These levels would often cross into other King tales like Maine and even Stephen King’s kitchen at one point.   

King started writing the novel in late 1970; Roland, the main protagonist, began the book to pursue the Man in Black; the story was heavily influenced by the American Wild West, Tolkiens Middle-Earth, and Serio Leone long winding spaghetti Western motifs. The first appearance of these stories was published by The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from 1977 o 1981. 

List of Interconnected Dark Tower Books 

“The road and the tale have both been long, would you not say so? The trip has been long and the cost has been high… but no great thing was ever attained easily. A long tale, like a tall Tower, must be built a stone at a time.” 
― Stephen King, The Dark Tower 

11/22/63 
How: Takuro spirit is a car that appears in multiple volumes of the Dark Tower and 11/22/63 as well. 

‘Salem’s Lot 
How: Various characters appear in both books. Father Donald Rank Callahan and his vampiric antagonists Kurt Barlow, Ben Mears, Susan Norton, Dr. Jim Cod, Loretta Coogan, Mr. Flip, Danny Glick, Matt Burke, Mark Petrie, Henry Petrie, June Petrie, Richard Straker. 

Jerusalem’s Lot 
How: Multiple locations are shared. Marsten House, Petrie House and Kitchen, Saint Andrew’s Church and Rectory, Spencer’s Drugs, Los Zapatos. 

Bag of Bones 
How: They share close locations. The Song of Susannah takes place near East Stoneham, Maine. Bag of Bones takes place in Lovell. Maine. 

Skeleton Crew: The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet 
How: Location of Restaurant and Bar. Ginelli and Four Fathers Restaurant. 

Black House 
How: The character Ted Brautigan is a major character both in the Black house and the final novel of the Dark tower. Can-Tah is a turtle carving that can mesmerize people it is mentioned in the novel Desperation and Black House. The main characters of the Dark Tower are also mentioned in the Black house though only as a reference and play no major role, this includes Blane the Mono. The Speaking Demon which appears in the novel The Dark Tower: Waste Lands also appears in Black House. 

Blockade Billy 
How: The number 19 is a figure that is prevalently features during the Dark Tower quest and is the number on Blockade Billys shirt. 

Cell 
How: The main character in Cell is a comic book artist that works on the comic The Dark Wanderer. The Main character is a cowboy Ray Damon and he uses a six-shooter much like his Dark Tower counterpart Roland.

Cujo 
How: The pharmacy in the song of Susannah is also featured in Cujo. 

Doctor Sleep 
How: Dan Torrence references Jake Chambers when he uses the phrase: There are other worlds than these. 

Dreamcatcher 
How: They share locations. Parmacy, Derry, Maine and Jerusalem’s Lot 

Everything Eventual 
How: The character of Dinky Earnshaw gifted psyiquic works with Roland. Dinky is also in Everything’s Eventual. Mr. Sharpton and Skipper Brannigan. 

The Eyes of the Dragon 
How: The setting of Delain is motioned in The Gunslinger. The character os Dennis and Thomas from The Eyes of the Dragon have hunted Randal Flagg.  Flagg himself is in many Kings books though in The Eyes of the Dragon he is referred to as Walter of All-World. 

Hearts in Atlantis 
How: Characters are shared. Ted Brautigan, Crimson King, Roland Deschain, Randall Flagg, Bobby Garfield, Liz Garfield, Carol Garber, John Sullivan.  

Insomnia 
How: Characters are shared. The Crimson King, Patrick Danville, Ed Deepneau, Roland Deschain, Ralph Roberts and actual Stephen King novels mentions in the book, Hearts in Atlantis, The Dead Zone, Pet Cemetery, Storm of the Century, Rose Red, Kingdom Hospital, The Shining, Carrie and Cujo. 

It 
How: Pennywise and Dandelo seem to be the same species of evil spider monster.  

Jeruselem’s Lot 
How: Locations like Marsten House, Petrie House and Kitchen, Saint Andrew’s Church and Rectory, Spencer’s Drugs, Los Zapatos. 

The Mist 
How: Locations and monsters. Bridgton, Maine and the monsters in the mist seem to be residents of the Toadash space. 

UR 
How: The actual Dart Tower and Low men are mentioned in the book 

While there are other novels that hint at a connection most are only slightly touched upon and can be discussed if they are actual references. 

Radall Flagg 

“He looks like anybody you see on the street. But when he grins, birds fall dead off telephone lines. When he looks at you a certain way, your prostate goes bad and your urine burns. The grass yellows up and dies where he spits. He’s always outside. He came out of time. He doesn’t know himself.” 
― Stephen King, The Stand 

Steven Kings’ most prominent fictional antagonist Roland of Gilead, came to prominence in The Gunslinger. This character has been a key figure in multiple stories; he is the face of evil in the novel The Stand. He is Roland Deschain’s enemy in The Dark Tower, and although he is not always physically present in all stories, his influence is felt, and special nods, easter eggs, and mentions can be found n many of King’s works.  

This character works very similar to H.P Lovecraft’s creation Nyarlathotep. A cosmic or potent being that influences events directly or indirectly through influence. Nyarlathotep appears throughout history, in various guises and names. Everything from an Egyptian pharaoh to a 1920 jazz musician. There is no clear understanding of why God interacts with humanity; it is possible boredom from the company of his fellow elder gods might have something to do with it.  

Much like the Eldrich God Flagg likes to meddle, he has schemes and machinations that have taken years to see fruition. The man in black with the smiley lapel pin makes sure is as prominent in his victims’ life as possible. Much like the elder God, possibly just out of sheer boredom.  

Randall Flagg stars in The Stand, where he is why an infected soldier manages to escape the facility infected with Captain Trips. In others, he offers powers and sends minions on their way as he does in Heart in Atlantis.  

His powers vary from story to story. He is usually a powerful mage like in the Eyes of the Dragon but has been seen with a demonic form like the one seen in The Stand. Whatever the story, he is always a force to be reconned.   

List of Names:  

Nicknames: The Walkin’ Dude, The Hardcase, The Darkman, Ageless Stranger, The Man in Black.  

Alias: Walter Paddick, Walter o’Dim, Marten Broadcloack, Bill Hinch, Richard Fannin, Richard Freemantle, Rudin Figaro, The Covenant Man, Robert Frank, Richard Fry, Ramsey Forest. 

“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well.” 
Stephen King 

The master of horror has claimed various previous authors as inspirations for his works. He has mentioned the unspeakable horrors from H.P Lovecraft and included elements from Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic settings. Masters in crafts like Ray Bradbury, John D MacDonald, Don Robertson, and Elmore Leonard are just some of his particular favorites. He has referred to Richard Matheson as one of the authors that have influenced him the most. 

Stephen Kings Favorite Books 

• The Golden Argosy 
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 
• The Satanic Verses 

• McTeague 
• Lord of the Flies 
• Bleak House 
• Nineteen Eighty-Four 
• The Raj Quartet 

• Light in August 
• Blood Meridian 

50 Books Recommended By King 

• The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga 
• The blind Man’s Garden by Nedem Aslam 

• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood 
• The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes 
• 2666 by Robert Bolano 
• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson 
• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon 

• The Troop by Nick Cutter 
• My Soul To Keep by Tananarive Due 
• Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn 
• The Secret Place by Tana French 
• American Gods by Niel Gaiman 

• Deception on His Mind by Elizabeth George 
• Gravity by Tess Gerritsen 
• The Good Nurse: A true Story of Medicine, Madness, and Muder by Charles Graeber 
• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen 
• Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt 

• Paul Simon: The Life by Robert Hilburn 
• The Nix by Nathan Hill 
• Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz 
• Natchez Burning by Greg Iles 
• The Liars Club by Mary Karr 

• The Hunger by Alma Katsu 
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd 
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 
• The mars Room by Rachel Kushner 
• To Kill A mockingbird by Harper Lee 

• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin 
• Sunburn by Laura Lippman 
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garbriel Garcia Marquez 
• I’ll be Gone in the Dark by Michelle Mcnamara 
• Slade House by David Mitchell 

• Darktwon by Thomas Mullen 
• Hear Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger 
• Doing Harm by Kelly Parsons 
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett 
• Red Moon by Benjamin Percy 

• Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult 
• Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough 
• A Sight for Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendell 
• Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie 
• Final Girls by Raley Sager 

• A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth 
• The Terror by Dan Simmons 
• Battle Royale by Koushun Takami 
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt 
• Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer 

• The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker 
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters 
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead 
• My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 
• IQ by Joe Ide 

• Bluebird, Blubird by Attica Locke 
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste NG 
• There, There by Tommy Orange 

On June 19th, 1999 I got hit by a van while taking a walk. As I lay unconscious in the hospital, the docs debated amputating my right leg and decided it could stay, on a trial basis. I got better. Every day of the 20 years since has been a gift. 
Stephen King, Twitter June 19,2019  

It was on June 19, 1999, around 4:30 p.m. while Stephen King was strolling on the Shoulder of Main State Route 5, of Lovell, Main. He suffered an unfortunate accident. The driver Bryan Edwin Smith did not see King on the road since, at the moment, he found himself distracted by a loose dog he had in the back of his minivan. He hit Stephen and launched about 14 feet to a depression in the ground. The Police report from Oxford County Sheriff Deputy Matt Baker stated that Stephen was struck from the rear, and it was thanks to eyewitnesses that maintained Smith was not speeding, reckless or drinking. Smith would later find himself charged with driving to endanger and aggravated Assault.  

Smith pleaded guilty to the charge of Driving to Endanger and was given the sentence of six months in county jail, which was later suspended. He also found his driver’s license had been arrested for the duration of one year.   

Immediately after the accident, Stephen was found conscious and gave his phone number to the deputy to contact his family. It was an impressive feat since the author was in quite a lot of pain. King was later taken to Northern Cumberland Hospital located in Bridgton. There he was flown by medical air ambulance to Central Main Medical Center in Lewiston. He was found to have a collapsed right lung, multiple fractures located on his right hip, a scalp laceration, and even a broken hip.  

Initially, doctors considered the injuries to his legs so severe that amputation might have been a viable option. They managed the medical crew to stabilize him and, with the help of an external fixator, keep the leg in place.   

Though in great pain and limited motion, he did return to work in July. His work was limited to various 40 minutes writing sessions since the pain became quite intense after a while. The van that struck King was purchased by King’s lawyers to prevent the resale of the vehicle online or anywhere else. 

• The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red 2001 
• Gwendy’s Magic Feather 2019 
• The Lawnmower Man in Bizarre Adventures # 29 1981 Marvel 
• Creepshow 1982 Plume 

• The Talisman 2009 Del Rey 
• N 2010 Marvel  
• Road Rage 2012 IDW Publishing 
• The Little Green God of Agony 2012 Free Comic 
• Sleeping Beauties 2020 IDW Publishing 

• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born 2007 Marvel  
• The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home 2008 Marvel 
• The dark Tower: Treachery 2008 Marvel 
• The Dark Tower: The Sorcerer 2009 Marvel 
• The Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead 2009 Marvel 

• The Dark Tower: Battle of Jericho Hill 2009 Marvel 
• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger- The Journey Begins 2010 Marvel 
• The Dak Tower: The Gunslinger– The Little Sisters of Eluria 2010 Marvel 
• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger- The Battle of Tull 2011 Marvel 
• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger – The Way Station 2011 Marvel 

• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger – The Man in Black 2012 Marvel 
• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Sheemies Tale 2013 Marvel 
• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger- Evil Ground 2013 Marvel 
• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger- So Fell Lord Perth 2013 Marvel 
• The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three – The Prisoner 2014 Marvel 

• The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three – The House of Cards 2015 Marvel 
• The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three – Lady of Shadows 2016 Marvel 
• The Dark Tower: The Drawing ot the Three – Bitter Medicine 2016 Marvel 
• The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three – The Sailor 2017 Marvel 
• The Stand: Captain Trips 2008 

• The Stand: American Nightmares 2009 
• The Stand: Soul Survivors 2009  
• The Stand: Hardcases 2010 
• The Stand: No Mans Land 2011 
• The Stand: Night Has Come 2011 

Television and Film 

• Carrie 1976 
• The Shinning 1980 
• CreepShow 1982 

• Cujo 1983 
• The Dead Zone 1983 
• Christine 1983 
• Children of the Corn 1984 
• Firestarter 1984 

• Cat’s Eye 1985 
• Silver Buller 1985 
• Maximum Overdrive 1986 This movie was actually directed by Stephen King himself. 
• Stand by Me 1986 
• Creepshow 2 1987 

• The Running Man 1987 
• Pet Cemetery 1989 
• Tales from the Darkside: The Movie 1990 
• Graveyard Shift 1990 
• Misery 1990 

• The Lawnmower Man 1992 
• The Dark Half 1993 
• Needful Things 1993 
• The Shawshank Redemption 1994 
• The Mangler 1995 

• Dolores Claiborne 1995 
• Thinner 1996 
• The Night Flier 1997 
• Apt Pupil 1998 
• The Green Mile 1999 

• Hearts in Atlantis 2001 
• Julie Ganapathi 2003 
• Dreamcatcher 2003 
• Secret Window 2004 
• Riding the Bullet 2004 

• 1408 2007 
• The Mist 2007 
• No Smoking 2007 
• Dolan’s Cadillac 2009 
• Carrie 2013 New version of the classic movie. 

• A good Marriage 2014 
• Mercy 2014 
• Cell 2016 
• The Dark Tower 2017 
• It 2017 

• Gerald’s Game 2017 
• 1922 2017 
• Pet Cemetery 2019 
• It Chapter Two 2019 
• In the Tall Grass 2019 

• Doctor Sleep 2019 

Announced Movies Release dates TBD 

• The Boogeyman 
• The Breathing Method 
• The Dark Half 

• Firestarter 
• From a Buick 8 
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon 
• The Little Green God of Agony 
• The Long Walk 

• Mile 81 
• Rest Stop 
• Revival 
• ‘Salem’s Lot 
• The Talisman 

• Throttle  
• The Tommyknockers 

Television 

• Salem’s Lot 1979 

• The Word Processor of the Gods 1984 
• Gramma 1986 
• It 1990 
• The Moving Finger 1991 
• The Tommyknocker’s 1993 

• The Stand 1994 
• The Langoliers 1995 
• The Shinning 1997 
• Trucks 1997 
• Quicksilver Highway 1997 

• The Revelations of “Becka Paulson” 1997 
• Who 1998 
• Carrie 2002 
• The Dead Zone 2002 – 2007 
• Salem’s Lot 2004 

• Desperation 2006 
• Nightmares & Dreamscapes 2006 
• Children of the Corn 2009 
• Haven 2010 – 2015 
• Bag of Bones 2011 

• Under the Dome 2013 – 2015 
• Big Driver 2014 
• 11.22.63 2016 
• The Mist 2017 
• Mr. Mercedes 2017  

• Gray Matter 2019 
• The Outsider 2020 
• The Stand 2020 
• Upcoming Tv Showes 
• The Institute 

• Chapel Waite 
• Joyland 
• Linsey’s Story 
• Revelations 
• Sleeping Beauties 

Sequels and Movies Based on his Works 

• A Return to Salem’s Lot 1992 
• Pet Cemetery Two 1995 
• Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice 1992 

• Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest 1995 
• Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace 1996 
• Sometimes They Corn Back… Again 1996 
• Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering 1996 
• Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror 1998 

• Sometimes They Come Back… For More 1998 
• The Rage: Carrie 2 1999 
• Children of the Corn 666: Issacs’s Return 1999 
• Children of the Corn: Revelation 2001 
• The Mangler 2 2002 

• The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer 2003 
• The Mangler Reborn 2005 
• Creepshow 3 2006 
• Children of the Corn: Genesis 2011 
• Children of the Corn: Runaway 2018 

Television Shows Based on Kings Work 

• Castle Rock 2019 – 2019 
• Creepshow 2019 
• Overlook TBA 

“He began to cry, not hysterically or screaming as people cry when concealed rage with tears, but with continuous sobs who has just discovered that he’s alone and will be for long. He cried because safety and reason seemed to have left the world. Loneliness was a reality, but in this situation, madness was also remotely a possibility.” 
― Stephen King, The Talisman 

Stephen King is also noted for having collaborated with various other authors to produce fantastic tales of the supernatural. Having worked with noted author Peter Straub on the novel The Talisman then onto the sequel, The Black House. There is an announced third book to finish off the series, yet there is no date set for the launch of the publication.  

My Pretty Pony was worked with Barbara Kruger, and only 250 copies were published by the Library Fellows of Whitney Museum of American Art. Alfred A Knopf then published in the general trades.  

King also wrote with various authors for the miniseries Kingdom Hospital. Richard Dooling took an on helping with multiple episodes and even published the diary title The Journals of Eleanor Druse, a fictional character of the show, as a tie into them to promote the series.   

The series Rose Red saw a similar treatment with a tie in for the show. The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red was written in journal fashion and served as a way of telling of the house’s events. The journal included annotations by other characters to present various counterpoints regarding what happened during the stay in the haunted mansion. 

 always drank, from when it was legal for me to drink. And there was never a time for me when the goal wasn’t to get as hammered as I could possibly afford to. I never understood social drinking, that’s always seemed to me like kissing your sister. 

Stephen King 

Having read King for a while, the reader might notice a theme in many of his books. Certain characters are drunks. While the drunkard archetype in horror novels isn’t something new, many of his stories are present. Father Calahan from Jerusalem’s Lot and then The Dark Tower had taken to the bottle, Danny Torrents was also partial to the drink, Eddie Dean’s older brother was a junkie, and so was Eddie himself. There are more and more examples to be had; the main point is that these characters mirrored Stephen King’s drinking habits.   

King was partial to the drink through an extended portion of his life. While many adults enjoy a social drink once in and while Steven would eventually admit he drank till he was as hammered as he could get. There was no slow or middle ground with him. He would subsequently, on Bill Maher’s talk show, admit how addiction did indeed affect his writing performance. That though many consider drinking or taking drugs a way to get inspired, Stephen did find that the habit disturbed his talent more than it helped.   

Fortunately, he has been sobered for a long while now. His family once held an intervention due to his drinking around the late ’80s. The writer has since then found sobriety and his talent and writing output benefited greatly from it. He addressed his former condition prominently as he took to promoting his book Dr. Sleep. 

“If you want to know what political extremism can lead to, look at the Zapruder film. Take particular note of frame 313, where Kennedy’s head explodes.” 

― Stephen King, 11/22/63 

King has never been shy about addressing his political positions. He spoke out in April 2008 against the HB 1423 bill, which the Massachusetts state legislature tried to ban or restrict the sale of violent video games to those under the age of 18. The famed author position explained that a law such as Hb 1423 showcases the economic divide between people and does not address the valid reason for violence, which in his opinion was the easy availability of weapons.   

He was involved in the 2008 presidential election, where he threw in his support to Barack Obama and Joe Biden. He would go so far as challenging conservative commentators such as Glenn Beck and referring to him as “Satan’s mentally challenged younger brother.” March 8, 2011, featured the author speaking in Sarasota’s political rally, where he criticized Governor Rick Scott of Florida and against the Tea Party Movement’s positions.  

April 30, 2012, saw a published King article in The Daily Beast. He spoke out against the tax breaks afforded to the rich. He then spoke about why the wealthier citizens should be paying more taxes “practical necessity and moral imperative that those who have received much should be obligated to pay.”  

His passion for gun control would see him publish an essay titled “Guns” on Amazon.com. The gun debate had flared up with the recent tragic events of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting. The author called for complete support in the ban on automatic and semi-automatic weapons. The essay performed very well-becoming the fifth bestselling nonfiction title on the Kindle apparatus.   

King is also an open critic to President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and the entire Trump administration. He has deemed them incompetent, racist, and promoters of violence. 

Impeach him and convict him. Anyone else would be in jail now, wearing an orange jumpsuit. Also, he’s dangerous. 

10:48 AM · Jan 13, 2021 Stephen King. Twitter Web App. 

• World Fantasy Award, Best Novel, Salems Lot 1976, Nominated 
• Hugo Award, Best Dramatic Presentation, Carrie 1977, Nominated 
• American Library Association, Best Books for Young Adults, 1978, Salems Lot, Won 
• Locus Award, Best Fantasy Novel, The Shinning,1978, Nominated 
• Gandalf Award, Book-Length Fantasy, The Shinning, 1978, Nominated 
• American Library Association, Books for Young Adults, The Long Walk, 1979, Won 
• Balrog Award, Best Collection Anthology, Night Shift, 1979, Nominated 
• Gandalf Award, Book- Length Fantasy, The Stand 1979, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Novel, The Stand, 1979, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Collection, Night Shift, 1979 Nominated 
• Locus Award Best Novelette, The Gunslinger, 1979 Nominated 
• World Fantasy Award, Best Novel, The Stand 1979, Nominated 
• World Fantasy Award, Best Collection, Night Shift, 1979, Nominated 
• Balrog Award, Best Novel, The Dead Zone, 1980, Nominated 
• Balrog Award, Best Collection/Anthology, Night Shift, 1980, Won 
• Locus Award, Best Fantasy Novel, The Dead Zone, 1980, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Short Story, The Crate, 1980 Nominated 
• Nebula Award, Best Novelette, The Way Station, 1980, Nominated 
• University of Maine, Alumni Career Award, 1980, Won 
• World Fantasy Award, Convention Award, 1980, Won 
• American Library Association, Best Book for Young Adults, 1981, Firestarter, Won 
• American Library Association, Best Novel, Firestarter, 1981, Nominated 
• Balrog Award, Professional Achievement, NA, 1981, Nominated 
• British Fantasy Award, August Derleth Award, Firestarter, 1981, Nominated 
• British Fantasy Award, Best Short Fiction, Crouch End, 1981, Nominated 
• British Fantasy Award, Outstanding Contribution to the Genre, N/A, 1981, Won 
• Locus Award, Best Science Fiction Novel, Firestarter, 1981, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Fantasy Novel, The Mist, 1981, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Novelette, The Way Sation, 1981, Nominated 
• World Fantasy Award, Best Novel, The Mist, 1981, Nominated 
• Balrog Award, Best Novel, Cujo, 1982, Nominated 
• Balrog Award, Professional Achievement, N/A 1982, Nominated 
• British Fantasy Award, August Derleth Award, Cujo, 1982, Won 
• Hugo Award, Best Related Work, Danse Macabre, 1982, Won 
• Locus Award, Best Fantasy Novel, Cujo, 1982, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Non-Fiction Book, Danse Macabre, 1982, Won 
• New York Public Library, Books for the Teen Age, Firestarter, 1982, Won 
• US Magazine, Best Fiction Writer of the Year, N/A, 1982 Won 
• World Fantasy Award, Best Short Story, Do the Dead sing? 1982, Won 
• British Fantasy Award, Best Short Fiction, Apt Pupil, 1983, Nominated 
• British Fantasy Award, Best Short Fiction, The Breathing Method, Won 
• Locus Award, Best Collection, Different Seasons, 1983, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Novella, The Breathing Method, 1983, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Novelette, The Raft, 1983, Nominated 
• Locus Award, It Grown on You, 1983, Nominated 
• World Fantasy Award, Best Collection Different Seasons, 1983, Nominated 
• World Fantasy Award, Best Novella, The Breathing Method, 1983, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Fantasy Novel, Christine, 1984, Nominated 
• World Fantasy Award, Best Novel, Pet Cemetery, 1984, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Fantasy Novel, The Talisman, 1985, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Novella, The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet, 1985, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Collection, Skeleton Crew, 1986, Won 
• Spokane Public Library, Golden Pen Award, N/A, 1986, Won 
• World Fantasy Award, Best Collection, Skeleton Crew, 1986, Nominated 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Novel, Misery, 1987, Tied 
• British Fantasy Award, August Derleth Award, IT, 1987, Won 
• Golden Raspberry Award, Worst Director, Maximum Overdrive, 1987, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Fantasy Novel, It, 1987, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Novel, It, 1987, Nominated 
• World Fantasy Award, Best Short Story, The End of the Whole Mess, 1987, Nominated 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Long Fiction, The Night Flier, 1988, Nominated 
• Fantasporto, Grande Premio Fantasporto, Maximum Overdrive, 1988 Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Fantasy Novel, The Dark Tower I: The Drawing of the Three, 1988 Nominated 
• Best Science Fiction Novel, The Tommyknockers, 1988, Nominated 
• World Fantasy Award, Best Novel, Misery, 1988, Nominated 
• Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, Eyes of the Dragon, 1989, Won 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Fiction Collection, Four Past Midnight, 1990, Won 
• Locus Award, Best Horror Novel, The Dark Half, 1990, Nominated 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Novel, Needful Things, 1991, Nominated 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Nobel, The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, 1991, Nominated 
• Colorado Spruce Young Adult Book Award, Pet Cemetery, 1991, Won 
• Tkarajimasha, Kono Mystery Ga Sugoi!, Misery, 1991, Fourth Place 
• Locus Award, Best Collection, Four Past Midnight, 1991, Won 
• Locus Award, Best Horror, Dark Fantasy Novel, The Stand: Complete and Uncut Edition, 1991, Nominated 
• University of Southern California, USC Scripter Award, Misery, 1991, Nominated 
• Fantafestival, Best Screenplay, Sleepwalkers, 1992, Won 
• Locus Award, Best Horror, Dark Fantasy Novel, Needful Things, 1992, Nominated 
• 
• Locus Award, Best Horror, Dark Fantasy, The Dark Tower III: The Waste Landa, 1992, Nominated 
• World Horror Convention, Grand Monster Award, NA, 1992, Won 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Fiction Collection, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, 1993, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Horror, Dark Fantasy Novel, Dolores Claiborne, 1993, Nominated 
• Takarajimasha, Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! It, 1993, fourth place 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Novel, Insomnia, 1994, Nominated 
• Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, IT, 1994, Nominated 
• Fangoria, Fangoria Hall of Fame, 1994, Won 
• Locus Award, Best Collection, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, 1994, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Novella, The Ten O’clock People, 1994, Nominated 
• Primetime Emmy Award, Outstanding Miniseries, The Stand, 1994, Nominated 
• University of Souther California, USC Scripter Award, The Shawshank Redemption, 1994, Won 
• Bram Stoker, Best Long Fiction, Lunch at the Gotham Care, 1995, Won 
• Locus Award, Best Dark Fantasy, Horror Novel, Insomnia, 1995, Nominated 
• New York Public Library, Books of the Century, Carrie, 1995, Won 
• World Fantasy Award, Best Short Story, The Man in the Black Suit, 1995, Won 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Nobel, The Green Mile, 1996, Won 
• Locus Award, Best Horror, Dark Fantasy Nobel, Rose Madder, 1996, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Novelette, Lunch at the Gotham Care, 1996, Nominated 
• O. Henry Award, Best American Short Story, The Man in the Black Suit, 1996, Won 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Long Fiction, Everything’s Eventual, 1997, Nominated 
• International Horror Guild Award, Best Nobel, Desperation, 1997, Won 
• Locus Award, Best Horror, Dark Fantasy Nobel, The Green Mile, 1997, Nominated 
• Online Film and Television Association, Best Writing of a Motion Picture or Miniseries, The Shining, 1997, Won 
• Primetime Emmy Award, Outstanding Miniseries, The Shining, 1997 
• Prix Ozone Award, Best Foreign Nobel Horror, Desperation, 1997, Won 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Nobel, Bag of Bones, 1998, Won 
• Italia Award, Best International Novel, The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, 1998, Nominated 
• Locus Award, Best Fantasy Novel, The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, 1998, Nominated 
• Modern Library 100 Best Novels, Readers List, 1998 The Stand 29th 
• Takarajimasha, Kono Mystery ga Sugoi!, The Green Mile, 1998 third place. 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Nobel, Low Men in Yellow Coats, 1999, Nominated 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Fiction Collection, Hearts in Atlantis, Nominated 
• British Fantasy Award, August Derleth Award, Bag of Bones, 1999, Won 
• Deutscher Phantastik Preis, Best International Novel, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, 1999Nominated 
• International Horror Guild Award, Best Television Novel, Storm of the Century, 1999Won 
• Locus Award, Best Dark Fantasy, Horror, Novel, Bag of Bones, 1999 Won 
• University of Southern California, USC Scripter Award, The Green Mile, 1999 Nominated 
• American Library Association, Best Fiction for Young Adults, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, 2000 Nominated 
• American Library Association, 100 Best Books for Teens 1966 to 2000 The Long Walk, 2000 Selected 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Long Fiction, Riding the Bullet, 2000 Nominated 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Non-Fiction, On Writing A memoir of the Craft, 2000 Won 
• Deutscher Phantastik Pries, Best International Novel, Hearts in Atlantis, 2000 Won 
• International Horror Guild Award, Best Non-Fiction, On Writing, 2000Won 
• Locus Award, Vest Collection, Hearts in Atlantis, 2000 Nominated  
• Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, Green Mile,2001 Nominated 
• International Horror Guild Award, Best Nobel, Black House, 2001 Nominated 
• Locus Award, best non-Fiction, on Writing, 2001 Won 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Nobel, From a Buick 8, 2002 Nominated 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Fiction Collection, Everything’s Eventual, 2002 Nominated 
• International Horror Guild Award, Best Nobel, From a Buick 8, 2002 Won 
• International Horror Guild Award, Best Collection, Everything’s Eventual, 2002 Won 
• Takarajimasha, Kono Mystery ga Sugoi!, The Stand, 2002 eight place 
• Locus Award, Best Fantasy Nobel, Black House, 2002 Nominated 
• BBC, The Big Read, The Stand, 2003 53  
• BBC, The Big Red, IT, 2003 144 
• BBC, The Green Mile, 2003 146 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Nobel, The Dark Tower V: The Wolves of the Calla, 2003 Nominated 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Short Fiction, Hervey’s Dream, 2003 Nominated 
• International Horror Guild Award, Best Novel, The Dark Tower V: The Wolves of the Calla, 2003 Nominated 
• Locus Award, Living Legend Award, 2003 Won 
• Locus Award, Best Collection, Everything Eventual, 2003 Nominated 
• National Book Foundation, Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letter, 2003 Won 

• American Library Association, Alex Award, Joyland, 2014 Nominated 
• Anthony Award, Best Paperback Original, Joyland, 2014 Nominated 
• Bram Stoker Award, Best Nobel, Doctor Sleep, 2014 Won 
• Edgar Award, Best Paperback Original, Joyland, 2014 Nominated 
• Goodreads Choice Award, Mystery and Thriller, 2014 Mr. Mercedes, 
• International Thriller Writers Award, Best Novel, Doctor Sleep, 2014 Nominated 
• Japans Booksellers’ Award, Best Translated Nobel, 11/22/63, 2014 2cnd place 
• Edgar Award, Best Novel, Mr. Mercedes, 2015 Won 
• National Endowment of the Arts, National Medal of Arts, 2015 Won 
• Shirley Jackson Award, Single Author Collection, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, 2015 Won 
• Goodreads Choice Award, Mystery and Thriller, The Outsider, 2018 Won 
• Goodreads, Choice Award, Horror, Elevation,2018 Won 
• Locus Award, Best Horror Novel, The Outsider, 2018 Nominated 
• Goodreads, Choice Award, Horror, The Institute, 2019 Won