Read more
Take an intimate tour through the life and works of Stephen King, made vivid with rare photos and ephemera from King's personal collection.
Even if you are a die-hard fan, you will find something new in this beautifully packaged Stephen King reference that you will return to again and again. Timed to celebrate Stephen King's 75th birthday on September 21, 2022, Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences reveals the inspiration behind the prolific author's brilliant works of horror through a combination of photos and documents from King's archives and an engaging account of the stories behind how his novels, novellas, short stories, and adaptations came to be.
It might sound like a tall tale that Stephen King once met a bartender named Grady in an empty hotel in Colorado, or that the celebrated author helped his young daughter bury her cat in a nearby "pets sematary" after it was killed on a busy roadway. In this book, discover how King drew on these and more real personal experiences and mundane life events, then employed his extraordinary imagination to twist them into something horrific.
From impoverished university student to struggling schoolteacher to one of the best-selling-and most recognizable-authors of all time, this engrossing book reveals the evolution and influences of Stephen King's body of work over his nearly 50-year career, and how the themes of his writing reflect the changing times and events within his life.
An expansion of Stephen King expert Bev Vincent's The Stephen King Illustrated Companion, this fully revised, redesigned, and updated book includes:
- A review of King's complete body of work, including Fairy Tale, published in September 2022.
- A wealth of rare memorabilia from King's own collection, including personal and professional correspondences, handwritten manuscript pages, book covers, movie stills, and a never-before-seen excerpts from one of his poems.
- Interludes on specific topics such as real-life settings that inspired King's writing, the editor who discovered him, his life as a Boston Red Sox fan, and the many awards and honors he has received.
- Insightful quotes from King from interviews over the decades.
Celebrate the beloved King of Horror with this informational and entertaining look inside King's most iconic titles and the culture they have created.
List of contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 THE FUTURE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN (1950-1969)
INTERLUDE: THE POETRY OF STEPHEN KING
CHAPTER 2 THE DOUBLEDAY YEARS (1970s)
INTERLUDE: STEPHEN KING AS RICHARD BACHMAN
INTERLUDE: WELCOME TO CASTLE ROCK
CHAPTER 3 MIDAS TOUCH (1980s)
INTERLUDE: THE DARK TOWER
INTERLUDE: UNSEEN KING
INTERLUDE: WELCOME TO DERRY
CHAPTER 4 EXPERIMENTATION AND CHANGE (1990s)
INTERLUDE: THE ACCIDENT
CONTENTS CHAPTER 5 AFTER THE ACCIDENT (2000s)
INTERLUDE: THE STEPHEN KING UNIVERSE
CHAPTER 5 KING OF CRIME (2010 AND BEYOND)
CONCLUSION THE TEST OF TIME
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX I BOOKS
APPENDIX II SHORT STORIES AND NOVELLAS
APPENDIX III ADAPTATIONS
ENDNOTES
IMAGE CREDITS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
About the author
Bev Vincent is the author of several non-fiction books, including
The Road to the Dark Tower and
Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences. In 2018, he co-edited the anthology
Flight or Fright with King and has published over 130 stories, with appearances in
Ellery Queen’s,
Alfred Hitchcock’s and
Black Cat Mystery magazines. His work has been published in over twenty languages and nominated for the Stoker (twice), Edgar, Locus, Ignotus, Rondo Hatton Classic Horror and ITW Thriller Awards. To learn more, visit bevvincent.com
Summary
Celebrate the King of Horror’s 75th birthday with Stephen King, which explores the connections between Stephen King’s life and his body of work.
Report
"Holy smokes, what an awesome book...It's a must read for any fan." Being Fictional
