Almanac of Story Tellers: Stephen King

Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to story telling -- in prose and in poetry, in art and in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of Sept. 21st

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    It is the 264th day of the year, leaving 101 days remaining in 2022.

   

My collection
of King's books

On this date in 1947, the author Stephen King was born.

    One of the best regarded writers in modern times, King tells his stories through realistic, everyday characters, a writing style that moved the story along without leaving readers behind, and tales that frightened a generation, piqued their imagination and brought people together.

    Basing many of his stories in his native state, King helped put Maine on the literary map.

    Although usually described as a horror writer, King dives into other literary genres. Some of his most loved stories and movie adaptions have little horror or supernatural elements. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, (filmed as The Shawshank Redemption in 1984), and The Body (filmed as Stand By Me in 1986) both originated as novellas in the collection, Different Seasons, published in 1982.  

    His more recent books in some cases abandoned horror, and the supernatural has a limited role. Instead, he has turned to detective fiction, Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch, and crime novels, Joyland, Later, and Billy Summers.

    His magnus opus, the eight-part Dark Tower series, begins with the unforgettable line, "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

    King is usually verbose, with at least two novels running more than 1,000 pages, and several others coming close. But he also writes novellas and short stories with the same heart and soul. His works still get snapped up, and many have been adapted for the movies, or into TV specials or series.

    His characters could sometimes be tropes, and he too often employed the idea that the handicapped person or the African-Americans had special or mystical powers. The latter sometimes is called the "magical Negro."

 

  But King also writes with sensitivity about his female characters, and seems to have a special affinity for children and young people. His first book, Carrie, is about a teenaged girl with pyrokinetic powers, and his most recent book, Fairy Tale, tells the story of a teenaged boy who finds himself in a modern-day fairy tale.

    A former high school English teacher, King has written more than 60 novels, five books of non-fiction, several novellas, and some 200 short stories. He experiments with various forms of writing -- writing a novella, Riding the Bullet, and an unfinished serial novel, The Plant, which were sold only as e-books. He did so, he said, because he once believed that e-books would be the future of publishing.

    He also wrote a serialized novel, The Green Mile, in book form. He published a volume a month between March 28, 1996, and August 29, 1996, with a collection available in May 1997 in paperback, and in October 2000 in hardcover. Each volume except the last was less than 100 pages, with the conclusion 144 pages. It was widely successful.

    The number of literary awards he has received are many, but the most notable was given to him in 2003: The National Book Award, the Medal of Distinguished Contributions to American Letters.

    King lives and writes in Bangor, Maine.