 |
|
|
| ||||||
|
|
This page is the original source of this review, though you may also find it on Amazon or other sites. | ||
| Book Reviews Home | Free Audio Books | |
This page is for those who love (or fear) Stephen King. What you'll find here:
|
Stephen King is awesome. His novels are nail-biters! Now, you can get your own Stephen King Novel or Stephen King video.
Long Live the King.
|
Stephen King books |
| Each of these Stephen King books carries a four or five star rating.
|
More Stephen King novels |
|
Stephen King Bio |
| On September 21, 1947, Ruth Pillsbury King gave birth
to Stephen. She and her husband, Donald Edwin King, had adopted David
at birth two years earlier. Early in his life, Stephen got a glimpse of
what his characters would feel. His father said he was going out to get
cigarettes—but never came back. To this day, they do not know what
became of him. Kidnapped by a gunslinger, perhaps? After moving from state
to state, Ruth settled in Durham, ME, in 1958.
The following year, Stephen began what was to be a long and arduous journey to his destiny of being the greatest horror author of all time. In January, David and Stephen published Dave’s Rag, chartered as a local newspaper. It came out as mimeograph copies, for five cents each. In 1962, Stephen went to Lisbon High School (in Lisbon, of course). The following year, he and his best friend (Chris Chesley), published a collection of 18 short stories: People, Places, and Things—Volume I. The next year, Triad and Gaslight Books (Stephen King’s amateur press) The Star Invaders—a two-part book. Still, King could not get published unless he did it himself—until 1965. That’s when Comics Review Magazine ran his 6,000-word story I Was a Teenage Grave Robber. Keep in mind, King was still in high school during this time. He graduated in 1966 and went to the University of Maine on a scholarship. King considered himself an average student, and his grades reflected this.
In the summer of 1966, King began to write Getting It On. In this novel, highschoolers take over a classroom—but eventually lose to the National Guard. Still in his first year of college, King abandoned that project to complete his first full length novel The Long Walk. King submitted this to Random House, who promptly rejected it. The rejection didn’t go over well with King. However, King did manage to sell The Glass Floor. For $35. King graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Science in English and a certificate to teach high school. The poet Robert Browning inspired King’s Gunslinger/Dark Tower series with his poem Child Roland to the Dark Tower Came. The work proved to be too much, given his financial circumstances, so he shelved it in favor of a gas station job that paid $1.25/hr. Still, King persisted in writing. He did smaller projects—things he could sell. Men’s magazines picked up his short stories and this kept him writing. Six months after his graduation, he married Tabitha Jane Spruce (January 2, 1971). That fall, the Kings moved to Hermon (west of Bangor), where he accepted a teaching job at Hampden Academy. That job brought his income to $6,400/year. It’s a good thing Stephen had Tabitha in his life. After starting a story about a teenager named Carietta White, Stephen got disgusted with it. He wadded up the pages and threw them in the trash. Tabitha pulled those pages out of the trash, read them, and then convinced Stephen to complete the story—which became Carrie. Doubleday bought the book in March of 1973. They sold the paperback rights to New American Library for $400,000. The book contract awarded Stephen $200,000 of that take. Shortly after that, he quit his teaching job to pursue writing full time. The Kings live in Bangor, ME, where Stephen writes at home. The Kings’ generosity to Bangor is legendary, as is their humble demeanor. We fans of King had a major scare in 1999. King was hit by a car, and severe injuries put him in critical condition. After three weeks of operations to deal wit his severely fractured hip, broken ribs, broken leg, and lung injury, Central Maine Medical Center finally released him. And we fans breathed a collective sigh of relief. Yet, King’s nightmare is not over. At the time of this writing (April, 2000), he still requires extensive rehabilitation and is unable to walk. The gift that is Stephen King’s ability to produce enrapturing, emotion-driving stories is on a sabbatical until King no longer needs to focus so much energy on healing. |
Yes, Stephen King Has an Acting Career, too! | ||
| Stephen King has had some roles in movies based on his books: | ||
| Year | Movie | Role |
| 1981
1982 1986 1987 1989 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996 1997 |
Knightriders
Creepshow Maximum Overdrive Creepshow II Pet Sematary Golden Years Sleepwalkers The Stand The Langoliers Thinner The Shining |
Hoagie man
Jordy Verril, truck driver Man swearing at ATM Truck driver Priest Bus driver Cemetery caretaker Teddy Weizak, border guard, Nadine's ride Tom Holby, Chairman Dr. Bangor, pharmacist Band leader |
|
About these reviewsYou may be wondering why the reviews here are any different from the hundreds of "reviews" posted online. Notice the quotation marks? I've been reviewing books for sites like Amazon for many years now, and it dismays me that Amazon found it necessary to post a minimum word count for reviews. It further dismays me that it's only 20 words. If that's all you have to say about a book, why bother? And why waste everyone else's time with such drivel? As a reader of such reviews, I feel like I am being told that I do not matter. The flippancy of people who write these terse "reviews" is insulting to the authors also, I would suspect. This sound bite blathering taking the place of any actual communication is increasingly a problem in our mindless, blog-posting Webosphere. Sadly, Google rewards such pointlessness as "content" so we just get more if this inanity. My reviews, contrary to current (non) standards, actually tell you about the book. I always got an "A" on a book review I did as a kid (that's how I remember it anyhow, and it's my story so I'm sticking to it). A book review contains certain elements and has a logical structure. It informs the reader about the book. A book review may also tell the reader whether the reviewer liked it, but revealing a reviewer's personal taste is not necessary for an informative book review. About your reviewer
About reading styleNo, I do not "speed read" through these. That said, I do read at a fast rate. But, in contrast to speed reading, I read everything when I read a book for review. Speed reading is a specialized type of reading that requires skipping text as you go. Using this technique, I've been able to consistently "max out" a speed reading machine at 2080 words per minute with 80% comprehension. This method is great if you are out to show how fast you can read. But I didn't use it in graduate school and I don't use it now. I think it takes the joy out of reading, and that pleasure is a big part of why I read. |
| |||||