The king of horrors is not as scary as they say about him: 13 entertaining facts about Stephen King

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Stephen King is the legendary author of a myriad of stories and novels that can turn the mind inside and out, causing goosebumps from realistic descriptions and events taking place in books. And it’s not surprising that many of his works have been taken as a basis in films that evoke ambiguous feelings and sticky fear. And if everything is more or less clear with his work, then the situation with the author is much more complicated. Let's look beyond the thin line between reality and navi, and find out whether the king of horrors of all time is really as terrible as they say about him.

1. Home sweet home

Stephen King was born in Maine and still lives in Bangor. It is also worth noting the fact that it was Maine who often acted as the scenery for many of the author's novels. In addition, he is considered one of the most popular and sought-after literary men, whose fee is a decent amount of four hundred million dollars. He also has not only luxury cars and his own plane, but also a seaside holiday home in Florida. Who knows, maybe it is there that new eerie masterpieces are born, keeping the army of fans and admirers in awe and delight.

2. Difficult childhood

King's father, Donald Edwin King, was also a writer, although not as successful as his son. “I never had a chance to see and read my father's stories. Mom said he had a bunch of manuscripts,”says Stephen. As it turned out, his father allegedly went out for a pack of cigarettes, but in fact, on that ill-fated day, he simply ran away, leaving the family when little Stephen was only 2 years old. As a result, King Jr. has never seen his father since that day. After that, he and his mother left their home state, going to Wisconsin, but their "journey" did not end there either. After living for a time in Indiana and Connecticut, they returned to their hometown when he was eleven so that his mother, Nellie, could take care of her elderly parents. And after their death, the woman got a job as a teacher in a local residence for the mentally retarded. Being raised by a single mother, whose money was barely enough for basic things, pushed the boy to go to work part-time in the gas injection service. In addition, he cleaned clothes and worked as an English teacher, so Stephen has seen a lot in his lifetime. Perhaps personal experiences and a relatively restless childhood played an important role in the basis of the work of the genius writer.

3. Chance

One day, David - Stephen's brother - explored the family attic, and, finding boxes with his father's things, called Stephen, where he found a box with horror novels. Lovecraft's Thing from the Grave was the very first book he took from there. In fact, it was she who sparked his interest in becoming a horror writer. So a string of thoughts, ideas and plots was born. King began writing and presenting his stories at the age of sixteen. But no matter how hard the young author tried, he constantly received refusals in letters, hanging them on a nail in the wall. As a result, there were so many rejection letters that the nail could not stand it and fell. He earned his first recognition and a thirty-five dollar fee for the captivating story "Glass Floor" when he was nineteen, followed by King's first published novel, Carrie. He was discouraged when he wrote this story, and even went so far as to throw the entire manuscript in the bin. Fortunately, his wife pulled it out and encouraged Stephen to keep writing.

4. Anonymity

Did you know that the king of horrors possessed not only extraordinary views on life, but also loved to surprise the people, acting spontaneously and very quietly, without attracting special attention to himself? No? Then how do you like this move? King has published seven novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, the names of which are familiar to almost everyone: Fury, Roadworks, Long Walk, Slimming, Running Man and, of course, The Regulators.

5. Creative nature

As it turns out, King not only played guitar with the Rock Bottom Remainders, but also enjoys listening to AC / DC and the Ramones while working. Apparently, the music really inspires the author to new masterpieces. After all, he, along with his wife Tabitha, runs a radio station in Maine called Zone Radio, where rock is almost constantly played. So Stephen is indeed full of pleasant surprises. In addition, King is a huge fan of the Boston Red Sox. He even played the role of a Red Sox fan in Fever Pitch and wrote the story "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" about the team's pitcher. Not surprisingly, in 1992, he donated money to his city of Bangor, Maine, so that the municipality could build Mansfield's baseball stadium, now affectionately referred to as Stephen King's Field of Screams.

6. High praise

Film critic Roger Ebert once wrote that King's memoir on writing was the most insightful book for aspiring writers since The Elements of Style. So Stephen can easily boast that he is truly a genius and even critically acclaimed author.

7. Tragedy

1999 was a disastrous year for King in the literal sense of the word. The unsuspecting author was walking down the street and, as tragic as it may sound, he was hit by a van. As a result of the accident, Stephen suffered a broken rib, leg, hip, as well as a lacerated head wound and a punctured lung. And a few months after the tragedy, almost every newspaper flashed lines that the author allegedly bought the ill-fated car in order to smash it to smithereens. But in reality, things are a little different, and this wicked car was bought by King's lawyers to get it on eBay. As a result, it was crushed in a landfill, paying in full for its atrocities.

8. Harry Potter fan

In one of his interviews with Rolling Stone, King stated that he is a fan of "Harry Potter", while not being a fan of "Twilight":

9. Poker and cocaine addiction

As it turns out, King and Game of Thrones author George RR Martin played poker together during sci-fi conventions back in the 1980s. But in addition to exciting card games, Stephen had a no less vivid history of cocaine addiction, with which his family and friends had to fight in order to pull the author out of the tenacious embrace of the destructive and mind-blowing powder.

10. Record holder of the Guinness Book

It is also worth noting the fact that King is the Guinness Book World Record holder, whose books have had many adaptations. He also says that when he goes to watch films based on his books, he never expects the adaptation to remain completely true to his original story:.

11. Phobias

As it turned out, even the horror king has his own phobias. Despite the fact that he writes scary stories, King is terribly (even to this day) afraid of flying. So when he was younger, he often rode his motorcycle from state to state on his book tours.

12. Dynasty

Stephen's son, Joe Hillstrom King, is also a horror writer, so in order not to get preferential or bias, he adopted the pseudonym Joe Hill. And in 2013, his novel, originally titled Horns, was adapted into a film starring Daniel Radcliffe. King's second son, Owen King, is also a writer and, unlike his brother, doesn't seem to mind using his father's last name. Stephen and Owen also collaborated on a book called Sleeping Beauties.

13. Book lover and benefactor

King has over seventeen thousand books in his personal library. He read them all but a few of the most recent ones. In addition to many different hobbies and a special addiction to books, Stephen offered all aspiring filmmakers to buy the rights to adapt any of his stories for just one dollar. And his website has a list of Dollar Babies options available. Then the indie filmmakers took up the dazzling idea and created the Dollar Baby Festival to showcase their work.

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