The Stephen King Companion

The Stephen King Companion is an authoritative look at horror author King's personal life and professional career, from Carrie to The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. King expert George Beahm, who has published extensively about Maine's main author, is your seasoned guide to the imaginative world of Stephen King, covering his varied and prodigious output: juvenalia, short fiction, limited edition books, bestselling novels, and film adaptations. The book is also profusely illustrated with nearly 200 photos, color illustrations by celebrated "Dark Tower" artist Michael Whelan, and black-and-white drawings by Maine artist Glenn Chadbourne. Supplemented with interviews with friends, colleagues, and mentors who knew King well, this book looks at his formative years in Durham, when he began writing fiction as a young teen, his college years in the turbulent sixties, his struggles with early poverty, working full-time as an English teacher while writing part-time, the long road to the publication of his first novel, Carrie, and the dozens of bestselling books and major screen adaptations that followed. For fans old and new, The Stephen King Companion is a comprehensive look at America's best-loved bogeyman.

This companion provides a two-part introduction to best-selling author Stephen King, whose enormous popularity over the years has gained him an audience well beyond readers of horror fiction, the genre with which he is most often associated. Part I considers the reception of King’s work, the film adaptations that they gave rise to, the fictional worlds in which some of his novels are set, and the more useful approaches to King’s varied corpus. Part II consists of entries for each series, novel, story, screenplay and even poem, including works never published or produced, as well as characters and settings.

Offers a critical introduction to the works of Stephen King, providing a brief biography and critical treatments of his eight most recent novels.

Each chapter deals with one novel and includes sections on plot and narrative structure, character development, and thematic concerns. Russell also draws comparisons to other novels in King's canon. She shows how King uses horror, science fiction, and suspense to explore human relationships, how he expands traditional approaches to the genre by combining elements of the various genres in his fiction, and how he has continued to grow as an artist throughout his career.

This companion contains over 100 articles, interviews, profiles and synopses on Stephen King, his books, films, interviews, critics and unpublished work.

Explore the evolution and influences of Stephen King's body of work over his nearly 50-year career, and discover how the themes of his writing reflect the changing times and events within his life. Timed with Stephen King's 75th birthday on September 21, 2022, Stephen King features archival photos and documents from King's personal collection alongside the stories behind how his novels, novellas, short stories, and adaptations came to be. With critically acclaimed titles that have also been turned into blockbuster sensations like It and Carrie, King's work has stood the test of time across decades. This history of the writer's struggles, triumphs, bestsellers, lesser-known stories, collaborations, and more makes the perfect addition to any Stephen King fan's collection. Celebrate the beloved King of Horror with this informational and entertaining look inside King's most iconic titles and the culture they have created.

Not a reference book, but a pretty good fan book. Covers King's career, criticism, synopses, transcriptions to film and audio. Illustrated with pictures of King, covers, movie sets. Public libraries will need gobs. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Though often disparaged by literary critics, Stephen King's work has influenced a generation of horror and science fiction writers. Acting as a study guide, this book features the important critical interpretations of the horror master's work.

"The Shining. Carrie. Misery. "These are just a few of the film adaptations that have been made from the terrifying and eerie work of novelist and short story writer Stephen King. It is nearly impossible to think of another author who has inspired so many, and such diverse filmmakers yet there has never before been a work by a film specialist that focused solely on Stephen King. Mark Browning, in "Stephen King on the Big Screen," takes a film-by-film approach to exploring why some adaptations of King s work are more successful than others. Browning discusses every single film adaptation given a global cinematic release including films by such well-known directors as Stanley Kubrick, George A. Romero, and David Cronenberg. His is the first book to consider in detail "Sleepwalkers," " Dreamcatcher, "and "1408" as well as the much-neglected portmanteau films and touchstoneslike "The Shawshank Redemption "and "The Green Mile. "In a highly readable and engaging style, Browning examines how different film directors have interpreted and translated the original literary texts into a new medium. Throughout, he reveals the elements of style and approach that have helped make King one of the world s best-selling authors. This entertaining and accessible guide to the complete corpus of Stephen King films is a must-have for fans of his fiction and of the many directors who have sought to capture his macabre stories and bizarre characters in cinematic form."

The myriad worlds and universes King has created are, in reality, one world, one universe. Here is the guide to that universe. The Complete Stephen King Universe is the only definitive reference work that examines all of Stephen King's novels, short stories, motion pictures, miniseries, and teleplays, and deciphers the threads that exist in all of his work. This ultimate resource includes in-depth story analyses, character breakdowns, little-known facts, and startling revelations on how the plots, themes, characters, and conflicts intertwine. After discovering The Complete Stephen King Universe, you will never read Stephen King the same way again.

Contains hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries that provide information about various aspects of the life and work of popular novelist Stephen King.

The Functions of Unnatural Death in Stephen King: Murder, Sickness, and Plots examines the function of death in over thirty of King’s works to parse out the ways the Master of Horror plays with the idea of death and approaches it from multiple angles.

Stephen King is one of the most successful authors in the history of American literature. His books—including 55 novels, 12 novellas, nine short story collections and a children's book—have sold 350 million copies worldwide. Over the past five decades his broader impact on popular culture has been immense. Most of his works have been adapted for film or television (some of them by King himself) and he may fairly be credited with single-handedly reinventing horror, once considered a B movie genre, for mainstream audiences. This collection of original interviews with fellow authors, collaborators and critics covers all things King, from analysis of his best writing to his many screen adaptations to recurring themes in his stories.

For the past three decades, Hollywood has faithfully adapted much of Stephen King's fiction into film. Of the many major films that have been made, not one has lost money. Part of this may be explained in terms of King's own popularity in American culture; he has been, after all, a best-selling writer since the late 1970s. But more interesting is what this cinematic fascination reveals about postmodern American culture. In the first overview of Hollywood's major cinematic interpretations of Stephen King, Tony Magistrale examines the various thematic, narrative, and character interconnections that highlight the relationships among his films. Opening with a revealing interview with Stephen King, the book takes us through chapters that explore such popular films as Stand By Me, Misery, The Shining, The Green Mile, and The Shawshank Redemption among others.

Stephen King began writing and submitting stories for publication as a young teenager. It wasn't until 1973 when he was 26 years old, however, that his first novel, ;Carrie, was accepted by a publisher.