I have been an avid reader for most of my life. I can remember spending many hours at the library picking out new adventures to read, both the school libraries and the public library. I was also a library assistant during elementary school and on into high school, loving the fact I had first hand knowledge of all new books the library received.
I can vividly remember the first Stephen King book I read. It was "Carrie" and the book was published in 1974; I was 12 years old. Although I enjoyed the book very much, it would be the publication of "'Salem's Lot" in 1975 before I became hooked on King's horror books. "'Salem's Lot," originally titled, "Jerusalem's Lot," was a great book and it began a resurgence of my fascination with vampires. Where Barnabas Collins was a sympathetic vampire, much like the "Twilight" vampires in current pop culture, Kurt Barlow was a vampire in true Dracula form. "'Salem's Lot" was the first book I couldn't read at night because it scared the bejezzus out of me!
Many people feel the 1970s was the greatest decade for Stephen King, and I must admit many of my favorites were written during this time. My very favorite is "The Stand," first published in 1978 in an edited form demanded by his publisher, then re-released in 1990 with 350+ original pages reinserted. This latter form has become my favorite.
Other classic works by King from the 1970s include: "The Shining", "Night Shift", and "The Dead Zone." He also release several short stories under the pen name of Richard Bachman: "Rage" and "The Long Walk." I can still remember reading "Rage" and thinking to myself, "This guys writes like Stephen King." It would be several years later before I realized this was actually King's work.
King also had many bestsellers during the 1980s: "Firestarter," "Cujo," "Christine," "Pet Cemetery," "Misery," and "It." I think my favorite works from the 80s were the beginning of "The Dark Tower" series. The first book "The Gunslinger" was released in 1982, the same year my first daughter was born. This story centers around "the gunslinger", who has been chasing after his adversary, "the man in black", for many years and follows the gunslinger's quest in search of the man. It would take King until 2004 to finish the 7th book in this long running series. Not a true work of horror, "The Dark Tower" series has more of a science-fiction/cowboy feel to it, but it is still written in true King fashion.
Recently, King has entered the fast growing world of graphic novels. His current works transformed into this media include "The Dark Tower," "The Talisman," and "The Stand." His newest addition to the graphic novel line is "N" and will be released next month. "N" is a short story that appeared in the short story collection "Just After Sunset" in 2008.
King is still hard at work writing, with his newest release, "Under the Dome," hitting the bestsellers list this past fall. His next book will be the short story collection, "The Secretary of Dreams," to be released sometime in 2010. This year will mark 37 years of horror books by Stephen King, and he still remains one of my favorite writers.
When I read "Carrie" I thought Stephen King had floated horror novels into the mainstream. Unfortunately, though I enjoyed reading his work for several years after that, I didn't think he reached that height again. He could tell a whopping good yarn but his characters became less interesting.
ReplyDeleteI agree, King has gone well off the boil since then, though Carrie was terrific. His latest books are just wooden tomes, I can't stand wading through them. With Little House on the Prairie, do you notice that the character of Carrie Ingalls was never properly developed, Albert Ingalls, the madeup adopted son, got far more limelight (great actor) was a bit of a shame! Would have been good to have seen Carrie developed. This is a cool blog, I grew up in the Seventies, and loved most of the shows, books, films etc! Cheers.
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