Hey kids! It must be Wednesday, because here I am again, with another Book Report. This week I want to spotlight one of the most popular authors of the past thirty years: Stephen King.

There aren’t many authors still living who can boast the number of bestsellers Stephen King has put out. Or the number of books adapted into movies, television shows, or adapted into comics. He is the highest paid horror novelist ever and truly an American icon in literature.

His first novel, Carrie, was published in 1974 (and made into a film in 1976, directed by Brian De Palma, also remade as a tv movie in 2002), but King had been writing for quite some time prior to that. He worked for University of Maine’s school newspaper, doing a column called ‘The Garbage Truck’ and his first professional story was published while he was still a student, in 1967 (He has since returned to writing journalism; Entertainment Weekly publishes his column “The Pop of King” in their magazine once a month).

King’s next seven novels also made it onto screens big and small. ‘Salem’s Lot (published in 1975) was made into a miniseries in 1979 (and 2004). The Shining (published in 1977) became a horror movie classic under the direction of Stanley Kubrick in 1980 (and remade as a miniseries in 1997). The Dead Zone (published in 1979) hit theaters in 1983 (also remade as a miniseries in 2002). Firestarter (1980) came out in 1984. Cujo (1981) brought the fear of rabies back into American consciousness in 1983. Pet Sematary (1983) made it on the big screen in 1989 (and production is underway on the remake). Christine (1983) was released in theaters the same year it was published. Overall, Stephen King has had more than forty of his works released in movie theaters or on television (with The Shining, Stand By Me, and It being probably the most popular with viewers).

Granted, a body of work consistently translated to film doesn’t necessarily make him a good author. But he is. One of the best series I’ve ever read is King’s Dark Tower novels. The seven novels, written over a span of 22 years, is as high fantasy as J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Inspired by “spaghetti western” films and Robert Browning’s poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” (which is itself a line from King Lear by Shakespeare), the books also bear the distinction of having a connection with sixteen otherwise unrelated King novels. The beginning is so simple, yet hints at the epic journey yet to come.
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.“

In addition to the seven novels (with an 8th announced recently, taking place in the time between books 4 and 5), The Dark Tower recently had some of its history explained in comic books. Writers Peter David and Robin Furth, and artists Jae Lee and Robert Isanove, fill in much of the history of Roland the Gunslinger and what happened to the world before book 1 of The Dark Tower. A new online experience titled Discordia also explores and deepens the world of The Dark Tower.

In my previous post about pseudonyms, I mentioned Stephen King creating a man named Richard Bachman. King has stated he created the character as an attempt to make sense of his career. At the same time, during that period of time, publishers felt that authors should only release one novel per year, so as to not over-saturate the market. King worked hard to disabuse any notion that he and Bachman were the same person, but a persistent bookstore clerk in Washington D.C. eventually “outed” King, pointing to records in The Library of Congress showing King as the true author of Bachman’s books.
In 1985, a press release was sent out announcing Bachman’s death, due to “cancer of the pseudonym, a rare form of schizonomia”. At the time, King was working on Misery, which he had planned on releasing as Bachman (after its release, Misery was made into a film in 1990 and also an Off-Broadway play).
Before his “death”, Bachman released five novels: Rage (1977), The Long Walk (1979), Roadwork (1981), The Running Man (1982, the film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger came out in 1987), and Thinner (1984, the film came out in 1996).
Two Bachman manuscripts were “discovered” after his “death” as well. The first, The Regulators (1996), was released the same day Stephen King released Desperation. The two books were actually companion novels, about the same town in two alternate realities. When placed together, the two covers were designed to form a single picture. In 2007, “Bachman” released Blaze, which King had originally started working on before Carrie was even published. He reworked and rewrote and updated the novel to be current for its release.

The first Bachman novel, Rage, was allowed to go out of print after the Heath High School shooting in 1997. The plot of the book was about a student that terrorizes his high school, and the book was supposedly found in the possession of other students who committed high school shootings. King wrote that it was “a good thing” that he and the publishers allowed the book to go out of print.

Stephen King’s most recent novel, Under the Dome hit shelves in November 2009. Originally, it was another old manuscript (similar to Blaze) that King couldn’t figure out how to finish. It’s a great story with a simple premise: A clear, indestructible dome suddenly appears around the exact borders of a small, northeastern town one day. The book is a great study of small town values and what happens to decent (and some not-so-decent) people when their lives are suddenly seceded from the rest of the country. As just a story, Under the Dome is a whopping good yarn. As allegory, there are a variety of different messages you can take from the book, though all of them tend to be left of the political center. But don’t let that stop any of you right-wingers from enjoying the read, because odds are good that it won’t.
There is already talk of Under the Dome being turned into a cable miniseries, and like many of his other novels, there are hints of a connection to The Dark Tower novels.

Stephen King also published a book titled On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000). Part autobiography, part practical advice, the book ranked 21 on Entertainment Weekly’s list of The New Classics: Books — The Hundred Best Reads from 1938–2008.

But out of all the lessons that I learned from all of Stephen King’s books, I think the biggest idea I picked up was: Don’t Live in Maine*.

Until next week, dear readers.
Still paddlin’ the old knew…
_-Mike-_

*Obviously, Maine is a perfectly fine place to live in.