Stephen King

He is a writer known as the "King of Horror" and is the author of sixty-four novels, including seven published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, which have sold more than 350 million copies worldwide (as of late 2006), many of which have been adapted into numerous films and comic books. He also wrote almost 200 short stories and novellas, which were published in nine collections. Many of his stories take place in the state of Maine, where he resides.

During his writing career, he was awarded the "Bram Stoker Award", "World Fantasy Award", "British Fantasy Society Awards", his novella The Way Station was nominated for a Nebula Award, for the short story The Man in the Black Suit he received the "O. Henry Award". In 2003, "The National Book Foundation" awarded him a medal for "Distinguished Contribution to American Letters". For his lifetime contribution to literature and his work, he received awards such as: "World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement" (2004), "The Canadian Booksellers Association Lifetime Achievement Award" (2007) and "The Grand Master Award" (2007). Of the countless works that King has written, these are: Salem's Lot, The Shining, The Dead Zone, Cujo, The Eyes of the Dragon, The Pet Cemetary, The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition, Dolores Claiborne, The Green Mile, The Dark Tower.

He was born the second son of Donald and Nelly Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated, he and his older brother David were raised by his mother. He spent part of his childhood in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When he was eleven, they moved back to the state of Maine, specifically to Durham. Here he also finished elementary school.

He continued his studies at Lisbon Fall High School, from which he graduated in 1966, then at the University of Maine in Orono, from which he graduated in 1970 with a degree in English and Creative Writing. For a while, he was without a permanent job, earning extra money by writing short stories for men's magazines and helping out in the local laundry. In 1971, he took up a teaching position at Hampden High School. In the same year, he married Tabitha Spruce, with whom he lives to this day. They have three children together: Naomi Rachel, Joe Hill and Owen Phillip. They currently reside in Bangor, Maine.

He gained his first experience with writing in his brother's newspaper, who published articles about television shows of the time. His first attempts at fiction were in the genre of science fiction (The Star Invaders), he published them at his own expense. He got a sniff of horror in 1959 when he found boxes with prints of Lovecraft, Robert Bloch and Jack Finney in the attic of his aunt's house. He received his first fee in 1967 for the short story The Glass Floor, published in the magazine Startling Misery. On May 12, 1973, he finally achieved commercial success, the rights to his first book, Carrie (which Tabitha allegedly pulled out of a trash can), were bought by Doubleday for $400,000.

He experimented with publishing a sequel book on the Internet, The Plant, but the project was not a great success, so he ended it. In 1999, he had a serious accident – he was hit by a car. He is currently finishing the fantasy saga The Dark Tower and there are rumors that completing it would also end his writing career.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, King published novels – Rage (1977), The Long Walk (1979), Roadwork (1981), The Running Man (1982) and Thinner (1984) – under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The idea behind the creation of the pseudonym was to test whether he could repeat his success and also fears that his popularity was a coincidence. Another reason is the fact that publishing standards at that time allowed only one book per year. As a pseudonym, he chose the name of the hard rock band "Bachman-Turner Overdrive", of which he is a fan. Richard Bachman, as King's pen name, was uncovered by bookstore clerk Steve Brown in Washington, D.C., who noticed similarities between King and Bachman's novels and later tracked down publisher records that named King as the author of one of Bachman's novels. This led to the publication of an article in the press announcing Bachman's "death" supposedly as a result of "pseudonym cancer." In an author's note published in the novel The Dark Half (1989), where the pseudonym is changed to a writer, King expresses gratitude to "the late Richard Bachman". In 1996, King's novel Desperation was published together with Bachman's novel The Regulators, which loosely follow each other, although they take place in different times and places. "Bachman" is definitely sidelined, because his book is significantly weaker.

During a press conference in London in 2006, King announced that he had discovered another "Bachman" novel called Blaze; The novel was published on June 12, 2007. The fact is that the original manuscript was stored for years in the office of the University of Maine in Orono, King's alma mater under many of his other works. Before publication, King completely rewrote the original manuscript from 1973.

King used another pseudonym; as John Swithen wrote the short story The Fifth Quarter.