Stephen King has successfully made a name in the literary world as the Master of Horror. He is the bright mind behind the fan-favorites, not to mention iconic horror, suspense, supernatural fiction, science fiction, and fantasy novels.
Who can ever forget IT, Carrie, and, of course, the legendary The Shining? All of these titles have been adapted into movies, become commercially successful, and much talk about.
Mind you, these are just some of his best-selling novels, and there are several more that give him additional credits.
From the various genres he dabbled in and more, know more about King, his love for the horror genre, his genius mind, and more.
The Early Life of King
Who would have thought that the King of horror novels would be born on September 21, 1947? As a young boy, King became a writer for the school newspaper and published his first short story as a part of Startling Mystery Stories.
After earning his degree from the University of Maine, he continued to write in his spare time and started working as a teacher in 1971. In the same year, he tied the knot with the fellow writer Tabitha Spruce and began building a family of their own.
During this time, King was working hard to establish himself as a formidable writer.
The Way to Success
As they say, hard work pays off, and King found his way to success after just two years. In 1973, he published his first-ever novel, Carrie. His success grew to the point that he started to devote himself to writing full-time. Through his books, he was able to provide home security for his family.
The tale of the tormented teen who took her revenge against her peers was then adapted into a movie with Sissy Spacek as the lead character. This must have inspired King to write more, dropping hit after hit novels, like Salem’s Lot, The Shining, Firestarter, Cujo, and IT.
He also published four books Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, and The Running Man, using the pseudonym Richard Bachman, thinking the public might not support an author who would publish more than one book a year.
By the looks of it, King got it all wrong and underestimated his fans’ support.
The Way to the Big and Small Screens
Several works of King’s made their way on either the big and small screens, like Cujo and Firestarter, which hit the theaters in 1983 and 1984. They all proved to be worthy investments for major movie studios.
Before IT was seen on the silver screen, it was first adapted into a miniseries in 1990. If these are not enough, the movie adaptation of The Shining, starring the iconic actor Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall under the direction of the renowned Stanley Kubrick, became one of the greatest horror films ever made, but it was not the last time a work of King’s would get that credit.
It is also a huge part of the pop culture and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for its being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress.
Other novels that have been adapted are Misery, starring Kathy Bates and James Caan, The Shawshank Redemption, which was based on one of his stories, The Stand, and The Green Mile, featuring Tom Hanks.
The Legacy
King has published a total of 62 novels, seven of which are under his pen name. He also has five non-fiction books.
He has written about 200 short stories, which have made their way into different book collections.
The writer has received several credits here and there, from Bram Stoker Awards to World Fantasy Awards to British Fantasy Society Award. He also got the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation, to name a few.
King has the ability to write an entire novel really fast, publishing several books a year from the 1980s to the 1990s. His thrilling and chilling stories have been continuously adapted in different mediums, even making their way to comic books.
With his over 350 million books sold worldwide and being one of the best-selling writers of all time, it is easy to see why King has become the Master of Horror, sealing his seat in the pop culture.