He's one of the most popular writers of our time,
but here are some things you didn't know about Stephen King
Fans of the genre will tell you there is an abundance of horror writers, but none has ever approached the output and popularity of Stephen King. King has written 64 novels (including seven under the pen name of Richard Bachman), five works of non-fiction and more than 200 short stories over the course of his 74 years, beginning with "Carrie" in 1974. His books have sold more than 350 million copies. Perhaps no other author is requested as much at Printed Page.
Because of his superstar status, most everyone has heard of Stephen King, but here are some things you may not know about him.
-King's publishers discouraged him from writing more than a book a year in the late 1970s, so he adopted the Bachman pseudonym. A bookstore clerk in Washington, D.C., noticed similaries between King's and Bachman's writing and exposed the pseudonym. King fessed up and said that Bachman died from "cancer of the pseudonym." (Bookstore clerks are famously insightful.)
-King was inspired to write horror after he found a beat-up paperback copy of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Lurker in the Shadows" among his father's things in an attic. His father abandoned his family, telling them he was just going out to buy a pack of cigarettes.
-King withdrew one of his books, "Rage," the story of a school held hostage by a gun-wieldng student, following school shootings in 1998.
-King has little memory of writing "Cujo," because he was heavily using cocaine and alcohol at the time.
-King thought so little of his first novel, "Carrie," that he threw it in the trash. His wife, Tabitha, also an author, retrieved it and convinced him that it was worth saving.
-King sold "Carrie" to Doubleday for $2500, plus royalties. A signed first edition of "Carrie" can now be had for approximately three times that amouint.
-King is afraid of the number 13. He will take two steps at a time to avoid a 13-step staircase, and never stops writing when on page 13 or a multiple of 13. He also has a fear of flying.
-King has a library of 17,000 books, most of which he says he has read. He has told would-be writers, "If you don't have time to read, you don't have time to write. Simple as that."
-He met his wife in a library.
Can this man get some love, please?
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