American writer of horror novels, whose pseudonym is that of Richard Bachman, known for his horror novels. His books have been on the bestseller lists very often. In 2003 he received the National Book Award for his career and contribution to American letters.
Biographical Synthesis
Childhood
He was born on September 21 , 1947 . He was the second child of Donald King and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury. He barely lived with his father, because when he was barely three years old he abandoned his family. His mother raised him alongside his older brother David on her own, sometimes under great financial trouble. After living in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Stratford, Connecticut , the family moved to Durham, Ruth’s hometown.
As a child he witnessed a tragic accident, one of his friends was trapped on some rails and was run over by a train. There are critics who have wanted to relate this trauma to his literary production, something that he always denied.
Trajectory
From an early age he began to write, based on seen movies and comics. During his stay at school, he began to sell stories to his classmates, which were copied with the same machine that his brother used for his work. This activity was not welcomed by his teachers, who forced him to return the money he earned. At approximately thirteen years of age, he discovered in his aunt’s house an old box with books belonging to his father, most of them horror and science fiction. Since then, he began submitting his work to different magazines, without receiving a positive response from any. His first published story was featured in Mike Garrett’s Comics Review in 1965.. The original title was I Was a Teenage Grave Robber, but it was changed by the publisher to In a Half-World of Terror. In the period of 1966 and 1971 , King studied English at the University of Maine , Orono and wrote a column titled “King’s Garbage Truck” in the magazine of the same. King met Tabitha Spruce in the university library and they married in 1971 . The writer took part-time jobs in order to pay for his studies, including at a laundry. He used the experience to write the stories The Mangler and Damn Road.
After completing his undergraduate studies with a Bachelor of Arts in English and earning a high school teaching certificate, King taught English at Hampden Academy (Hampden). During this period, he and his family lived in a trailer. He wrote short stories (most of them published in men’s magazines) in order to meet the needs of his family. During this period King began to have problems with alcoholism, which he maintained for a decade.
For 1996 , King won the O. Henry Award for his story, “The Man in the Black Suit.” Later in 2003 , King was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Awards, which caused an uproar in the literary community over the choice of the writer, especially by literary critic Harold Bloom . He later wrote six books under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. King held a mock funeral for Bachman after the secret was made public, which inspired the book The Dark Half. He wrote a short story under the name John Swithen, The Fifth Quarter, which was re-published in 1993 under the name Stephen King.
He announced in 2002 that he would stop writing, apparently motivated by frustration from his injuries, which made him uncomfortable and reduced his energy. Since then he has written a few books, but at a slower rate than before.
By October 2005 , King signed a contract with Marvel Comics; It would be his first official project in this world, since in the 1980s he participated in a comic to benefit the famine in Africa . The idea would be to expand his series The Dark Tower. The series will be illustrated by Eisner Award-winning artist Jae Lee . Marvel announced that the project will be delayed until 2007 to give King the time and dedication it takes. By January 2006 , he appeared in the first installment of Amazon Fishbowl, hosted by Bill Maher.
Series in his works
King escribió además una serie original para televisión: The Golden Years (Los años dorados), cuya emisión fue cancelada tras los primeros seis episodios. Varias de sus novelas han sido, a su vez, adaptadas al formato televisivo: La danza de la muerte (1978), It (1986), Los Tommyknockers(1987) y La tormenta del siglo (1999).
Among his extensive bibliography, the series of short stories The Dark Tower (1982-1987), the four short novels that make up Different seasons (1982), El Talisman (1984), Los ojos del dragon (1987), Las tierra Wasteland (1991), Gerald’s Game (1992), Insomnia (1994), Rosse Madder (1995), Despair (1996), Sorcerer and Crystal (1997), [[The Bag of Bones (1998), The girl who loved Tom Gordon (1999) and Hearts in Atlantis (1999), as well as some limited edition novels: The plant (1984, edited by himself), The fog (1985) orDollan’s Cadillac (1989).
He also published other novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, such as Rabia (1977), The Long March (1979), Roadwork (1981) and The Corridor (1982), which were also later made into a movie. His most recent novels are titled The Story of Lisey (2006) and Duma Key (2008).
Car crash
Early in the afternoon of the 19 of June of 1999 while walking along the shoulder was hit by a car towards North Novell from where he was transferred to the Central Hospital of Maine . His injuries were very serious, with multiple hip and leg fractures. After five surgeries, King picked up where he had left off in the novel On Writing, though his hip still hurt and he could only sit up for about forty minutes before the pain became unbearable.
Plays
Novels
- 1974 – Carrie
- 1975 – Salem’s Lot Mystery
- 1977 – The Shining (The Shining)
- 1978 – The Dance of Death (The Stand)
- 1979 – The Dead Zone
- 1980 – Eyes of Fire (Firestarter)
- 1981 – Cujo (novel)
- 1983 – Christine
- 1983 – Animal Cemetery (Pet Sematary)
- 1983 – Cycle of the Werewolf
- 1984 – The Talisman (The Talisman, written with Peter Straub)
- 1986 – It
- 1987 – The Eyes of the Dragon
- 1987 – Misery
- 1987 – The Tommyknockers (The Tommyknockers)
- 1989 – The Dark Half
- 1990 – Apocalypse (The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition)
- 1991 – The evil wish shop (Needful Things)
- 1992 – Gerald’s Game
- 1993 – Dolores Claiborne
- 1994 – Insomnia
- 1995 – The portrait of Rose Madder (Rose Madder)
- 1996 – The Green Mile (The Green Mile)
- 1996 – Desperation
- 1998 – A Bag of Bones
- 1999 – The Storm of the Century (Storm of the Century, script)
- 2000 – The girl who loved Tom Gordon (The girl who loved Tom Gordon)
- 2000 – Riding the Bullet
- 2001 – The Dreamcatcher (Dreamcatcher)
- 2001 – Black House (Black House, written with Peter Straub)
- 2002 – Buick 8 A Wicked Car (From a Buick 8)
- 2005 – The Colorado Kid
- 2006 – Cell
- 2006 – Lisey’s Story
- 2008 – Duma Key
- 2009 – La Cúpula (Under The Dome)
- 2010 – Blockade Billy
Collections
- 1978 – The threshold of the night (Night Shift)
- 1982 – The Four Seasons (Different Seasons)
- 1985 – Fantastic Stories (Skeleton crew)
- 1990 – Four Past Midnight (Four Past Midnight)
- 1993 – Nightmares and hallucinations (Nightmares & Dreamscapes)
- 1997 – Six Stories (Limited edition of 1,100 copies whose stories were reissued in Todo es eventual and Corazones en la Atlántida)
- 1999 – Hearts in Atlantis (Hearts in Atlantis)
- 2003 – Everything is eventual: 14 Dark Tales (Everything is eventual: 14 Dark Tales)
- 2008 – After Sunset (Just After Sunset)
- 2010 – Full Dark, No Stars
Under the pseudonym Richard Bachman
- 1977 – Rage (Rage)
- 1979 – The Long Walk
- 1981 – Cursed Highway (Roadwork)
- 1982 – The Fugitive (The Running Man)
- 1984 – Hex (Thinner)
- 1996 – Possession (The Regulators)
- 2007 – Blaze
Non-fiction
- Macabre dance
- 1981 – Macabre Dance (Danse Macabre)
- 1988 – Nightmares in the Sky: Gargoyles and Grotesques (not edited in Spanish)
- 2000 – As I write (On Writing)
- 2005 – Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season (not edited in Spanish)
Comics
- 1982 – Creepshow
- 2006 – The Secretary Of Dreams
- 2007 – The Gunslinger Born. King only participates as a supervisor.
- 2008 – The Long Road Home.
- 2009 – Betrayal (Treachery).
- 2008 – Apocalypse: El Capitan Trotamundos (The Stand). Still no edition in Spanish.
- 2008 – N. Still without edition in Castilian.