Stephen King
Stephen King (September 21, 1947 - ) is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, memoirist, graphic literature writer, and singular force to be reckoned with in publishing, book selling, and popular entertainment. He is the author of 61 novels (at the present moment) and over 200 short stories. His range of style and subject is underrated by assumptions of reviewers and readers who prefer (or abhor) one “Stephen King” over another “Stephen King.” I would suggest that there are few writers, no matter what pretensions they or their readers have, who have provided a more comprehensive analysis of post-WWII America into the 21st Century. King pursues relentlessly our fears, our paranoias, our comforts, our dreams, our nightmares, our obsessions, our moments of grace. He is breathtakingly familiar with our materialistic dependencies, sometimes to a satirical extent, sometimes as a secular hymn to his love of American culture. Always, however, King is curious about people, the everyday remarkable and interesting people who live in his and our world. He sees how they act, imagines what they think, deduces what they believe — and then he tests them. And us.
I remember seeing the all-black-but-one-red-blood-drop cover of ‘Salem’s Lot in a book kiosk in Dulles International Airport when I was a kid. That hooked me. It is still one of the scariest books I know. As a bookseller I have sold King for 40 years as of 2022. He never gets old. Enjoy — if you dare.
Full Dark, No Stars
Full Dark, No Stars
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King, four "disturbing, fascinating" (The Washington Post) novellas--including the story "1922," a Netflix original film--that explore the dark side of human nature.
"The pages practically turn themselves" ( USA TODAY) in Full Dark, No Stars, an unforgettable collection centered around the theme of retribution.
In "1922," a violence awakens inside a man when his wife proposes selling off the family homestead, setting in motion a grisly train of murder and madness.
In "Big Driver", a mystery writer is brutally assaulted by a stranger along a Massachusetts back road and plots a revenge that will bring her face-to-face with another stranger: the one inside herself.
In "Fair Extension," making a deal with the devil not only saves a man from terminal illness but also provides rich recompense for a lifetime of resentment.
In "A Good Marriage," the trust forged by more than twenty years of matrimony is irrevocably shattered when a woman makes a chance discovery leading to the horrifying implications of just who her husband really is.
Like Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight, which generated such enduring hit films as The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me, King's Full Dark, No Stars is a "page-turner" ( The New York Times) "as gripping as his epic novels" ( St. Louis Post-Dispatch), and "an extraordinary collection, thrillingly merciless, and a career high point" ( The Telegraph, UK).