Stephen King

Author profile

born

September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine, The United States

gender

male

website

http://www.stephenking.com/

genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Horror, Literature & Fiction

influences

Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, William Golding, Shirley Jackson, Fritz Le...more

About this author

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple....more Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.(less)

90 posts
Stephen King's Blog

Stephen King isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but he does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from his feed.

Winners Selected for The Wind Through The Keyhole Giveaway

Congratulations to the winners! The tee-shirts and audiobooks will be shipped out soon.

Audiobook and T-Shirt

James W. from Ohio, USA

Jesse M. from Australia

Mary P. from IL, USA

Jeff H. from MO, USA

Ruth E. from PA, USA

T-Shirt

Carla M. from AZ, USA

Jenna P. from UK

Kathleen K. from Virginia, USA

Bert A. from MN, USA

Ariel B. from Argentina

Amy G. from FL, USA

Brian N. from IA, USA

Heather L. fr... read more »

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combine editions
Books by Stephen King

Average rating: 3.84 · 2,623,396 ratings · 87,957 reviews · 405 distinct works

	The Shining 3.91 avg rating — 274,500 ratings — published 1977	My rating:
	The Stand by Stephen King, Bernie Wrightson (Illustrator) 4.28 avg rating — 122,686 ratings — published 1978 — 109 editions	My rating:
	It 3.97 avg rating — 97,143 ratings — published 1986 — 80 editions	My rating:
	Misery 3.91 avg rating — 82,612 ratings — published 1987 — 83 editions	My rating:
	The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1) 3.96 avg rating — 81,843 ratings — published 1982 — 93 editions	My rating:
	Pet Sematary 3.68 avg rating — 78,575 ratings — published 1983 — 39 editions	My rating:
	Carrie 3.72 avg rating — 76,196 ratings — published 1974 — 102 editions	My rating:
	'Salem's Lot 3.84 avg rating — 69,876 ratings — published 1975 — 102 editions	My rating:
	The Green Mile 4.31 avg rating — 50,413 ratings — published 1996 — 83 editions	My rating:
	The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2) 4.14 avg rating — 46,248 ratings — published 1987 — 75 editions	My rating:

More books by Stephen King…

Series by Stephen King

The Dark Tower (7 books)
by Stephen King

4.05 avg rating — 325,433 ratings

The Shining (2 books)
by Stephen King

3.91 avg rating — 274,501 ratings

It (4 books)
by Stephen King

3.97 avg rating — 97,260 ratings

The Talisman (2 books)
by Stephen King, Peter Straub (Goodreads Author)

3.98 avg rating — 47,601 ratings

The Green Mile (6 books)
by Stephen King

4.42 avg rating — 27,429 ratings

More series by Stephen King…

Upcoming Events

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Quotes by Stephen King

“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
― Stephen King

tags: reading , writing

3,765 people liked it

“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
― Stephen King, The Shawshank Redemption

tags: life

3,447 people liked it

“When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, "Why god? Why me?" and the thundering voice of God answered, There's just something about you that pisses me off.”
― Stephen King, Storm of the Century: An Original Screenplay

tags: god , humor , religion

3,405 people liked it

See all Stephen King's quotes »

Polls

Random Fantasy for March

Watership Down, by Richard Adams

59 votes, 25.9%

Prince of Thorns, by Mark Lawrence

41 votes, 18.0%

Daughter of the Empire, by Raymond E. Feist

26 votes, 11.4%

The Sword of Shannara, by Terry Brooks

26 votes, 11.4%

Throne of Jade, by Naomi Novik

18 votes, 7.9%

Swordspoint, by Ellen Kushner

16 votes, 7.0%

The Drawing of the Three, by Stephen King

13 votes, 5.7%

Bone Dance, by Emma Bull

11 votes, 4.8%

Grunts, by Mary Gentle

9 votes, 3.9%

Mistress of Dragons, by Margaret Weis

9 votes, 3.9%

228 total votes

89 comments

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Goodreads Librarians: Combine Question	8	170	Jan 15, 2009 11:35am
75 Books: Authors you love	18	638	Jan 27, 2009 04:14am
Glens Falls (NY) ...: Favorite Author's Book Recommendations	55	109	Feb 03, 2009 10:47am

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Stephen King

Author profile

90 posts
Stephen King's Blog

combine editions
Books by Stephen King

Series by Stephen King

Upcoming Events

Quotes by Stephen King

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add NewVideos

Stephen's Fans (15442)

Stephen King

Author profile

90 postsStephen King's Blog

combine editionsBooks by Stephen King

Series by Stephen King

Upcoming Events

Quotes by Stephen King

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

90 posts
Stephen King's Blog

combine editions
Books by Stephen King