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Blaze

by Stephen King, Richard Bachman (Pseudonym)

3.42 of 5 stars 3.42 · rating details · 11,831 ratings · 695 reviews

Once upon a time, a fellow named Richard Bachman wrote Blaze on an Olivetti typewriter, then turned the machine over to Stephen King, who used it to write Carrie. Bachman died in 1985 ("cancer of the pseudonym"), but this last gripping Bachman novel resurfaced after being hidden away for decades an unforgettable crime story tinged with sadness and suspense. Clayton Blaisde

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Hardcover, 285 pages

Published June 12th 2007 by Scribner Book Company (first published 2007)

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Mar 21, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, crime, suspense

This was a bit of a return to the old classic King, sans monsters and gore. It's a novel King wrote 30-odd years ago, then rediscovered and polished up and released as the last of his Bachman books. Ironically, I found it to be one of the better stories of his I've read recently, but I always have had a bit of a preference for his older stories - his newer stuff often just doesn't quite strike the right chord with me.

King has always been good with stories that pull up the carpets on small town A...more This was a bit of a return to the old classic King, sans monsters and gore. It's a novel King wrote 30-odd years ago, then rediscovered and polished up and released as the last of his Bachman books. Ironically, I found it to be one of the better stories of his I've read recently, but I always have had a bit of a preference for his older stories - his newer stuff often just doesn't quite strike the right chord with me.

King has always been good with stories that pull up the carpets on small town America and look at what's crawling around between the planks of the floorboards. Blaze is about a huge galoot of a man, Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., who's as slow-witted as he is strong-bodied. Basically a genial soul who doesn't want to hurt anyone and whose only sin was being born into a crapsack world where he never got a break, the book alternates between Blaze's childhood, growing up in an (of course) abusive orphanage and his adulthood, where he has become the sort of small-time criminal everyone predicted he'd become. His partner of many years, George, who was the brains of their two-man outfit, has died, leaving Blaze to fend for himself. Blaze is trying to pull off George's last scheme, a kidnapping and ransom plot. Unfortunately, without George's brains to think through the plotting, Blaze's plan can't possibly end well.

The climax is fairly predictable - we know from the beginning that this poor sap never had a chance, so there isn't much suspense about how it's all going to turn out. But King, in his marvelous way when he's focusing on characterization and writing relatively economically, sketches out the life and personality of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. for us, until we see him as a human being, a good guy in a bad place who made bad choices through little fault of his own, but mostly was just kicked around by a harsh, unfeeling world. And then we see the things he does, things which would make any reasonable person looking at his history but without the reader's knowledge of everything that happened alongside it, the context that framed the events and his actions, believe that he is just a two-bit thug and little more than a monster. To the rest of the world, that's all he is, but by the end you, the reader, just want to give this guy a hug.

Stephen King can be very sentimental when he wants to be, though he never goes for schmaltz. Blaze is about as close to a tearjerker as I've ever read from him. It's not all sparkling prose and the plot is perhaps a bit too predictable - even after King's very belated editing, this is obviously an earlier work. But it demonstrates that King has always been able to write fine suspense novels and fine human dramas, and his writing deserves to be taken seriously.(less)

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Nov 14, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 5 of 5 stars

Stephen King may be the "master of horror," but with BLAZE he proves that he's also just a plain ole good writer. This story is a mixture of a thriller, a mystery, a police procedural, and a personal struggle to figure out who you are.

Blaze, aka Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., is a dummy, and he knows it. Ever since his father threw him down a flight of stairs (and then hauled him back up and did it a couple of more times), Blaze hasn't had the brains for learning. The dent in his forehead might make h...more

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May 03, 2012 Stefan rated it 4 of 5 stars

There is no doubt that this definitely has the feel of a Bachman book. As is true to the normal style of Kings novels attributed to Bachman, this novel is a gritty pared-down version of what you would normally expect from Stephen King. That is in no way saying that the book is bad, to the contrary, it was a very well-written and moving story that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The thing that sets the tone of the Bachman entries apart from other works of King is that, while still very detailed and develope...more

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Feb 21, 2008 Gregory Del Duca rated it 5 of 5 stars

Look...

First and foremost, I am a self-described and unembarrassed "King Head." I have devoured Stephen King's words since reading "Thinner" as a fairly young boy with a slightly twisted mind that loved to be challenged, expanded, and scared.

I am also a person who has read loads of classic and contemporary fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, scientific journals, periodicals, etc. My point? I don't simply spend my time reading one author or genre, and I am a fairly discrimiinating reader.

I fee...more

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Nov 24, 2007 James rated it 2 of 5 stars

A lighter work by Stephen King/Richard Bachman, and I think the flashbacks with Blaze were more interesting than the central kidnapping story, which I felt kind of ran out of steam. I don't know if I really liked this story very much, but the thing about King's prose is that it is always eminently readable, filled with hilarious asides, phrasing, and curse-word-combinations.

I wonder if King really wrote this in the 70's and just tweaked it, or if this is a marketing publicity gambit, and he wro...more

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Feb 23, 2009 Emilyadamc rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book, although it is not the usual style of Steve. It was much darker, and the main "hero" was actually a bad guy, and I liked him, I was rooting for him, I wanted him to win. normally I hate the bad guy and am so glad when he gets his just desserts.

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Oct 13, 2011 wally rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: king

wally this is an okay story...i believe king had steinbeck's of mice and men in mind...

i like how he used the voices...

you know...i think he did it again in full dark no stars the voices, or a voice, the kind of voice we hear ( i do, anyway) from time to time...and yes, this device was used again in....ummm....the good marriage i believe...

nothing earth-shattering here...i guess this is a story that had been written years earlier and whatever...

....picked up again, read through, and a decision w...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Al added it · review of another edition

SUMMARY:
There was a time when admirers of Stephen King would seek out every scrap from the Masters work bench, and it was a cause for celebration when it was discovered that the writer Richard Bachman was, in fact, a pseudonym for King. There were more King novels available than we had all thought! And it was even more an occasion for celebration when it was discovered just how good these Bachman books were.
With Blaze (issued here with a new foreword by Stephen King), we have one of the most ad...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Alexander rated it 3 of 5 stars

An interesting look into the work of Stephen King when he was younger. A lot of his signature elements are there already: voices in people's heads, a ghost(?), and of course Maine. It's almost, but not quite, a crime caper story. Ends up being more like a biography.

Blaze is an interesting character, and he's richly drawn. He is simultaneously sympathetic, piteous and repugnant. The strength of this character is what makes the book work.

Aside from that, nothing here is that remarkable. The plot...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Electriczen rated it 3 of 5 stars

'Blaze' was one of Stephen King's Richard Bachman books written between late 1972 and early 1973. King calls it a 'trunk novel.' He wrote it, didn't like it, and stuck it in a trunk. Years later he dug it out, looked at it and still didn't like it so he stuck back into a box and lost track of it. Many years later he looked for it and couldn't find it. An assistant finally located it in a box of material in Folger Library at the University of Maine. King looked at it again and liked it this time....more

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Apr 10, 2012 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars

MY TAKE:
I really liked this book – I think it’s one of King’s better stories. The tone of the story – fast and hard crime drama with a lot of heart, blended in with the back story alternations leads to a fast, satisfying, depth of a read. There isn’t a lot of extraneous side stories or information that leads nowhere, like many of his other books (although I enjoy that aspect of his writing) and the story line is concise, complete and fulfilling. A self-proclaimed not a “Grapes of Wrath,”
it’s ea...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Juli rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Die Geschichte wird aus der "Täter-Perspektive" erzählt und ist vor allem durch die zahlreichen Rückblenden seines Lebens interessant. Man entwickelt mehr und mehr Mitleid mit dem armen, dummen Kerl und schlägt sich auf seine Seite. Hatte er doch so viel Pech im Leben und man wünscht ihm etwas Glück.
Nüchtern betrachtet ist es aber nunmal ein Krimineller, der ein krummes Ding nach dem anderen dreht, meist geleitet von etwas klevereren Burschen. Wie es den Hinterbliebenen seiner Fausthiebe oder de...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Dale rated it 5 of 5 stars

Blaze is Stephen King's twist on Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men."

Hardcover edition - published June 2007 by Scribner.
285 pages.

Stephen King and I have had an "on again off again" relationship. 25 years ago I read everything the man wrote and very much enjoyed it. It is one of my favorite books. But somewhere around Insomnia I got very tired of the Stephen King train and I got off for about 15 years. I picked up Cell at the library and I enjoyed it. Since then, I've done a little more Stephen King...more

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Jan 14, 2012 L.L. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: stephen-king, i-own

Świetna książka, od razu mi się spodobała. Nie wiem jak King to robi, ale pisze o sukinsynach tak, że się im kibicuje :P Chociaż Blaze w sumie nie był zły, był lekko upośledzony, więc zszedł na złą drogę, bo tak mu się ułożyło. Poza tym z jakiegoś powodu nie było trudno się z nim utożsamiać.
W ogóle ja w tej książce wyczuwałem homoerotyzm jak nic :D chociaż Blaze i George byli tylko przyjaciółmi, naprawdę, to mimo wszystko. Z resztą mieli taki numer, że udawali gejów :D
Książka jest dość zabawna,...more

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Nov 29, 2011 Maduck831 rated it 3 of 5 stars

“When he walked out of The Law’s study twenty minutes later, his breath whistling raggedly in his throat and his nose bleeding – but still dry eyed and close-mouthed – he became a Hetton House legend.” (60) “The Rev. Gary smelled it and took off. Blaisdell stayed. In his report, the arresting officer wrote, “Suspect said he did not flee because he had not been healed yet.” (153) “About actual intercourse they had no idea, because – as Toe once sadly observed – they only showed fucking in French...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Definitely one of the better Stephen King offerings I've read in quite a while. After the rather bloated "Dreamcatcher" and the sloppy feeling "Cell," "Blaze" was a nice surprise. It was succinct, engaging, and the story was well-paced and kept a solid momentum from start to finish. King/Bachman deftly weaves together a tale of a caper you know is bound to end badly with the story of an institutionally raised boy as he grows into a man and ultimately finds himself on the wrong side of the tracks...more

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Jun 23, 2011 Syd Perry rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was hesitant about a book by Stephen King written before he was Stephen King and just before CARRIE. But I got the unabridged book on CD at a Waldens "tent sale" for $1.00, so what the heck?

Stephen King relates in the foreword how he thought the book was lost but his assistant found it stored at a university --- the only copy mind you, written on a typewriter without a carbon copy --- so he read it to see just how bad it was. He surprised himself and thought it was a pretty good story. The fo...more

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Feb 03, 2011 Book Concierge rated it 4 of 5 stars

Clayton Blaisdell Jr, nicknamed Blaze, is a mentally disabled giant of a man; he’s 6ft 7in and “not quite” 300 lbs. His best – and only current – friend is George; a con man and bad influence on him. It’s George who urges Blaze into the life of crime that he’s living now, who, in fact, teaches Blaze how to live the life. Their dream is that one big score that will let them retire. That’s where the idea of kidnapping a baby comes in. But this will not be the Lindbergh kidnapping; Blaze never hurt...more Clayton Blaisdell Jr, nicknamed Blaze, is a mentally disabled giant of a man; he’s 6ft 7in and “not quite” 300 lbs. His best – and only current – friend is George; a con man and bad influence on him. It’s George who urges Blaze into the life of crime that he’s living now, who, in fact, teaches Blaze how to live the life. Their dream is that one big score that will let them retire. That’s where the idea of kidnapping a baby comes in. But this will not be the Lindbergh kidnapping; Blaze never hurts anyone (unless provoked and defending himself) and he is not about to hurt a little baby.

The story takes place in “America, not all that long ago.” It’s not specifically post-war America, but there are no cell phones. The plot moves back and forth between the kidnapping caper and Blaze’s childhood. We learn about his alcoholic father who abused him, the orphanage where he grew up, the foster family that misused him, the petty thieves who “befriended” him so they could use his size and basic naiveté to their own purposes.

To King’s credit, he keeps these two plots moving, building tension and explaining the underlying pathology that results in the final tragedy. The language is rough and graphic. The scenes of abuse made me cringe and want to beat the &*%^ # out of those who used their power to create the adult Blaze. Once again, King has created a character who is not necessarily likeable, but who captures the reader’s sympathy.

It’s worthwhile to read the forward by Stephen King who explains this “trunk novel,” which is copyrighted in 2007. When King was first starting out he wrote different genres under different names. He had been very successful in the horror genre with his own name, so he used Richard Bachman for non-horror books from about 1966 to 1973. This was the last book “Bachman” wrote. But THIS book didn’t ever get published. Fast forward to 2005 when King, now an incredibly successful author, comes across this manuscript in a cardboard carton. He looks it over; it’s okay but not great. But he cannot forget this story. His original is too “weepy,” and not hard boiled enough; but, there is a kernel of a good book there. It is not horror; it’s not noir; so what is it? He reworks it, and what we have is a “minor tragedy of the underclass,” a sort of homage to [i][b]Of Mice and Men.[/b][/i]

McLarty is nothing short of wonderful as the performer of this audio book. His ability to give life to the various characters through use of different pitch and/or accent is remarkable. I was never confused when two characters had conversations because he gave each a unique voice. Bravo!
(less)

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Jul 14, 2010 Christopher Sutch rated it 1 of 5 stars

In the preface Stephen King tells us that he used to think this novel was a piece of crap. It is. It should have remained buried in King's unpublished papers. As a crime novel it's barely the equal of those of Edgar Rice Burroughs (e.g., _The Mucker_, or the couple of Tarzan novels that have bumbling criminals as main characters). The few touches King threw in as he rewrote for publication (the possibility that Blaze's dead partner is really a ghost, Blaze's possible telepathic ability, the refe...more

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Apr 13, 2010 Tee Jay rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: stephen-king

This is my favourite Bachman book. It is so moving, and the character development is much better than some of the early "Bachman" books. I'm stunned that it was a "trunk" novel for so long; I wonder what would have happened if "Bachman" would have published it just after it was written?
For those who are not aware, this author, Richard Bachman, is Stephen King. (Or maybe Stephen King is Richard Bachman…?)

I liked reading Blaze. Although it has been compared to Of Mice and Men, and it was somewhat...more

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Jul 05, 2009 Max Ostrovsky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Surprisingly, better than I expected. I thought it would be pulpy fluff, and while the elements to it were pulp, it was engaging on an emotional level. Never once did I actually root for the protagonist to "win," but I felt for him and wanted some sort of happiness for him. The book, from the onset, could only have one outcome. I was worried about the varying degrees of how bad it could end, but happily, it gave a satisfying ending instead of something more gut wrenching.

I've decided to not act...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Nicholas rated it 4 of 5 stars

A poignant homage to Steinbeck. Once again King shows his sentimental side as he takes up the story of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., a mentally challenged small time con artist who tries to pull off the one "big caper" worked out by his late partner George before heading off into a sunny and warm retirement. As you can imagine, just about everything that can go wrong, does and the reader is left perpetually giving themselves the face palm as Blaze bumbles his way into rather serious business. Through...more A poignant homage to Steinbeck. Once again King shows his sentimental side as he takes up the story of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., a mentally challenged small time con artist who tries to pull off the one "big caper" worked out by his late partner George before heading off into a sunny and warm retirement. As you can imagine, just about everything that can go wrong, does and the reader is left perpetually giving themselves the face palm as Blaze bumbles his way into rather serious business. Through the cracks in your fingers, when you can bear to watch, you gain a real sympathy for the big lunk, and his story is indeed a sad one. Building on themes of belonging and acceptance, you become really emotionally entangled in the briefs ups and the depressing downs of Blaze's life. His dependence on Johnny and, later on, George, indicates a debilitating desire to be accepted and leaves him at the mercy of people who are willing to take care of him, for better or for worse, and we get examples of each over the course of the narration.

This novel struck me as more in-tune with the hard-case crime genre. Here we have a miscreant anti-hero with some hard luck who commits some down-right deplorable acts of violence, but you can't seem to hold it against him. In spite of the murder of an old lady and several police officers, you can't help but be on Blaze's side. I liked this novel because too often the anti-hero schtick tends to follow a formula; the protagonist is gruff and a misogynistic, but appeals to the inner-male attunement to bad-assery so we're willing to put aside the negative qualities of the anti-hero. The life of violence and action has a sort of ritualistic appeal to it in the midst of our routine existences. Blaze is different. He's not a bad-ass. He's a screw-up, but the lovable giant kind. It's the genuine pity you feel for him that makes you sympathize and want him to succeed, even when you know from the outset what the inevitable conclusion is going to be. His life is not glamorous or exciting - it's a nightmare, and you just want the poor guy to catch a break. Kudos to King because that's a lot more complicated and difficult to pull off than creating a James Bond like character with a screwed up childhood and making him drink martinis while pulling off heists. This story had a sort of intimacy that makes it more enduring and less interchangeable with the rest of the anti-hero crime genre.

I can kind of see why this one was shelved by King for so-long. It basically is Of Mice and Men with King's edgier mark transforming it for more modern audiences. Yet in spite of this sense of derivation, or perhaps because of it, the novel succeeds quite spectacularly. You're forced to compare with Mice intentionally at several junctures and that connection adds to the drama and poignancy. In fact, I'd go so far to say that if you haven't read Steinbeck's classic first, you probably wouldn't get as much from Blaze. That's not a bad thing necessarily. Think of it as a companion piece that is more of an updated social commentary of the post-World War II era to Steinbeck's homage to the working life of pre-World War II America. And at the core of both: the idea of friendship, companionship and brotherhood.

Oh! And do yourself a favor and read the foreword. (less)

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Jul 27, 2011 Brent Soderstrum rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a Richard Bachman/Stephen King early novel which has traces of "Of Mice and Men" with the big, slow main character of Blaze and the little "brains" of the outfit George. George tells Blaze what to do and how to handle things but George is dead for the main part of the story.

George had gotten Blaze into the con game using him over the years to pull of small con jobs. They had always planned on pulling off a big one and retiring. George then dies at a crap game after being knifed. Blaze de...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Solim Civoreb rated it 5 of 5 stars

In my opinion I think the books I read by Stephen King where he was writing as Richard Bachman were better than Stephen Kings books under his name. This is probably my favorite King book but I have not read them all, just seen movies of most of them and read 4 books from him. So I guess I cant really say what his best writing and stories are based on that but out of the 4(The Dark Half, The Running Man, Blaze, and Different Seasons)this one is my favorite easily. This is sort of a sad and happy...more

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Apr 13, 2012 Duesterwald-Online rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-horror-science-fiction

Inhalt:
Das Baby einer reichen Familie wurde entführt – Täter ist der geistig etwas zurückgebliebene Blaze. Diese Entführung war lange geplant und soll ihn einiger Sorgen berauben: Mittels des Lösegelds, möchte er ein neues Leben beginnen.
Doch Blaze bemerkt, dass die Entführung eines Babys schwerer ist, als gedacht. Denn während bereits nach ihm gefahndet wird, muss er lernen, das Baby zu versorgen. Wird er die Nerven dafür bewahren? Oder wird er dem Kind etwas antun?

Meinung:
Bisher hatte ich bei...more

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Apr 23, 2010 Tina Hayes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: stephen-king

I just finished reading "Blaze" by Stephen King (AKA Richard Bachman), my favorite author of all time, the Master of Macabre and all other genres he chooses to tackle. Needless to say, I loved this book.

Blaze is a guy screwed from birth. After his father throws him repeatedly down a flight of stairs, young Blaze ends up in a state ran boy's home. He grows into his hulking physique, his forehead permanently dented from the stairs incident, and loses everyone he loves before reaching adulthood. Hi...more

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Dec 20, 2010 Mitchel Broussard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, stephen-king, thriller-suspense

Okay. I knew King could write. From intricately plotted epic fantasy to tense alien invasion horrors, to small town environmental warning stories with dozens of characters. I've been behind him 100%. With Blaze I came to find out that he also kicks major ass at small, intimate, close up novels that have a simple plot, but remain wholly entertaining and emotional.

Clayton Blaisdell, Jr, is stupid. And he knows it. His drunkard of a father lopped him down a set of stairs three times in a row as...more Okay. I knew King could write. From intricately plotted epic fantasy to tense alien invasion horrors, to small town environmental warning stories with dozens of characters. I've been behind him 100%. With Blaze I came to find out that he also kicks major ass at small, intimate, close up novels that have a simple plot, but remain wholly entertaining and emotional.

Clayton Blaisdell, Jr, is stupid. And he knows it. His drunkard of a father lopped him down a set of stairs three times in a row as a kid. Before he was reading constantly and a huge success at school, now math gives him migraines and the coffee cup sized dent in his forehead scares away most people. Until he meets George Rackley, a fellow con man, and after pulling a couple of small time "gags" the two set their sights on the infant heir to a huge family fortune - the "Big One" as George puts it. After that they're out of the game, off to live the good life on some remote island in the Bahamas.

Unfortunately for them both, George dies, and Blaze is left to pick up the pieces.

King's characterization of Blaze, a lovable giant whose life of crime was nowhere near his fault, and all his father's, is remarkable. I felt so much just bottomless sadness after Blaze ran home and moaned loudly after stealing a car, with the help of dead (and imaginary... or is he?) George. He's almost instantly likable, the flashbacks to his childhood at Hetton House (an orphanage) is brilliantly trickled throughout the story, leading to revelations about how he met George and ultimately how he died. And then the parts where dead George shows up to talk sense to Blaze, and one scene in particular where George tells Blaze something that later becomes the truth, almost lent a supernatural undertone to it all.

Bottom line here? I can't see anyone who wouldn't at least enjoy this. It's emotional, especially when Blaze starts to feel ownership over the kidnapped baby, Joe. It's very tense, as Blaze evades cops through the white haze of the Maine backwoods. And it has one of the most saddest and happiest at-the-same-time endings I have literally ever read in a novel. This may be my new favorite King book (well besides The Waste Lands and Under The Dome) and there's barely any bloodshed or other horror tropes to be found within its pages.

Highly recommended.(less)

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Nov 30, 2008 Lasairfiona Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Recommended popcorn reading for most but required for King fans.

Shelves: iown, havereadin2008

This is a lot better than I was expecting. King says in the intro that he edited this story since it was written in his twenties ('70s something). I much prefer King's earlier writings (though his psycho porn has improved with age) so the fact that he tore out a lot of the imagery made me think this was going to be crap. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really enjoyed the story. Excepting the ending, the whole thing was put together well and flowed. King may have tore out a lot of the e...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Michael Tildsley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Okay. Not only am I a Stephen King fan, but I now consider myself a huge fan of his early work. The novels that King wrote pre-Carrie are damned good. I remember reading Thinner and thinking it was okay, but having read the five other Bachman novels, I would say that one was possibly the weakest of the bunch. There is a freshness to the writing style, and King's characters are memorable and relate-able.

Though Blaze does have this overtone of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, it manages to be its own...more

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Jan 22, 2010 Carrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I knew going into this book that I was going to get my heart broken in the end, but I love stories that do that. For me, there is nothing more beautiful than a good tragedy. I had no problem falling into the world of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., better known as Blaze.

As a young boy, Blaze was above average in academics at school but that all chances when his drunken father throws him down the stairs in their home. Now near retarded, Blaze, (who is above average in height and weight) lives out his chi...more

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About Stephen King

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

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

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)

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“He was going to make this happen. His feet and his head was set, and when he got that way, he always did what he said he was going to do. It was his pride. The only one he had.” — 2 people liked it

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